Paper details
Assignment Description: A literary analysis essay dissects the means by which a literary text generates
meaning(s) through significant relationships among parts of the text and its whole. In other words, a literary
analysis considers how a literary text employs figurative language, various literary elements (irony,
metaphor, metonymy, etc.), and other formal features to achieve significant effects that are not directly
expressed or communicated. It is not a summary; it tries to explain how and why things are written the way
they are rather than what is literally said. In such an analysis, students should identify specific literary
elements, figurative language, thematic patterns, characterizations, narrative structures, and other formal
features in the text in order explain how these relate to each other and what effect(s) they have in
combination. Identifying relationships among parts that are ironic, ambiguous, conflicting, repetitive, or
paradoxical is especially encouraged. Paragraphs should be organized around the illustration and
explanation of these relationships, using quoted passages and phrases from the text. Relating the text to its
historical, cultural, or literary context may also be a part of this analysis. The thesis of such an essay should
state what one or more of these relationships are and explain how they relate to each other, enabling the
analysis to say something insightful, counterintuitive, or complex about the text and how it is written that is
not obvious to the reader. Example: “Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Theme for English B’ uses irony to suggest
that writing is never the direct expression of an individual, but rather the expression of a social relationship
that is racial, institutional, and class-based.” Composition should formatted in Times 12 font and doublespaced.