The Literary Essay
The purpose of the literary essay is to analyze or interpret a work of poetry or prose using TEXT SUPPORT and quotations to support your thesis.
Follow these guidelines when writing a literary essay:
The Introduction:
1. Begin with a generalization (clincher) linked to the topic or theme of the essay. (a clincher is optional – some people are not good at writing them, in which case they can begin directly with #2).
Example of clincher from “The Painted Door”:
Marriages can sometimes involve couples who are mismatched and live miserably throughout their lives.
2. Next, write one or two sentences describing what the story is about, including the author, title, and genre of the work. (Assume the marker hasn’t read the story in about 5 years – you are “reminding” him/her of the content).
Ex.
Sinclair Ross’s short story “The Painted Door” is about an unhappily married couple who struggle to make a living on an isolated farm. Ann, the lonely wife of John, is attracted to her husband’s friend Steven.
3. Then, state your thesis:
Although Ann is often judged as the being solely to blame for her husband’s death, he is at least partly responsible for his tragic end.
The Body:
4. Support your thesis with specific examples and quotes from the text. Begin each paragraph with a clear topic sentence that is connected to your main thesis.
Ex.
Ann is partly responsible for her husband’s death. She is terribly lonely, living with a husband who doesn’t provide her even the basic need for company. John is a workaholic. Even when the couple go out for the evening “John never dance[s] or enjoy[s] himself”(4). He is happiest when he is working alone or “standing at the window staring out across the bitter fields, to count the days and look forward to another spring”(7).
The Conclusion:
5. The conclusion can range from one sentence to several depending on the length and complexity of your essay.
Ex.
Because John’s neglects his wife’s emotional needs, he is indirectly responsible for his own tragic end.
Using Quotations in Literary Essays
The proper use of direct quotations is essential to most academic writing, particularly essays on literature.
If you argue that a character in a story is evil, can you provide evidence to support your claim? No? Then it probably isn’t true. You need to provide textual support for your thesis and incorporate this information into your essay; this will give your essay credibility.
Keep the following rules in mind when quoting literature:
1. Do not overuse quotations. Your own analysis should make up the bulk of the essay. Following is an example of quotations used appropriately. Notice that the quotations take a secondary role to the analysis. Every quotation fits smoothly into the grammar of each sentence.
The narrator is a loving mother who fears that when her daughter leaves for college they will be “parting forever” (13). She sadly tries to persuade herself to see the “house without her” (14). She is doubtful that she can exist without her child who has become as necessary as “food or air” (10). The narrator’s affection for her daughter is almost sacred; she describes her as “eohippus,” a rare, mystical creature. The mother ironically notes that seventeen years ago she “could not imagine/ life with her” (20-21) and now, after seventeen years of the “daily sight of her” (9) she can not picture herself without her. However, in the midst of her bittersweet feelings, the mother has a sudden realization: she is lucky, for she has been given the chance to raise her daughter unlike the creatures who “float away from birth” (24) from parents who will “never see them again”(26).
2) Sometimes it is necessary to insert a word or phrase into a quotation to maintain correct grammar. Enclose these words in square brackets to show that they do not appear in the original.
Ex. Original: The greasy leather orb flew like a heavy bird through the grey light.
Quotation: Stephen saw the ball as a “greasy leather orb [that] flew like a heavy bird through the grey light”(26).
3. Write in present tense. Change the following example to make it correct:
Ann was terribly lonely; she lived with a husband who didn’t provide her even the basic need for company. John was a workaholic. Even when the couple went out for the evening “John never danced or enjoyed himself”(4). He was happiest when he was working alone or “standing at the window staring out across the bitter fields, to count the days and look forward to another spring”(7).
4. Use page citations. Place the page number of the text in parentheses after the quote.
Ex. At the beginning of the story Richard “hastens to bring his sad
message”(19); at the end, Richard tries to conceal his lies.
5. If you introduce a quotation that is a complete sentence, capitalize the first letter of the quotation
Ex. Hemingway writes, “His desk is at the far end of the office,”(42) suggesting that the hotel worker is physically unavailable to the wife.
6. When you work the quotation into your own sentence, use a lowercase letter to begin the quotation.
Ex. When Hemingway writes that “his desk was at the far end of the
office,”(42) he shows that the hotel worker is physically unavailable to
the wife.
7. Incorporate quotations into your own sentences.
Weak:
Richard Cory is very polite. “He is a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1).
Also, he is good-looking, even regal-looking, “clean favoured and
imperially slim”(1.2).
Better:
Richard Cory is “a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1). Like a handsome
king, he is “clean favoured and imperially slim”(1.2).
8. Avoid using two quotations in a row. Your own commentary should bridge two quotations.
Weak:
Richard Cory is “a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1), “clean favoured and imperially slim”(1.2).
Better:
Richard Cory is “a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1). Like a handsome
king, he is “clean favoured and imperially slim”(1.2).
9. Do not use a quote that you have not introduced with your own words.
Weak:
“He is a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1). Richard Cory is good-looking, even regal-looking.
Better:
Richard Cory is “a gentleman from sole to crown”(1.1).
10) Include within quotations as part of the essay any prose quotation of two or more sentences or less, and any poetry quotation of two lines or less. When quoting two lines of poetry, indicate the division between the two lines with a slash (/) and retain the original capitalization at the beginning of the second line (if it is capitalized in the original).
Ex. Donne writes, “Batter my heart, three-personed God; for you/As
yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend”(1.71-72).
11) Set off from the body of the essay any prose quotations that exceed two sentences or poetry quotations that exceed two lines. Such “blocked-off” prose quotations are double-indented, single spaced, and quotation marks are not used to enclose the quotation. Blocked-off poetry quotations are centered on the page, and printed as they appear in the original, without enclosing quotation marks.
Large, blocked poetry quotations are introduced with a lead-in statement ending with a colon. Otherwise, use a comma or whatever punctuation you would use if the quotation marks were not there.
