How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

Definition of the Literary Essay

A literary essay is defined as a short piece of writing which aimed at investigating and analyzing the value, meaning, and structure of a certain piece of literature. Two key things are necessary in order to write brilliant literary analysis essays – creative thinking and thorough knowledge of the literary item that you’re investigating.

Literary Essays as a Personal Experience

In case you want to succeed in writing an excellent literary analysis essay you need to read the necessary piece of literature more than once. The first reading will help you to get the main idea and understand the plot, while the second reading will make you notice the details and connections between different episodes of the chosen piece of literature.

Downloading and reading decent analysis essay examples is a good idea because it will allow you to notice what differentiates a good essay from the mediocre one.

Now the essential piece of advice – in the literary essay you should express your own opinion. In order to do that you should investigate the chosen piece of literature carefully and have enough of additional information (research of other people, historical background etc.). Combine your opinion with additional pieces of information and you will be able to write an outstanding, multifaceted literary analysis essay characterized by originality, humor (if applicable), accuracy, innovation, and emotion.

3 Key Elements in Structuring the Literary Essay

3 key elements of the literary analysis essay are an introduction, main body, and conclusions. Let’s take a closer look at what these 3 elements contain:

1. Introduction. This is the starting point of your essay and it should be catchy and start with the hook. The hook should grab readers’ attention right away so that they desire to read the whole essay until the end. It may be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, a controversy, a short story or an invitation to the dialogue. When you have ‘hooked’ your readers continue to describing such details as basic information about the author and literary piece that you’re investigating. Then present a solid thesis statement. Preferably something contradictory or arguable.
2. Main Body. The main body is the part which consists of 3-5 paragraphs. Each paragraph should explain one idea. The main aim of this part of the essay is to prove your thesis statement right or wrong. This goal is attained by providing a considerable amount of high-quality evidence – your ideas, quotes from the analyzed piece of literature, beliefs of the author, social background, quotes of other scholars etc.
3. Conclusions. The final part of your essay should give your readers something to reflect on. Provide your readers with something provocative or unexpected and end your essay with a taste of mystery. Ideal conclusory part of the literary analysis essay leaves a so-called academic “aftertaste”.

In Case You’re Running out of Time

In case you don’t have the opportunity to read the original piece of literature two times, make a research and write a decent essay yourself you can ask for assistance from our professional team of expert writers. They will carefully study your needs and provide you with a high-quality literary analysis essay in a timely manner.