foregrounding

Foregrounding is a term in literary and stylistic theory that designates techniques by which a text makes its formal features stand out from ordinary language. By foregrounding, writers draw attention to the very act of language use, rather than solely to conveyed content. The effect can be cognitive, prompting readers to notice patterning and structure, or affective, creating emphasis, novelty, or tension. The term is often linked with the Prague School of linguistics and literary theory, where scholars such as Vilém Mathesius and Jan Mukařovský described how texts balance foreground and background elements, and with the idea that poetry tends to foreground its form more than prose.

Foregrounding is achieved through deviations from expectation: phonological patterns (alliteration, rhyme, meter), lexical choices (neologisms, unusual collocations), and syntactic structuring (inversion, parallelism, fragmentation). Visual and typographic choices can also function as foregrounding in print, while cinematographic or stage techniques can foreground aspects of form in film and theater. Through defamiliarization and other mechanisms, foregrounding invites increased attention to form and sometimes to interpretation.

In analysis, foregrounding helps explain why certain lines feel memorable or striking, and it is used in studies of poetry, drama, narrative, translation, and even discourse analysis. Critics warn that excessive foregrounding can hinder readability or entertainment; but properly used it can heighten texture and meaning by highlighting the language's own structures.