A device is a way of saying. The mark comes from naming it, showing the line, and saying what the line does. The name alone is not an answer.
The idea
A simile compares with "like" or "as". A metaphor says one thing is another, with no "like". Personification gives a human action or feeling to something that is not human. Alliteration repeats a starting consonant sound. Imagery is language that appeals to the senses. These names are tools, not the point of the poem. A poem can do its work through an image without you announcing the word "imagery" and stopping.
Set poems change with the syllabus. This page does not pretend that one poem is the poem for this year. The method is stable. Quote a short line, name the device if the question asks, and give the effect on meaning or on feeling. An effect is not "it makes the poem beautiful". An effect is what the reader now sees or understands that the plain statement would not have given. The poem below was written for this page.
What earns the marks
Three moves: device, evidence, effect. Each can be a mark. A long retelling of the poem does not answer a question about one image. Quotation marks around a short phrase show that you know it is the poet's, not yours. Do not invent a line the poem does not contain. On a set text in the exam hall, the same rule applies: the book you were given, not a summary you half remember.
Practice questions
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
1Question 1
3 marks
This poem was written for practice. It is not a set text.
The kettle on the stove
sings before the water boils.
Morning is a slow door.
We step through when it opens.
(a) Identify one metaphor. (1 mark)
(b) Explain its effect. (2 marks)
Model answer
(a) "Morning is a slow door."
(b) Morning is spoken of as a door, so the start of the day feels like an entrance we have to wait for, not a switch that is thrown.
Mark scheme
The line that calls morning a door. The kettle singing is personification, not a metaphor, if that is what was offered1 mark
Morning is identified with a door, with no "like"1 mark
An effect: waiting, an entrance, or a day that opens gradually1 mark
2Question 2
2 marks
From the same poem, identify the personification and say what human action is given. (2 marks)
Model answer
"The kettle on the stove sings." Singing is a human action given to the kettle.
Mark scheme
The kettle sings1 mark
Singing is the human action1 mark
3Question 3
2 marks
Why is "it creates a mental picture" too weak as the effect of an image? (2 marks)
Model answer
Every image creates a picture. The mark is for what this picture makes the reader understand or feel, not for the fact that a picture exists.
Mark scheme
The phrase could fit any image, so it is not specific1 mark
The effect should say what this line adds1 mark
Practise Literature in English with Anna
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Name the device, quote the short line that shows it, and say what that line makes the reader see or understand. "Personification makes the poem interesting" does not say what the line is doing.
What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor?+
A simile compares with "like" or "as". A metaphor says one thing is the other. "Morning is a slow door" is a metaphor. "Morning opens like a door" would be a simile. The effect still has to be explained. All WASSCE Literature in English past questions