WRITING A LITERARY ANALYSIS

What is a LITERARY ANALYSIS ?

  • A personal response to literature is your own thoughts and feelings regarding a piece of literature.
  • A review discusses why a particular piece of literature may or may not be worth reading. It often includes a very brief plot summary along with a critical analysis of the work.
  • A literary analysis presents your thoughtful interpretation or understanding about a literary work based on documented evidence from the text that supports your chosen area of focus.

A LITERARY ANALYSIS:

  1. is based on your honest response to a piece of literature
  2. all ideas are based on a close and careful reading of the text
  3. uses main points that are connected to specific references to the text.
  4. presents the results of your work in a carefully planned essay containing a focus or THESIS STATEMENT, supporting paragraphs, and closing remarks

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING A LITERARY ANALYSIS:

Goal: To develop an analysis of a specific literary work. The focus depends on the length and complexity of the work. You may choose to analyze a poem line by line for more than one element (perhaps style and theme); whereas an analysis of a longer work should focus on a specific aspect of the plot, setting theme, characterization, or style.

  1. Working with the Text

Reviewing: Make sure you understand the text. Review notes or ask for help if you don’t.

Questioning: Think about different features of the text that you might write about. Are you drawn to a specific character? Would you like to analyze one of themes or messages? Do you recognize particular patterns—words, images, colors, names—that repeat themselves?

Focusing: State a possible focus for your analysis—a sentence or two expressing the main point you want to make about your topic. Plan and organize your writing. (Make sure that you can support your focus with direct references to your literary work.)

  1. Writing and Revising:

Writing: Develop a draft, working in main ideas and their supporting details from the text. Make sure that your opening/introduction attracts your readers and identifies the focus of your analysis.

  1. Writing the Opening: Your opening paragraph should hook reader attention and identify the focus of your analysis.

1)Summarize your subject briefly. Include the title, author, and type of book. This can be done with a statement of “what and how” about the book:

Ex: In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding writes

about (what?) the evil side of a man (how?) by

describing the actions of a group of young boys who

aremarooned on a deserted island.

2)Start with a quotation from the book and then comment on its importance (think in terms of the focus of your analysis.)

3)Begin with an explanation of the author’s purpose and how well you think he/she achieves this purpose

4)Begin with a general statement about the type of literature you are analyzing. Then discuss your subject within this context.

Ex. The best science fiction always seems believable and

logical within the context of the story line. This is certainly

true in…

  1. Writing the Body: Develop or support your focus in the body, or main part, of your analysis. To make sure you effectively explain each main point in your analysis, follow these steps:

1) State each main point so that it clearly relates to the focus of your

analysis.

2) Support each main point with specific details or direct quotations

from the text you are analyzing.

3) Explain how each of these specific details helps prove your point.

*** Try to organize your writing so each new paragraph deals with a separate main

point.

  1. Writing the Closing: In the final paragraph tie all of the main points together and make a final statement about the main focus of your analysis. (Give your readers something to think about)

D. Revising: Review your draft looking for parts that are unclear, incomplete

or unsupported with details from text, or confusing.

  1. Evaluating:

Does the writing present a thoughtful and thorough analysis?

Is the purpose clearly in focus?

Are the main ideas in the writing supported by direct references to the text?

IDEAS FOR LITERARY ANALYSIS

Theme You can write about the main idea(theme) presented in your text.

  • Does the author seem to be saying something about ambition or courage or greed or jealousy?
  • Does the selection show you what it is like to experience loneliness, racism, sacrifice, ect.?
  • Does the author say something about a specific historic event?

Characterization: You could also write about one or more of the characters in your selection.

  • How does the main character change from the beginning to the end?
  • What forces or circumstances make one of the characters act in a certain way?
  • What are the revealing aspects of one of the characters? (Consider thoughts, actions, words)

Plot: Certain aspects of the action or story line may also lead to analysis

  • What external conflicts affect the main character?
  • What internal conflicts make life difficult for the main character? (Consider thoughts, feelings, and ideas that affect him/her)
  • How is suspense built into the story?
  • Are there any twists or reversals in the plot? What do they add to the story?

Setting:

  • What effect does the setting have on the characters?
  • Has the setting increased your knowledge of a specific time and place?
  • IS the setting new and thought provoking?

Style: Special attention in an analysis can also be given to the author’s style of writing—the words and phrases he or she uses.

  • How does the writing—descriptive phrases, comparisons, ect.—create a main feeling or tone in the selection?
  • Is the dialogue or description used effectively? (provide examples and explain)
  • Is there an important symbol that adds meaning to the selection? (How is this symbol represented in different parts?)
  • Has special attention been given to figures of speech like metaphors, similes, and personification? (What do these devices add to the writing?)