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I have been trying to sell resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, and I admit to stalking checking out some of the top sellers.

Many of them sell handouts or posters, or worksheets that teach students to identify literary elements.

In my opinion, this type of lesson is a complete waste of time.

There is no standardized test—not the new SAT or the PARCC test or the AP Literature or AP Language—where students are required to define literary terms.  And there is no place on any of these tests where students are required to spot them either.

What they have to know is how those elements work to create meaning.  This means that if they don’t know the difference between personification and anthropomorphism, but they understand the effect of the phrase on the reader and how that effect helps the author make her point, then they are all set.

Literary elements are not there to add decoration or fanciness to a text—they are there to create meaning and convey that meaning to a reader.

I understand that it is very easy to test for literary element definitions—so easy, in fact, that it can be done with a multiple-choice quiz.  But even though that might be a nice break for an already overworked English teacher, it’s not what I want my students to learn.

It takes time to teach students how literature works, but when broken down into steps, it is not such a big mystery.

This is the process that I use to teach my students to understand how literary elements create meaning in a text.

First, I ask them to notice whatever they can.  They might annotate a text or just circle or underline or take notes in any way they want.  The important thing is for them to see what pops out as being essential or interestingly written before they are even thinking about why these pieces are important.  I encourage them to go with their gut here and find what they can.  If they happen to realize that the phrase that they especially like is a metaphor or if they recognize that the word that pops out at them is paradoxical, that’s fine.   But they don’t need to identify these elements, find the special parts.

Then I ask them to think about how those special words or phrases affect the reader.  What associations do they have with the chosen words?  What images are created by the vivid descriptions?  What emotions are evoked by the circled or underlined sentences?  How do the author’s choices make them feel?  What do they think of when they read these pieces to which their attention has been drawn?

Now it’s time to think about the main ideas.  Students are usually very practiced in this, though sometimes it takes a little pushing to get them to find the whole idea of a text.  They will have a main idea when they can answer this question:  What point is the author making about people or the world in general?

Then they bring it all together.  The emotions that they felt and those associations that were created helped them to understand the meaning of the text.  In other words, the reason why the author chose such a unique word for the second line of the first stanza or such a vivid metaphor to describe the way he felt in the third line of the first stanza was to convey his idea to the reader.   So maybe if the main point is that kids who are abused by their parents often make excuses for the abuser, then the paradoxical feelings of sadness and happiness created by the image of dancing in the first stanza help create that meaning.  Or if the main idea is that love is sweeter and more intense when it won’t last long, then the image at the end of the poem of the warm dying fire helps the reader feel the way that the speaker does.

It’s definitely not as easy to teach your students to think about how meaning is created.  But it is so much more important than teaching them to memorize and identify.

Ultimately, when you teach them to discuss and write about how literary elements create meaning in a text, you are teaching them to think for themselves.  And what could be more important or better use of class time than that?

Christina Gil was a high-school English teacher for sixteen years, but she recently left the classroom...

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22 Comments

  1. I totally agree and know that students spend entirely too much time with level one identification of literary terms. However, students have to learn these terms before they can rigorously apply this knowledge to a text and make meaning.

  2. I do agree that it is good to learn terms, but by the time students are in high school it is way too easy for them. They can usually identify a metaphor in their sleep, so it’s not exactly teaching them to give them a quiz on just the terms.

  3. Fascinating and practical. I think this would be a useful exercise for anyone approaching literature, at any phase, in fact.

  4. Love this insight! In addition to what you point out, I feel like the next level of mastery involves creation – students create – or recreate- these elements on their own. This allows them to not only understand their meaning but to utilize them with skill to invent meaning of their own. Great article! Makes me think differently about the activities I design.

  5. I agree. Honestly, by the time students reach high school, it should be about critical reading, deep discussion, and writing.

  6. I’m going to politely disagree with this author. As a writer, how can you use literary elements in your writing if you cant identify them? As an artist, we all learn the basic discipline specific language so that we can have technical conversations about the art and it’s meaning. Without an understanding of that terminology along with application beyond a multiple choice test, I can’t really expect any deep conversations with students about authors craft. As a student, I may make a claim that has nothing to do with literary terminology or devices, but I may use those devices as support to make my claim. That language is a gateway to access deeper conversation in literature. That access is especially important for students with lower socioeconomic economic status. I’ve had the same issues with teaching grammar. If we don’t teach terms like subject and predicate, how can we teach parallelism. In regards to standardized testing, I hope as English professionals we would be teaching skills beyond what testing asks of them. Getting a 5 on an AP test has little to do with a true understanding of great writing.

  7. I’m so glad that you’re not teaching any more. I absolutely disagree with everything that you’re saying. Before students can discuss literature, they must know and be able to identify its aggregate parts.

  8. I would argue that late elementary is absolutely the time to teach kids to identify the lit elements so they have a basic foundation and can then synthesize and analyze with them as they move into high school (mine do in 8th) with a working vocabulary and without having to figure out how to identify as well as working with those concepts at a higher level.

  9. I’ve taught two years of Special Education Language Arts (8th grade), with zero background in Language Arts. I’ve had to learn as I go, and it has not been fun! I love helping my students, but I feel torn. They did great with class discussions, but when asked to do your prescribed tasks independently they fall apart. My students struggle with writing sentences! Do you have any suggestions about what I should really be teaching these students?? I keep asking myself what do my students need most?? Then I search desperately to find materials that are age appropriate and engaging. I’m going into my 3rd year just as uncomfortable as my first. I have to teach reading fluency, comprehension, grammar, and writing in 55 minutes 5 days per week.

  10. You may be right on those assessments, but the NWEA MAP assessment DOES require elementary students to know literary devices. I found this to be true while proctoring testing and noticing some questions. I reviewed a literary device a day, just a quick intro and then some practice and scores jumped.

    Overall, don’t skip it, but do you really need to spend a massive amount of time on this? No.

  11. New York State Regents exams require students to identify literary elements in multiple choice questions and write an essay that defines and gives examples of a literary element in a given text. Many are unable to do this well.

  12. The question returns to ANALYSIS! Critical analysis is an essential concept that all students should be able to grasp before completing elementary school, as well as in high school. The use of critical analysis to both identify and write literary devices is useful in several ways. Not only is it applied through literature and poetry; it’s also applied in the arts as well as many other subjects. Students WILL be continuing their use of literary devices throughout their post-secondary studies if they proceed to University and/or College. Considering that it is mandatory to take an English credit in either University or College, they WILL be evaluated on their final exam of the use of Symbolism, or another literary device, in an essay or short answer questions pertaining to the novel and/or other texts studied during said class. Not preparing them now would be a disservice to our students.

    If we chose to ignore teaching students about literary devices, what would then be the use of critical analysis when pertaining to a novel study and the simple task of being able to make sense of the story and its purpose? Like I say to my students before every lesson involving critical analysis; we use analysis everyday whether it be while driving, playing a sport or creating a work of art. Without analysis, we would be a jump first and think afterwards type of society. The world would be a different place without something so basic. Something to think about.

  13. What flowery nonsense! Our tests do involve this and just like math concepts, kids must memorize first in order to apply. This teacher is living in a Dreamworld that does not exist.

  14. Hi Christina,
    I have spent the afternoon thinking about how to teach literary terms and looking for related teaching materials.
    I was relieved to find your webpage and your approach to teaching literary terms as it is action-based rather than theory-based. Great job!

    I find Laura Randazzo has designed a similar method to teaching grammar in her M.U.G. shot Monday grammar activities.

    Thanks so much. I’m looking forward to finding more of your writing online.

    Tuli (Melbourne)

  15. I do agree with you about students or pupils getting meaning of literary terms contextually, but it would be too much to ask them to find such words themselves if they have not been exposed to those terms. That is why vocabulary teaching comes in handy at any level of study. It is meant to empower the learner so that he or she can find the inherent meaning of the word if it is so used in a sentence. Hence the need for learners of literature to have prior knowledge of the literary terms and devices they are likely to meet along the way. Otherwise the approach to teaching literary elements and the like has something one can borrow from.

  16. Every test I have seen regarding ELA in the past 20+ years hasd FOCUSED on literary elements, to some degree.

    Elements and devices should be mentioned every single day in your classroom:
    1. WHAT EXACTLY DOES “CHARACTERIZATION” MEAN?
    2. WHAT PASSAGES/QUOTATIONS FROM THIS STORY RELATE TO CHARACTERIZATION?
    3. HOW DID THE AUTHOR GET HIS OR HER CHARACTERIZATION ACROSS TO THE READER?
    4. WHAT OTHER DEVICES AND ELEMENTS DID THE AUTHOR USE TO CONVEY HIS OR HER CHARACTERIZATION?

    This thorough analysis of elements and devices should happen with every story you teach. What exactly is the point otherwise?

  17. My daughter just asked me if I would be interested in teaching/sharing critical reading of literature with her freshman and 6th grader. (Distant learning at home due to covid) I have some experience teaching literature at high school level but my best experiences have been as a student of literature with gifted teachers, starting in high school in the early 60s and continuing through university. I have to admit, the first thing I did was google “What literary terms should high school students know.” Then I saw your post “Please stop teaching students to identify literary terms.” I cracked up, but I liked what you wrote and want to follow your model. I would appreciate any suggestions from you or other readers concerning appropriate book titles, discussion techniques, writing. Both grandkids are avid readers probably testing at or above grade 12. Their mother (and I) would like them to go beyond consumers of literature and develop more critical reading skills as well as an appreciation of the specifics involved in the craft of writing. They both also like writing, mostly fiction. Thank you.

  18. Actually literary terms do show up on the ACT in the reading section. I’ve specifically seen “personification” as an answer on a released ACT reading test. So..

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