How do you identify figurative language and literary devices, and how do you explain the effect they create rather than just naming them?
Figurative language and literary devices in literary texts: identifying simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, symbolism, hyperbole, and tone, and analyzing the effect of these choices and of an author's word choice on meaning and tone, on a LEAP English I or II literary passage.
How to analyze figurative language and literary devices on a LEAP English I or II literary passage: identifying simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, symbolism, and tone, and, crucially, explaining their effect. LEAP rewards analysis of how word choice shapes meaning and tone, not just labeling devices.
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What this skill is asking
Figurative language and literary devices are the tools writers use to create images, feelings, and meaning beyond the literal words, and LEAP English I and II ask you to identify them and explain their effect. You will see multiple-choice items ("which device is this"), items that ask for the effect of a device, and evidence-based items that pair a device with the line that shows it. The skill that separates a Basic answer from a Mastery answer is effect: naming a device is the floor, and the marks come from explaining what it does, the feeling it creates, the picture it builds, or the meaning it carries. This page covers the common devices (simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, symbolism, hyperbole, and tone) and, above all, how to analyze the impact of word choice. The transferable skill is reading for why a writer chose these words, because Louisiana standard RL.9-10.4 asks for exactly that.
The devices and what they do
Knowing the labels is necessary, but the test rewards using them.
The reliable move on any device question is to name it, then state its effect: a simile that compares fear to a struck match makes the fear feel sudden and dangerous; imagery of a cold, gray room creates a bleak mood. Symbolism is the device students handle least well, because it needs support: a symbol is only as strong as the link the passage builds between the object and the idea, so always ground it in the lines that connect them. Tone is read from connotation, the feelings words carry, which ties this skill to denotation, connotation, and figurative meaning in the language module.
Why effect is the whole point
LEAP almost never stops at identification.
This effect habit is the same one that powers a strong Literary Analysis Task essay, where a body paragraph on the author's craft must explain what a device does to develop the claim. It also connects to tone and mood across a passage, and to poetry, where figurative language is dense and every image counts. Reading for effect, not labels, is the single most useful habit in this module.
Working a device question
Try this
Q1. On LEAP, why does naming a literary device earn little on its own? [Recall]
- Cue. Because Louisiana standard RL.9-10.4 rewards analysis of the impact of word choice. The marks come from explaining the effect, the feeling, image, or meaning a device creates, not from labeling it.
Q2. A passage describes a character's hope as "a small candle she cupped against the wind." Identify the device and explain its effect. [Short explanation]
- Cue. It is a metaphor (hope is a candle) with imagery. The effect is to make her hope feel fragile and easily lost, something she has to protect, which conveys vulnerability and quiet determination at once.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of LDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
LEAP 2025 English I (style)1 marks'The old streets yawned and stretched as the buses groaned awake.' Which device is this, and what is its effect? (1) Simile, making a direct comparison. (2) Personification, giving human actions to non-human things, which makes the waking city feel sluggish and alive. (3) Hyperbole, an exaggeration. (4) Alliteration, repeated initial sounds.Show worked answer →
Answer: (2). Yawning, stretching, and groaning awake are human actions given to streets and buses, which is personification. The high-value half of the answer is the effect: it makes the early-morning city feel slow, heavy, and alive, setting a sluggish mood.
Why not the others: (1) a simile would use "like" or "as"; (3) nothing is exaggerated beyond belief; (4) there is no sustained repetition of initial sounds. LEAP pairs the label with its effect because Louisiana standard RL.9-10.4 asks you to analyze the impact of word choice on meaning and tone.
LEAP 2025 English II (style)2 marksA passage repeatedly describes a locked iron gate at the edge of the family's property. Explain what the gate most likely symbolizes and how you would support that reading. (2 points: state the symbol's meaning and the support.)Show worked answer →
A recurring concrete object that the passage keeps linking to a larger idea is a symbol. Here the locked iron gate most likely stands for a barrier or a lost opportunity, perhaps the family's separation from the world or a future closed off to them. Support it by pointing to the moments the text connects the gate to that idea, such as a character looking through it longingly or refusing to open it.
A full-credit answer states the symbolic meaning and ties it to specific evidence, because a symbol is only as strong as the link the text builds. RL.9-10.4 rewards explaining effect and meaning, so "it is a symbol" without the meaning and support earns little.
Related dot points
- Analyzing theme and central idea in literary texts: stating a theme as a complete sentence about life or human nature (not a topic word), distinguishing theme from subject and from moral, and tracing how a writer develops a theme through plot, character, and detail across a LEAP English I or II literary passage.
How to analyze theme on a LEAP English I or II literary passage: stating theme as a full sentence about life rather than a one-word topic, telling theme apart from subject and moral, and tracing how plot, character, and detail develop it. Theme appears in multiple-choice, hot-text, and evidence-based items, and it anchors the Literary Analysis Task.
- Character and point of view in literary texts: inferring traits and motivation from indirect characterization (actions, dialogue, thoughts, and others' reactions), tracking how a character changes, and analyzing how the point of view (first person, third-person limited, third-person omniscient) shapes what the reader knows on a LEAP English I or II literary passage.
How to analyze character and point of view on a LEAP English I or II literary passage: inferring traits from indirect characterization, tracking change, and explaining how first person, third-person limited, or omniscient narration shapes what the reader knows. The EOC tests inference and effect, not labels alone.
- Reading poetry on the LEAP: paraphrasing a poem for meaning (speaker, situation, and feeling), then analyzing how structure (stanzas, line breaks, form), sound (rhyme, repetition, refrain), and figurative language work together to create meaning and tone on a LEAP English I or II poetry passage.
How to read poetry on a LEAP English I or II passage: paraphrasing for meaning first (speaker, situation, feeling), then analyzing how structure, sound, and figurative language build that meaning. Poetry items reward reading for sense before counting form, and explaining effect over labeling features.
- Denotation, connotation, and figurative meaning: distinguishing a word's denotation (literal dictionary meaning) from its connotation (the positive or negative feelings it carries), interpreting figurative meaning, and analyzing how word choice and connotation shape tone, on a LEAP English I or II reading passage.
How to analyze denotation, connotation, and figurative meaning on a LEAP English I or II passage: telling a word's literal meaning from the feelings it carries, interpreting figurative language, and explaining how connotation builds tone. This is the language-strand basis for reading tone and an author's word choice.
- The Literary Analysis Task on LEAP English I and II: reading one or more literary texts, building an analytic claim about how the author develops theme, character, or structure, and writing an essay that supports the claim with specific text evidence and explanation, scored on the combined Reading Comprehension and Written Expression dimension plus Knowledge of Language and Conventions.
How to write a strong Literary Analysis Task essay on LEAP English I and II: reading the literary text or texts, making an analytic claim about how the author develops theme, character, or structure, and supporting it with specific evidence and explanation. Scored on combined Reading Comprehension and Written Expression plus conventions.
Sources & how we know this
- LEAP 2025 Assessment Guide for English I and English II — LDOE (2025)
- Louisiana Student Standards for English Language Arts — LDOE (2025)