To analyze the sounds in a literary work, you might use the following terms:
alliteration
the repetition of an initial sound to create special emphasis or rhythm, as in this sentence from Eudora Welty: Monsieur Boule inserted a delicate dagger in Mademoiselle's left side and departed with a posed immediacy.
meter
the rhythm of verse, as determined by the kind and number of feet (groups of syllables) in a line. Iambic pentameter indicates five feet of two syllables, with the stress falling on the second of the two, as in My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.
onomotopoeia
the use of words whose sounds call up or echo their meaning: hiss or sizzle, for example.
rhyme scheme
the pattern of end rhymes in a poem, usually designated by the letters a, b, c. The Emily Dickinson poem has a rhyme scheme of aabccd. A Shakespearean sonnet typically follows a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.
rhythm
in metrical poetry, the beat or pattern of stresses; in prose, the effect created by repetition, parallelism, and variation of sentence length and structure. Robert Frost's “Fire and Ice” uses a basic iambic rhythm, with every other syllable stressed: -/-/-/-/.
stanza
a division of a poem: a four-line stanza is called a quatrain; a two-line stanza, a couplet.
Literary language is sometimes distinguished from the nonliterary by its intensely purposeful use of imagery, vivid descriptions that evoke a picture or appeal to other senses. Often imagery is used to defamiliarize or “make strange” the ordinary so that readers can look at it in new ways. In discussing imagery, you might use the following terms:
allusion
an indirect (that is, unacknowledged) reference in a work to another work, such as a biblical passage, or to a historical event, a contemporary issue, a mythological character, and so on.
analogy
a comparison of two things that are alike in some respect, often to explain one of the things or to represent it more vividly by relating it to the second. A simile is an explicit analogy; a metaphor, an implied one. Vivian Gornick compares traditional relationships between men and women to "a thin fabric that no amount of patching can weave . . . together again."
figurative language
metaphor, simile, signifying, and other figures of speech that enrich description and create meaning.
symbolism
the use of one thing to represent other things or ideas, as the flag symbolizes patriotism or as ice symbolizes hate in Frost's “Fire and Ice.”
The codes and structures of narrative are very important to literary interpretation. You might want to examine the complexities that arise from representations of the author, the characters and their relationships, or the structures of time and space in a work. Some helpful terms for doing so include the following:
characters
the people in a story, who may act, react, and change accordingly during the course of a story.
dialogism
a term associated with the critic Mikhail Bakhtin, describing the rich social, cultural, and historical context surrounding any word or phrase, which is inevitably in dialogue with and responding to that context. The word democracy, for instance, carries a whole history of meanings and usages that any writer using the word must contend with.
dialogue
the conversation among characters, which can show how they interact and suggest why they act as they do. A monologue is a long speech by one character, spoken to himself or herself or aloud to another character.
heteroglossia
a term referring to the many voices present in a work of literature. In Charles Dickens's Hard Times, for example, the “voice” of mass education speaks alongside the voices of fictional characters.
implied author
the author that is inferred from or implied by the text, as distinct from the real person/author. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for example, the real author is the flesh-and-blood Samuel Clemens (or Mark Twain); the implied author is the author we imagine as Clemens that presents himself in the text.
intertextuality
the system of references in one text to other texts through quotations, allusions, parodies, or thematic references. Gary Larson's The Far Side Frankenstein cartoons refer intertextually to the original novel, Frankenstein, as well as to many movie versions and to other works focusing on the rewards—and limits—of science.
irony
the suggestion of the opposite, or nearly the opposite, of what the words usually mean, as in saying that being caught in a freezing downpour is “delightful.”
narrator
the person telling a story, who may be a character or an omniscient voice with a viewpoint outside the story itself. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator is Huck himself. In poetry, the narrator is known as the speaker. Both narrator and speaker may be referred to as the persona. See also point of view.
parody
an imitation intended for humorous or satiric effect, as in a takeoff on the magazine Martha Stewart Living titled Is Martha Stewart Living?
plot
the events selected by a writer to reveal the conflicts among or within the characters, often arranged in chronological order but sometimes including flashbacks to past events or even using episodic or spiraling progressions. Traditionally, the plot begins with exposition, which presents background information; rises to a climax, the point of greatest tension; and ends with a resolution and denouement, which contain the outcome.
point of view
the perspective from which a work is presented—in fiction, by a narrator outside the story or a character speaking in first or third person; in poetry, by the poet or a role assumed by the poet.
protagonist
the hero, or main character, often opposed by an antagonist, as Othello is opposed by Iago in Shakespeare's play Othello.
setting
the scene of a literary work, including the time, physical location, and social situation.
style
a writer's choice of words and sentence structures. Two devices characteristic of John F. Kennedy's style are repetition and inverted word order.
theme
a major and often recurring subject or topic. The predominant theme often reveals the larger meaning of the work, including any thoughts or insights about life or people in general.
tone
a writer's attitude, conveyed through specific word choices and structures.