Dec 23, 2009

Guide to Literary Terms | Point of View

Point of view - a specified position or method of consideration and appraisal. It may also be an attitude, judgment, or opinion. In literature, physical point of view has to do with the position in time and space from which a writer approaches, views, and describes his or her material. Mental point of view involves an author’s feeling and attitude toward his or her subject. Personal point of view concerns the relation through which a writer narrates or discusses a subject, whether first, second, or third person. If personal point of view is used and the writer assumes the point of view of a character, the author is writing in the first person. If the author takes the point of view of an observing character, the author is writing in the second person. If an impersonal point of view is taken, the author detaches himself completely and is an omniscient author, or third person. Sometimes authors employ several points of view in the same work.

The term is a phrase containing several words. Point came through Middle English from the Old French pointe, meaning “sharp edge,” which was derived from the Latin pungere, meaning “to prick.” View is also from Middle English, but through the Middle French voir which was derived from the Latin videre, meaning “to see.”

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is written from the point of view of the protagonist, Sethe. Hemingway’s To Have and To Have Not is written from multiple perspectives.

see: first-person narrative