Literature: Poetry
What is tested
Poetry questions ask for the central idea, the speaker's tone, the message, and the effect of poetic devices. You are expected to name the device and explain what it adds, not merely label it.
Core rules
- Read stanza by stanza and paraphrase each stanza in one sentence.
- Identify the speaker: the poet, a character, or an object.
- Devices: simile uses like or as; metaphor makes a direct comparison; personification gives a human quality to a non-human thing; alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds; repetition and rhyme create emphasis or music.
- Tone words include hopeful, nostalgic, bitter, playful, and solemn.
- For effect, say what the reader sees, feels, or understands because of the device.
Worked example
Line: "The moon was a silver coin tossed into the sky." Question: Identify the figure of speech and explain its effect. Reasoning: The line does not say "like a silver coin"; it says the moon was a coin. That is a metaphor. "Tossed" suggests a careless, playful movement. The effect is that the moon looks small, bright, and casually placed rather than solemn or scientific. Answer: "It is a metaphor. It compares the moon to a silver coin and makes it seem bright, small, and playfully thrown into the sky."
Traps
- Calling every comparison a simile when there is no like or as.
- Naming a device without explaining its effect.
- Reading figurative language literally.
- Missing a shift in tone between stanzas.
- Confusing the poet with the speaker.