CHAPTER 15 - WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE 439

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE

Here are some suggestions that will improve any essay of literary analysis:
1. Select a workable topic. If the choice of subject matter is yours, you
must decide if you will approach a work through discussion of several
elements or if you will focus on some specific part of it as it relates to
the whole work. You must also select a topic that is interesting and
meaningful for your readers. If your topic is too obvious or insignifi-
cant, your readers will be bored. In other words, your essay should in-
form your readers and increase their appreciation of the work.
2. Present a clear thesis. Remember that your purpose is to provide
new insight to your readers. Consequently, they need to know exactly
what you see in the work. Don’t just announce your topic (“This poem
is about love”); rather, put forth your argumentative thesis clearly and
specifically (“Through its repeated use of sewing imagery, the story
emphasizes the tragedy of a tailor’s wasted potential as an artist”).
And don’t waltz around vaguely talking about something readers may
not have seen the first time through (“At first the warehouse scene
doesn’t look that important but after reading it a few times you see
that it really does contain some of the meaningful ideas in the story”).
Get on with it! cries your impatient reader. Tell me what you see!
3. Follow literary conventions. Essays of literary analysis have some
customs you should follow, unless instructed otherwise. Always in-
clude the full name of the author and the work in your introductory
paragraph; the author’s last name is fine after that. Titles of short
poems and stories are enclosed in quotation marks. Most literary es-
says are written in present tense (“the poet presents an image of a
withered tree”), from third-person point of view rather than the more
informal first-person “I.” So that your readers may easily follow your
discussion, include a copy of the work or at least indicate publication
information describing the location of the work (the name of volume,
publisher, date, pages, and so forth).
Within your essay, it’s also helpful to include a poem’s line num-
ber following a direct quotation: “the silent schoolyard” ( l. 10). Some
instructors also request paragraph or page numbers in essays on
fiction.
4. Organize effectively. Your method of organization may depend heavily
on your subject matter. A poem, for example, might be best discussed
by devoting a paragraph to each stanza; on the other hand, another
work might profit from a paragraph on imagery, another on point of
view, another on setting, and so on. You must decide what arrangement
makes the best sense for your readers. Experiment by moving your
ideas around in your prewriting outlines and drafts.
440 PART THREE - SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS

5. Use ample evidence. Remember that you are, in essence, arguing your
interpretation—you are saying to your reader, “Understand this work
the way I do.” Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you offer your
reader convincing evidence, based on reasonable readings of words in
the work itself. The acceptance of your views depends on your making
yourself clear and convincing. To do so, include plenty of references to
the work through direct quotation and paraphrase. Don’t assume that
your reader sees what you see—or sees it in the way you do. You must
fight for your interpretation by offering reasonable readings substanti-
ated with references to the work.
Unsupported claim: Robert feels sorry for himself throughout the
story.
Claim supported with text: Robert’s self-pity is evident throughout
the story as he repeatedly thinks to himself, “No one on this
earth cares about me” (4) and “There isn’t a soul I can turn to” (5).
Ask yourself as you work through your drafts, am I offering enough
clear, specific, convincing evidence here to persuade my reader to ac-
cept my reading?
6. Find a pleasing conclusion. At the end of your literary analysis, read-
ers should feel they have gained new knowledge or understanding of a
work or some important part of it. You might choose to wrap up your
discussion with a creative restatement of your reading, its relation to
the writer’s craft, or even your assessment of the work’s significance
within the author’s larger body of writing. However you conclude, the
readers should feel intellectually and emotionally satisfied with your
discussion.

Problems to Avoid
Don’t assign meanings. By far the most common problem in essays of lit-
erary analysis involves interpretation without clear explanation of supporting
evidence. Remember that your readers may not see what you see in a particu-
lar line or paragraph; in fact, they may see something quite different. The bur-
den is on you to show cause—how you derived your reading and why it is a
good one. Don’t represent claims as truth even if they ever-so-conveniently fit
your thesis: “It is clear that the moon is used here as a symbol of her family’s
loss.” Clear to whom besides you? If it helps, each time you make an interpre-
tative claim, imagine a classmate who immediately says, “Uh, sorry, but I
don’t get it. Show me how you see that?” Or imagine a hostile reader with a
completely different reading who sneers, “Oh yeah, says who? Convince me.”

Use quoted material effectively. Many times your supporting evidence

will come from quotations from the text you’re analyzing. But don’t just drop a
quoted line onto your page, as if it had just tumbled off a high cliff somewhere.
 CHAPTER 15 - WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE 441

You run the risk of your readers reading the quoted material and still not see-
ing in it what you do. Blend the quoted material smoothly into your prose, in a
way that illustrates or supports your clearly stated point:

Dropped in: Miranda is twenty-four years old. “After working for three
years on a morning newspaper she had an illusion of maturity and ex-
perience” (280). [What exact point do you want your reader to
understand?]
Point clarified: Although Miranda is twenty-four and has worked on a
newspaper for three years, she is not as worldly wise as she thinks she is,
having acquired only the “illusion of maturity and experience” (280).

Review pages 387–389 for some ways to blend your quotations into your
prose. Always double-check to ensure you are quoting accurately; refer to
pages 395 and 509–510 for help with proper punctuation and block indention
of longer quoted material.

Analysis is not plot summary. Sometimes you may want to offer your
readers a brief overview of the work before you begin your in-depth analysis.
And certainly there will be times in the body of your essay, especially if you
are writing about fiction, that you will need to paraphrase actions or descrip-
tions rather than quote long passages directly. Paraphrasing can indeed pro-
vide effective support, but do beware a tendency to fall into unproductive
plot-telling. Remember that the purpose of your paper is to provide insight
into the work’s ideas and craft—not merely to present a rehash of the plot.
Keep your eye on each of your claims and pull out or paraphrase only those
particular lines or important passages that illustrate and support your points.
Use your editing pen as a sharp stick to beat back plot summary if it begins
taking over your paragraphs.

PR ACTICING W H AT YO U’VE LE ARNED

Read the poem that follows several times and then use the suggestions on
pages 432–434 to help you analyze the work. Who is speaking in this poem and
what does he now understand?

Those Winter Sundays

Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden was a poet and professor at Fisk University and at the University of Michi-
gan, who also served as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress. A Ballad of Re-
membrance (1962) first won him international honors at the World Festival of Negro
Arts in Senegal; many other volumes of poetry followed, including Words in Mourning
Time (1970), American Journal (1978), and Complete Poems (1985). This poem origi-
nally appeared in Angle of Ascent, New and Selected Poems (1975).