Scope and prerequisites
IB Language A literature first assessment 2021; English focus. This supplemental reference covers only the listed preparation outcomes. School selections, full-guide procedures and required live or recorded performance are separate.
- Analyse imagery 意象, voice, structure and ambiguity 歧义
- Explain effects through precise evidence 证据 rather than plot summary
Prerequisites: Speaker versus author; figurative language; evidence and qualification.
Explain and choose the method
Literary analysis connects wording and form to meaning. Personification 拟人 assigns human qualities to something non-human.
Establish who speaks and what the passage makes available before treating a speaker as the author's own voice.
Close reading 细读 connects a word or pattern to a supported interpretation. In Text B, “beside” contrasts with “where” and makes addition different from replacement. The poem's old circle and new clean wood turn a relationship into visible space. Do not stop at naming imagery ; explain what the image lets the reader notice.
Existing worked example: In the original classroom line, held its breath suspends ordinary movement and makes anticipation feel shared. Compare that interpretation with nearby details before claiming the phrase signals fear rather than excitement.
Complete original context
Original classroom texts, written for this supplement. They are not school-selected assessed works.
Text A — The label Every morning I polished the brass plate beside the door. It carried my father's name, and visitors asked for him even after I took charge of the shop. I answered their questions, found the parts, and wrapped each purchase. Still, at the door, they thanked the name on the plate. One afternoon I put a small card below it: “Ask for Leila.” The next visitor read the card aloud, hesitated, and then asked me where the hinges were. I left the brass plate shining. The card stayed too.
Text B — A space on the shelf (original poem) I cleared a place beside the cup, not where the cup had been. The shelf kept its old circle; the new wood still looked clean. By evening, two rings darkened it. I did not rub them out.
Context supplied for this exercise: both texts are contemporary original classroom writing in English. No author biography, translation 翻译 history or evidence about a real society is supplied. Compare what the wording permits; do not invent historical facts. A real course comparison must use the school's eligible studied works.
Independent practice and checked reasoning
Transfer 1
Analyse the poem's voice, imagery and structure in a coherent paragraph, allowing ambiguity.
Reasoning: The first-person speaker makes a quiet decision about space. “Beside” corrects the possible replacement implied by “where”, so the opening frames coexistence. The contrast between “old circle” and “new wood” gives the past and a new place physical traces. The final refusal to rub out either ring accepts the changed shelf. This may suggest shared belonging or preserving memory; the poem does not name the relationship, so a specific family story would exceed the evidence.
Transfer 2
Compare “I did not rub them out” with a hypothetical ending “I rubbed the old ring out”. Explain how the altered choice changes meaning.
Reasoning: The supplied ending preserves both traces and supports coexistence. The hypothetical ending removes the old trace and could suggest replacement or deliberate separation. It is an analytical comparison with an invented alternative, not a quotation from the actual poem.
Transfer 3
Give two defensible readings of Text A's preserved brass plate. Explain how the card constrains a reading of total submission.
Reasoning: Keeping the polished plate can imply respect and continuity, or the continuing authority of an inherited name. The new card visibly asserts Leila's recognition, so a reading in which she does nothing to alter her position ignores that action. Interpretations may coexist if supported and qualified.
Limits and next use
The classroom line is original practice, not a quotation from a prescribed work. Avoid an effect word such as vivid without explaining what is made vivid and why it matters.
All tasks here are public original practice with authored guidance. They are not official questions or fresh diagnostics. Existing protected tests and mocks remain separate.
