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9th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 5 of 14

Literary Devices

Allusion, analogy, juxtaposition, flashback

What your child practices

Spotting allusion (a reference to something well known), analogy, juxtaposition (contrasts side by side) and flashback in short original excerpts, and explaining why a writer chooses them.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: E1.6(C); E1.8(D) · allusion, analogy, juxtaposition and flashback

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. An allusion is a reference to something well known, like a famous story or person.
  2. An analogy explains by comparing two things alike in important ways. Juxtaposition puts contrasts side by side.
  3. A flashback interrupts the story to show an earlier time.

Example: A writer says, “Her generosity was Robin Hood–like.” What device is this? Robin Hood is a famous legend. Referring to a well-known character is an allusion. Answer: allusion

Literary Devices in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 5 of 14 in 9th grade English Language Arts, after Word Detective and before Digital Smarts.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    A character says she opened the box “like Pandora,” and a reader who knows the Greek myth understands that something unwise was released. What is this device?

    • juxtaposition
    • allusion
    • flashback
    • analogy

  2. Question 2

    A writer says, “Her generosity was Robin Hood–like,” referring to a well-known character from a legend. What is this device?

    • juxtaposition
    • flashback
    • allusion
    • analogy

  3. Question 3

    “Learning to code is like learning to cook: you start with simple recipes and slowly build your own.” What is this device?

    • analogy
    • juxtaposition
    • allusion
    • flashback

  4. Question 4

    Why might a writer allude to a well-known story?

    • To add meaning quickly by drawing on what readers already know
    • To prove the story is true
    • To make the text shorter than a sentence
    • To avoid using description

  5. Question 5

    A story shows a child's cheerful drawing next to a hospital waiting room. What is the effect?

    • It explains the plot with a list
    • It makes the setting vanish
    • It adds a new narrator
    • The contrast makes the reader feel the emotion more

  6. Question 6

    What is the effect of describing the shiny screw beside the pile of dust?

    The Old Radio

    The old radio crackled once and went silent. Kenji turned the dial, and for a moment he was back in his grandfather's workshop, sawdust on his sleeves, listening to a hockey game on a rainy night.

    Now the workshop was cold and bare. On the empty bench, a single shiny screw sat beside a pile of dust. Like a compass without a needle, the room had lost its direction.

    • It moves the story to the past
    • It shows that the radio works
    • It sets a small bright detail against neglect
    • It adds a new narrator

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