How do I analyse literature's literary, or stylistic, devices, e.g., allusion, metaphor, to show how a reader gets persuaded of a special statement?

The effectiveness of literary, or stylistic, devices like
metaphor and allusion depends upon knowledge the reader brings to reading the text. If
my Greek mythology is weak, a Classical allusion to Scylla and Nisus will persuade me of
nothing, only confuse and distract me. Similarly, the metaphor "her presence was a
Himalayan breeze" will persuade me of nothing unless I know geography and the climate
and air quality in the Himalayas. So let us assume readers are knowledgeable about these
and human experience, which is what personification depends upon.

The
following excerpt from Pope’s The Rape of the Lock contains
Classical allusion and can be examined
to see how analysis shows how a reader might be persuaded by
it.

Clarissa
drew with tempting Grace
A two-edg'd Weapon from her shining
Case;
So Ladies in Romance assist their Knight,
Present the Spear,
and arm him for the Fight.
He takes the Gift with rev'rence, (Canto
III)

Pope employs chivalric
allusion to the era of knights and chivalry. The allusions are "drew ... a two-edged
Weapon from her ... Case," "in Romance assist their Knight," "present the spear," "arm
him for the Fight," and "takes the gift with reverence."

The
first step to analyzing this for persuasion is to
identify the allusions. If readers
were to take these phrases literally, they'd be very confused. They'd picture a knight
in shinning armor in the middle of a parlor in 1712 amidst href="http://www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/index.cfm">boisterously
dressed women with enormous skirts: a most incongruous image. They would also envision a
petticoat clad woman draw a weapon from her "Case," as though she too were a
warrior.

Therefore, the second step to
analyzing whether this allusion is persuasive is to determine if there
are textual clues to alert the reader
to the presence and meaning of the allusions.

One clue is that the
whole context is satirically humorous and ironic. At no point is anything to be taken
for what it literally says. Everything has an unstated figurative meaning. Another clue
is the vocabulary that tells readers Pope is being satirical and ironic: e.g., "tempting
Grace," these words contradict each other, setting up irony; "her shinning Case," a
warrior lady might have a polished scabbard but not a "shinning Case"; "So Ladies in
Romance assist" indicates a mock portrayal of what ladies of old did. This analysis
indicates that--since the whole tends to figurative language and meaning underlying
irony and satire--the mention of Knights and shinning Cases is also figurative and hence
an allusion to a time of old.

Analysis for things like metaphor would
follow the same procedure by examining the text for diction, vocabulary, irony, tone,
mood (the same as atmosphere), other figurative language as well as illustration of
statements and imagery. If, for example, our Himalayan metaphor were followed by "cool"
and "fresh" or by the comparative simile "as welcome as air to a bird," which illustrate
through vocabulary and imagery, then you may determine the metaphor to be persuasive to
readers.

Devices like personification and
imagery depend upon life experience instead of knowledge.
The third step in analysis to show if these devices
persuade readers is to evaluate whether they are true to human
experience. For example, the
personification, "the plaster wall reeled joyfully," might be judged not in keeping with
human experience, therefore not persuasive. These are steps in analyzing literary, or
stylistic, devices for if they persuade readers.