More Vocabulary Terms for Literary Analysis Name:_____________________________
STUDY GUIDE
Date:___________________Per.#______
literal (language): (adj) adhering to fact or to the ordinary or usual meaning of a word.
Literally, “words mean exactly what they say.”
***Analytical readers need to look beyond the literal to determine the deeper, more figurative
meaning.***
figurative (language) (fig-YOOR-a-tive LAN-gwije) Figurative language does not mean
exactly what it says, but instead requires the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to
comprehend (understand) an author's point and/or visualize an author’s intended image. It
usually involves a comparison between two things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one
another. Figurative language facilitates understanding because it relates something unfamiliar
to something familiar.
***Poets and authors use figurative language to create more clear, interesting, and imaginative
images in the minds of their readers.
simile (sim-EH-lee)(n): makes a comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or ideas
by connecting them with the words "like" or "as." Similes are meant to put a positive,
negative, and/or creative image into the mind of the reader.
metaphor (met-AH-for) (n): makes a comparison between two otherwise unalike objects or
ideas by saying that one thing is something else, even though, literally, it is not. Metaphors are
meant to put a positive, negative, and/or creative image into the mind of the reader; however,
they are not always as direct as similes. Some metaphors are only implied metaphors.
Consider this: In connecting one object, event, or place, to another, a metaphor can uncover new and
intriguing qualities of the original thing that we may not normally notice or even consider important.
Metaphoric language is used in order to realize a new and different meaning. The reader is meant
to understand a likeness between two essentially different things. A metaphor may be found in a simple
comparison or largely as the image of an entire poem, sometimes called an extended metaphor. Ex.
The songs “Life is a Highway” or “Time”
personification {PER-son-E-fih-ka-shEn) (n): A figure of speech where animals, ideas or
inanimate objects are given human characteristics. By giving human characteristics to things
that do not have them, it makes these objects and their actions easier to visualize for a reader
and achieves a much more vivid image.
Parallel Structure: a repetition of words, phrases, or sentences using the same pattern or
structure, often used for emphasis, to add mood, or to make a point.
This line from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides an example:
“The world will little not nor long remember what we say here,
But it can never forget what they did here.”
Ex. "All the same, when I came to the Place of the Gods, I was afraid, afraid." (Stephen Vincent Benet, “By the
Waters of Babylon”) In this case, the parallel structure is the repetition of the word “afraid.” If the
character is scared enough to tell us twice that he or she is afraid, what does that do to the mood?
In “Zoo,” Edward Hoch uses parallel structure when he writes, “the Earth peoples agreed that this had been
the best Zoo yet…” and then later, the little horse-spider creature said, “It was the very best Zoo ever…” Note
that the capitalized “Zoo” is a choice by the author…Why?
In “Home,” Gwendolyn Brooks says of Papa’s walking, “It was that same dear little staccato walk, one shoulder
down, then the other, then repeat, and repeat.”… “He passed the Kennedys’, he passed the vacant lot, he
passed Mrs. Blakemore’s.” What effect do these repetitions have on the reader?
As we saw in “Zoo” the parallel structure sometimes appears in different parts of a story or novel, as in
“Home” when at the beginning of the story, the narrator tells us that Maud Martha, “…merely gazed at a little
hopping robin in the tree, her tree…” and then closer to the end of the story, Papa “opened his gate—the
gate—and still his stride and face told them nothing.” What does Ms. Brooks want to show the reader?
juxtaposition: (n) the purposeful placing of two things next to each other to achieve some
effect.
Ex. In advertising, a handsome/buff or beautiful celebrity with a glass of milk hints to us viewers that we, too,
could become handsome, beautiful, or famous if we drink milk!
Also, think of “Before” and “After” photos placed next to each other in advertising.
Ex. In HOLES, Louis Sachar juxtaposes the section of Sam’s death with the incident in which the other
campers accuse Stanley of treating Zero like a slave.
Ex. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom juxtaposes the italicized quotes, flashbacks, and other anecdotes,
with topics in the previous or following chapters in order to add meaning or further insight to those chapters.
symbolism: (n) in literature, the use of some object to represent something greater or
different from itself. Symbols often represent abstract concepts like love, strength, courage,
challenge, struggle, etc. Sometimes a symbol might represent a character.
Ex. In HOLES, the mountain is a repeated symbol in each of the three plots, representing the challenges each
character must over come.
Ex. In Tuesdays with Morrie, the “small hibiscus plant” in Morrie’s study may be symbolic of his life…HOW?
denotation (DEE-no-TAE-shuhn) noun: the exact (dictionary) meaning of a word, without
the feelings, associations, or suggestions that the word may imply.
connotation (KAH-nuh-TAE-shun) noun: an association that comes along with a particular
word. Connotations relate to the emotions, ideas or qualities that are implied by that word.
Analytical readers must be aware of the positive or negative connotations of words in order
to precisely understand what the author is trying to communicate. Authors choose words and
create images with clear connotation to make their writing more vivid and interesting to read.