Literary AnalysisESSAY (102)
(Elements below are required for Rough and Final drafts)
[Final draft must be uploaded through Safe Assign on Blackboard AND turned in as a hard copy for grading.]
Whatever pattern(s) of development are used to develop ideas in an essay, one thing is certain: plenty of examples are necessary to adequately support your main ideas. In a Literary Analysis Essay these "examples" are typically in the form of quotesfrom the text you are analyzing (Primary Source) as well as quotes by scholarscommenting on the text or author you are analyzing (Secondary Source). Sometimes it is necessary to cite authorities about literature in general or even from another discipline (interdisciplinary sources) such as History, Psychology or Philosophy when writing your literary analysis essay. Obviously quotes, paraphrases and summaries enhance the investigation of your thesis (subject + focus). In your current assignment make sure that you adhere to the following requirements:
Assignment: For poetry/fiction/nonfiction, analyze author’s primary message(s) and/or writing style. Are there significant patterns and or anomalies within the text? Consider the context in which the text is written. Include in your analysis what effect the text has on you now and perhaps in the future as well. In other words, feel free to discusshow the text in question impactsyou personally. As always, you may agree with or dispute the author’s message(s).
1)Include plenty quotes (two to three) in each of your body paragraphs. These quotes are necessary to support your assertions, your insights, your ideas about the piece of literature you are analyzing. When analyzing a text examples in the form of quotes are necessary for a thorough analysis, a thorough clarificationof ideas generated by your thesiscontrolpoints (thesis discussion points).
2)Which “ideas” need support? Remember our discussion of thesiscontrolpoints/thesisdiscussionpoints, which are theessential aspects of your thesis that you must investigate to fully develop your thesis. Each thesiscontrol point/discussionpoint surely requires at least one paragraph of discussion; although, some discussionpoints might require two or even three paragraphs to fully explain their relationship to your thesis.
3)Underline your thesis.
4)Underline your topic sentences.
5) Use12-point Times New Roman. Your essay should be 1,250 words (4 pages).
6) Minimum of three (3) sources are required for this essay. Note: at least one source must come from a Cook
Library database. Include at least one (1) primary source, one (1) secondary source, plus a third source
(interdisciplinary source, depending upon your primary text). Adhere to the rules of MLA style of
formatting and sourcing your essay. NOTE: Do NOT use dictionaries or Wikipedia as sources.By hand on
your Works Cited page, label which sourcesare primary, secondary and interdisciplinary, as well as
from which Cook Library databases you found sources.
7) Handwrite at the top of both your rough and final draft your Purpose, OrganizationalStrategy and two (2)
Methods of Development.
*For assistance in getting started/brainstorming topics and improving rough drafts, visit the Towson University Writing Center located in LA 5330. Walk-in appointments are acceptable, but calling ahead (410.704.3426) to schedule a half hour or full hour appointment is preferred. More information is available at
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Working Thesis (Must include your slant...that is exactly what you are planning to investigate with your Literary Analysis essay: ______
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The following suggestions are designed to assist you in the analysis process for the three genres of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Because your essay assignment (word length) is too short to apply ALL of the following suggestions, use only some of the following information as a guide.
POETRY (The following are helpful recommendations for analyzing poetry. Do not attempt to use ALL of the following recommendations):
NOTE: Explication of poetry suggests the analysis of a single poem; however, many of the same techniques can be used effectively to analyze a collection of poems.
Explication: A poetry explication is a relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Writing an explication is an effective way for a reader to connect a poem’s plot and conflicts with its structural features. This handout reviews some of the important techniques of approaching and writing a poetry explication, and includes parts of two sample explications.
Preparing for Explication: Read the poem silently, and then read it aloud. Repeat as necessary. Consider the poem as a dramatic situation in which a speaker addresses an audience or another character. In this way, begin your analysis by identifying and describing the speaking voice or voices, the conflicts or ideas, and the language used in the poem.
Consider the Large Issues
Determine the basic design of the poem by considering the who, what, when, where, and why of the dramatic situation.
Who is the speaker? Define and describe the speaker and his/her voice. What does the speaker say? Who is the audience? Are other characters involved?
What is being dramatized? What conflicts or themes does the poem present, address, or question?
Also, what happens in the poem? Consider the plot or basic design of the action. How are the dramatized conflicts or themes introduced, sustained, resolved, etc.?
Whendoes the action occur? What is the date and/or time of day?
Where is the speaker? Describe the physical location of the dramatic moment.
Why does the speaker feel compelled to speak at this moment? What is his/her motivation?
The Details
To analyze the design of the poem, we must focus on the poem’s parts, namely how the poem dramatizes conflicts or ideas in language. By concentrating on the parts, we develop our understanding of the poem’s structure, and we gather support and evidence for our interpretations. Some of the details we should consider include the following:
Form: Does the poem represent a particular form (sonnet, sestina, etc.)? Does the poem present any unique variations from the traditional structure of that form?
Rhetoric: How does the speaker make particular statements? Does the rhetoric seem odd in any way? Why? Consider the predicates and what they reveal about the speaker.
Syntax: Consider the subjects, verbs, and objects of each statement and what these elements reveal about the speaker. Do any statements have convoluted or vague syntax?
Diction: Why does the poet choose one word over another in each line? Do any of the words have multiple or archaic meanings that add other meanings to the line? Use the Oxford English Dictionary as a resource.
The Patterns
As you analyze the design line by line, look for certain patterns to develop which provide insight into the dramatic situation, the speaker’s state of mind, or the poet’s use of details. Some of the most common patterns include the following:
Rhetorical Patterns: Look for statements that follow the same format.
Rhyme (or no rhyme): Consider the significance of the end words joined by sound; in a poem with no rhymes, consider the importance of the end words.
Patterns of Sound: Alliteration (initial, middle, near, assonance, consonance) and onomatopoeia, for example, create sound effects and often cluster significant words.
Visual Patterns: How does the poem look on the page?
Rhythm and Meter: Consider how rhythm and meter influence our perception of the speaker and his/her language.
Utilize the above tips as helpful for individual poems and combine with the following tips to analyze an entire collection of poems. Explore the poet’s themes/subjects: relationships (familial, romantic), circle of life, coming of age, conflicts (inner and outer), darkness versus light, female roles, heartbreak of betrayal, good versus bad, greed as downfall, heroism, injustice, loss of innocence, lost love, man against nature (relationship to nature), oppression, patriotism, power of corruption, role of religion (virtue or hypocrisy), self-awareness, temptation and destruction, war, will to survive, youth and beauty, etc.
*Language: imagery (literal imagery, figurative imagery, including simile, metaphor, personification), concrete language, abstract language, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, diction, syntax, free verse, formal verse, irony, etc.
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FICTION (The following are helpful recommendations for analyzing fiction. Do not attempt to use ALL of the following recommendations):
Avoid summarizing the plot in detail, i.e. don’t simply retell the story with your essay. After a brief plot summary form a thesis to analyze the story in literary terms. (See below).
Brief Plot Summary: In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the mad narrator explains in detail how he kills the old man, who screams as he dies. After being alerted by a neighbor, the police arrive, and the madman gives them a tour through the house, finally halting in the old man’s bedroom, where he has buried the man beneath the floor planks under the bed. As he is talking, the narrator hears what he thinks is the old man’s heart beating loudly, and he is driven to confess the murder.
Analysis: Though the narrator claims he is not mad, the reader realizes that the narrator in the “Tell-Tale Heart” is unreliable and lies about his sanity. For example, the mad narrator says he can hear “all things in the heaven and in the earth.” Sane people cannot. He also lies to the police when he tells them that the shriek they hear occurs in his dream. Though sane people do lie, most do not meticulously plan murders, lie to the police, and then confess without prompting. Finally, the madman is so plagued with guilt that he hears his own conscience in the form of the old man’s heart beating loudly. Dead hearts do not beat, nor do sane people confuse their consciences with the sounds of external objects.
Themes/subjects to explore: Change versus tradition, characters (relationships…familial, romantic), circle of life, coming of age, conflicts (inner and outer), darkness versus light, female roles, heartbreak of betrayal, good versus bad, greed as downfall, heroism,
injustice, loss of innocence, lost love, man against nature (relationship to nature), oppression, patriotism, power of corruption, role of religion (virtue or hypocrisy), self-awareness, temptation and destruction, war, will to survive, youth and beauty, etc.
Journalist questions also apply to fiction: who, what, when, where, why.
Who is writing the story? Also, who is the story about?
What is the story about?
When was the story written? Also, note the historical context of the story, i.e. is the writing a period piece about a fictional person/event (Romeo & Juliet, Oliver Twist or Brave New World), or about a current or historic person/event (Julius Caesar, the Civil War, 9/11)?
Where does the book/article/narrative take place?
Why is the story being written, for what purpose?
*Language: Is thewriting approach a narrative, i.e. telling a story?Is the language descriptive using literal imagery, figurative imagery? Is there more telling than showing? Is there enough showing to allow the reader to see, hear, touch, taste and smell details along the way?
*Language: Is there more showing than telling?Use literary terms to discuss your points: character, theme, setting, points of view, symbols, imagery (literal imagery, figurative imagery), protagonist, antagonist, etc.
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NONFICTION (The following are helpful recommendations for analyzing nonfiction. Do not attempt to use ALL of the following recommendations):
If the nonfiction you are analyzing is a narrative, avoid summarizing the plot in detail, i.e. don’t simply retell the story with your essay, but provide enough detail to allow your reader some clarity about the book you are analyzing. Form a thesis to analyze the text in literary terms, specifically terms relating to the journalist’s following key questions:who, what, when,where, and why.
Here are some general questions that you can use as a model to formulate specific questions about a specific text:
- What is the problem or question that motivates the author?
- From what context is the author writing?
- What assumptions does the author bring to the text?
- What argument is the author putting forth?
- What contradictions (if any) do you find in the text? Why are they there? How do they affect your understanding of the text?
- What evidence does the author use to support his or her assertions? Why?
- How is the text structured? How does the structure affect your understanding of the theme or argument?
- What rhetorical choices (concerning style or word choice, for example) does the author make? How do these choices help to convey the meaning of the text? What do you think are the key passages in the text? Why are they important? How do they work with the rest of the text to convey the author's meaning?
- What assumptions do you bring to this text? To what extent has the author considered your needs as a reader?
Also, consider themes/subjects: history (past or current), biography, jobs, places, people, sports, science, outer space, nature, etc.
*Language: Journalist questions (who, what, when, where, why).Is thewriting approach a narrative, i.e. telling a story?Is the language descriptive using literal imagery, figurative imagery? Is there more telling than showing? Is there enough showing to allow the reader to see, hear, touch, taste and smell details along the way?
Who is writing the journal book/article/narrative? Also, who is the book/article/narrative about?
What is the book/article/narrative about?
When was the book/article/story written? Also, note the historical context of the book/article/narrative, i.e. is the writing about a current person/event (President Obama, Iraq War), or about a past person/event (Abraham Lincoln, Civil War)?
Where does the book/article/narrative take place?
Why is the book/article/narrative being written, for what purpose?
SCHOLARLY ESSAYS
ANALYSIS: To Understand How Something Functions or Operates
Process/approach to planning and writing essays:
1)Suspend your judgement (do not begin with a personal bias) and set out to prove your bias. Remain open to where your analysis and your research take you. In other words, don’t just write down a thesis and proceed to prove your thesis. Such an approach limits your ability to uncover insights into your subject as you proceed through the investigative research process.
2)Examine your subject closely to identify its parts (Division & Analysis)
Example: The poemsbeing analyzed for the essay contain the following: figurative language (simile, metaphor) and sound devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia). For fictionconsider literary elements such as the setting, narrator/speaker, other characters, as well as the person being addressed. For nonfiction considerthe journalist’s five key questions: who, what, when,where, and why. Also consider the context of the text, in other words, the time frame of when the text was written and to what time period(s) the text relates.
But so what? Now consider the all-important so what factor. In other words, after identifying the parts (division) of your subject, clarify the significance of the parts to your subject as a whole (analysis). How do the individual parts of a subject impact (positively and negatively) the entire subject?Also consider how the analysis of your subject affects or impacts you specifically.
3)Look for patterns – Are there any? What are they? What is their significance? In poems are there any recurring images or repeated words, recurring themes (motifs) and, if so, what is their significance?
4)Look for anomalies – Are there any? What are they? What is their significance?
5)Context – Analyze your subject within context? In other words, what occurs before and what occurs after your subject? Consider the time period in history that a poem, fiction or nonfiction was written, the culture, and the textual tradition in which the text was written.
6)Research: Follow the research instead of using research as a mechanical tool to prove your point.
7)Consider Multiple Perspectives: Consider how your essay relates to the reader and to you as the writer (see Aristotle’s writing/analysis triangle). Analysis begins with the Subject (text/problem/topic) –and from there consider how the cause and effect influences the reader of your essay as well as the writer (you) of the essay.