You are required to write a 2-3 page literary analysis on any of the works (poetry or prose) which we have reviewed thus far this semester. You also have the option of choosing another work, but you must submit your idea to me for approval. Be sure to pick a topic worthy of focus—a topic which reveals your thoughts on a particular theme, motif, use of imagery, diction, symbol, etc. These are the topics worth writing about because they try to get at the heart of the meaning of the work.
Remember . . .
How do you know it’s a good topic? At the end of your thesis statement, ask yourself “so what?” If you still have more to answer, your thesis isn’t quite there yet.
Example 1: (“So What?”thesis) The short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne makes uses of symbolism.
Example 2: (Closer, but still “So What?”): In the short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne makes uses of symbolism to prove his point.
Example 3: (This answers the “So What” question!) In the short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne makes uses of dark and light symbolism to suggest that world is a place filled with good and evil and the power rests within us all to choose one over the other.
Keep pushing your thesis until you come up with a meaningful point to make about the story or poem.
Other requirements: Use multiple examples to support your point (3 quotes minimum). These quotes need not/should not be lengthy—no more than two lines. If you need to go on to the third line, don’t—use ellipses instead. I.e. Browning says ” . . . looking as if she were alive” (l.2).
More technical matters: When citing poetry, reference the line number in parentheses.
One line long: “The depth and passion of its earnest glance” (l.7).
Two lines (or running onto the second line) “she liked whate’er / She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (ll.22-23). Notice that the period follows the sentence.
For prose, you can simply put the page number in the parenthetical reference.
“North Richmond Street, being blind . . .” (152).
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