Figurative Language:

Authors use figurative language to create a special effect or feeling. Figurative language helps the reader understand the text better and better imagine the events and the characters.

These are some examples of poetic devices:

• Rhyme scheme: the pattern in which the sounds made at the end of the last word in a line match with other lines in the poem
  
  Example: The rhyme scheme in the following poem is AABB based on the matching the end rhymes in each pair of lines.
  
  Because you mean the world to me (A)
  I give you my heart, honestly (A)
  Tread softly, I have only one (B)
  Without it, I am surely done (B)
  
  
• Alliteration: beginning two or more words of a word group with the same letter
  
  Example: Artful anger acutely awaits
  
  
• Repetition: Repeating a word to draw attention to an idea or to stress a point. The following line repeats the word “word” to show it is important.
  
  Example: The word, the word; it cuts me like a sword

To understand the tone of the passage look for:

Author's purpose — the reason the author wrote the passage affects the tone he or she uses. For example, a passage written to entertain often has a light-hearted tone and a passage written to instruct may have a formal tone.

Author's point of view — the way the author feels about a topic influences the passage's tone. For example, a passage that shows the author's dislike of a topic may have a bitter tone.

Word choice — the words the author chooses to describe or explain a topic help make up the passage's tone. For example, using the words “necessary” and “most importantly” show a sense of urgency.