Writing about literature ppt

1. Writing About Literature
- Literary analysis
(see hand-out)
- check writer’s handbooks
- see also Norton Intro to Lit.,
“Writing About Literature” (A3-
A52) and Glossary

2. Literary analysis hand-out
Some key points to remember:
- be familiar with basic literary terminology (remember to consult the Norton glossary when necessary)
- use essay prompts as guides by looking for keywords (like literary terms): e.g. is the prompt asking you to
look for “imagery,” “symbolism,” “characterization,” “narrative style”? Use the keyword in your thesis
statement if possible (but remember that “Shakespeare uses symbolism” is not a thesis statement)
- you are analyzing and interpreting, NOT summarizing
- do not “analyze” by making lists: e.g. your thesis is that “Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses
color-imagery throughout her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Do not then proceed to simply list, in
order that they appear in the story, all instances of color-imagery
- literary analysis does not involve your subjective opinion about an author or work’s “greatness” (e.g.
'Dryden is a great and brilliant writer.')
- supporting details will be direct (and accurate) quotation from the primary sources (the readings); these
will appear in EVERY body paragraph (except perhaps transition paragraphs in longer papers)
- secondary sources should support your ideas, not provide them
- close, critical reading of the primary text(s)
- reading and re-reading multiple times; be sure to annotate

3. continued....
- use genre terminology correctly (short story, poem, play, etc.)
- italicize plays, novels, and long poems: Paradise Lost
- quotation marks for poems and short stories: “Boys and Girls”
- write in third person (this does not limit what you can say):
“Shakespeare’s Hamlet explores the consequences of inaction.”
not
“After reading Hamlet, I think that the play explores....”
- verb tense: present tense for discussing elements internal to literary works; past tense for
historical events/ biographical information
- “A Rose for Emily” develops the contrast between old and new.”
- Faulkner was born in the Old South.
Note: sometimes, if you are providing plot summary, you will have to re-narrate plot
events in a combination of past and present tense
- analysis and interpretation: start by asking questions with literary terms: e.g. What are the
important themes in the work? How does the author use imagery/symbolism/metaphor? How is
rhythm/rhyme/alliteration/pattern used?
- key terms to remember: plot, theme, structure, characterization, setting, point of view, style,
imagery, tone, figure of speech, symbolism, rhythm, rhyme

4. this is your brain
Norton Introduction to Literature
“Writing About Literature” (A3-A52)
- avoid mere summary or paraphrase, but use each of these
within your essays when necessary (avoid constructing
your argument using the linear structure of the text – i.e.
paragraphs shouldn’t start with “And then, in the next
paragraph....”)
- for the most part, our “critical approach” (A18) will be
“Formalist” (we’ll be attending to features within works
themselves – like development of imagery, structure,
diction, etc.); but be aware of other critical approaches
(especially for longer papers)
- thesis statement – your “argument” about literature
should make your reader say, or think, something like,
“Oh. I hadn’t noticed that/thought of that before.” (So
“There is symbolism in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” will
obviously not elicit this reaction); think especially in
terms of identifying connections/development/resonance
within and between works
- the process 

5. this is your brain on reading
The process for developing literary analysis
papers will be roughly the same, regardless of
the length of the paper.
- read and re-read primary texts, making notes to
yourself in a notebook AND marking the texts (this
will make finding important quotes and passages
easier in the future)
- keep a notebook or note cards with important
quotes or information on them (remember to
include the source for the material, and number the
cards or color code them); this will make
organizing a lot of material easier
- use organizing and brainstorming techniques (like
outlines, free-writing, bubble or tree diagrams)
throughout the writing process, not just once at the
beginning
- write a first draft as “freely” as possible – don’t
over-censor yourself; get as much down on paper as
possible (then consider outlining this draft to get a
better sense of how your material is/can be
organized)
- write then revise, write/revise, writerevise
writerevisewriterevisewriterevise
let revision become an
integral part of the writing
process
let it be an actual
re-seeing

6. That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees –
Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
Sailing to Byzantium – W.B. Yeats
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enameling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

7. I. ask a question using a literary term (or terms):
•imagery
•theme
•diction
•rhythm and rhyme
II. formulate a response to the question; this
becomes a tentative thesis statement
III. return to the poem to re-read and annotate,
looking closely for key quotes
IV. draft an outline that includes your thesis
statement and then develops support for that
thesis using direct evidence from the poem
V. re-read the poem and consider revisions

8. 1.
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees –
Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
2.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
Sailing to Byzantium – W.B. Yeats (Norton, pg 1010)
3.
O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
4.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enameling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
Setting theme
setting/theme
rhyme
opposition/contrast
allusion/
intertextuality