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Literature vocabulary · Core Concepts

Motif

Meaning in literature, with examples

/məʊˈtiːf/nounCommon term

In literature, motif means: An image, object, idea or phrase that appears again and again in a work and helps develop its themes.

In Turkish: motif, yinelenen öğe

How it is used

Used in essays to connect details across a text. A motif recurs, runs through or appears throughout a work. Blood in Macbeth and mirrors in many Gothic stories are classic examples. In folklore studies, motifs are story elements shared by many tales.

Example sentences

  1. Water is a recurring motif in the novel, linked to both birth and death.

  2. Trace the motif of the journey through the three parts of the poem.

Common collocations

  • recurring motif
  • central motif
  • the motif of
  • trace a motif
  • 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.
  • symbolAn object, person, place or event in a text that stands for a larger idea beyond its literal meaning, such as a journey that represents life.
  • imageryDescriptive language that appeals to the senses, such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, so that readers can picture or feel what is described.
  • 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.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Core Concepts

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