Question

In this section, you’ll analyze the impact of literary devices on a poem’s meaning and tone.

In your free time, you tutor middle schoolers. The United States celebrates National Poetry Month each April, and some of the middle schoolers you tutor ask for your help analyzing poetry for their assignments.

A middle schooler named Violet needs help analyzing an Emily Dickinson poem titled “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” for her English course. She needs to determine where instances of metaphors and similes are present within the piece, but she doesn’t know the difference between them.

What can you tell Violet about the difference between metaphors and similes?
Question 1 options:

A metaphor is a type of rhyme often noted in poems; a simile indicates that a poem has no rhyme pattern.


A metaphor compares two things without using "like" or "as;" a simile compares two things using "like" or "as."


A metaphor is when an author compares two unlikely things; a simile is when an author contrasts two similar things.


A simile compares two things without using "like" or "as;" a metaphor compares two things using "like" or "as."

Answer 1

Correct answer: "A metaphor compares two things without using 'like' or 'as;' a simile compares two things using 'like' or 'as.'"

Quick examples for Violet:
- Simile: "Her smile is like the sun." (uses "like")
- Metaphor: "'Hope' is the thing with feathers." (says hope is a bird without using "like" or "as")