Literary terms

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There are some literary terms that you will come across again and again in your studies. Here are some examples:

Imagery

The most convenient way of describing the key words in a poem is to use the term ‘imagery’: imagery covers every concrete object, action and feeling in a poem and also the use of metaphors and similes.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another (e.g. wafer thin). A simile is very nearly the same thing, but whereas metaphor identifies one thing with another, a simile involves the notion of similarity, using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’ (e.g. as thin as a rake).

Oxymoron

Like a paradox. A self-contradictory statement.

Semiotics

Semiotics mean the study of signs. Morse code is a simple sign language in which the dashes and dots represent letters. It is possible to say that everything in life sends out a coded message in a similar way: that clothes, body gestures, our social rituals all convey shared meanings to other people within our culture.

Symbol

An object which stands for something else (e.g. a dove symbolises peace). In a poem it is a word which, while signifying something specific, also signifies something beyond itself.

Students are often unclear about the differences between an image and a symbol. The difference is that what an image is associated with is stated in the poem, but with a symbol we have to infer the meaning and associations.

There are some literary terms that you will come across again and again in your studies. These sample definitions are taken from Literary Terms and Criticism by John Peck and Martin Coyle.