ENGL 1102 Literary Analysis

In this unit, you will experience and practice writing about one or more works of literature. In truth, we’ve been doing this here and there during the semester, but this time we will use works that fit a more traditional definition of “literature” and write an essay that fits a more traditional definition of “literary analysis.” Choose one of the following literary works and write a literary analysis essay. See the Writer’s Reference for sample thesis statements and sample papers.

Sherman Alexie’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in Convergences

Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (on my website)

Richard Ford’s “Rock Springs” (on reserve)

Specifications

• Focus your literary analysis on one of the “Approaches to Literary Analysis,” which we will discuss in class and which is covered in The Writer’s Reference.

• Your essay will have an intro with thesis statement, at least two body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

• Remember to refer to the literary work in present tense. And remember to refer to the narrator, speaker, etc., instead of the author

• Use quotes and other references to the work to illustrate your interpretation (thesis). See our grammar handbook for how to handle quotes from literary texts in MLA style.

• The essay must be a minimum of four pages of text. This is a minimum. Get what I mean?

• Research is not required for this paper, but if you do research (if you go looking for ideas and use some ideas that you find) then remember to cite your sources and include a Works Cited.

• Go beyond surface-level thinking. Answer the “so what?” question. Get to meaning, significance, connections, consequences, causes, solutions, or whatever would be appropriate for your topic and for how you’ve decided to narrow the topic (your angle).

• If you do include research, include in the essay packet source copies of all outside written sources (outside our textbook). I must have these to check your quoting and paraphrasing, etc., and I cannot grade the essay without them.

• Use a binder clip to fasten all the material together in this order: Letter to the Reader on top, then final copy with its Works Cited page. Next will be the source copies, peer workshop drafts, other drafts, and planning.