Terms for analysis

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words.

Example: “a sudden, sickening silence.”

Possible analysis: Draws the ear to a phrase, creating emphasis, rhythm, or memorability—common in slogans and headlines.

A reference to another text, person, event, or work.

Example: Calling an ambition “his Icarus moment.”

Possible analysis: Borrows the weight and associations of the referenced source, enriching meaning for readers who recognize it.

Repetition of the same word(s) at the start of successive clauses.

Example: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds…”

Possible analysis: Builds rhythm and cumulative emphasis, lending speeches force and momentum.

The way text (a caption or headline) fixes or directs (anchors) the meaning of an image.

Example: A neutral photo captioned “The face of a crisis.”

Possible analysis: Constrains an image’s many possible readings, steering the viewer toward a preferred interpretation.

Placing contrasting ideas in parallel structure.

Example: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

Possible analysis: A balanced contrast can make a difference clear and memorable. Identify what is opposed and why that distinction matters.

Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.

Example: “the light of the fire is a sight.”

Possible analysis: Creates internal musicality and can smooth or slow a line, binding words together by sound.

Distribution of visual weight; symmetry is mirrored, asymmetry weighted unevenly.

Possible analysis: Symmetry can suggest order or formality; asymmetry can suggest energy or unease.

A text’s slant or partiality toward a particular view, often through selection and framing.

Example: A report quoting only one side and labeling the other “so-called experts.”

Possible analysis: Examine how selection, emphasis and assumptions favor a particular view. Bias can be explicit or can appear in an account presented as neutral.

Directly overhead perspective.

Possible analysis: Detachment, surveillance, pattern, or overwhelming scale.

Posture, expression, and gesture of figures.

Possible analysis: Read stance and expression for attitude, power, emotion, and relationships.

A deliberate pause within a line of verse.

Example: “To be, or not to be — that is the question.”

Possible analysis: A pause can emphasize a word or mark hesitation, reflection or a turn in thought. Explain what its placement does in this line.

Tilted, off-level framing.

Possible analysis: A tilted frame often suggests instability or disorientation, but may also be playful or show movement. Connect the angle to the scene.

Text that accompanies and comments on an image.

Possible analysis: Ask how the caption narrows, extends or changes the image’s possible meanings. It can guide interpretation without removing every alternative.

Strong contrasts of light and shadow that give shapes a sense of depth, a technique also used in painting.

Possible analysis: Strong light-dark contrasts can give forms depth or emphasize dramatic differences. Explain what is revealed and what remains in shadow.

Frame filled by a face or object detail.

Possible analysis: Often invites intimacy or scrutiny of detail; the subject and context may make proximity comforting, intrusive or unsettling.

Informal, conversational language, including slang and regional usage.

Example: “gonna,” “y’all,” “it’s no biggie.”

Possible analysis: Can suggest familiarity, shared identity or a speaker’s background. In another context, it may sound affected or inappropriate. Explain why the wording fits this situation.

The overall arrangement of visual elements within the frame.

Possible analysis: Comment on how arrangement guides the viewer's eye and creates meaning or hierarchy.

Language & literature

The associations and emotional overtones a word carries beyond its literal meaning.

Example: “Home” often suggests belonging; “house” may emphasize the building. Context can make either word comforting or unsettling.

Possible analysis: Lets a writer suggest an attitude through a word’s associations, even when the statement appears neutral.

Visual texts

The associations and ideas an element evokes.

Possible analysis: Move from 'what is shown' to 'what it suggests': the inference that forms the basis of analysis.

The circumstances surrounding a text’s production and reception (historical, cultural, biographical, situational).

Example: Reading a wartime poster in light of 1940s rationing.

Possible analysis: The time, place, audience and circumstances can change how a text is understood. Use relevant evidence rather than treating background information as a substitute for reading.

When, where, by whom, and under what conditions the image was made.

Possible analysis: Connect choices to the creator, medium, culture, and moment.

How and where audiences encounter the image.

Possible analysis: Consider how platform and setting change meaning (billboard vs. feed vs. gallery).

Degree of difference between light/dark or colors.

Possible analysis: Strong contrast can emphasize edges or differences; low contrast can soften or obscure them. Explain what is clarified or concealed here.

Language & literature

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word.

Example: “Snake” denotes a legless reptile.

Possible analysis: Gives a starting point for comparing what a word literally means with the associations it carries.

Visual texts

The literal, descriptive level: what is actually shown.

Possible analysis: Start analysis here: describe precisely before interpreting.

Techniques that create three-dimensionality (converging lines, overlap, diminishing size).

Possible analysis: Perspective positions the viewer in space and controls what feels near or far.

How much of the image is in sharp focus (shallow vs. deep).

Possible analysis: Shallow focus isolates a subject; deep focus situates it within a context.

A writer’s specific word choices, considered for precision, connotation, and formality.

Example: Choosing “slender” rather than “skinny” or “scrawny.”

Possible analysis: Shapes how a subject is evaluated and signals the writer’s attitude before any argument is made explicit. Specify the kind of diction with a precise adjective, such as “clinical,” “dismissive” or “idealizing,” and explain how related word choices support your interpretation. Avoid using “diction” as a catch-all thesis point for unrelated words; naming it alone only tells us that the writer uses words.

The continuation of a phrase or sentence beyond a line break without a syntactic pause.

Example: “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.”

Possible analysis: Creates momentum and can stage a small surprise as the sense spills across the line break.

Subject seen from a distance, showing surroundings.

Possible analysis: Emphasizes environment and context over the individual.

A persuasive appeal based on the speaker’s credibility or character.

Example: “As a doctor with twenty years’ experience…”

Possible analysis: Invites trust by drawing on existing authority or building credibility through knowledge, honesty and attention to the audience’s concerns.

A mild or indirect expression substituted for one considered harsh or blunt.

Example: “Collateral damage” for civilian deaths; “let go” for fired.

Possible analysis: Softens or hides uncomfortable realities. Ask what the wording avoids naming and whose interests that serves.

A very tight detail (eyes, hands, texture).

Possible analysis: A tight view can emphasize a detail or make it feel intimate, intrusive or unfamiliar. Explain what the chosen detail contributes.

Camera level with the subject.

Possible analysis: Often suggests equality or familiarity; expression, distance and context may still establish tension or unequal power.

The element that draws the eye first.

Possible analysis: Identify what is prioritized and how (size, color, sharpness, placement).

The areas that appear nearest to the viewer, between near and far, and furthest away.

Possible analysis: Explain how details at different distances relate to one another.

Hints or clues that anticipate later developments.

Example: An early mention of a loaded gun in a drawer.

Possible analysis: Builds suspense and coherence, rewarding rereading and shaping the reader’s expectations.

What is included/excluded by the image's edges; also elements within the image that enclose the subject.

Possible analysis: Examine what the image includes and leaves outside its boundaries. Explain how the visible selection shapes the subject without inventing what lies beyond the frame.

Third-person narration that blends the narrator’s voice with a character’s thoughts.

Example: “She would not cry. Not here, not in front of them.”

Possible analysis: Brings readers close to a character’s thoughts while keeping a third-person narrator. Differences between their voices can create irony.

Language & literature

The direction and object of looking within an image, including whether a subject looks at the viewer.

Example: A model staring directly out of an advertisement.

Possible analysis: Direct gaze can invite contact, challenge or pressure; looking away can draw attention elsewhere or make the viewer an observer. Expression, setting and distance help determine the relationship.

Visual texts

Where figures look: at the viewer (direct / demand) or away (offer).

Possible analysis: Direct gaze can invite contact, challenge or pressure; looking away can draw attention elsewhere or make the viewer an observer. Expression, setting and distance help determine the relationship.

Camera looks down on the subject.

Possible analysis: Commonly diminishes the subject or suggests vulnerability. Check whether context instead invites affection, scrutiny or a practical overview.

Bright, even, low-shadow lighting.

Possible analysis: Bright, even lighting can suggest openness, cheerfulness or an idealized setting. The subject and context may make that brightness feel artificial or unsettling instead.

Hue = the color itself; saturation = its intensity.

Possible analysis: High saturation can suggest intensity; muted color may suggest restraint, bleakness or nostalgia. Connect the palette to the subject and purpose.

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Example: “I’ve told you a million times.”

Possible analysis: Amplifies feeling or stakes—for emphasis, humor, or to expose intensity of attitude.

An icon resembles what it represents; an index has a direct connection to it, as smoke does to fire; a symbol depends on a learned convention, as a flag does.

Possible analysis: Ask whether a sign communicates through resemblance, a direct connection or a learned convention. Use the distinction only when it helps explain the meaning.

The values and assumptions encoded in an image.

Possible analysis: Uncover what the image treats as 'normal' or desirable, and who benefits.

Descriptive language appealing to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).

Example: “The rain hissed on the hot pavement.”

Possible analysis: Makes experience vivid and immediate, drawing the reader into the text’s world and reinforcing mood.

Beginning a narrative in the middle of the action.

Example: Opening on a chase already underway, with context filled in later.

Possible analysis: Can create urgency or curiosity by withholding context; may also create disorientation. Consider what the reader must work out.

Language & literature

The shaping of a text’s meaning by its relationship to other texts.

Example: A film that restages the structure of a famous myth.

Possible analysis: Layers meaning through echo, homage, or parody, and positions a text within a wider conversation.

Visual texts

Reference to or borrowing from other texts or images.

Possible analysis: Name the reference (parody, homage, allusion) and what it adds for viewers who recognize it.

A gap between what is said or expected and what is meant or occurs (verbal, dramatic, situational).

Example: A fire station burning down (situational).

Possible analysis: Examine the gap between what is said or expected and what the text reveals. Explain what the gap asks readers to question.

Language & literature

Placing two elements side by side to highlight contrast or connection.

Example: A luxury car ad printed beside a story on poverty.

Possible analysis: Generates meaning through proximity, prompting the reader to compare and draw conclusions.

Visual texts

Placing elements side by side to invite contrast, connection or comparison.

Possible analysis: Explore irony, contrast, or unexpected associations the pairing produces.

How text and image are arranged together on the page or screen.

Possible analysis: Analyze what sits where. Position signals importance and shapes reading order.

Lines (roads, fences, gazes) that direct attention toward a focal point.

Possible analysis: Follow where the lines lead and what they connect or emphasize. They suggest a route for attention; viewers need not follow it in one fixed order.

Real or implied lines (including gazes and gestures) that carry the eye.

Possible analysis: Diagonals often suggest movement, horizontals stability, and verticals height or strength. Identify how the lines interact with the subject.

Brand mark and catchphrase.

Possible analysis: Explain how the design or wording presents an identity or value. Recognition may encourage trust, skepticism or another response depending on the audience and context.

A persuasive appeal based on logic, evidence, or reasoning.

Example: “Three studies confirm the policy cut accidents by 40%.”

Possible analysis: Connects evidence with a conclusion. Explain that reasoning and test its assumptions; a number alone does not make an argument logical.

Camera looks up at the subject.

Possible analysis: Commonly empowers the subject. Expression, setting and accompanying text may make that power heroic, threatening or ironic.

Dark tones with strong shadows and selective light.

Possible analysis: Often suggests mystery, tension or intimacy. Identify what the shadows conceal or reveal and how that serves this image.

Subject shown from roughly the waist up.

Possible analysis: Balances the person with some context; common for 'relatable' figures.

An implicit comparison stating that one thing is another.

Example: “The classroom was a zoo.”

Possible analysis: Compresses complex meaning into a single image and invites the reader to transfer the qualities of one thing onto another.

Referring to something by the name of an associated thing.

Example: “The Crown” for the monarchy; “the White House said.”

Possible analysis: Compresses an institution or concept into a concrete emblem, shaping how power or authority is perceived.

How 'real' or truthful an image claims to be.

Possible analysis: Ask how the style claims truth or authority. A photograph may seem credible but invite distrust; a cartoon can communicate a serious argument.

Single-color (usually black-and-white) image.

Possible analysis: Can signal the past, authenticity, starkness, or timelessness.

The emotional quality a text creates for the reader.

Example: Long shadows, a ticking clock, an empty corridor.

Possible analysis: Can make a scene feel uneasy, comic, peaceful or otherwise distinctive. Connect the atmosphere to specific details; readers may respond differently.

A recurring image, idea, or structure that develops a theme.

Example: Repeated references to hands throughout a novel.

Possible analysis: Repetition draws attention to a detail or idea. Track what changes each time it appears and how the pattern contributes to the text.

The vantage from which a story is told (first person, third limited, omniscient).

Example: An unreliable first-person narrator who misjudges events.

Possible analysis: Controls what the reader knows and trusts, shaping sympathy, irony, and access to the truth.

Empty or unoccupied area around the subject.

Possible analysis: Consider what the empty space does beside the subject: it may emphasize, isolate, simplify or suggest absence. Choose the reading supported by this composition.

Words that imitate the sounds they describe.

Example: “buzz,” “crash,” “murmur.”

Possible analysis: Makes description more immediate by letting the word echo the sound it names.

A compressed paradox joining contradictory terms.

Example: “deafening silence,” “bittersweet.”

Possible analysis: Captures complexity or tension in a phrase, making the reader hold two opposed ideas at once.

The range of colors used.

Possible analysis: Describe the range of colors and connect it to the subject, wording and purpose. Green might suggest nature beside a forest or money beside banknotes; color alone does not establish either meaning.

A statement that seems self-contradictory but reveals a truth.

Example: “Less is more.”

Possible analysis: Provokes thought by resisting easy resolution, often pointing to a deeper insight.

Repeating grammatical structure across phrases or clauses.

Example: “Easy to learn, hard to master.”

Possible analysis: Creates balance and clarity, making ideas feel ordered, memorable, and authoritative.

Projecting human emotion onto nature or weather.

Example: A storm breaking as a character’s marriage collapses.

Possible analysis: Makes emotional conflict visible through the natural world, connecting changes in the surroundings with changes in feeling.

A persuasive appeal to the audience’s emotions.

Example: An image of a hungry child in a charity campaign.

Possible analysis: Name the emotion—such as protective concern, guilt or hope—and explain how particular choices create it and connect it to the request. Naming the subject alone is not enough.

Repeated visual elements.

Possible analysis: Repetition can create rhythm, emphasis, or a sense of monotony or conformity.

Attributing human qualities to non-human things or abstractions.

Example: “The wind clawed at the windows.”

Possible analysis: Makes non-human things seem alive and can connect the surroundings with a character’s feelings.

The position or perspective from which we see.

Possible analysis: Ask whose eyes we are seeing through, and how that positions us.

What the image is designed to do: inform, persuade, entertain, provoke, sell.

Possible analysis: Evaluate how effectively the techniques serve the purpose.

The route the eye typically takes through the composition.

Possible analysis: Trace a plausible route using salience, placement and vectors. Explain how that sequence connects ideas; viewers need not follow one fixed path.

The level of formality and variety of language appropriate to a context or audience.

Example: “We regret to inform you” (formal) vs. “Sorry, bad news” (informal).

Possible analysis: Shapes the relationship with the audience, suggesting authority, closeness or shared values.

How people, groups, or ideas are depicted.

Possible analysis: Ask who is shown, how, and whose viewpoint is centered or excluded.

A question posed for effect rather than for an answer.

Example: “How long must we wait for change?”

Possible analysis: Guides the audience toward an answer the wording already suggests, while appearing to invite them to decide.

Placing key elements along imaginary lines that divide the frame into thirds.

Possible analysis: Consider how off-center placement relates the subject to surrounding space; it may create balance, movement or tension.

Language & literature

The visual prominence of an element in an image or layout (size, placement, color, focus).

Example: A product lit and centered while the model is blurred behind it.

Possible analysis: Identify what stands out through size, contrast, placement or another choice. Explain why that detail matters; prominence does not guarantee a fixed order of attention.

Visual texts

What stands out most in a text–image composition.

Possible analysis: Identify what stands out through size, contrast, placement or another choice. Explain why that detail matters; prominence does not guarantee a fixed order of attention.

The use of irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize.

Example: A mock ad selling “Outrage™, now in convenient daily doses.”

Possible analysis: Exposes folly or vice while entertaining, prompting the audience to judge the target.

Relative size of elements to each other or to the viewer.

Possible analysis: Exaggerated scale can dwarf or empower; distorted proportion signals unease.

Geometric = regular, man-made; organic = natural, irregular.

Possible analysis: Geometric forms often suggest order; organic forms may suggest nature or irregularity. Their arrangement can complicate those associations.

Repetition of “s,” “sh,” or soft “c” sounds.

Example: “the soft hiss of the simmering surf.”

Possible analysis: Produces a hushed, soothing, or sometimes sinister texture depending on context.

The form (signifier) and the concept it triggers (signified).

Possible analysis: Distinguish the visible or audible sign from the idea it suggests. Explain how context supports that association rather than assigning one permanent meaning.

Subject dark against a lit background.

Possible analysis: A silhouette can hide identity or emphasize a recognizable shape. Consider whether that concealment suggests mystery, anonymity or something else in context.

An explicit comparison using “like” or “as.”

Example: “Her stare was like cold water.”

Possible analysis: Clarifies or intensifies a quality while keeping the two terms distinct, often making the unfamiliar accessible.

Simplified, repeated representations of types of people.

Possible analysis: Discuss whether the image reinforces or subverts the stereotype.

Language & literature

Using an object, image, or action to represent a larger idea.

Example: A recurring caged bird representing confinement.

Possible analysis: Look for details that support a meaning beyond the literal object. A familiar association is a starting point, not a fixed answer; context can change it.

Visual texts

An element that stands for an abstract idea.

Possible analysis: Look for details that support a meaning beyond the literal object. A familiar association is a starting point, not a fixed answer; context can change it.

A part stands for the whole, or the whole for a part.

Example: “All hands on deck”; “wheels” for a car.

Possible analysis: Focuses attention on a telling detail and can reduce or elevate its subject through that selective framing.

The arrangement of words and the construction of sentences (length, order, fragmentation).

Example: A clipped sentence after a long one: “She had planned every detail for months. It collapsed in an hour.”

Possible analysis: Controls pace and emphasis; abrupt syntax can convey tension or a sense of finality that the words alone don’t carry.

The intended viewers, shaped by demographics and context.

Possible analysis: Infer the audience from choices in style, color, language, and imagery.

The implied surface quality (rough, smooth, soft).

Possible analysis: Surface detail can suggest touch, age or material qualities. Explain what that impression adds; roughness does not automatically make an image more truthful.

The writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience, conveyed through diction and style.

Example: A review calling a blockbuster “competent, inoffensive, and instantly forgettable.”

Possible analysis: Helps establish an attitude toward the subject or audience. Explain which words support that attitude and whether it changes.

Tone is the attitude conveyed; mood is the atmosphere evoked. Lighting and color can contribute to either.

Possible analysis: Link color and lighting choices to the feeling created for the viewer.

A series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses.

Example: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Possible analysis: Three linked elements can build rhythm, emphasis or a sense of completion. Explain what the particular sequence adds, rather than assuming three items are always persuasive.

The style and arrangement of lettering.

Possible analysis: Serifs may suggest tradition, sans-serifs modernity, and script elegance or intimacy. Test these associations against the specific lettering, genre and context.

Understatement minimises something; litotes is a form that affirms by negating its opposite (for example, “not bad”).

Example: “Not bad” for excellent; “a slight inconvenience” for a disaster.

Possible analysis: Creates irony or restraint, inviting the audience to supply the fuller meaning.

One thing presented as another to transfer meaning.

Possible analysis: Explain the comparison being made and what it implies about the subject.

Appeals to credibility, emotion, and logic made visually.

Possible analysis: Explain how visual choices build credibility, invite a particular emotion or support a line of reasoning. Connect the appeals where they work together.

How much an element attracts the eye (size, color, contrast, position).

Possible analysis: Compare the weight of text vs. image, or of one figure against another.

Warm = reds, oranges, yellows; cool = blues, greens.

Possible analysis: Warm colors often suggest comfort or intensity; cool colors calm or distance. Cultural associations and surrounding details can alter these readings.