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 in her own words, but to posit a particular interpretation of a work by examining literary elements such as image, tone, diction, syntax, metaphor, etc.

Another awkward follow up for a quote is the sentence that begins by referring to the text as "the quote" or "the line." In this follow up, you're signalling your inability to see the separate elements that create the line or the quote. Follow the quote with a reference to a particular part of it. After all, analysis is a critical examination of the elements that create the whole; synthesis, on the other hand, is a general idea of the whole.

Examples of analysis:

Virgil approves of Dante's anger at Filipo Argenti: "Indignant spirit, I kiss you as you frown" (III, 23). The reader is forced to reverse her usual notions about a frown. Usually, a smile would provoke a kiss, not a frown. Here in the Inferno, though, these norms are reversed. Dante shows in Virgil's approval that it is appropriate to respond to sin with anger, not kindness.

When Ser Brunetto Latini grabs the hem of Dante's skirt, he cries out: "Wonder of wonders! You?" (Canto XV, 24). In this introduction to the round of the Sodomites, Dante opens the possibility of his own implication in the sin of sodomy. Unlike his interactions with other sinners in the Inferno where sinners recognize him as a living man only visiting their punishment, here, Dante is momentarily pointed out as being one of the sinners.

Latini uses ornate language as he proposes a discussion with Dante: "O my son! May it not displease you, / if Brunetto Latini leave his company / and turn and walk a little by your side" (XV, 31-33). It is as if Latini had met Dante on the streets of Florence and proposed a stroll. He behaves as if he were not in Hell being tortured in the burning plain for his sin of sodomy. As Latini addresses Dante as his son, the reader might remember that Virgil also refers to Dante as son. The relationship of father and son implies the passing on of a heritage. In the contrast between Virgil's fatherly role and Latini's, the reader is called upon to wonder what Latini's heritage for Dante might be. As he follows this loaded term of address with highly ornate language, referring to himself in the third person as if he were a person so famous that his identity is even beyond his own ownership, he implies that this heritage might be something far from Dante's spiritual goal. Avoiding the focus on his sin, he is in effect, calling on Dante to turn away from the lessons to be learned here in this round, and focus instead on the pride of literary merit.

Now, you do these:

The Guardian Angel at St. Peter's gate tells Dante to "Scrub off these wounds when you have passed within" (IX, 1310-132).

Hint: This is a mixed metaphor—a mixing of two metaphors, one of a wound and one of scrubbing something clean.

Dante describes the dark wood in superlative terms. It is "so drear, so rank, so arduous a wilderness" (Canto I, 82-84).

Hints: The device of repetition adds significance What might it be? What are the biblical associations of "wilderness"?

Dante addresses Virgil as a master poet, not as a spiritual guide: "For you are my true master and first author, / the sole maker from whom I drew the breath / of that sweet style whose measures have brought me honor" (Canto I, 82-84).

Hint: Examine the breath metaphor; notice the hyperbole: sole maker, high praise: true and first; Evaluate the characterization of Virgil's style: sweet style, and measures (poetic meter).