Each of us was once a schoolboy, and, perhaps, everyone, with all the love for such a beautiful subject as literature, did not really like to delve into the text of a literary work, trying to find something that, in fact, was not there. The operation of searching for hidden meaning has a beautiful and very interesting name - the analysis of a literary work. In this article, we will popularly explain how to do it.
First of all, in order to make a normal analysis of a work, it is necessary to read it. Ideally, you need to read the full version of the book, but if you are cramped in time and do not burn with the desire to read, a reader is also suitable. Remember that your best friends while reading should be a small notebook and pencil, where you will methodically write down everything that is useful for analysis. And the following may come in handy.
The composition of a work is a breakdown into chapters, parts, or other logical sections. It is important to understand by what principle the separation is going on - according to chronology, plot logic, location, or some other way. When analyzing a work, you must first describe what parts it consists of.
However, dividing the work into separate logical sections, do not forget that you are still dealing with a single semantic whole, the plot lines of which can pass through the whole story. That is why you need to go to the second section of this type of work, such as analysis of the work, to list all the main characters, and then briefly describe the storyline relating to each of them. This will help to quickly structure the content of the work, both for yourself and for the person who will read your research.
And then ... Next, creativity begins! Do not forget that literature is a free affair, and you, by and large, are free to perceive the contents of each book you read as you see fit. Describe the feelings that the reading of the book caused you (however, if the only feeling you have is the feeling of hopelessly wasted time, it’s better not to mention this), but do not forget that your speech should still be logical and consistent with what you wrote in the first two sections. The combination of rigorous logic and a flight of fantasy is what constitutes the correct analysis of a work of art!
You also need to pay attention to what artistic means the author uses in his creation. Yes, it’s necessary to recall the theory of literature, and try to fetch out the definitions of words such as “epithet”, “metaphor”, “hyperbole” and many others. Without this, in any way - if you don’t mention how the author tried to influence the reader’s mind, don’t explain how he tried to make us think about something that can only be found between the lines, then your work is not an analysis of the work, but only his retelling. Agree that simply retelling a book, even if very detailed, will not reach a full analysis. And in order to better catch the difference between analysis and retelling, we recommend reading samples of literary criticism.
And the last one. Most often, such a voluminous work as the analysis of a work is set long enough before the deadline - as a rule, we are talking about two or three weeks devoted to writing a work. We advise you not to postpone the task until the last day - as soon as you have been given an analysis, read the book immediately and take small notes, after which do not return to the work for several days, but let it “rest” in your mind. This will help with the subsequent use of the text of the work while writing the analytical work to quickly navigate it, and also make up a holistic, well-established impression of what has been read. We wish you a successful analytical work!