Jump to a Literary Technique:
What It Is: An indirect or passing reference to literature, history, pop culture, or art. Usually this references Greek myth, the Christian Bible, Shakespeare, or fairy tales.
How to Annotate for It: Look for names, symbols, or plot elements that recall previous stories. If you see a connection, ask how the two stories mirror one another. Do they follow the same pattern? What is the lesson of the alluded story and how does the new story take up that lesson? Does the writer subvert our expectations from the original story? What are they trying to get you to see with that change?
What It Is: A comparison of two different objects that have one thing in common. Typically uses a form of to be. A conceit (extended metaphor) incorporates further imagery to give greater detail in the comparison.
Example: Life is a highway. Extension: College is an exit ramp.
How to Annotate for It: Consider how the metaphor helps to enhance the complexity of the text. Usually the comparison has multiple layers to it, similar to a symbol, so you should think about how the comparison can help reveal all of those aspects.
What It Is: A comparison using like or as.
How to Annotate for It: Consider how the simile helps to enhance the complexity of the text. Usually the comparison has multiple layers to it, similar to a symbol, so you should think about how the comparison can help reveal all of those aspects.
What It Is: Personification involves giving human traits to non-human objects. It can humanize them to treat them as more important. Prosopopoeia is a specific type of personification that turns non-human objects or ideas into full characters with their own voices and personalities.
How to Annotate for It: Pay attention for how human characteristics are applied, especially to places and major ideas (like Death or Democracy). These are the key objects of prosopopoeia in literature. As you notice this device, consider what the author gains by humanizing their object.
What It Is: An apostrophe is when an author addresses an absent person or idea. It can be a form of personification/prosopopoeia if the author is turning the idea into a character in its own right.
Example: "Death, where is your sting." Death here is addressed as part of the story. The address is an apostrophe, and the apostrophe helps to personify Death as its own character.
How to Annotate for It: This will often come at the start of a story or a poem or at the start of a key piece of dialogue. Consider what the author achieves by making such a direct address.