Meter is the rhythm in a poem which is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Meter is typically ascribed to poetry, but an example from "Misery" comes in the first line: "To whom shall I tell my grief." The meter is as follows: unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed. The stress falls on the most important words in this story; whom, tell, grief.

Metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two seemingly unrelated things to each other to suggest that the two are related.

An example of metaphor from "Misery" is, "Iona Potapov, the sledge-driver, is all white like a ghost." Snow and ghost are not actually related, but this metaphor paints a picture of a man completely covered in snow so as to be ghost-like. It is also important in this story because he is unseen and unheard, like a ghost.

Objective point of view, also called third-person point of view, is a distanced narrator who reports on what is happening without personal bias.

"Misery" is written in limited third-person point of view, which means we have access to the thoughts of only the main character. The reader learns of his despair at the loss of his son and understand how he is affected by it, but we do not get the perspective of any of the other characters.

Antecedent action is action which has taken place in the life of the characters before the start of the story.

In "Misery," an example of antecedent action is Iona's son's death.

A foil is a character who contrasts another character, usually the protagonist, in order to highlight the qualities of that other character.

In "Misery" the foils are all of the people who ride in Iona's cab and care nothing for his misery. Their dismissal of his need to express his grief enhances his grief both to Iona and the reader.