Approaching Literary Criticism



Approaching Literary Criticism

(excerpted and adapted from English A1: Course Companion, Oxford, 2007.)

• A close study of the elements (including literary devices such as structure, diction, imagery) that contribute to the success, or otherwise, of a work of literature

• Shows an understanding of the text

• Identifies and comments on the literary features of the text

• Organized coherently

• Assesses the quality of a piece of writing

• Examines how it has been written

• Decides on the effects created by a writer’s choices

Analysis is important because:

• It enables you to appreciate the skills involved in writing and therefore enhance your appreciation of literature

• It will help improve your own writing style when you recognize that you can use a wide range of techniques

• You become more aware that language shapes meaning and can be used for manipulation (emphasis added)

“Close reading” is the art of reading very carefully, paying great attention to details of language, in order to understand what the author is trying to convey. It can also be called “reading between the lines,” as sometimes it is what the author does not say that is interesting.

Skills to develop:

• To read and make sense of a text so that you can recognize its most important features quickly – a kind of instant “research” where you have to think quickly

• To apply your own literary insights rather than depend on ideas that you have read about or been taught

• To be able to analyze style and structure

• To understand how writers use language to create different effects according to audience and purpose

• To organize your ideas coherently and persuasively

Checklist to consider:

1. What is the text about? This may seem obvious, but it provides you a broad starting point. Look at the title; sometimes that gives you a way in, but be careful, because some titles can be deceptive. You should also look at the writer’s name and the date of publication, as they may be helpful.

2. Where is it set? What country? Is it set inside or outside? In a town or in the country?

3. When is it set? Is it in the present, the future, or the past? The date of publication can help, but the text could be set in a different period, so be careful.

4. Who is the speaker? Is the speaker the same as the writer? Are there other characters in the text? Who are they?

5. Why has it been written? What are the underlying themes and messages?

6. Structure: What is the overall structure of the piece? How many paragraphs or stanzas? Does each one deal with a different aspect? Are layout and meaning closely related? If it is a poem, is it written in a recognizable form such as a sonnet? Look at the sentence structure. Are the sentences long or short? If it is a poem, are there caesuras or enjambment? How do they contribute to the overall meaning?

7. Vocabulary or diction: What do you notice about the words that the writer has chosen? Is the diction simple or complex? Are technical or scientific or archaic words used? Are there words, or types of words, that recur? Are there words that are unexpected or seem out of place?

8. Imagery: Does the writer use similes or metaphors? How do they affect the meaning of the text? Are there patterns of images? For example, are there words that suggest darkness or light?

9. Other literary features: These include rhyme, rhythm, assonance, alliteration, repetition, and many more, but understanding how a literary technique works is more important than knowing its name. If the text is a poem, does it have a rhyme scheme, and what is its effect? (Beware of describing a rhyme scheme without going on to say why you think the poet has chosen it and how far this aim has been achieved.) Alliteration (or head rhyme) is sometimes used in place of end rhymes and it can also be used for creating sound effects or for emphasis. Rhythm can be important in prose as well as poetry. Is the rhythm smooth or jerky? Does it change at any point in the text? Sometimes the sound of the words or the use of assonance can suggest or reinforce the meaning of a line.

10. Tone and atmosphere: It is often very difficult to decide on the tone, mood or atmosphere of a text. It requires considerable experience and it may be better to wait until you have read enough before trying to decide. Sometimes the tone may be so obvious that it is worth identifying, but if you are not sure, leave it out.

NOTE: This is just a checklist and should not be used to organize your commentary. Nor is it enough just to identify any of the above features. You must also discuss their effects, otherwise you are merely showing that can recognize literary features. You need to explain how each particular feature influences or enhances the meaning of the text.

Using Evidence

It is not useful to [say] that a poet “uses a great deal of alliteration” in a poem. All this demonstrates is that you can recognize alliteration and that you know the technical term for it. Nor is it useful to state that every stanza has four lines. This merely demonstrates that you can count. General statements need to be supported with examples and from there you need to go on to analyze the example and comment on the effects that have been created. (emphasis added)

Broadly speaking, literary analysis has three stages:

1. the point you wish to make

2. quotation from text, making sure the context is clear (briefly explaining situation or identifying speaker)

3. analysis of quotation in detail, commenting on individual words or phrases and explaining how and why they are used and to what effect

For example, in Anthem for Doomed Youth, Owen states that there will be no proper prayers for the dead soldiers; all that will be heard is the sound of rifles firing. Owen mimics the sound of the rifles in his choice of the words “stuttering,” “patter” and “rattle” in lines three and four by the repetition of the “t” as it echoes the sound of the rifles. The words “stuttering,” “patter” and “hasty” also suggest that if any “orisons” (prayers) were said they would be skimped, muttered quickly and even mangled, for the person saying them would be too fearful to say them with reverence. In other words, the soldiers are not given the proper funeral rites, and instead are treated as if they were “cattle.”

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