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So you've been given an assignment to write a literary analysis paper or maybe
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You've been given a close reading assignment where you need to analyze a piece of literature
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Well today's lesson is just for you because we're going to look at how to critically analyze literature
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This lesson is a little bit longer than the lessons I usually present on my channel
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But it's a much more in-depth topic
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It's a topic for high schoolers or even college students taking their first
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Literature classes as you view this lesson you may very well want to take notes
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And if there's anything that comes to mind that you wonder about further
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Please make a comment in the section below the video, and I'll respond back to you now
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I know some of these topics are kind of glossed over because it's florid of an introductory lesson when I taught this lesson
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To my 8th grade advanced accelerated students who are really studying 9th and 10th grade content
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We had already learned about each one of these components that go into critically analyzing literature
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Before we put it all together to do a complete analysis
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But whatever your need is I hope you'll stick around to the end of the PowerPoint will kind of bring it all back together
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Because I want you to never stop learning
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So today, we're looking at how to critically analyze literature dig deeper through close reading of text
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So it is critical analysis well
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Analysis is basically taking something apart in order to understand it better by considering its
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Component parts separately as well as together
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Looking all the different parts of something and considering those parts all individually
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Now the definition of critical is as being used in critically analyzing literature as
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Expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature music or art
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synonyms for this word include evaluative
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analytical
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interpretive
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expository
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explanatory
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Notice it's not
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Critical as in I'm very critical of you like I'm trying to find out what's wrong with you
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Critical analysis of literature is not looking for what's wrong with the piece of literature
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It's just looking closely at each different aspect of it
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So considering those definitions a
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critical analysis
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explains the work of fiction poetry or drama
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That's the meaning of the kind of literature. We're looking at when we're critically analyzing literature
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by means of
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Interpretations the goal of a literary analysis which is a paper you might have to write or a talk you might have to give
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Is to broaden and deepen your understanding of that work of literature?
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Not just to find out what's wrong with it, or what's right with it
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But what are all the different aspects that can be considered about any piece of literature and how does that apply to the?
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particular piece of literature that you're looking at
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So we're going to consider each of these components separately
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But basically when you're critically analyzing a piece of literature
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you are examining its structure the archetypes in a
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figurative language that occurs and reoccurs throughout the piece the tone the diction of
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the author in a symbolism that there might be and
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Influences on the author in his or her writing of the piece to begin with
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Now structure includes these three elements point of view
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Organization of the text as a whole and the elements of plot a
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Story can be told from multiple points of view and we see this quite often in
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One chapter is told by one character the next chapter is told that another character
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That's multiple points of view a story can also be totaled in first-person
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That's where the narrator goes ahead and include himself in this story might even be a character in this story
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he uses words like I or we or us or
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me when he is narrating the story a
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Story could also be told in second person point of view and that's where the author is speaking directly to the reader saying
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You must understand this or a story could be told in
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Third person narration, this is where the narrator is
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Probably not a character in the story
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but is just like an overarching narrator an
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omniscient narrator knows all the thoughts of all the characters a
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Limited narrator either doesn't know any of the thoughts of any of the characters
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This limited narrator is just reporting on what is said. What is done, or it could be a
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Limited narrator who knows the thoughts maybe of the main character, but not of any of the other characters
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There are different ways that plots are organized some plots are linear their chronological
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They start at one place
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And they end at another place in the future
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From where it started there are also non linear plot structures where you might have flashbacks?
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or you might have
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Glimpses into the future. It's told in a nonlinear way not chronological
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You also have circular plots
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that's basically where the story ends up at the same place that it started and
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You can also read stories with parallel plots
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That's where there's two main plots basically happening at the same time sometimes those plots interact with each other
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Sometimes they're just parallel plots two stories happening at the same time
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And there's really not a lot of interaction between the two plots
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So a linear plot
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Would start with the exposition go onto rising action have a climax falling action and a resolution?
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The series of events that happen are in chronological order
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on
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the other hand a non-linear story even though it has characters and events just like a linear plot would have a
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Nonlinear story jumps around maybe it doesn't start at the beginning
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maybe it starts somewhere in the begin in the middle or it near the end of the story and
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Flashbacks are used to fill the reader in on the rest of the story I think
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particularly of the story holes by Luis Acker
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the Stanley Yelnats story is in the present, but it's
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constantly going back in the past and
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Telling the the history of how the holes got there in the first place
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Now the hero's journey is an example of a circular plot
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And you can just look around the circle here the hero starts with this call to adventure
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There's supernatural aid and so on
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transformation atonement then the return and
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Then we're back to the hero at square one
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He's probably changed, but he's ready perhaps for another call to adventure
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My favorite example of parallel plots comes from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
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there's one plot line that runs for the
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royalty
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Theseus Lysander Hermia Demetrius, Helena Hippolyta and
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EGS and then there's another plot line this running with the fairies and
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With the players who actually put on the acting troupe, so these plots are all happening happening simultaneously
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But the characters don't always interact with each other sometimes they do
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But each of these groups of people has their own
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Plot line. They're all rising action their own climax, and they're a resolution
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But it's all happening in one story
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And those elements apply the exposition of a story is where the reader learns about the characters and
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finds out about the setting for the story the
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rising action begins with the inciting force that very first
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glimpse of the conflict and the conflict
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develops
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until some sort of crisis occurs
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There may even be more than one crisis that that occurs before the climax of the story
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Then there's the falling action and the resolution
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realize that the shorter the story such as a short story or novella the shorter the falling action a
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Short story may have the crisis falling action and resolution occurring
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Even in the same paragraph the last paragraph of the story, but in a novel a longer piece
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the climax may occur
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two-thirds of the way through the story leaving the last third of the story or so for the falling action and the resolution
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You'll often see a plot depicted on this type of a graphic organizer
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Okay, so we've looked at structure. Let's take a look at archetypes
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It is often helpful to look at the etymology of a word in order to help understand it and
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Archetypes is not a word we see every day the term archetype has its origins in ancient
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Greek the root words are cane which means original or old and typos which means pattern modeler type
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combined meaning is
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Original pattern of which all similar persons objects concepts are derived copied modeled or emulated
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archetypes
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Most main characters and stories can be associated with
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Particular character archetypes there are many more than what you see here
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But let's just say thinking back to our slide about the hero's journey
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That our character is a hero in archetype
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He would have
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characteristics that other heroes have
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So in critical analysis
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two things that we've already talked about that can be analyzed and a piece of literature are its structure and
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Archetypes included in that story now. Let's take a look at figurative language, and how we can use that to help us
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critically analyze literature
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Use of figurative language is something that definitely needs to be analyzed in a piece of literature
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figurative language uses the figures of speech
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to be more effective or persuasive and more impactful to
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Touch the reader in ways that just literal language
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Cannot do
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figures of speech include metaphors similes and
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allusions, they go beyond the literal meanings of the words, and they give the readers new insights a
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Simile makes a direct comparison showing similarities between two different things
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It uses the words like or as
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Here's an example. He sings like a bird his singing sounds like a bird singing
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Her hands were cold as ice
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Her hands are cold ice is cold direct comparison
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Metaphors and similes are often mixed up
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but once you learn the trick of telling the difference you'll be able to figure it out a
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metaphor makes an implicit implied or hidden comparison between two things that are
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unrelated but which share some common
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characteristic in other words sort of a resemblance between
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two very different objects based on just one single common characteristics
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He drowned in a sea of grief
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This is our example here
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He's drowning in this grief that seems to surround him like the sea
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Here's another example the flashlight cut through the curtain of darkness
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Well, there's now really a curtain of darkness out there, but the darkness is so dark
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It's like there's a curtain up in front of this person with the flashlight who has to use
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The flashlight is some sort of saber to slash his way through the curtain
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Personification is another often used type of figurative language in
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personification an idea or an animal is given human attributes the nonhuman objects are
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Shown in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like humans for example
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We might say the sky weeps when it rains
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Instead of tears falling from the sky though of course. It's actually raindrops, so we say that the sky has been personified
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Okay, so we've looked at structure archetypes and figurative language. Let's move on to tone
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The means of creating or conveying an attitude by means of the author's diction that is the author's word choices and
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Telling the story is referred to as tone by looking carefully at the choices and author makes in
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Characters incident setting the work's stylistic choices in diction etcetera and imagery formal or informal language use of dialogue
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Sentence structure careful readers often can isolate the tone of a work in infer from at the underlying attitudes
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That control and color the story or poem as a whole
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imagery is often used to set the tone in a piece of literature I
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Think it's easiest to understand tone by looking at examples
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here's an example from the short story the black cat by Edgar Allan Poe the
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Quote is this from my infancy
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I was noted for all the de Sciglio and humanity of my disposition my tenderness of heart was even so
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Conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions
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I was especially fond of animals and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets
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with the size most of my time and never was so happy as when feeding and
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Caressing them now if you take a look at the words. I've highlighted you can see that all of these words together
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Sets a gentle
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Nostalgic tone for the beginning of the story and of course if you've read the story, you know the tone changes quite often
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Throughout the rest of the narrative
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Yep so that tone does change here's another quote from the very same story
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I grew day by day more moody more irritable more regardless of the feelings of others
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I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife at length I even offered her personal violence
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Now the tone is changing here. It's becoming more negative
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Concerned even worried on the part of the author, and you can tell because these words moody irritable
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Regardless of the feelings of others suffering intemperate those are all words with a negative connotation
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Both word choice and imagery can affect tone in a piece
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Here's another quote from the very same short story the black cat by Edgar Allan Poe
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Beneath the pressure of torment such as these the female remnant of the good within me succumbed
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Evil thoughts became my sole intimates the darkest and most evil of thoughts
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The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind while from the sudden
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frequent and uncover noble outbursts of a fury
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So here Poe is
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appealing to the readers senses and
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Conveying a tone of struggle in this particular quote from the story in
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addition to analyzing
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Structure archetypes figurative language in tone the analysis of symbolism can create lis aid you and trying to?
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critically analyze a piece of literature
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So what makes symbolism distinct from say simile or metaphor
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Well a symbol typically encompasses both a literal and a figurative meaning
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unlike a metaphor a symbol is not necessarily a statement a
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Single word can evoke meaning and become a symbol
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Being aware of common symbols and novels any short stories any fiction will increase your ability to read the work
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critically
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Here are some examples of symbols from this short story a black cat by Edgar Allan Poe
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first off this penknife that the narrator carries around with him is
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Symbolic of his imagined power over the cat. It is a knife that
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Performs like a knife you can cut with it, but it also symbolizes
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This power that the narrator thinks he has over the cat
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There's also a white region on the breast of the cat and
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Though this is a patch in the cat's fur literally it
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symbolizes the purity in the cat's heart and
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Then finally I'm skipping over a few of them, but you can look those over
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There's a false chimney built into the basement where the narrator lives
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And it's symbolic of the narrator's false sense of security
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while it serves the purpose of being a false chimney apparently to
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Trick someone into thinking there's a chimney built there it
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Also is a symbol that represents this narrator's false sense of security
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every symbol must have both a literal and
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a symbolic meaning in the story to qualify to be a symbol so
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The key to realizing that something is a symbol is that it must be present literally in the text
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Something that a character could touch or move
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Or see and that literal something in the text must represent something other than its original
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literal meaning the deeper and
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Longer the reader Ponder's the text the more symbols
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You are going to be able to uncover. They might even be symbols that the author never thought of
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So the key to recognizing
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symbolism in fiction is realizing that cymbal must be present literally in the text something a character could see or
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Feel or pick up and that literal something in the text must represent something other than its literal meaning
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The deeper and the longer reader Ponder's in the text the more symbols
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You are going to be able to uncover it
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They may even be symbols that the author had not considered because they're symbols that's based on
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Your own background knowledge as a reader
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So we've looked at structure archetypes figurative language tone and
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symbolism as
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Components of a piece of literature that would help you critically
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Analyze the piece as a whole let's now look at influences
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There are many things that can influence an author in his or her writing of a piece of fiction for every writer
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Some others authors work appeals to him or her on some level whether it's in the lessons learned the style used are the conclusions
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Reached in the story try to discover who has influenced the author of the work. You are trying to critically analyze
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Consider the author's time in history so looking at current events in that time other authors. Whether they have been
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Contemporary to that particular author or have come before them and
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Literary movements as well as influences from the author's personal life sometimes
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We are stuck just looking at the author's personal life as an influence
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But there's really so much more to influences upon the author than just their own
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experiences if you can trace an influence your critical approach is going to be
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Much more nuanced that is it will have more facets to it more details more different points of view
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brought to that critical analysis
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Okay, and a quick note here
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Taking a look at influences on an author is
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Going to require
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Investigation outside the text itself it will require you to do a little bit of research
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Beyond just the text now sometimes short stories in textbooks
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Have a short little to three paragraph introduction about an author
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But it's usually pretty limited and often just limited to discussing the author's personal
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influences
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Sometimes in a novel that's published
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you can look at the back cover of the book or the inside flap of the
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Jacket cover or maybe even in an introduction or a dedication to get some idea of influences on the author
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but if you're truly going to
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Delve into this aspect of the critical analysis of a piece of literature. You will have to actually do some outside research
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Here's an example of one influence on Edgar Allan Poe that I am sure
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influenced his writing of the black cat Pole often wrote about the supernatural his girlfriend Sarah Whitman was interested in
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Spiritualism which was a huge movement during the mid 19th century and other metaphysical?
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sciences that were popular in that time period so
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Here's an example from the story the cat. Especially the second cat that appears in the story
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Seems to have supernatural powers and also
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The narrator does mention in the story that his wife was superstitious, so this is probably
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an outcome of the influence of the supernatural
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Interest that Poe had during this time in history and
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Though it's not from the black cat when I was researching
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Influences on Poe I found out that he got the idea for the shrinking chamber in his short story the pit in the pendulum
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from William Mugford story the iron shrouds often
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Authors are influenced by reading other authors work
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Here's another influence on Poe the American Romanticism literary movement, which includes romantic Gothic literature
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Began in about 1820 and most of pols works can be considered romantic
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Gothic now, if you want to find out more about romantic gothic or American Romanticism
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You may research that on your own. We don't have time for it in this video on critical analysis
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Sometimes you can infer about
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Influences on the author just by looking at details from the author's own personal life
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Edgar Allen Poe was a proponent of slavery
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maybe I'm thinking that influenced his apparent disregard for human lives as
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as shown in the story the black cat and many of the other short stories that Paul wrote
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Also the color red and blood appear in many of his stories perhaps
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This is because he saw so many of his loved ones coughing up blood
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before their own deaths
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Many of them had the disease that was called consumption back during that time and Poe was heavily influenced by that
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Because so many people in his family his loved ones and other people that he knew had died of that
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So we've seen how structure archetypes figurative language tone in symbolism as well as
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influences on a particular author
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Can become part of a critical analysis of a piece of literature I?
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Will link to these many resources I've used in preparation of
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This lesson in the description of the video down below so that you can check out these resources as well
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I hope you found this lesson helpful. I know it's a little longer than the content
00:26:45
I usually put up but it's a more sophisticated topic so it deserved a little bit more time
00:26:51
Please consider subscribing if you haven't already
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Give us a thumbs up if you liked the video
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Because we want you to never stop learning
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