English III Analyzing Literature

Name: ______________________________

Understanding Literary Elements: Literary elements are the parts and characteristics of a poem, story, play, or other work of literature. The following are examples of elements of poetry and fiction with questions that can be used to analyze the writers use of these elements. Figures of speech words or phrases not meant to be taken literally What kinds of imaginative comparisons (similes and metaphors) does the writer use? Does the writer use personification? Imagery words or phrases that evoke sights, What images are in the literature? Which sounds, tastes, textures, and smells (appeals to images, or types of images, are repeated? What the senses) feelings do the images suggest? Symbol a person, place, thing, or event that What person, place, thing, or event seems to has meaning in itself but that also stands for stand for something else? How do the symbols something else relate to the meaning of the work? Does the title suggest a symbol? Theme an underlying principle, idea, or Does the work reveal a lesson or insight about insight that the work reveals about life and life? Who learns this lesson? What passages people provide the clearest expression of the theme? Foreshadowing the use of hints and clues to Does the author give clues or hints throughout suggest what will happen later in a plot the story? Does the author create suspense by using foreshadowing? When discussing all of these literary elements except for theme, it is correct to say the author uses these techniques. For example: F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbols in The Great Gatsby. When discussing theme, simply state what is the theme of the work. For example: In Arthur Millers play The Crucible, one prevalent theme is the rights of an individual versus those in authority. Write a thesis statement for the following: 1. Discuss symbolism in The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe. 2. Discuss the theme of death in Emily Dickinsons poems Because I could not stop for Death and I died for Beauty. Discuss irony and symbolism in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club. Discuss Stephen Kings use of foreshadowing to create suspense in Salems Lot. Analyze three symbols in Alice Walkers Everyday Use. (the quilt, Dees dress, and Maggies scars)

3. 4. 5.