Literary Concepts and Poetic Devices Explained

Posted on Sep 13, 2025 in English Studies

Art: Definition, Aspects, and Purpose

Art involves two steps: expression by the author (encoding) and perception by the observer (decoding). It has two aspects: content (reflecting reality and referring to different experiences of a person or group) and form (designed to reinforce said content). Three requirements for art are to speak to the recipient’s intelligence, evoke emotions, and trigger the senses.

Aristotle’s View

  • Aim: To represent the inward significance of things.

Harold Bloom on Art

  • “Perfectly useless,” according to Wilde.
  • “All bad poetry is sincere.”
  • Bloom wished to “engrave these words above every gate at every university, so that each student might ponder the splendor of the insight.”

Literature: An Art Form and Its Creation

Literature is an art form that refers to written works, especially those considered to have artistic or intellectual value. It often reflects human experience, emotions, and perspectives. Literature is a fundamental aspect of human expression and communication, playing a significant role in shaping individuals and societies.

The process of literary creation involves two stages:

  • The writer expresses emotions and thoughts when creating a literary text.
  • The reader then re-creates the text with their own interpretation.

The Literary Canon: Definition and Critique

The “Canon” is a technical term describing a set of texts that serve as a recognized standard of quality, cultural or social significance, and intellectual value. Often likened to a “bible” of texts.

Challenges of the Canon

  • It can be problematic because it often excludes diverse voices and perspectives.
  • It can limit our understanding of different cultures and experiences.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

These are two ways to arrive at conclusions.

Inductive Reasoning

  • A bottom-up approach.
  • Examines particular ideas to form a general conclusion.

Deductive Reasoning

  • A top-down approach.
  • Starts with a general theory or idea and applies it to specific examples found in a literary text.

Main and Subordinate Plots in Fiction

Literary fiction often focuses on character development and explores philosophical issues or ideologies.

Main Plots

  • Contain more introspection and exposition.
  • Feature less action and dialogue.

Subversion: Definition and Impact

Subversion involves taking an element from a system and using it in a way contrary to how the system itself uses it. The effect is to question, provoke, and challenge the system.

Example: Hozier’s “Take Me to Church”

  • The lyrics criticize the Catholic Church for its hypocrisy and oppressive attitudes towards sexuality.
  • Hozier challenges the Church’s authority and questions its teachings, suggesting it promotes fear instead of love and acceptance.

Subversion vs. Inversion

Subversion

  • Challenges and questions established norms, values, and power structures.

Inversion

  • Simply reverses roles or positions without necessarily criticizing the system.

Prosody: The Art of Spoken Language

Its original function was to help people remember, understand, and feel spoken language. Before writing existed, people used prosody’s rhythm, stress, and tone to make their words more organized and musical. This made it easier to remember long stories or poems. Prosody helped turn normal speaking into something more artistic, emotional, and easy to remember.

Metric: Rhythm and Structure in Poetry

The alteration of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates rhythm.

Components of Metric

  • Stress: Stressed and unstressed syllables.
  • Rhythm: The repetition of a pattern.
  • Metrical Feet: Units used to measure rhythm (e.g., Iambic, Trochaic, Spondaic, Pyrrhic, Anapestic, Dactylic).
  • Metric Lines: The number of times a metrical foot is used in a line (e.g., Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter, Tetrameter, Pentameter, Hexameter, Heptameter, Octameter).
  • Pauses: Includes caesuras (a longer pause in the middle of the line).
  • Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line to the next without a pause.

Rhyme: Sound Devices in Poetry

A correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words. Types include:

  • True Rhyme
  • Assonance
  • Consonance (Half, Slant, Identical, Reverse-Rhyme)
  • Alliteration
  • Eye-Rhymes
  • Historical Rhymes
  • Rhyme Schemes (e.g., Couplet Rhymes, Shakespearean Sonnet)

Poetic License: Creative Deviations in Language

Poetic license occurs when a poet intentionally breaks the usual rules of language (grammar, word order, spelling, or logic) to create a specific rhythm, rhyme, or artistic effect. While it may initially appear as a mistake, it is a deliberate creative choice. Poetic license often enhances the poem’s sound, fits a specific pattern, or expresses something more powerfully.

Common Types of Poetic License

  • Hyperbaton: Changing the usual word order.
  • Shortened Forms: Cutting words or letters to maintain meter.
    • Aphesis: Dropping a sound at the beginning of a word.
    • Apocope: Dropping a sound at the end of a word.
    • Syncope: Dropping a sound in the middle of a word.
  • Neologism: Poets inventing new words or forms.
  • Eye Rhymes: Words that look the same in spelling but do not rhyme phonetically.
  • Distorted Pronunciation: Poets changing how a word is pronounced to fit rhythm or rhyme.
    • Diaeresis: Making one syllable into two.
    • Synaeresis: Combining two syllables into one.
  • Anachronism: Using things from the wrong time period.

Tone in Literature: Conveying Attitude

The tone of a work is the attitude it displays towards its subject matter. The tone can, for instance, be serious or light, somber or amused, formal or informal, among others. Literary genres that rely most heavily on tone include humor and wit, satire, irony, parody, and bathos.

Analyzing True Love in a Sonnet

Thesis: The Enduring Nature of True Love

True love is presented as a constant, timeless, and spiritual force that does not depend on physical beauty or changing feelings, but instead reflects a profound, perfect connection between souls.

Love as a Constant Force

This idea of constancy is expressed in lines 2–3: “Love… love / Which … finds.” It claims that if love changes when circumstances change, it is not real love. The anaphora of “love…love” reinforces the idea that false love imitates true love but lacks endurance. There is also an assonance in “alters” and “alteration” that semantically links the ideas, emphasizing the falseness of changeable love. In lines 5–6, “O no … mark / That looks …shaken,” a consistent rhyme between “mark” and “bark” reinforces the connection between direction and guidance. This signifies that true love is not moved by challenges, thus remaining constant.

Love’s Timeless Quality

In lines 9–10, “Love’s not… cheeks / Within… come,” Time is personified as a reaper who cuts away beauty like “rosy lips and cheeks,” signifying that youth fades. However, Shakespeare asserts that real love is not deceived by time; it does not change when physical beauty fades. Then, in lines 11–12, “It alters not… edge of doom,” the phrase “brief hours and weeks” illustrates the brevity of life, yet love survives far beyond them. The antithesis between “brief” and “edge of doom” strengthens the dramatic contrast between time and eternity. The climax builds from “hours and weeks” to the apocalypse, demonstrating love’s survival through all time. In short, true love is timeless, reaching beyond death and destruction.

The Spiritual Dimension of Love

Line 1, “Let me..minds / Admit impediments,” introduces the concept. The phrase “marriage of true minds” suggests a bond that is not merely physical, but mental and spiritual. The use of synecdoche in “true minds” employs the mind to represent the whole person, emphasizing the soul rather than the body. The metaphor “It is the…bark” (line 7) deepens this spiritual interpretation. Literally, a star helps lost ships find their way. Figuratively, love acts as a spiritual compass, guiding souls. This analogy transforms love into a divine force that leads people through the storms of life. The symbolism of the star connects love with the heavens, suggesting it is not only eternal but also divine.

Conclusion: The Essence of True Love

In conclusion, true love is not based on physical beauty or changing feelings. It is constant, staying strong through all challenges. It is timeless, lasting beyond youth and death. Most importantly, it is spiritual, connecting souls deeply.

Analysis of Hozier’s “Take Me to Church”

Thesis: Themes in “Take Me to Church”

The song explores how desire challenges religious morality, how love suffers under oppression, and how personal identity becomes a battlefield between inner truth and public judgment.

Theme of Desire

  • The lines “My lover’s..humour / She’s the…funeral” use paradox and antithesis to highlight a love that defies societal norms, suggesting desire can be joyful even in dark places.
  • The assonance in “giggle” and “funeral” extends the tension between life and death, making desire feel both rebellious and life-giving.
  • The metaphor in “If the..speak, / She’s the… mouthpiece” replaces religious authority with the voice of the beloved, illustrating how desire becomes a new form of truth for the speaker.
  • The line “I was born sick, but I love it” uses irony to mock how religion labels his desire as “sick.”

Theme of Oppression

  • The lines “Every Sunday’s … bleak / A fresh… week” use metaphor to portray religious ritual as something toxic rather than uplifting.
  • “Fresh poison” introduces a sensory image, allowing the reader to almost taste the bitterness, while “Sunday” symbolizes routine worship.
  • The phrase “We were born…say it” employs repetition and apostrophe to directly confront religious voices, transforming a general societal accusation into something personal and collective.
  • The statement “No masters… begins” functions as a syllogism: if desire is holy, then no earthly power can judge it. “Masters” and “kings” represent religious and political authority, and their rejection signals freedom.

Theme of Identity

  • The line “We were born…say it” illustrates how people are labeled as “wrong” from birth by religious voices.
  • The passive voice and anaphora (repeating “we”) give the phrase a collective weight, suggesting that this judgment targets entire groups.
  • The metaphor in “I’ll tell you my…your knife” shows the danger of revealing one’s true self. “Sins” stands for personal truth, and “knife” becomes a symbol of judgment or punishment.
  • “I was born sick, but I love it” reclaims identity with irony. Instead of hiding or rejecting himself, the speaker embraces who he is.

Conclusion: Affirming Desire and Identity

The song concludes by showing that desire is natural, oppression is harmful, and identity should be proudly embraced, not judged. For the speaker, love is a truth worth defending.

Literal vs. Figurative Language

Literal Language

Words mean exactly what they say, without deeper interpretation. It is direct and factual.

Figurative Language

Words go beyond their direct meaning to create imagery and symbolism. It adds depth, emotions, and symbolism, making the story richer and more meaningful.

Useful Rhetorical Devices for Figurative Language

  • Symbols: Words, objects, or characters that go beyond their literal meaning. (e.g., A storm could represent conflict and chaos.)
  • Similes: A type of comparison that uses “like” or “as” to establish a connection between two things. (e.g., “Her voice was like velvet.”)
  • Metaphor: Makes an unreal identification between two things, implying that one is the other, even though the connection is not literally real. (e.g., “Her voice was velvet.”)

Related Figures of Speech

  • Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration used for emphasis. (e.g., “I’ve told you a million times!”)
  • Euphemism: A softer way of saying something unpleasant. (e.g., “Passed away” instead of “he died.”)
  • Personification: Attributing human traits to nonhuman things. (e.g., “The wind whispered.”)
  • Synesthesia: Describing one sense using terms from another. (e.g., “Sweet sound.”)

Imagery: Appealing to the Senses

Imagery refers to the use of descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch), helping readers to create a picture in their minds and feel what is happening. Imagery brings scenes, emotions, and ideas to life, making them easier to imagine and feel. It is important because it enlivens the text and deepens the reader’s connection to the story, themes, or characters.

Importance of Imagery

  • Helps readers feel more involved in the story.
  • Creates mood and emotion.
  • Supports the story’s deeper meanings and symbols.
  • Encourages personal interpretation.

Types of Imagery

  • Tied / Fixed Images: Mean the same for all readers.
  • Free / Floating Images: Can have different meanings for readers, allowing for diverse interpretations.
  • Deep Image: Comes from the unconscious (e.g., dreams or hallucinations).
  • Obsessive Image: An image that appears throughout an author’s work, gaining symbolic value.
  • Archetype: A common image that appears in many works across human cultures, carrying a symbolic meaning (e.g., hero, old man).