how to analyze literature using the literary features (criteria c)

How to Analyze Literature using

the Literary Features (Criteria

C)

Let’s use an analogy –

analyzing art

What could we

say about artistic

CHOICES made by

this painter?

Level 1: You don’t mention

any details from the painting:

“This painting shows a girl

sitting on a log with a butterfly

net.”

Level 2: some mention of the

painting features (but no

effects):

“There are mainly blue and

green colors used, and the

face is sideways.”

Level 3: general appreciation of the

effects of the features, supported by some

examples:

“The eye-catching use of flat

perspectice gives the face a odd 3-d effect, allowing her to look out at the viewer and the butterfly at the same time.”

Level 4: Good appreciation of the effects of the

features, illustrated by relevant examples:

“Picasso lends the child a sense of solid health using wide arms and body. Her size dwarfs her net and the butterfly. The cubist

style is at once both distinctive and universal – showing human features in child-like playful form.”

Level 5: Excellent appreciation of the effects of the features,

illustrated by detailed & well-chosen examples:

“Picasso, inventor and master of the cubist style, shows in this

painting that depth, energy and humor can be created by using

cubist elements. The face is turned sideways, but the eyes, mouth and

ears share the flat plane. This creates a sense of fullness to the

individual – a complete human face. Note that her green-eyed gaze

contrasts the red mouth, suggesting a hint of feminine allure in an oddly

squat body that is much less feminine. This suggest a child

maturing into an adult woman. Yet the child is clearly dominant, as the net symbolizes youthful play, and

the sailor suit is in a traditional childish palette of blue, white and

yellow.

Let’s practice this analogy – using a text

example

Level 1: You don’t mention

any literary features:

“In this text a man doesn’t like drunk people. He

calls them “hopeless” and

“useless”.

Mr. De Silva stood waiting by the car. His expression changed when he turned towards Hari and his father. He asked a few short questions but frowned at the long, mumbled answers and turned his head away from the hot toddy breath that accompanied the mumbles. Finally he shook his head and went up the steps to the veranda to say to his wife, “Useless, drunken villagers – dead drunk in the morning. What can you do for them? They’re hopeless.

--Village by the Sea, Anita Desai

Level 2: some mention of the

literary features (but no effects):

“This text includes

metaphor and repetition to

show that the man doesn’t like

the villagers.”



Level 3: general appreciation of the

effects of the features, supported by some examples:

“The text uses repetition such as

“drunken, dead drunk” to show that the man has no sympathy for

the villagers. The man “turned towards” the

villagers but soon “turned his head away”

from the “mumbled answers” and the

“mumbles”. The man is impatient.”



Level 4: Good appreciation of the

effects of the features, illustrated by relevant

examples:

“Metaphor – “hot toddy breath” is used to show

the negative feelings the rich man has for the

poor. He generalizes, calls them “useless

drunken villagers” and “dead drunk”. This

repetition also includes alliteration –”dead

drunk”, the hard sounds emphasizing his disgust.



Level 5: Excellent appreciation of the effects of the features, illustrated by

detailed & well-chosen examples:

“Desai has captured the snobbery and disdain in the rich Mr. De Silva using well-chosen literary features such as metaphor, repetition and onomatopoeia. De Silva “turned toward” the villagers, but in his

perspective, they “mumbled”. He thus “turned his head away” from

their bad breath and “mumbles”. The repetition of “turned” and

“mumbled” shows the gulf in status between the rich man and the poor

villagers. He is the active one, choosing to briefly face them yet quickly turning away. His view of their shy, uneducated speech as

“mumbles” is repeated to emphasize his impatience and disdain. The word

“mumble” is an onomatopoeia, its whispered sound reinforcing the shyness of the poor near this rich

man.”



You try! Let’s move

through the levels:

Level 1: You don’t

mention any literary

features:

I must down to the sea again,To the lonely sea and the sky,And all I ask is a tall ship And a star to steer her by;And the wheel’s kick And the wind’s song,And the white sail shaking,And a grey mist on the sea’s face,And a grey dawn breaking;

I must down to the seas again,To the vagrant, gypsy’s life,To the gulls way and the whales way,Where the wind’s like a whetted knife;And all I ask is a merry yarnFrom a laughing fellow-rover,And quiet sleep and sweet dreamWhen the long trick is over. -- “Sea Fever”, John Mansfield

Level 2: some

mention of the literary

features (but no effects):



Level 3: general

appreciation of the effects

of the features,

supported by some

examples:



Level 4: Good appreciation of the effects

of the features,

illustrated by relevant

examples:



Level 5: Excellent

appreciation of the effects

of the features,

illustrated by detailed &

well-chosen examples:



Well done! Now let’s see those

literary terms and their effects in

your commentaries &

essays!

how to analyze literature using the literary features (criteria c)

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