A Primer for Writing a Literary Analysis

1. It’s a good idea for everyone to study the chapters in Kelley Griffith, Writing Essays About Literature (assigned or recommended for most courses) about writing on literature, choosing topics, and drafting the essay, even if you think you know how to do this type of writing. Follow these techniques for generating ideas, accumulating material to write about, and organizing it for the essay. Also study the sample student essays in the back of this volume.

2. Give your essay a title that is appropriate to this kind of paper. Model it after those for the sample essays in Griffith. For example: “Clothing Imagery in Shakespeare’s King Lear” or “The Imagery of Time in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19.”

3. Somewhere in the first or second paragraph, state in precise and detailed terms what your argument is. E.g., for a paper like the second one identified above,

“Time is often presented with images of animalism and ferocity, an all-consuming force that threatens to erase what is dear to the poet. Yet at the end of the poem the author challenges Time to “do thy worst,” secure in the knowledge that his verse will outlast whatever ravages Time can inflict on it and the ordinary processes of life that we all undergo. Thus Shakespeare’s point seems to be the ways in which the power of writing can vanquish ordinary, temporal forces.”

This is a sophisticated and detailed argument. A relatively unclear and less worthy argument might be something like:

“Shakespeare uses Time to get his points across about human nature. He produces an excellent, effective poem.”

The chief difference between the two arguments is that the former is specific, the latter general. Every sentence that you write should be as these:

The forest in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" seems to represent sin.

Celimene's coquetry is one of the mainsprings of action in Moliere's The Misanthrope.

Oedipus accepts full responsibility for his actions at the end of the play.

4. Organize the essay according to specific points that comprise your argument. The first point might be the animal imagery that accompanies the personified figure of Time. Make this point the focus of each paragraph that you write on it. A paragraph should address one idea only.

5. To prove the validity of your point, quote words, phrases, or lines from the text that you think support it, like the preponderance of verbs of destruction early in sonnet 19. Introduce the evidence before you quote it (don’t just run it into your paper) or work it into your own sentences--remembering that the resultant sentence must be a correct grammatical construction. E.g.,

“The cluster of verbs evoking the act of consumption and destruction early in the sonnet suggests part of Shakespeare’s purpose. Time is “Devouring,” for example. It “blunt[s]” the lion’s paws and “pluck[s]” the phoenix “in her blood” (2-4).

6. Your purpose in these paragraphs is to analyze the implications of characterizations, dialogue, language, description, and plot events, not merely to summarize or paraphrase the plot itself.

7. Analyze as many examples of this point as you are able, then draw your conclusion about it. E.g.,

“These verbs, which all suggest destructive forces, indicate that Time to the poet is not only unstoppable but malign, or possibly even evil. It would seem that the poet fears the onslaught of Time, given the fearful language he uses to describe it.”

8. Now move on to your next point and repeat the process described above. Notice that in quoting evidence from the text, you should quote only “quotable” language--i.e., words that you can analyze for their connotations or symbolic significances. Don’t quote something that you aren’t going to “read meaning into.”

9. When you have thoroughly analyzed all the significant passages that support your argument, end the paper by reiterating your argument and describing the evidence that supports it.

10. Read the chapter on Griffith on revising and editing before you proofread the paper. Make sure the sentences are specific, clear, and grammatically correct.

11. For documentation guidelines, follow the format set forth in Griffith for parenthetical citation for a single book with a single author. Include parenthetical page (or line) citations within the body of the essay and a "Works Cited" page at the end. For other matters of form, refer to the Griffith text.

12. Proofread the paper.