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Jan 30, 2020 · Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects.
- Ask Questions. When you’re assigned a literary essay in class, your teacher will often provide you with a list of writing prompts. Lucky you! Now all you have to do is choose one.
- Collect Evidence. Once you know what question you want to answer, it’s time to scour the book for things that will help you answer the question. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to say yet—right now you’re just collecting ideas and material and letting it all percolate.
- Construct a Thesis. When you’ve examined all the evidence you’ve collected and know how you want to answer the question, it’s time to write your thesis statement.
- Develop and Organize Arguments. The reasons and examples that support your thesis will form the middle paragraphs of your essay. Since you can’t really write your thesis statement until you know how you’ll structure your argument, you’ll probably end up working on steps 3 and 4 at the same time.
Literary analysis looks critically at a work of fiction in order to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. When analyzing a novel or short story, you’ll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes.
Apr 17, 2023 · To begin analyzing a work of fiction, one should identify the story’s setting and context. This provides the backdrop for the actions and interactions of the characters, which can influence the plot and the story’s overall message.
- Read the text and identify literary devices. As you conduct your literary analysis, you should first read through the text, keeping an eye on key elements that could serve as clues to larger, underlying themes.
- Develop your thesis. If you’re writing an essay for your literature class, you’ll likely be given a prompt or question to answer with your essay. If you’re not assigned a topic, you’ll have to think of one yourself.
- Create an outline. Once you have your thesis, it’s time to make a plan for how you’ll prove your argument. Look back at your notes about the literary and narrative devices above.
- Cite the evidence. When you’re making your argument, it’s important that you have concrete evidence from the text to support your claims. When you can, provide direct quotes and other concrete details.
Developing and Refining an Interpretive Thesis. At the heart of your analytic essay, driving it (so to speak), needs to be an interpretive thesis —an argumentative claim regarding what your work as a whole is saying about one of its core themes.
Learn how to write a literary analysis essay in this comprehensive guide with examples. Discover how to analyze texts, using imagery, tone, and perspective.
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