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Literature vocabulary · Criticism and Analysis

Interpretation

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ɪnˌtɜːprɪˈteɪʃn/nounCore term

In literature, interpretation means: An explanation of what a text or a part of it means, supported by evidence from the text; also the act of explaining it.

In Turkish: yorum, yorumlama

How it is used

Central to seminars and essays. Readers offer, propose, support or challenge an interpretation; a text can be open to interpretation. Critics also say 'reading' in the same sense: a feminist reading, a psychoanalytic reading. The verb is interpret.

Example sentences

  1. The ending is open to interpretation: did he die or simply leave?

  2. Your interpretation is interesting, but you need quotations to support it.

Common collocations

  • open to interpretation
  • offer an interpretation
  • a close interpretation
  • a different interpretation
  • interpretation of the text
  • literary analysisA close examination of how a literary text works, looking at elements such as theme, character, structure and language to explain its meaning and effects.
  • close readingA careful, detailed reading of a short passage that pays attention to individual words, sounds, images and structure to show how they create meaning.
  • literary criticismThe study, interpretation and evaluation of literary works, including discussion of their meaning, form, context and value.
  • themeA central idea or message about life that a literary work explores, such as love, loss, freedom or identity, and what the work suggests about it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Criticism and Analysis

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