1. Learning Intention
Identify core skills for textual
analysis

2. Imagery - Metaphor, Simile, Personification
1 - Quote
2 - Explain what is being compared to what.
3 - Explain what we associate with the image.
4 - Explain how it effects the meaning.
Example
His face is scuffed by the emery-paper years
2. O'Rourke's father's face is being
compared to a scratched watch face.
3. Emery-paper would leave a
glass watch face scratched
and lined.
4. This suggests the old man's
face is old, damaged and lined
by the affects of time.
1.

3. Word Choice
1 - Quote the word
2 - Explain what is actually being described - the denotation.
3 - Explain what we associate with the word - the connotation.
4 - Explain how these connotations effect the meaning.
Example
Wind the watch until we’d hear it wheeze
2. Watching ticking and
whirring when it goes again.
3. Someone catching their
breath. Breathing but only just.
Not very healthy.
4. Watch being compared to a
living thing. Suggests
O'Rourke's father is bringing it
back to lifeWatching ticking
and whirring when it goes
again.
1.

4. Sound - Rhyme, Rhythm, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance,
Sibilance
1 - Quote
2 - Identify which technique is being used.
3 - Explain what sound is being made.
4 - Explain how it links to the meaning.
Example
'Testimonial tokens'
2. Alliteration
3. Repeated 't' sound.
4. Reminiscent of a clock
ticking.
1.

5. Structure - Verse Form, Content, Enjambment, Punctuation
1 - Quote
2 - Identify which technique is being used.
3 - Explain what it is about the structure which is relevant.
4 - Explain how it links to the meaning.
Example
Eyeglass squinched, he’d read the auguries
Pronounce and whistle, arrange his tiny tools
Wind the watch until we’d hear it wheeze
Teaching me to prod among the cogs and spools
2. list
3. Equally balanced list of
what his father does before
the watch is
fixed.
4. Creates a slow, steady rhythm which
suggests the old man is patient and
careful.
1.