Analysis

The purpose of the literary analysis essay

A literary analysis paper posits an argument about a literary work.

It focuses on techniques that create meaning as a way to support that argument. The motto "The medium is the message," coined by Marshall McLuan, shows that you will need to show how a work gets its meaning across, not merely what the meaning is. Any text of merit will be open to a number of interpretations, so a reader would be presumptuous to assume that her understanding of the text were self-evident and not in need of interpretive excavation through analysis. Thus, following the citation of a quotation with phrases like "in other words," or "he means to say" would demonstrate the writer's lack of understanding of the purpose of literary analysis or even the nature of literature. The writer's task is not to translate the meaning of a quotation into her own words, but to posit a particular interpretation of a work by examining literary elements such as image, tone, diction, syntax, metaphor, sound, etc.

For the AP essay, your analysis is necessarily shorter than the kind of analysis you would do on an out-of-class paper. Nevertheless, merely quoting a line with an analytical introduction won't be enough to show that you are adept at the skill of literary analysis.

If you follow a quote with a statement of its general import, you are communicating to your reader that you don't understand the idea of literary analysis. Assume that your reader can get to the general import on her own. What is required instead is your own analysis of text to show how you arrived at your argument.

Here is a good example of analysis: The symbol of faith as an anchor was a common theme in earlier times; however, the speaker in the poem distorts its image of a strong steadfast base. He describes faith as an anchor, but one that only survives through good times. It "lolls so stalwart, / In the bluff, broad-shouldered calm." Lowell's image is not exactly the usual image of an anchor. The use of "lolls" in close proximity to "stalwart" diminishes the strength connotation of the latter word somewhat, making the description somewhat ironic.