Close Reading Skills 2 - Writer's Technique continued

Aside from alliteration and onomatopoeia the other two techniques you are likely to be asked about are metaphor and simile - the backbone of imagery.

Simile

Simile is the technique used when you compare two things by saying that one is like the other. Examples: as brave as a lion, fat like a walrus, you are as dumb as a doorpost...

As with the previous writer's techniques in order to gain full marks in the credit exam you must not only name the technique but also say why it is effective. The easiest way of doing this is to use the (Just as…. is ….. so too is ……….) system. So 'bent double like old beggars' you would say this is a simile. just as an old beggar is hunched over so too are the soldiers. This gives us an image of the physical condition of the soldiers and shows us that the rigours of war have aged them.
The easiest way to find out if the technique is simile is to look out for AS or LIKE.

Metaphor

Metaphors are similar to similes but whereas a simile is coimparing something to something else by saying it's like the other thing a metaphor describes something by saying it IS the other thing.

A good way of explaining this is to look at some classic 80's cartoons!

In Bravestarr the main character is decribed as having: "eyes of a hawk, ears of a wolf, strength of a bear, speed of a puma". This is a metaphor as it is saying that his eyes are those of a hawk, they're not like a hawk's.

In Thundercats the metaphor is more visual - liono is a lion of a man, he's not like a lion he actually IS a lion.

BTW Thundercats rocks!