Literary analysis refers to a critical review of a piece of literature. This piece of literature could include: 1. Poetry — that is, individual poems or even a collection of poems; 2. A novel; 3. A short story; and 4. A play.
Regardless of the genre of literature being reviewed, there are universal principles that should be followed when carrying out literary analysis. In this article, I explain these basic principles and provide examples of literary analysis for each literary genre, especially in the famous Greek play, Antigone.
How to carry out literary analysis
Carrying out literary analysis involves the following four steps: 1. Familiarize yourself with universal literary concepts and approaches; 2. Decide what literary approach to take; 3. Do the reading; 4. Write your thesis statement; 5. Back your insights with references when necessary; and 6. Bring your unique take to the analysis.
To learn more about how to write a literary analysis essay, please check out this prior article: How to Write a Literary Criticism Essay. However, we can conclude that good literary analysis depends on familiarizing yourself with universal literary concepts and bringing your unique perspective. In the following sections, we will look at how to analyze the different genres of literature.
Poetic analysis
Poetic analysis refers to the analysis of poems. Although poem collections can be analyzed, here we will focus on the analysis of individual poems. Poems can be challenging to analyze. They are short, full of often difficult figurative language, and open to a wide variety of interpretations.
Some poems also rely on allusions. These allusions could be personal, classical, biblical, or historical. That means you need to do research and learn about the historical and biographical context of the poem.
Before all that, you should learn how to recognize and use universal literary principles when during poetic analysis. There are several approaches to take when analyzing a poem; however, it's best to begin with the actual text itself. Think of answering the following questions:
What is the poet’s intended effect?
How does the poet attempt to achieve the intended effect?
How well does the poet achieve the intended effect?
What is the theme of the poem?
What is the relationship between the theme and form?
The good thing about a poem is that it is so short. It has no choice but to pack a lot of meaning within a short space of time. This provides you with an opportunity to conduct rich analyses. In poetry, factors to take into account include:
Tone of voice
Persona
These aspects should not be studied by themselves. Instead, they should be studied in terms of how they contribute overall to the intended effect of the poet.
Example of poetic analysis
Examples of poetic analysis can help provide you with a model to follow. The following example is an analysis of the poem “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude Mckay:
Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes
And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;
Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes
Blown by black players upon a picnic day.
She sang and danced on gracefully and calm, [5]
The light gauze hanging loose about her form;
To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm
Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
Upon her swarthy neck black shiny curls
Luxuriant fell; and tossing coins in praise, [10]
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,
Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze;
But looking at her falsely-smiling face,
I knew her self was not in that strange place.
The poem is well-crafted and subtle. The soul of the poem lies first in the poem’s formal poetic form, namely a Shakespearean sonnet written in iambic pentameter. Second, the poem uses subtle personal allusion where the poet compares the dancers feeling of alienation to his own feeling of personal alienation as an immigrant in the US.
We tease this out in Lines 7-8, where the dancer is compared to a palm that has survived a storm. This is a reference to Jamaica, Mckay's homeland. Now, we would have to read text outside of the poem to know this and to extract this extra meaning from the poem. What if we did not know about these biographical facts about Mckay? Would the poem work?
Yes because McKay does two other things quite well:
His manipulation of perspective
His sympathetic and complete portrayal of the dancer
Let's look at perspective first. The poem begins with the audience gawking at the impressive performance that the dancer is putting on for them. Then by Line 3, it shifts to the poet’s own perspective who can see things that the others can’t — namely her resemblance to him or his situation. Lines 11–12 bring us back to the audience gawking before the final couplet gives us the reveal from the poet’s perspective:
But looking at her falsely-smiling face,
I knew her self was not in that strange place.
The dancer featured in the poem is not simply reduced to a symbol or metaphor for the poet’s own loneliness and alienation from the world around him. She is treated as a person or subject worthy of careful study, respect, sympathy, dignity, and admiration. The poet adds only a few light touches to turn into a reflection of his own heart sickness.
You do not need to be aware of the biography of McKay or to know that he's Jamaican. Based on his complete treatment of the dancer in question, you would never think that he was writing about anything else than a beautiful, mysterious, and sad young lady dancing with dignity in “that strange place.”
How to analyze a short story
The literary analysis of short stories should focus on the plot and characters. Short stories are similar to poems when compared to novels at least. They are shorter and provide the writer with limited space to achieve their intended effect. This limited space creates tension for the writer who has to write a complete story with a limited number of words.
Short stories differ from poems in that the emphasis is different. While poems rely heavily on literary devices such as metaphor, imagery, rhythm, rhyme, etc., short stories tend to depend on other aspects, such as plot and character analysis.
You need to explain in your literary analysis how the plot and character analysis support the themes of the story. A good short story depends on how well the author creates believable and consistent characterization. Characters should act according to their nature.
Good characterization is also related to plot. The plot is driven by the behavior of the characters, and we should expect the plot to be consistent with these expectations.
An example of short story analysis: The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne
For a short story analysis, I will choose one of my favorite short stories — “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1843). The short story is an allegory. This means that all the characters symbolize a specific concept. In it, the scientist Aylmer wants to heal his beautiful wife, Georgiana, of a tiny imperfection — a small birthmark on her cheek in the shape of a tiny human palm.
He works with his servant Aminadab to create a cure. Here is a passage comparing the reactions of the two men after successfully curing Georgiana of her birthmark:
"By Heaven! it is well-nigh gone!" said Aylmer to himself, in almost irrepressible ecstasy. "I can scarcely trace it now. Success! success! And now it is like the faintest rose color. The lightest flush of blood across her cheek would overcome it. But she is so pale!"He drew aside the window curtain and suffered the light of natural day to fall into the room and rest upon her cheek. At the same time he heard a gross, hoarse chuckle, which he had long known as his servant Aminadab's expression of delight.
What’s going on here? Aylmer is happy about the birthmark being gone, while Aminadab is happy because he knows what the disappearance of the birthmark means. To understand, we first need to know what Alymer and Aminadab symbolize in this allegorical tale.
Aylmer represents the ideal of spiritual perfection. On the other hand, Aminadab is a symbol of the base earth and the natural world. He is presented as lowly and almost half-beast. Aylmer’s quest for spiritual purity and perfection is represented in his ambition and achievements as a scientist.
Georgiana is the closest that anyone can get to spiritual perfection. The birthmark is the only thing that keeps her on earth. Because without that one small imperfection, she would move on to the world of spirit. Upon the death of Georgiana, Aminadab triumphs. Her base mortal body now belongs to the earth and him, while her spirit departs earth.
The short story has almost perfect thematic unity. The theme relates to the tension between spiritual perfection and life on earth. Nothing that is wholly spiritually pure can abide on earth. The story and its outcomes make that clear.
However, the characterization is flawed. Most of the characters are simply stereotypical types. Georgiana is the beautiful and devoted wife who submits to her husband’s will. Aminadab is the lowly or even beastly servant who also submits to the will of his master Aylmer.
Aylmer in his quest for perfection is the only compelling character. He is ambitious, has a will of his own, and is unafraid to attempt what seems impossible and dangerous. He drives the plot and outcome of the story. His ambition and quest for perfection lead to the death of his beautiful wife, which makes the story all the more tragic.
How to analyze a novel
The literary analysis of the novel is more challenging than that of the short story. The novel has to do over several chapters what the short story has to do over only a few pages. How does a novelist maintain unity of effect and theme over several chapters?
One solution is to vary character actions, scenes, and descriptions in a way that foreshadows and repeats the general or overarching theme of the narrative. Many novels fail in unity of effect. Many of them are overwritten, giving us numerous “interesting” characters and descriptions that hold the plot back.
The proper literary analysis of a novel will depend on reviewing how well the author maintains consistency in character behavior, theme, plot, and effect over several chapters.
Example of how to analyze a novel: The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is an ideal novel to carry out literary analysis. It does a good job of being consistent in its portrayal of characters. It’s as if we can predict the tragic ending of the novel by reading some of the descriptive passages. The following excerpt is taken from the first few pages of the novel, where we are introduced to Daisy and her friend, Jordan:
A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug. . . . The only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon. They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house. I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a picture on the wall. Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.
The short passage is a microcosm of the novel’s entire plot and themes. Gatsby is in love with Daisy, who is already married to Tom Buchanan. This is why the ceiling is described as a “frosted wedding cake.” The fairy-like description of the wind, women, and curtains represents the fantasy that Gatsby has of being with Daisy. This fantasy is full of hot air and Tom, Daisy’s husband, will punch the wind out of this fantasy as described in the last sentence of the passage. All this is introduced without Gatsby even being in the room or the scene being described.
How to analyze a play
The analysis of plays relies even more heavily on character and plot analysis. Plays rely entirely on the action and dialog of their characters, with minimum authorial intrusions, that is, the author explaining or describing things.
One of the central aspects of a play, which can be traced back to Ancient Greek tragedy is the concept of the fatal flaw. This refers to an aspect of the character that will lead to their downfall. We see this in "The Birth-Mark." The fatal flaw in Aylmer is his obsession with perfection. This obsession leads him to try a dangerous and difficult experiment that succeeds at the cost of losing his wife.
In a play, analysis depends on how well the author creates a plot that is driven by the actions and choices of the main character. In the case of Aylmer, his choice and behavior to make his wife perfect drives the plot and leads to tragedy.
In short, the best characters tend to have agency. Other aspects of a well-written play are antagonists who directly oppose or even reflect the values of the protagonist. We will take a look at the famous Greek play Antigone to see how the writer Sophloces uses agency and the concept of the fatal flaw.
Example of how to analyze a play: Antigone
In Ancient Greek Tragedy, one of the most famous plays is Antigone. The play is about Antigone, a princess who attempts to bury her brother Polynices in defiance of the King of Thebes, Creon. Polynices dies while trying to attack the city of Thebes. Creon believes that the corpse should be punished by staying unburied.
Antigone is determined to ensure that her brother receives the proper death rites. Here she is rebuking her sister Ismene for not immediately wanting to join her in burying their brother, by sprinkling dirt on his corpse and observing other rites, even after knowing that the king has given a death sentence to anyone who dares to defy him in the matter:
Antigone, Scene 1:
ANTIGONE:
I’m not going to force you, but even if you change
Your mind, I won’t accept your help now.
Do what you think is right; I will bury him.
It’s a beautiful thing, to die in this act.
With him I will rest, beloved with beloved,
And I will be a god-fearing criminal. I need to please
The gods of death more than the men on Earth,
As I will rest below forever. But if you think it best,
Go ahead and dishonor what the gods honor.
ISMENE:
I’m not dishonoring anyone! And even still, I’m just a woman!
Only men get a say in how the city’s run, you know that.
ANTIGONE: You can make that your excuse— I will bury my brother.
Antigone is revealed as proud, arrogant, and uncompromising in this conversation. She glorifies the idea of rebellion against the king in the name of pleasing the Gods. She places her obligation to her family above obligations to the law of the state, and she condemns her sister harshly for not having the same views.
And this is just the first scene of the play! You just know that she's gonna be a goner before the play ends. A good literary analysis would recognize that Antigone's fatal flaw is her pride and inability or unwillingness to compromise. However, it doesn't end here. You should also analyze the merits of her argument.
Are citizens obligated to follow the laws of the state even when the state is unjust and unreasonable? How does her character compare to that of Creon, the antagonist of the play? Are the two of them that different from each other? Perhaps the two of them are too alike.
Creon is tyrannical in his insistence on obedience to the state. If Antigone is unwaveringly loyal to the Gods of death, who demand that his brother should have a proper burial at the expense of respecting the laws of the state, Creon is the opposite. He is willing to violate religious laws and values to uphold the state.
He discovers that Antigone has ritually buried Polynices' corpse and sentences her to be buried alive. He changes his mind only after an emissary from the Gods, Teresias the prophet, warns him that he will pay the price with the life of his own son:
Antigone, Scene 5:
You should know you won’t live through
Many more courses of the racing sun
Before you’ll be handing over a corpse
Sprung from your own flesh, a corpse for corpses,
For casting down a god of heaven,
For lodging a living soul in a shameful grave,
And for keeping here on earth what belongs to the gods of hell,
A corpse unburied, unmourned, unholy.
Neither you nor the gods of heaven have a say
In these matters, and yet you have done them violence.
But it is too late. Creon's son Haimon, who is the fiance of Antigone, discovers her grave and kills himself to be with her before Creon undoes his cruel death sentence. Antigone remains popular and evergreen because the main characters are given complete agency in terms of the choices that they make and the cost they have to pay as a result of these decisions. In short, to analyze a play, focus on how much the main character's agency drives the plot and consequences.
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Antoine, M. (2024, December 4). What Is Literary Analysis? EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-literary-analysis-a-guide |
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