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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 12

Literary Devices

Irony, symbolism and point of view

What your child practices

Naming devices like simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, irony, foreshadowing and symbolism in short excerpts, and identifying a narrator's point of view.

Alaska content standards learning standard: RL.8.4; RL.8.6 · irony, symbolism and point of view

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Simile (like or as), metaphor (is), personification (human traits) and hyperbole (exaggeration) are figurative language.
  2. Irony is a gap between what is said or expected and what is real. Foreshadowing hints at later events.
  3. A symbol stands for a bigger idea. Second person speaks to the reader as you.

Example: “Her words were daggers.” Which device is this? Words are compared to daggers without like or as. That makes it a metaphor. Answer: Metaphor

Literary Devices in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 2 of 12 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Close Reading and before Word Study.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    The silent snow fell softly on the sleeping street.

    • Alliteration
    • Irony
    • Onomatopoeia
    • Hyperbole

  2. Question 2

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    Every time Ana feels hopeful, a bright yellow bird lands on her windowsill.

    • Alliteration
    • Flashback
    • Hyperbole
    • Symbolism

  3. Question 3

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    The thunder boomed and the rain splashed onto the roof.

    • Simile
    • Symbolism
    • Irony
    • Onomatopoeia

  4. Question 4

    This narrator knows what several characters think and do. What is the point of view?

    He was angry. Across town, his sister was planning a surprise. In the bakery, a stranger prepared to deliver the cake that would ruin it all.

    • Third person limited
    • Third person omniscient
    • First person
    • Second person

  5. Question 5

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    The classroom was a zoo before the teacher walked in.

    • Personification
    • Irony
    • Metaphor
    • Simile

  6. Question 6

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    The bacon sizzled and the pancakes plopped onto the plate.

    • Alliteration
    • Metaphor
    • Foreshadowing
    • Onomatopoeia

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