How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay?

What do you understand by ‘literary analysis?’ Is it similar to rhetorical analysis? How to write a literary analysis essay for college? Read the blog to uncover the answers to these questions and more.

What Is A Literary Analysis?

A literary analysis examines a text or a particular aspect of a literary work to interpret the meaning, determine the author's choices and the reasons behind those choices and explore if the choices worked or not.

A literary analysis essay is more argumentative than a rhetorical one. You need to evaluate literary elements like structure, language, character development, perspective, and plot twists and explain the author’s intent in using them.

So the primary purpose of a literary analysis is not to summarize a whole novel or write a review on it but to explore the literary elements used in the text to determine how everything works.

What Elements to Include in a Literary Analysis?

Although there’s no definitive list of elements that must be added in your literary analysis essay as the focus entirely depends on the type of literature to be evaluated, here are some common elements you should include in your essay:

• The genre of literature
• Evaluation of the main characters
• An outline focusing on the core plot and main ideas in the work
• Exploring the overall theme
• Inspection and description of the identified symbolism, writing style, and work structure

Structuring a Literary Analysis Essay

Before beginning how to write a literary analysis essay, it's essential to read the text thoroughly to develop a clear knowledge of the thesis you are analyzing. Then sketch an essay structure with the following sections to stay focused:

• An introduction to tell your readers about the primary focus of the essay
• The body is divided into multiple paragraphs to build a strong argument based on the evidence you've gathered from the text.
• A cohesive conclusion restates the points you have found through your analysis.

How to Write an Intriguing Literary Analysis Essay?

Knowing how to write a literary analysis essay is crucial for all students because such papers help develop their writing skills and literary knowledge. If you don’t, following the steps below will ease the process.

Step 1: Carefully read the text

The secret to writing an impressive literary analysis essay is being confident about the context or the text you must analyze. Take time and read the book, novel, poem, or whatever piece of writing you have to evaluate. Read it several times and identify the literary elements the author or the poet has used and their effects. In the case of multiple literary devices, analyze each and devise their connection.

Step 2: Note the literary devices

Always note the important literary devices in different paragraphs and quotations to track their uses. Here's a list of important literary devices you should note:

• Language choices– Analyze the type of language the writer uses. Are the sentences short and straightforward or long and complex? What are the word choices? Did s/he use the figurative meaning or literal definition?
• Imagery – Check if the writer has used imagery (recurring images) in the text to symbolize something meaningful in the text.
• Narrative tone– Determine who the narrator is. Is it a first-person narrative voice ("I") or a third-person’s? A first-person narrator tells the story from their perspective, while the third-person tells the story from a distance. Keep an eye on the narrator's perspective and determine if s/he gives detailed information or a distorted version of different events.
• The text's tone– Determine if the text is tragic, funny, serious, realistic or fantasy.
• Structure– Consider the structure and its relevance to the text. Think about how the author has structured the book or poem and how s/he has chosen to structure it the way they did.

When evaluating poetry, check how meter and rhyme affect the text. Read the poem carefully and try to think about your impression of it. In the case of plays, evaluate the relationships between different characters in different scenes and how they have evolved through the setting.

 Step 3: Nail down a topic

Once you have read the text and made notes of the literary devices, it’s time to narrow down a potential topic. Brainstorming topic is the hardest part of writing as you must be creative and critical simultaneously. Most times, you are provided with some potential questions. If not, consider these questions to form a question:

• Is there any connection between this literature and society?
• What aspects of the text interested or confused you?
• Focus on the characters and analyze their motivation. Determine if they can be compared and contrasted or if there’s any symbolism.
• What about the setting and themes? What message do you draw from them? Are there recurring themes?
• What was the author’s intention in the text? Was he successful or unsuccessful, and why?

Step 4: Develop the thesis

The thesis is the heart of your literary analysis essay. It directs the core argument instead of making your text collection random views. If a thesis question is given, make sure your thesis is relevant to the prompt. In cases where you have to choose your topic, you should develop your own thesis by considering the factors that stood out for you, the elements you found unique, and how you would approach them. Read the text, find relevant evidence to build your argument, and assess their significance.

Step 5: Come up with a title & introduction

An interesting title and an introduction are two important factors of a literary analysis essay. A title indicates the primary focus of your essay and should contain the author's name and text. The essay introduction is usually an overview of the essay. Typically, an introduction starts with general information about the author and text, followed by a thesis statement and a brief indication of what to expect.

Step 6: Write the body paragraphs

The body of your literary analysis essay contains all the arguments and the evidence backing them. A typical structure consists of three paragraphs, each focusing on one topic relevant to the thesis. So begin every paragraph with logical moments, focus on the argument, provide evidence, and introduce a new idea.

Use topic sentences to help your readers see what the particular paragraph is about and use suitable transitional words, such as “moreover,” “nevertheless,” or "however," to ensure seamless transitions. Also, use proper quotes from your text and properly introduce their significance to your point.

Step 7: Compose a cohesive conclusion

The conclusion of your literary analysis essay should focus on summarising the key points and their significance. A good way to conclude your essay is to briefly explain the key arguments and stress the factors that led to a particular conclusion while highlighting your thesis perspective.

Step 8: Review and refine your essay

Once you have your arguments on the page, it's time to read the paper carefully and identify the areas that need editing or rewriting. Go through the paper and see if there's any repetition or room for adjusting the word count by presenting your argument more concisely. Does all the evidence you gathered fit the paper as you wanted?

Don’t hesitate to edit your essay draft. Your first draft is never perfect and requires rewriting and rechecking to ensure all the writing elements, like grammar and sentence structure, are accurate. Your thesis should be relevant to the argument you're making and tie up the entire paper as a whole.

Step 9: Get a second opinion

If you need additional hands-on help or some constructive opinion, ask someone with good writing skills for genuine feedback. The reviewer can check your essay and identify the errors faster, be it spelling, grammar or structural errors. She can also give you constructive criticism on your work and give you productive feedback on improving the content. You can also request your professor for guidance or work with your peers to create evidence-rich content and express your arguments without flaws.

Now that you know how to write a literary analysis essay, it’s time to get started to tackle the task efficiently without any rush.