Literary, Poetry, and Rhetorical Analysis Definitions

plot

the sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem

setting

the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur; relationship to historical, social, political, and economic contexts

characterization

the act of creating and developing a character (a person who takes part in the action of a literary work)

point of view

the perspective from which a narrative is told

symbol

any object, person, place, or action that has both a meaning in itself and that stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, attitude, belief, or value

motif

a repeated pattern (image, sound, word, or symbol) that recurs throughout a story

imagery

the words or phrases a writer uses to represent persons, objects, actions, feelings, and ideas descriptively by appealing to the senses

tone

the writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience

theme

the central message of a literary work (complete statement, directly stated/implied)

rhetoric

the art of persuading in writing or speaking

logical appeals (logos)

Incorporate inductive reasoning, Use deductive reasoning, Cite traditional culture, Cite commonly held beliefs, Allude to history, religious texts, great literature, or mythology, Manipulate the style, Employ various modes of discourse for specific effects, Provide testimony, Draw analogies/create metaphors, Order chronologically, Provide evidence, Classify evidence, Cite authorities, Quote research, Use facts, Theorize about cause and effect, Argue from precedent

emotional appeals (pathos)

Use language that involves the senses, Include a bias or prejudice, Include an anecdote, Include connotative language, Explore euphemisms, Use description, Use figurative language, Develop tone, Experiment with informal language

ethical appeals (ethos)

• Show written voice in the argument

• Make the audience believe that the writer is trustworthy

• Demonstrate that the writer put in research time

• Support reasons with appropriate, logical evidence

• Present a carefully crafted and edited argument

• Demonstrate that the writer knows the audience and respects them

• Show concern about communicating with the audience

• Convince the audience that the writer is reliable and knowledgeable

alliteration

the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word

consonance

repeats consonants but not vowels

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds

allusion

a brief reference to a person, event, place, or phrase

direct characterization

a character is described by the author, the narrator or the other characters

indirect characterization

a character’s traits are revealed by action and speech

irony

the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, what is meant or said and what others understand

hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims used to emphasize a point; not meant to be taken literally

understatement

Deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact

litotes

A particular form of understatement; denies the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used

simile

An explicit comparison between two unlike things through the use of connecting words, usually “like” or “as”

metaphor

A direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects

personification

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form

anaphora

Repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses

epistrophe/antistrophe

Forms the counterpart to anaphora because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences; emphasis placed on the last word in a phrase or sentence

anadiplosis

Repetition of a prominent (usually the last) word in one phrase or clause at the beginning of the next

parallelism

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter; the presentation of several ideas of equal importance by putting each of them into the same kind of grammatical structure

antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses

asyndeton

Omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words, phrases, or clauses

polysyndeton

The use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton; produces the feeling of a deliberate piling up, a one-added-to-another multiplicity

caesura

A pause created by either the completion of a syntactic thought or the placement of a punctuation mark

onomatopoeia

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

rhyme

correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry

shifts

a literary device in which the tone or mood in a piece of writing is changed in order to define characters or make a novel or poem more interesting, engaging, and effective