How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay. Understand the purpose of a literary analysis; Understand the format (learn what this type of assignment must include in its content); Plan. Write. Edit If you are assigned to write a drama essay, for example, you should cite vivid examples form a particular play. You should bear in mind that all quotations should be cited properly. Remember to use quotation marks. If your literary essay is focused on examining a piece of poetry, you should provide readers with some lines from the poem Careful planning is the key to producing a good essay. Do NOT begin to write your essay the night before it is due to be submitted. You should allow yourselves time to consider, plan, write, rewrite and revise, and proof read your essay before its submission. The diagram and questions reproduced below will assist you in planning your essay
How to Write a Literary Essay Step by Step
Interesting little-known tips for how how to write literature essays write a better English Literature essay from Dr Oliver Tearle Loughborough University. How do you write a good English Literature essay? The French writer Colette liked to begin her writing day by picking the fleas off her cat. Friedrich von Schiller kept rotten apples in his desk, claiming he needed the scent of their decay to help him write. For most student essay-writers, such an aroma is probably allowed to arise in the writing-room more organically, over time.
We will address our suggestions for successful essay-writing to the average student of English Literature, how to write literature essays, whether at university or school level. There are many ways to approach the task of essay-writing, and these are just a few pointers for how to write a better English essay — and some of these pointers may also work for other disciplines and subjects, too.
Of course, these guidelines are designed to be of interest to the non-essay-writer too — people who have an interest in the craft of writing in general.
If this describes you, we hope you enjoy the list as well. This may seem like odd advice to kick off with, but the truth is that different approaches work for different students and essayists. You need to find out which method works best for you. Often the most extensively planned essays are the most mechanistic and dull in execution, precisely because the writer has drawn up a plan and refused to deviate from it. What is a more valuable skill is to be able to sense when your argument may be starting to go off-topic, or your point is getting out of hand, as you write.
For help on this, see point 5 below. We might even say that when it comes to knowing how to write a good English Literature essay, practising is more important than planning. Make room for close analysis of the text, or texts, how to write literature essays. Eliot, F. Leavis, William Empson, and other influential essayists started to subject the poem or novel to close scrutiny. For instance, take In Memoriamwhich is a long Victorian poem by the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson about his grief following the death of his close friend, Arthur Hallam, in the early s.
A solid and perfectly competent essay might cite this stanza in support of the claim that Tennyson is finding it increasingly difficult to have faith in God following the untimely and senseless death of his friend, how to write literature essays, Arthur Hallam. But there are several ways of then doing something more with it. In other words, Tennyson sees faith as a matter of groping through the darkness, trusting in God without having evidence that he is there.
That would be a good reading. The best way to become attuned to such nuances is revealed in point 5. Provide several pieces of evidence where possible.
Many essays have a point to make and make it, tacking on a single piece of evidence from the text or from beyond the text, how to write literature essays, e. a critical, historical, or biographical source in the hope that this will be enough to make the point convincing.
For one thing, this approach is too formulaic and basic for many arguments. Is one quotation enough to support a point? DNA, fingerprints, and so on. a good edition of the text, which will contain biographical and critical information — may help you to find a clinching piece of evidence to support your reading. Of course, this rule also works in reverse: if you want to argue, for instance, that T. Avoid tentative or speculative phrasing. Many essays tend to suffer from the above problem of a lack of evidence, so the point fails to convince.
Arguing that the plays of Shakespeare were written by a Martian who came down to Earth and ingratiated himself with the world of Elizabethan theatre is a theory that can be argued, though few would take it seriously. It should be taken as true that your interpretation is, at bottom, probably unprovable. But the author might have lied about it e. in an attempt to dissuade people from looking too much into their private lifeor they might have changed their mind to go back to the example of The Waste Land : T.
Texts — and their writers — can often be contradictory, or cagey about their meaning. But we as critics have to act responsibly when writing about literary texts in any good English essay or exam answer.
So, if nothing is utterly provable, how to write literature essays, all that remains is to make the strongest possible case you can with the evidence available. You do this, not only through marshalling the evidence in an effective way, but by writing in a confident voice when making your case. Read the work of other critics. This might be viewed as how to write literature essays Holy Grail of good essay-writing tips, since it is perhaps the single most effective way to improve your own writing, how to write literature essays.
Why is this worth doing? And essay-writing is how to write literature essays genre, the same as novel-writing or poetry. But why will reading criticism help you? Because the critics you read can show you how to do all of the above: how to present a close reading of a poem, how how to write literature essays advance an argument that is not speculative or tentative yet not over-confident, how to use evidence from the text to make your argument more persuasive.
But consider this example. This is not plagiarising a point how to write literature essays applying it independently to another writer.
It shows independent interpretive skills and an ability to understand and apply what you have read. This is another of the advantages of reading critics, so this would be our final piece of advice for learning how to write a good English essay: find a critic whose style you like, and study their craft. Doubtless readers of Interesting Literature will how to write literature essays their own favourites to suggest in the comments, so do check those out, as these are just three personal favourites.
Suggestions please. Much of all this may strike you as common sense, but even the most commonsensical advice can go out of your mind when you have a piece of coursework to write, or an exam to revise for. But it can be learned. And remember, be interesting — find the things in the poems or plays or novels which really ignite your enthusiasm.
And if you enjoyed these tips for how to write a persuasive English essay, check out our advice for how to how to write literature essays things for exams and our tips for becoming a better close reader of poetry. The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University.
Image top : A child writing with a penhow to write literature essays, author: MummelgrummelWikimedia Commons. Image top middle : A Stipula fountain pen lying on a written piece of paperauthor: Antonio LitterioWikimedia Commons.
Image bottom middle : Writer 19th century, author Leonid PasternakWikimedia Commons. Image bottom : Cat with Book Danny Ayers,Wikimedia Commons.
A well rounded summary on all steps to keep in mind while starting on writing. There are many new avenues available though. Benefit from the writing options of the 21st century from here, i loved it! Pingback: Shakespeare and the Essay Interesting Literature. Pingback: Michael Moorcock: How to Write a Novel in 3 Days Interesting Literature. Pingback: How to Remember Things for Exams Interesting Literature. Pingback: How to Write a Good English Essay georg28ang.
Reblogged this on rosetech67 and commented: Useful, albeit maybe a bit late for me Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented: This could be applied to novel or short story writing as well, how to write literature essays. Reblogged this on DISTINCT CHARACTER and commented: Good Tips. Great post. Pingback: How to Write a Good English Essay? Interesting Literature EngLL. Reblogged this on pixcdrinks. Reblogged this on rainniewu. Pingback: Weekly Digest Alpha Female, Mainstream Cat.
Reblogged this on worldsinthenet. Reblogged this on Blue Banana Bread. I shall take this as my New Year boost in Writing Essays. Please try to visit often for corrections,advise and criticisms. Reblogged this on Uniqely Mustered and commented: Dedicate this to all upcoming writers and lovers of Writing!
All of these are very good points — especially I like 2 and 5. Great post on essay writing! Pingback: Recommended Resource: Interesting Literature. Reblogged this on Scribing English. Not a bad effort…not at all! Reblogged this on SocioTech'nowledge. I also think a crucial part of excellent essay writing that too many students do not realize is that not every point or interpretation needs to be addressed.
When offered the chance to write your interpretation of a work of literature, it is important to note that there of course are many but your essay how to write literature essays choose one and focus evidence on this one view rather than attempting to include all views and evidence to back up each view. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.
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Writing a Literature Essay
, time: 10:36How To Write A Literature Essay, with Outline Sample
How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay. Understand the purpose of a literary analysis; Understand the format (learn what this type of assignment must include in its content); Plan. Write. Edit If you are assigned to write a drama essay, for example, you should cite vivid examples form a particular play. You should bear in mind that all quotations should be cited properly. Remember to use quotation marks. If your literary essay is focused on examining a piece of poetry, you should provide readers with some lines from the poem · How to write a literature review. Step 1: Search for relevant literature. Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic. Step 2: Evaluate and select sources. Step 3: Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure. Step 5: Write Reviews: 6
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