Close Reading Skill 1 - Writer's Technique/Figurative Language

One type of question that will most likely arise in your close reading exam paper is one that gives you a brief quote from the text and then asks you to identify the technique that the writer is using in the quote. These questions will likely be focusing on figurative language or imagery. Below you will find a list of the most commonly used techniques - learn how to identify these techniques and these types of questions will be a breeze!

Alliteration

Alliteration is easy to spot - it's where consonant sounds are repeated at the beginning of two or more words that are close together (in the same sentence).

A good real-life (ahem) example of alliteration can be seen in the film 'V for Vendetta' where the main character V uses alliteration of the letter V:

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. ..etc."

Identifying the technique should be enough to get you full marks in the general paper - but if you want full marks in the credit paper you may have to explain why the technique is being used. This is a simple enough thing to do, just have a think about the sound of the consonant that is being repeated and the effect that it has. For example: 'Bill the Bomber' here the alliteration is on the letter 'B' and it is being used because the 'b' sound imitates the sound of falling bombs. Similarly 'the snake slithered slowly' the alliteration is on the 's' (although if you want to show that you're really smart then you'll point of that alliteration on the s sound is technically known as sibilance...) which is used to imitate the sound of the snake.

Onomatopoeia

This technique is when words sound like the word they describe, for example: snap, crackle, pop, hiss, bang, crash, shatter etc.

This is a technique used often in comic books - Batman is an especially big fan of the technique...

As with alliteration in order to get full marks you may have to explain why the onomatopoeiac word has been used - generally this will have something to do with the atmosphere of the text. If the onomtopoeiac word is a LOUD noise then it may indicate a scray/frightening/angry atmosphere wheras in contrast a quiet noise may indicate a hushed/eerie/sad atmosphere.