Writing essays about literature : a guide and style sheet / Kelley Griffith

Includes index.

The essay about literature -- How to choose a topic -- How to analyze literature -- How to analyze fiction -- How to analyze drama -- How to analyze poetry -- How to generate topics by using specialized approaches -- How to generate topics by evaluating the quality of literature -- How to create good essay content -- How to communicate your ideas : style and organization -- How to document sources -- Mechanical matters relating to essays about literature -- How to take essay tests -- Sample essays about literature.

I wrote this book in response to a need that constantly arises in my literature courses. When I assign out-of-class essays, students ask a plethora of questions: "How do I find something to write about!" "What should I look for?" "What do you consider a good topic!" "How can I tell if I have written enough?" "Are we supposed to use footnotes?" The most soulful plea of all is this: "I have never written an essay about literature. I'm lost. I have no idea of how to begin. What am I supposed to do?" This lament comes from a variety of students-sophomores taking required courses, students from majors other than English "trying out" literature courses, and even, sometimes, English majors. After hearing these questions again and again, I realized I wanted a book that would not only offer my students the assistance they needed but would cover all aspects of writing essays about literature. It would introduce them to the study of literature, define key critical terms, explain details of usage, and include whole essays that would serve as illustrations of good student writing. Writing Essays About Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet is my attempt to create such a work. It is, in part, a step-by-step "how-to" guide for writing essays about literature. It takes the student from general to specific considerations. The first chapter establishes a rationale by making the overriding point of the book—that essays about literature are almost always arguments and, as such, must persuade an audience. The next seven chapters confront the most bedeviling problem that student writers face when they write about literature: generating both ideas and topics. The second chapter explains strategies for sparking thought processes and for evaluating the quality of topics. Chapters 3 through 8 focus on methods of analyzing literature. They explain the most important elements of each genre, some major critical approaches to literature, and ways to evaluate the quality of literature. They constitute an introduction to the study of literature, but they also offer suggestions and questions to help students work up their own lines of thought and arrive at their own essay topics.