You’ve gotten the basics of theme, setting, and symbolism down, so now it’s time to dive further. I’ll show you how to spot a motif in literature.

It’s actually pretty simple when you get the hang of it (I think it’s even easier than spotting some symbols).

Motifs make reading more fun because you get to explore literature for all it’s worth.

You can learn about the author, about society, or about yourself if you refuse to take fiction at face value.

So let’s get started.

What Is A Motif?

The technical definition of a motif is a recurring idea or image that reinforces the theme of a piece of literature.

But technical definitions are boring. What does this actually mean?

To understand motifs, you first must understand themes. Themes are basically the main messages of a novel, play, or other piece of literature.

There can be more than one theme in whatever you’re reading (in fact, there’s usually more than one). Authors use motifs to reveal the themes to the reader through repetition.

Let’s think about it in terms of a painting.

The canvas, colors, type of paint, brush strokes, etc., make up the whole painting—just like different literary devices make up a whole piece of literature. Let’s say this particular painting is one of a violent storm.

That image—what the painter wants you to see as the big picture—is the theme. The motif may be the many bold brush strokes that give that storm its movement. Or it could be the choice of grays that show the ominous nature of the storm.

Sometimes, a motif in literature is as easy to spot as the colors in a painting because of its repetitive nature. Other times, the author may choose to make the motif a little subtler.

Motifs vs. Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, places, or concepts that represent something else. For example, the color purple can represent royalty, while a rose may represent beauty or love. In many cases, a symbol only appears once or twice in a text.

A motif, as discussed earlier, is a recurring image or idea—and it can even be (and often is) a recurring symbol.

A motif is a recurring image or idea—and it can even be (and often is) a recurring symbol.
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There are a few differences to note when thinking about symbols and motifs. First, a symbol always represents something else. A motif, on the other hand, is more flexible. It can be much more straightforward than a symbol, but it doesn’t have to be.

For example, symbols of death could be dark colors, ravens, tolling bells, or whatever else the author chooses.

If one of these symbols is repeated throughout the book, it becomes a motif. However, a motif of death could be as literal as several characters dying throughout the story.

Another difference between symbols and motifs is how often they’re repeated. Here, the motif is the one with the stricter guidelines. It must be prevalent in the literature rather than appearing just once or twice. Symbols can pop up just once or in every chapter.

There can also be a wide variety of symbols to represent just one concept. Because of this, symbols may sometimes be harder to spot than motifs. But motifs still have their own set of challenges. Fortunately, with a little help and practice, it gets easier to find them.

Finding a Motif in Literature

There are a couple of ways to go about finding a motif in literature. You can either work forward or backward. I find it most helpful to work backward, but that’s just my personal preference.

With this method, you first identify a theme. You then think about what made you identify that as a theme. If there was an object or idea that kept popping up in the text, that’s your motif.

The second way is to work forward. You first look for the objects or ideas that appear over and over again. Then you link them to a theme.

Whichever method you use, you should end up with the same result.

Motif Examples in Literature

Pretty much every piece of literature has at least one motif. Here are some examples from some of the most-read pieces of fiction.

Romeo and Juliet

One thing you’ll notice a lot (a good indication of a motif) in Romeo and Juliet is the light and dark imagery. In many books and plays, light is seen as pure or good, and darkness is seen as evil. But that’s not the case here.

Instead, the light and darkness give a pretty clear sense of contrast that’s evident in the play’s many themes.

The Scarlet Letter

A big motif in The Scarlet Letter is wilderness versus civilization. The Puritan town of Boston has strictly enforced rules that keep society running (at least in the minds of the town’s leaders and citizens).

The wilderness is scarier, but it’s where the truth comes out. It’s where Hester and Dimmesdale can be together without the prying eyes of the townspeople, and where Pearl can run around and be her wild-child self.

The characters go back and forth between these settings, and the mentalities of civilization versus wilderness, throughout the book.

1984

The motif of doublethink in 1984 is a strong one. It touches on several themes, such as mind control through information control, and the dangers of totalitarianism.

Doublethink in 1984 can be seen when people believe whatever the Party tells them even if they have contradicting facts or evidence. It allows them to have both the evidence and the contradicting Party-promoted belief without any cognitive dissonance.

Next Up: Writing Your Essay

Are motifs a bit clearer now? Take this information with you, so you can find the motifs in anything you read. Once you’ve found a motif in literature, it’s time to get writing.

If you’d like to see how other students have written about motifs, check out these examples:

• Analyzing the Moral Themes, Motifs, and Symbolism in Great Expectations
• Motifs and Symbolism in The Little Prince
• An Analysis of the Motifs in Macbeth
• An Analysis of Death and Burial Motifs in Literature by Edgar Allan Poe

Once you’re finished writing your own essay, have the Kibin editors take a look. They’ll let you know whether you’re on the right track and will suggest changes that take your essay to the next level.

So start searching for those motifs!

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The fact that he’s using Facebook to complain about how much he hates Facebook is a clear example of irony.

Locating examples of irony in literature, though, may not be so obvious. You might need to brush up on your literary analysis skills in order to write an ironclad paper about irony.

To help you out, here are three types of irony you’ll find in literature, ideas on how to write about irony in literature, and a few examples of where you might spot irony in your reading assignments.

Ready to do battle with irony? Don your armor, and let us begin!

3 Types of Irony in Literature (and How to Write About Them)

Irony can be defined as a situation that’s different than anticipated or as using words in a way that differs from their intended meanings.

Situational, dramatic, and verbal irony are the basic forms of irony in literature you’ll see most often.

Though it’s not always as obvious as using Facebook to complain about Facebook, irony does force you, as a reader, to look more deeply into the meaning of the text to fully appreciate it.

Irony forces you to look more deeply into the meaning of the text.
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Situational irony

Situational irony occurs when an event turns out to be significantly different than what you expected. It’s sort of like the twist at the end of a movie.

Imagine looking out your dorm window to see a fellow student walking through the courtyard after a torrential rain. She’s wearing sandals and steps carefully around each puddle to avoid getting wet.

But she’s so concerned with looking down to avoid puddles that she forgets to look up and walks right under an awning that drenches her with rainwater as she walks by. It’s ironic that she tried so hard to stay dry but got soaked anyway.

In literature, you’ll find situational irony in the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. When you read the title, you generally think of a parent asking a child about her actions and who she plans to be with.

Ironically, Connie’s parents don’t seem too concerned with where she goes or who she goes with. The result: Connie ends up in a dangerous situation with an adult man and is likely raped.

Another example is the novel Animal Farm. The animals of the farm take over the farm so that they can run it as they see fit. They abhor the way people run things. Ironically enough, the animals end up acting just like people—and even worse in some situations.

What to look for when identifying situational irony:

• As you read, try to predict the plot. Does the storyline progress as you think it would, or are you surprised by twists and turns throughout? If situations are different than you thought they’d be, this will likely be situational irony.

• Remember, situational irony doesn’t necessarily only appear over the entire plot. Look for irony in specific scenes. (This is true whether you’re reading a poem, short story, play, or novel.)

Interested in reading one writer’s analysis of situational irony? Read An Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace.

Dramatic irony

Dramatic irony is, as you would suspect, common in works of drama, specifically tragedies. In dramatic irony, the reader is aware of an event or situation that may harm or otherwise negatively affect a character, but the character is completely oblivious to it.

Dramatic irony can build suspense and hold readers’ interest because readers want to see whether the character learns the information that they (the readers) already know or whether the lack of information will be the downfall of the character.

Pretend you’re sitting in a classroom listening to a very serious professor give a very serious lecture about the Vietnam War. The professor is careful with every word because the dean of the department is sitting in the back of the classroom.

As a student, you can see that the small sign behind him clearly indicates that the wall has been freshly painted. The professor is facing the class, however, and doesn’t see the sign until he leans back, coating his new suit jacket in bright white paint.

In this case, you had knowledge that the professor did not, and you hoped that he wouldn’t walk into wet paint while the dean was there observing.

A more intense version of dramatic irony can be found in the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. The audience knows that Nora forged her father’s signature to help save her husband’s life, yet her husband, Torvald, does not.

Readers continue reading in anticipation to see whether Torvald will find out Nora’s secret and whether this secret will ultimately lead to her downfall and breakup of their marriage.

What to look for when identifying dramatic irony:

• As you read, pay attention to how information is revealed. If the story is told through an all-knowing (omniscient) narrator, readers will know every detail, but the characters will only know bits and pieces of the story.

• Dramatic irony is also revealed through dialogue between characters. Look for characters talking about others behind their backs and dialogue that in some way advances the plot.

For a more in-depth example, read this example essay that focuses on dramatic irony: The Use of Dramatic Irony and Apostrophes in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a Play by William Shakespeare.

Verbal irony

Verbal irony is a statement in which the meaning is different than the meaning the words seem to express.

Verbal irony in literature might appear as statements made by individual characters or in statements made by the narrator of the story. Such irony is often meant as a form of criticism.

Imagine moving a bunch of heavy boxes out of your dorm room. You ask a friend to help. While you’re carrying two ginormous boxes, your friend grabs a small shoe box and walks out the door. Your reply: “Thanks so much. I appreciate how hard you’re working to help me.”

While this phrase might be considered sarcastic, it’s also ironic in the sense that you were hoping he’d help with the heavy stuff, and he only grabbed a small box.

Keep in mind that verbal irony in literature doesn’t necessarily need to appear as off-handed or as a direct ironic statement. Conversations themselves may simply be ironic.

Take, for instance, the female citizens in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. 

The women talk about the importance of being Christian and how they’re helping the Africans. What’s ironic about the conversation is that they’re not behaving very Christian-like because of their racist views about Tom Robinson (a member of their own community).

You’ll also see verbal irony in poetry, such as The Unknown Citizen by W.H. Auden. The entire poem is dripping with irony.

Consider the final lines of the poem:

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Here, the speaker is being ironic. The subject of the poem (the unknown citizen) isn’t necessarily happy, but it’s unlikely that he would have spoken up about his true feelings.

What to look for when identifying verbal irony:

• Verbal irony is usually present in conversations, so dialogue is a great place to start your analysis.

• Remember, verbal irony might also appear in the words of a narrator or in the words of a speaker in poetry.

Check out this example essay about irony for some writing inspiration.

Putting It All Together

Looking for a little help putting your ideas into essay format? Here are five quick tips:

1. Take notes while you read. Don’t expect to remember every bit of irony without writing it down.
2. Use a prewriting strategy (such as listing, freewriting, or outlining) to organize your ideas.
3. Create a strong thesis statement to focus your paper.
4. Use solid evidence to support your arguments.
5. Revise and edit your essay.

Need a little more help with literary analysis? I recommend reading these posts:

• How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works
• Writing About Literature: 9 Things You Need to Know
• 15 Literary Terms You Need to Know to Write Better Essays
• Literary Analysis Tips From a Kibin Editor

If you’re weary from the battle and desperately need someone to rescue you, have no fear—a valiant and brave knight in shining Kibin armor can help you polish your masterpiece to perfection.

Good luck, and happy writing!

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Check out this short paragraph from Charlotte’s Web:

Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink.

It’s only 61 words, but it creates a vivid picture, doesn’t it? You can easily imagine what Fern looks like as she comes down the stairs. You also get a clear image of the carton and baby pig inside.

This is a prime example of imagery. It creates a mental image that allows the reader to visualize the scene.

That’s all well and good, but other than saying that imagery creates a visual image, what else is there to say about it?

Here are a few tips to help you analyze imagery in literature the smart way.

How to Analyze Imagery in Literature the Smart Way

When you think of imagery, you usually think of visual imagery. But a mental image is much more than what you see.

Think about standing in a crowded elevator with a group of people who just got out of spin class. What you see might not be the most memorable part of this scene. The smell of a bunch of sweaty people in a tiny elevator will likely be the most vivid part of this image.

Thus, keep in mind that imagery in literature can involve all of your senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

Let’s take a look at imagery in both poetry and prose, and analyze imagery the smart way.

Imagery in literature can involve all of your senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
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How to analyze imagery in poetry

As you already know, poets are known for using all sorts of literary devices, including symbolism, rhyme, meter, and metaphors. They also use plenty of imagery.

Poets often use imagery to set the entire mood of the poem. They create a feeling they wish to express and hope the reader feels it as well.

Let’s take a look at “Root Cellar” by Theodore Roethke and examine how the poet uses imagery:

Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch,

Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,

Shoots dangled and drooped,

Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates,

Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.

And what a congress of stinks!—

Roots ripe as old bait,

Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,

Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.

Nothing would give up life:

Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath

It’s pretty easy to see the imagery in this poem, but what is there to say other than Roethke paints a picture of a root cellar?

Start with the obvious: what you see when you read the poem. Roethke creates a scene of a dark, dank, musty old root cellar. It smells bad and is full of weeds.

Most of the poem is dark, maybe even a bit depressing. But the final lines offer a sense of hope as the speaker states that, even in this environment, “Nothing would give up life.”

Even dirt is alive and breathing. (This, of course, might be compared to the human condition. People often struggle in deep, dark spaces, but they continue on, fighting for life and happiness.)

Next, let’s move on to literary terms that poems often use to help exemplify imagery.

In addition to imagery, “Root Cellar” contains:

• Alliteration (use of the same beginning sounds in words). Example: “Bulbs broke out of boxes” and “dangled and drooped.” Alliteration creates a sense of rhythm to the poem and an image of the bulbs.

• Simile (a comparison to seemingly dissimilar objects). Example: The shoots had “long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.” This comparison not only helps readers visualize the the length and color of the weeds but also creates an image of life. The weeds are moving, growing, and slithering like snakes.

• Connotation (assigning meaning to a word beyond a literal dictionary definition). Example: “Roots ripe as old bait.” Readers will likely assign a negative connotation to this phrase since they imagine the smell. This phrase also adds sense of smell to the already-present visual imagery.

One final takeaway when analyzing imagery in poetry: carefully examine every word. Poets aren’t wordy. They choose wisely and make every word count, so you better believe that, if a word is in a poem, it’s there for a reason.

After you’ve examined each word under the microscope, you can start to put your analysis into place to draft a poetry paper.

Here are two resources to help:

• How to Compare and Contrast Poems Like a Lit Major
• How to Analyze a Poem and Sound Smart Doing It

How to analyze imagery in prose

Analyzing imagery in prose, such as a short story or novel, is similar to analyzing imagery in poetry, but you’re working with complete sentences, paragraphs, and images built into a larger scope of a story.

Often, the writers of stories and novels aren’t using imagery as the sole focus of their work, but they’re generally trying to make a point. The imagery is there for a reason.

Authors often use imagery to set the scene and help readers put themselves in the characters’ shoes.

To illustrate, here’s an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros:

But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. There are stairs in our house, but they’re ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom—Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.

Here, Cisneros creates a vivid image of the house that the child narrator will soon move into. The author uses personification to bring the windows to life (as they’re “holding their breath”), but the other literary devices often seen in poetry are absent in this example.

Instead, the author focuses on specific word choices to create the image. You can see the small, red, crumbling house. You can visualize a house crammed between other houses with only a tiny yard and young trees.

The author also includes tactile imagery as you can imagine yourself struggling to open a door that is “so swollen you have to push hard to get in.”

It’s obvious that the author includes imagery to describe the scene. But as you write your essay, it’s important to ask yourself why the author includes these specific images. What purpose do they serve within the larger context of the story?

In this case, the author includes this powerful imagery so that readers can sense the disappointment and shame the child feels as she looks at her new home.

“They” (presumably her parents) had told her about a new house they were moving to, but it’s apparent that they described the house differently. The child doesn’t see the house as anything she wants to live in.

She simply sees a run-down, tired old house that isn’t at all what she imagined.

The purpose is to allow readers to stand in the character’s shoes. The imagery creates a mood of sadness and disappointment. It helps readers connect with the character, learn more about the character as an individual, and learn more about the character’s role in the story.

If you have a good sense of imagery but are looking for more help putting your ideas into essay format, check out these posts:

• How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works
• Writing About Literature: 9 Things You Need to Know

A Smart Analysis

Hopefully, the tips I’ve included here make you feel more confident in writing a smart analysis about imagery in literature.

Need a little more insight? Look at how other students have written about imagery in literature. Here are a few example essays:

• A Literary Analysis of the Imagery in Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• An Analysis of Animal Imagery in a Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
• An Analysis of the Widespread Use of Sexual Imagery in Greek Literature

Working with a specific piece of literature? Search for sample essays about it.

One final piece of advice: don’t start writing without a little bit of planning. Spend time taking notes about imagery as you read. Jot down examples and what you think they mean. Once you’ve read the literature and taken notes, outline your ideas.

When you have a draft in place, find someone (like a professional Kibin editor) who is pretty smart about analyzing imagery in literature and can provide expert feedback. That way, you won’t have to imagine a good grade on your paper. You’ll earn it!

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A boy in the class asked why Poe just didn’t say what he meant instead of hiding the meaning in symbols and metaphors. I’m sure we’ve all felt the same way at some point. But the answer to that boy’s question was that the story would be really dry and boring.

Symbolism is one of many literary devices used not only to bring more meaning to a story but also to make it more captivating.

If you have trouble writing about literary symbols, or even finding them in the first place, you’re not alone. Plenty of students are in the same boat. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you navigate through the rough seas of symbol-searching.

What Is Symbolism?

The first thing we have to talk about is what symbolism and symbols mean.

Put simply, literary symbols are objects, actions, places, words, colors, and sometimes characters that signify something different from their original meaning. Symbolism, then, is the use of symbols within a story.

Symbols exist everywhere, even outside of literature. Think about the American flag, for instance. The 13 stripes on the flag symbolize, or represent, the original 13 colonies, while the stars represent each of the current 50 states.

Wedding ceremonies are also loaded with symbolism.

The rings represent the lasting commitment the couple vows toward one another. Some people have knot-tying, sand-pouring, or candle-lighting traditions that symbolize the way two lives are becoming one through the marriage.

It works the same way in literature. Authors may choose to make up their own unique symbols or use some more common ones.

70 Common Literary Symbols

Most authors use some common symbols within their texts.

Using symbols people already know helps readers realize what the symbols represent without the need for much more explanation. It keeps the story or poem more succinct, understandable, and enjoyable to read.

Below are some of the most common literary symbols, separated by category.

It’s important to note that, just because authors use a color or an object in their writing, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a symbol. They could be describing the colors of a sunset for imagery purposes instead.

I know—confusing, right? So how are you supposed to know when something represents a bigger idea or when it’s just part of the prose?

How to Tell When Something Is Really a Symbol

Now that you have an idea of what symbolism is and what a few of the most common literary symbols are, it’s time for the hard part—identifying the symbols within the book, play, or poem you’re reading.

Hopefully, these next few pointers will make the process easier.

1. Look at descriptions

If a character is always dressed in purple clothing and wearing a crown, these items probably symbolize the character’s power, wealth, and royal status. If the items disappear later in the story, you can see the character might have lost power and royal status.

Colors, numbers, objects, and names can all be literary symbols. And if certain descriptions of objects appear regularly throughout the text, they’re probably symbols.

2. Look for repetition

Symbols hardly ever appear just once. Think about The Sixth Sense. In that movie, whenever a ghost is about to appear or is in the scene, the color red is always present. If this just happened once or twice, it probably wouldn’t mean much.

But the fact that it happens every time makes it symbolic. The same thing happens in literature. If a character only appears at night (think vampires) throughout the book, the character probably represents some evil or mystery.

3. Pay attention to the turning points in a story

When a symbol does only appear once or twice in a story, it’ll be around the turning points. Think about a rainbow after a large storm. The characters may have struggled through the storm, but the rainbow symbolizes hope and peace.

Thus, turning points are your cue to pay attention. If there’s a dramatic shift in the tone or plot, you can probably find a symbol or two in the text.

Writing About Literary Symbols With Confidence

Writing with confidence about any literary device can be challenging. But there are a few ways that can help.

First, do your research.

If you just can’t find any literary symbols in the book or poem you’re reading, find out what others are saying about it. There are websites where you can find the common symbols in many popular stories. Kibin’s a pretty valuable resource too. Just look at these posts:

• 4 Tips for Dissecting Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
• 3 Smart Ideas for Your Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Analysis
• Lord of the Flies Symbolism: 3 Ideas for Your Essay

There’s also Kibin posts that address the symbolism in Beowulf, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Grapes of Wrath, Araby by James Joyce, Frankenstein, and The Great Gatsby. Need some general advice on writing a literary analysis? We’ve got you covered there too.

You’ll want to use your own evidence, however. Plagiarism is a big no-no. It can hurt not only your grades but also your credibility.

Using another source to find out what symbols are present in your book is not plagiarism as long as you gather the evidence from the text yourself and write about it using your own words and ideas.

Finally, it all comes down to practice. You won’t feel confident the very first time. But the more you look for, analyze, and write about literary symbols, the easier it gets.

Lean On Us for More Confidence

Whether it’s your first or 91st time writing about literary symbols, you may still not be 100% sure about your analysis. That’s perfectly normal.

Fortunately, the team of Kibin editors is here to make sure your writing flows and that you have enough support to back up your claims.

With their help, you can be completely confident about your essay.

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

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The more you read, the more you learn about how stories, poems, and plays are structured, what makes them so enthralling, and how to analyze them.

Just like with any language, there are certain words and phrases in the language of literary analysis that can get you pretty far. I’m here to explain a few of these literary terms and give you some examples of how they’re used in some of the stories you may already be familiar with.

After you have a grasp of these literary terms, you can identify them as you’re reading, which makes writing essays faster, easier, and more fun.

Literary Terms About Comparisons

#1 Allegory

An allegory is when an author uses characters or events that represent larger, more abstract ideas. Authors typically use allegory to teach a lesson of some sort.

Lord of the Flies, for example, is filled to the brim with allegory. Piggy’s glasses represent knowledge, the conch stands for order, and the “beast” represents evil. These objects can be seen as symbols. However, unlike simple symbolism, they appear throughout the entire novel.

#2 Analogy

An analogy is when the author compares two, often dissimilar, objects or ideas to help the reader or a character within the story grasp the meaning of the main thing or idea being described.

When done too often in a story, analogies can get old fast. However, when done well, they can describe a character’s smile or the emptiness of a room very well.

One of the most famous examples of analogy can be found in the now classic film Forrest Gump when Forrest states, “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Life isn’t literally like a box of chocolates in most regards, but Forrest finds one similarity that makes the analogy work (and he conveniently explains the similarity in the next sentence).

#3 Simile

A simile is an analogy that compares objects, people, characteristics, or events using words such as “like” or “as” (instead of the direct kind of comparison you would see in a metaphor).

A humorous example of a simile comes from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol when Dickens writes,“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”

It’s especially funny because Dickens goes on to describe how it’s not really a great comparison since doornails aren’t exactly dead, but how “the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile,” and therefore, he’ll use it.

#4 Metaphor

A metaphor is a type of analogy where something is directly compared to something else. It differs from similes in that it actually claims a person or object is something else instead of saying it is like something else.

Shakespeare is the king of analogies—both similes and metaphors. One well-known example comes from Romeo & Juliet when Romeo says, “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

Juliet, of course, is not the sun, but Romeo’s world now revolves around her.

(Read 10 Heart-Stopping Topics for Your Romeo and Juliet Essay for additional ideas.)

#5 Symbolism

Symbolism is a literary term that gets drilled into the brains of students because it occurs so frequently in every type of literature. Symbolism is when the author attributes a value or idea to an object that is different from its literal value or use.

Disney movies tend to have a lot of symbolism in them. Beauty and the Beast, for example, uses the west wing of the castle to symbolize the isolation the Beast feels from the rest of the world. He urges Belle to never go there because he doesn’t want her to feel that same isolation or to see how truly lonely he is.

(Read Lord of the Flies Symbolism: 3 Ideas for Your Essay for some additional examples.)

Literary Terms About Specific Words

#6 Alliteration

Alliteration is one of the more fun literary terms. It’s used to describe instances where a string of words contains the same beginning sounds, usually consonants.

Students tend to focus more on alliteration in analyses of poetry over other types of literature because each word in poetry seems to be written with more intention. However, alliteration makes it into novels as well.

Consider the four founders of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Each name is alliterative.

Authors often name characters this way to add a sense of whimsy, to make the characters easier to remember, or just because they like the way it sounds.

Literary Terms About the Classics

#7 Allusion

What goes on when you allude to something? You are referencing a different conversation, person, or event. Allusion in literature is similar, except it’s more specific than that.

Literary allusion is when authors references mythology, other (mostly classic) literature, or a historical event that they believe the reader has enough knowledge about to understand the allusion.

Authors make allusion statements all the time. Comparing a place to the Garden of Eden is a form of allusion because it draws a comparison based on the Bible.

A great example in popular culture is found in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech. The second sentence of the speech is, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

Not only did King speak about Abraham Lincoln, but he also alluded to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which began with “Four score and seven years ago…”

#8 Archetype

Archetypes are themes, characters, or situations that authors have used throughout the history of storytelling. They tend to represent universal truths about human nature, such as the struggle of good vs. evil, or a classic hero or villain.

Archetypes are apparent in any genre and perhaps nearly any story if you look hard enough. One classic example is the good vs. evil archetype found in Star Wars. Luke, representing the light (good) side of the force, goes against Darth Vader, the dark (evil) side of the force.

Literary Terms About the Overall Story

 #9 Conflict

Conflict is typically what makes a novel or other type of story worth reading. There are usually several conflicts within a story—some are internal and some are external.

External conflicts involve characters’ struggles with outside forces—in many instances, another character. However, the external forces could also be an event like a war.

Internal conflicts are when characters have two internal opposing forces. Sometimes it’s when protagonists have to decide to go against their own morals to protect someone. Other times, it’s when antagonists choose between their pride and getting the results they have been working toward the whole story.

Going back to Harry Potter, the main conflict was Harry’s (and the wizarding world’s) fight against Voldemort. But Harry also had other conflicts, such as getting respect from his biological family, performing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and being constantly antagonized by Malfoy.

#10 Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is when the author drops hints about major events or plot points that will happen later in the story. When such events or plot points happen, authors want readers to have that aha! moment or to think, “Why didn’t I see that coming? The clues were all there!”

One somewhat obvious example is in the movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. Mrs. Gulch is seen riding a bike and later, during the tornado, is transformed briefly into a witch. This foreshadows Dorothy’s eventual run-in with the Wicked Witch of the West.

#11 Theme

If you’ve written several literary analysis essays, there’s a good chance you’ve written about themes. And if you haven’t yet, you will probably do so soon. The theme of a novel, play, or poem is its underlying message or main idea.

It’s important to note that the theme is typically the author’s reaction to or opinion of a topic, not the topic itself.

For example, several other themes, of course, including how friendship can help people survive and how the materialism/excess of the wealthy leads to the exploitation of the poor.

Want some additional theme examples? Read these posts:

• 4 Themes in The Scarlet Letter for an Easy A on Your Essay
• Jealousy in Othello: 7 Ideas for A Convincing Analysis

#12 Tone

Have you ever heard the phrase, “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”? That’s the idea behind tone. The tone of a literary work is when authors use specific words or phrases to express their attitude about a subject or about their audiences.

What’s the idea behind tone? – ‘It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.’
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The Diary of Anne Frank, which in reality ended in tragedy, takes on a tone of hope. The young girl, despite living in a small attic and under the constant terror of Nazis on her doorstep, seems generally optimistic throughout the book. She even describes her plans to go back to school with her sister.

Literary Terms Involving Non-Comparative Descriptions

#13 Hyperbole

Hyperbole is basically just exaggeration. It’s usually done to either be humorous or to really emphasize something.

Advertising makes great use of hyperbole. For example, Red Bull’s tagline is, “It gives you wings!” Red Bull doesn’t actually give people wings, but presumably makes them feel so energetic that they feel like they could fly.

#14 Imagery

Imagery is one of those literary terms that can often be misunderstood. Sometimes imagery is described as using descriptive language that allows readers to see the scene in their minds.

But it’s so much more than that!

In reality, imagery is descriptive language that appeals to all the senses. It can describe how rancid something smells or how rich and sweet something tastes. And of course, it can describe how vibrant and green a forest looks.

In reality, imagery is descriptive language that appeals to all the senses.
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Children’s books and full-length novels alike are packed with imagery. Just take a look at this excerpt from Charlotte’s Web:

“In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff crystals, salted almonds, popsicles, partially gnawed ice cream cones and wooden sticks of lollipops.”

 #15 Personification

Personification is when an object or other non-human thing is given human characteristics. This makes it more relatable and impactful for the reader.

Personification can be seen anywhere, but it’s most obvious in poetry.

Take the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle, Diddle. The lines, “The little dog laughed to see such a sport / and the dish ran away with the spoon,” contain two examples of personification. Dogs don’t laugh, and dishes and spoons don’t run. But in the context of the poem, it makes sense.

(Want some additional examples? Read How to Spot Personification in Romeo and Juliet.)

The End

There are a lot of other examples of terms used in literary analysis that may pop up in your essay assignments, but this should give you a solid start. If you need some examples of how others have written about these literary terms, check out the following essays:

• The Use of Allegory in Macbeth
• The Use of Metaphors in Emily Dickinson’s Poems
• The Wise Old Man Archetype
• An Analysis of the Use of Imagery in John Gardner’s Grendel
• A Literary Analysis of Old Testament Allusions in Beowulf

Need some additional guidance on how to tackle your literary analysis essay? Try these posts:

• How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works
• 8 Components of a Smart Literary Analysis
• Writing About Literature: 9 Things You Need to Know
• Literary Analysis Essay Tips from a Kibin Editor

And finally, depending on what literary work you’re analyzing, you might find these posts helpful:

• The Great Gatsby: 8 Tips for a Literary Analysis
• Araby by James Joyce: 8 Tips for a Literary Analysis
• 3 Smart Ideas for Your Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Analysis
• “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan: 10 Tips for a Literary Analysis

And as always, if you need help making your essay stronger, the Kibin editors are here to assist. With their help and lots of practice, you can become fluent in literary terms.

Happy writing!

These are examples of personification—the clock mocking and the breeze calling.

I know you might not be looking forward to your essay on personification in Romeo and Juliet, but this literary device is one of the easiest to spot. I promise it won’t be too difficult to build your support for your essay.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, I’m going to show you what personification is exactly and where to find it in the play. To give you another little boost, I’ll even throw in a few thesis statement examples to help inspire your writing.

So let’s get started, shall we?

What Is Personification?

So what exactly is personification? Well, just look at the first half of the word: person. This literary device makes objects or ideas more like people.

There are two different types of personification:

1. Giving human qualities to something that isn’t human
2. When a human character represents an abstract idea or quality

This first type, giving qualities to something non-human, could look something like, “The kettle shrieked on the stove.” Kettles can’t speak, scream, or vocalize in any way. In this instance, however, you would want a reader to know just how loud and high-pitched the sound was.

Personification helps your readers relate to and better understand your writing— it fills in the details and descriptions in vivid ways.

(Just don’t overdo it, or your writing could end up reading like The Brave Little Toaster where objects are described as truly alive.)

The second type, characters representing an abstract idea—such as love, hate, evil, innocence, virtue, etc.—can be a little harder to detect. However, when you see that a character strongly symbolizes or represents something else, you can say he or she personifies it.

One example is Venus as the personification of beauty in Roman art and literature. Another one is the personification of evil in Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter.

In this type of personification, you’re saying that a person or character is so linked to a specific trait that the person could define it. If you were to look up the trait in a dictionary, it would just show this person’s picture. (Not literally, but you get the idea.)

Where to Find Personification in Romeo and Juliet

Now that you have a better idea of what personification is, let’s get into the specifics of its use in Romeo and Juliet.

When you’re looking through your text, it’s pretty easy to find the first kind of personification I mentioned—when a non-human object takes on human traits.

Shakespeare loved to be descriptive, so most of his characters have some pretty over-the-top language.

This first kind of personification can be found in literally any act of the play. However, taking note anytime anyone uses personification is kind of pointless. All you’ll end up with is a long list of quotes with no order or central theme.

For example, one of these 15 examples of personification in Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t make a good topic on its own to flush out an entire paper.

What will help your essay about personification in Romeo and Juliet is if you concentrate on lines spoken by one character—Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Benvolio … they pretty much all do it—or concentrate the examples around a certain theme, such as love, death, violence, or fate.

When writing about personification, focus on one theme or lines from one character. #romeoandjuliet
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The second type of personification—when a person represents an abstract idea—is a little more difficult.

I suggest going through the characters and picking out their strongest personality traits: the nurse’s compassion, Romeo’s romanticism, Mercutio’s quick wit, etc. Then think about how much these characters are symbols of those traits.

More complex characters tend to have many different traits, so they aren’t typically great examples of personification (but sometimes they can be). My favorite is the apothecary as a personification of death.

If you can give the right amount of support to your argument, there’s no “wrong answer.” That’s the beauty of literature: it’s yours to interpret based on evidence in the text.

Need some extra inspiration? Check out 10 Heart-Stopping Topics for Your Romeo and Juliet Essay. The topics might not specifically be on personification, but they might help you narrow down your focus on specific themes, ideas, or dialogue.

Thesis Statements about Personification in Romeo and Juliet

While all of this information is good and well, how on earth are you supposed to actually write your essay on personification in Romeo and Juliet? You need more than just some hastily thrown-together examples. (That’s not really an essay, is it?)

Like I said before, don’t focus on every personification example you can find. Focusing on a theme or a character can help you develop a smarter paper.

And it all starts with a strong thesis statement.

Your thesis statement is a sentence or two that tell the reader the point of your essay. The statement should describe what your essay is about and give some broad support. (You’ll get into the finer details of your support later in your body paragraphs.)

So what exactly does a thesis statement look like for an essay about personification in Romeo and Juliet?

Well … I’m glad you asked! I keep a couple thesis statements hidden up my sleeve for occasions just like this.

Thesis Statement Example 1

For my first thesis statement, I’m focusing on the first kind of personification I mentioned (human qualities in a non-human object), concentrated around the theme of love.

It might read something like this:

In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses personification to emphasize the love between Romeo and Juliet. These characters use personification to describe their feelings for one another, especially when they are alone together.

For my support, I would pull examples from the balcony scene (Act 2, Scene 2), including the following lines:

• “By love, that first did prompt me to inquire. He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.”
• “Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books, but love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”

Both of these lines are spoken by Romeo and are personifying love itself. The first line treats love as a wise person who led Romeo to fall in love with Juliet in the first place.

The second line describes love as lovers going toward and away from each other. The schoolboys and books describe how Romeo doesn’t want to leave Juliet and his excitement to see her the following day.

Thesis Statement Example 2

The second kind of personification (when a human character represents an abstract idea or quality) needs a different kind of thesis statement.

Mine would look like this:

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the apothecary serves as the personification of death, ultimately giving Romeo the poison that kills him and acting as a catalyst for Juliet’s suicide.

In addition to going into more depth about the poison that kills Romeo and, by extension, Juliet (even though she doesn’t actually drink the poison), I would also talk about the other symbols of death that surround the apothecary.

These include things in his shop, such as the skins and bladders of dead animals. I would also write about his appearance, mentioning his death-like or dead-like features, including his worn clothes and the fact that “misery had worn him to his bones.”

Now that you have a solid understanding of what personification is and how to use it in your Romeo and Juliet essay, the rest is relatively smooth sailing.

If you hit any turbulence or just want a second set of eyes to check for mistakes before you turn it in, send it to one of our Kibin editors.

They’ll review your essay and make suggestions for edits. With their help, your essay will shout to the world how much of an awesome literary analyst you are.