Writing A Literary Analysis Essay

 Writing Structure & Procedures

Literary Analysis are written in the third person point of view in present tense. Do not use the words I or you in the essay. Your instructor may have you choose from a list of literary works read in class or you can choose your own. Follow the required formatting and instructions of your instructor.

 

Writing & Analyzing process

First step: Choose a literary work or text. Read & Re-Read the text or short story. Determine the key point or purpose of the literature

Step two: Analyze key elements of the literary work. Determine how they fit in with the author's purpose.

Step three: Put all information together. Determine how all elements fit together towards the main theme of the literary work.

Step four: Brainstorm a list of potential topics. Create a thesis statement based on your analysis of the literary work. 

Step five: search through the text or short story to find textual evidence to support your thesis. Gather information from different but relevant sources both from the text itself and other secondary sources to help to prove your point. All evidence found will be quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to help explain your argument to the reader. 

Step six: Create and outline and begin the rough draft of your essay. 

Step seven: revise and proofread. Write the final draft of essay

Step eight: include a reference or works cited page at the end of the essay and include in-text citations.

 

When analyzing a literary work pay close attention to the following:

Characters: A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story. 

• Protagonist: The main character of the story
• Antagonist: The villain of the story
• Love interest: the protagonist’s object of desire.
• Confidant: This type of character is the best friend or sidekick of the protagonist
• Foil – A foil is a character that has opposite character traits from another character and are meant to help highlight or bring out another’s positive or negative side.
• Flat – A flat character has one or two main traits, usually only all positive or negative.
• Dynamic character: A dynamic character is one who changes over the course of the story.
• Round character: These characters have many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting.
• Static character: A static character does not noticeably change over the course of a story.
• Symbolic character: A symbolic character represents a concept or theme larger than themselves.
• Stock character: A stock character is an ordinary character with a fixed set of personality traits.

Setting: The setting is the period of time and geographic location in which a story takes place.

Plot:  a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story

Theme:  a universal idea, lesson, or message explored throughout a work of literature. 

Dialogue: any communication between two characters

Imagery: a literary device that refers to the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience or create a picture with words for a reader.

Figures of Speech: A word or phrase that is used in a non-literal way to create an effect. 

Tone: A literary device that reflects the writer's attitude toward the subject matter or audience of a literary work.

rhyme or rhythm: Rhyme is a literary device, featured particularly in poetry, in which identical or similar concluding syllables in different words are repeated. Rhythm can be described as the beat and pace of a poem

Point of view: the narrative voice through which a story is told.

• Third person: the narrator is describing what’s seen, but as a spectator. 
  • Limited –  the narrator sees only what’s in front of him/her, a spectator of events as they unfold and unable to read any other character’s mind.
  • Omniscient – narrator sees all. He or she sees what each character is doing and can see into each character’s mind. 
  • Limited Omniscient – narrator can only see into one character’s mind. He/she might see other events happening, but only knows the reasons of one character’s actions in the story.
• First person: You see events based on the character telling the story
• Second person: The narrator is speaking to you as the audience

Symbolism:  a literary device in which a writer uses one thing—usually a physical object or phenomenon—to represent something else.

Irony: a literary device in which contradictory statements or situations reveal a reality that is different from what appears to be true.

 

Ask some of the following questions when analyzing literary work:

• Which literary devices were used by the author?
• How are the characters developed in the content?
• How does the setting fit in with the mood of the literary work?
• Does a change in the setting affect the mood, characters, or conflict?
• What point of view is the literary work written in and how does it effect the plot, characters, setting, and over all theme of the work?
• What is the over all tone of the literary work? How does the tone impact the author’s message?
• How are figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, and hyperboles used throughout the text?
• When was the text written? how does the text fit in with the time period?

A literary analysis essay outline is written in standard format: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. An outline will provide a definite structure for your essay.

I. Introduction: Title

A. a hook statement or sentence to draw in readers

B. Introduce your topic for the literary analysis. 

• Include some background information that is relevant to the piece of literature you are aiming to analyze.

C. Thesis statement: what is your argument or claim for the literary work.

II. Body paragraph

A. first point for your analysis or evidence from thesis

B.  textual evidence  with explanation of how it proves your point

III. second evidence from thesis

A. textual evidence with explanation of how it proves your point 

IV. third evidence from thesis

A. textual evidence with explanation of how it proves your point 

V. Conclusion

A. wrap up the essay

B. restate the argument and why its important

C. Don't add any new ideas or arguments

VI: Bibliography: Reference or works cited page

 

End each body paragraph in the essay with a transitional sentence. 

Literary Analysis Guide

Discusses how to analyze a passage of text to strengthen your discussion of the literature.

The Writing Center @ UNC-Chapel Hill

Excellent handouts and videos around key writing concepts. Entire section on Writing for Specific Fields, including Drama, Literature (Fiction), and more. Licensed under CC BY NC ND (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - No Derivatives).

Creating Literary Analysis (Cordell and Pennington, 2012) – LibreTexts

Resources for Literary Analysis Writing 

Some free resources on this site but some are subscription only

Students Teaching English Paper Strategies 

The Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism