This document outlines the SIFT method for literary analysis. SIFT stands for Symbols, Imagery, Figures of Speech, Tone and Theme. It provides guidance on identifying each element: - Symbols: Objects or characters that represent something abstract - Imagery: Descriptions that appeal to the senses - Figures of Speech: Devices like simile, metaphor, personification that form images - Tone: The author's attitude conveyed through word choice, details and language - Theme: The central idea or message about human nature revealed through plot events and characters.

1. SIFT
A Literary Analysis Method

2. SIFT Methodymbol: examine the text and title for symbolism
mages: identify images and sensory details
igures of Speech: analyze figurative language and other devices
one and Theme: discuss how all devices reveal tone and theme

3. Symbols: Signs of Something More
ur everyday lives are heaped with symbols:
These commonly accepted
symbols are called public
symbols

4. Symbols in Literature
riters create new, personal symbols in their work.
n literature, a symbol is an object, a setting, an event, an animal, or even
a person that functions in the story the way you’d expect it to, but also
stands for something more than itself, usually for something abstract.

5. Moby Dick
he white whale in Moby Dick is a very real white whale in the novel, and
Captain Ahab spends the whole book chasing it.
UT- certain passages let the readers know that the whale is ASSOCIATED
with the mystery of evil in the world.
ymbols work by ASSOCIATION!

6. What it isn’t…
sign with just one meaning: the picture of a cigarette in a circle
with a line drawn through it is a sign meaning precisely and
specifically, “No Smoking”
he white whale does not mean, precisely and specifically, “the
mystery of evil”
ssociations suggested by the writer, made by the characters in the
story, and ultimately made by the reader evoke images of evil,
suggests aspects of the darker side of life, and hint at possible
ways of seeing and thinking about events portrayed.

7. Is it a symbol?
uidelines to follow…
• Symbols are often visual.
• When some event or object or setting is used as a symbol
in the story, you will usually find that the writer has given
it a great deal of emphasis. Often it reappears throughout
the story.
• A symbol in literature is a form of figurative language.
Like a metaphor, a symbol is something that is identified
with something else that is very different from it, but that
shares some quality.
• A symbol usually has something to do with a story’s
theme.

8. (SIFT) Images
dentify images and sensory details.
magery helps to promote mood and tone.
• What do I see, hear, taste, smell or feel?
• What effect is the author trying to convey with these images?

9. Tone & Mood
one: The attitude that an AUTHOR takes toward
the audience, subject, or the character.
one is conveyed through the author’s word and
details.
ngry-challenging-sarcastic-outraged-humorous
•Mood: The emotions that the READER feels
while reading; the atmosphere of the story.
•Mood is conveyed through character emotions,
setting and other elements.
romantic-gloomy-optimistic-sad-hopeful

10. (SIFT) Figures of Speech
nalyze figurative language and other
devices.
riters form images by using figures of
speech such as simile, metaphors,
hyperbole, and personification.
ther devices can include: irony, allusion

11. Simile
direct comparison of two things, usually
using the words like or as.
• “He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.” Tennyson
• “Hell is a city much like London/
A populous and smokey city.” Shelley
• My heart is like an apple tree whose boughs
are bent with thickest fruit.” Christina Raced

12. Metaphor
n IMPLIED comparison in which one thing is spoken
in terms of something else. Metaphors are
extremely valuable in making an abstract idea
clearer by associating the idea with something
concrete that relates to one or more of the senses.
• “And merry larks are ploughman’s clocks.” Shakespeare
• “Entangled in the cobweb of the schools.” Cowper
• “Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes.” Thomas

13. Hyperbole
he use of exaggeration or
overstatement to make a point. It may
be used for emphasis, for humor, or for
poetic intensity.
• “Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard around the world.”
Emerson
It is used freely in sports broadcasting and news articles…
“…slaughtered their opponents on the basket ball court.”

14. Personification
comparison that treats objects or things as if they were capable of
the actions and feelings of people.
• “…Sea that bears her bosom to the moon” Wordsworth
• “The dirty nurse, Experience.” Tennyson
• “Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.” Auden

15. Irony
n expression in which the author’s
meaning is quite different (often the
opposite) from what is literally said.
Irony, as a matter of tone, occurs most
frequently in prose as a technique for
comedy, tragedy, suspense or horror.
hree types of irony:
•Verbal
•Situational
•Dramatic

16. (SIFT) Theme and Tone
heme: central, underlying, and controlling idea of a literary work.
bstract concept represented by a character, by actions, or by images in
the literary work.
generalization about human conduct.
rdinarily expressed in a full sentence and it may even require a full
paragraph.

17. Theme= What it is NOT
annot be expressed in a single word.
ot the purpose of the work (entertainment or instruction)
an versus nature is not a theme, it is a conflict.
nlike a moral or fable, the theme is seldom, if ever, stated.
t is nevera cliché.

18. How Do I Figure Out the Theme?
ou must first understand the plot, the characterization and conflict, the
imagery, and the author’s tone.
dentify the subject in one word…
hen, explain in one or two sentences what the author says about the
subject.
OTE: Many stories/novels have more than one theme and there is
seldom just one “right” answer!

19. For Example…
iterature: To Kill A Mockingbird
ubject: Racism
ossible Theme: Justice is often withheld
from economically deprived racial
minorities.

20. Tone and Theme
one is the author’s attitude toward the subject (the
beginnings of theme)
one is revealed through the words he or she chooses.
(Diction)
n literature, the reader does not have the benefit of
voice inflection- even a dog understands the tone of his
master’s voice!
o, the reader must understand the author’s word choice,
details, imagery and language in order to understand the
tone.

21. More on tone…
o misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning (THEME)
f you miss irony or sarcasm, for example, you may misread the meaning
of an entire passage!

22. Shift in Tone
ood authors rarely use only one tone!
speaker’s attitude may be complex…
n author might have one attitude toward
the audience and another attitude toward
the subject.

23. How to analyze tone:
iction: the connotation of word choice
mages: Imagery that appeals to the senses
etails: Facts and details that the author has included
(does not appeal to the senses)
anguage: Formal? Cliché? Jargon? Figurative Language?
entence Structure: Long or short sentences?
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