lyric poetry
novel
What is the material form
of the text?
sonnet
poetry
fiction
epic poetry
short story
What is the original layout?
ballad
What script or font is used?
biography
audiences
personal essay
history
tragedy
How does this relate to content or audience?
nonfiction
drama
1
oratory
travel writing
Who is the intended audience?
comedy
sermon
How do the illustrations
complement the text?
What audiences are addressed within the work?
9
Genre
Visual
What circumstances affect when, why, or how someone speaks?
What category of writing is this?
Does this work vary from its genre?
Design
Does this involve other genres?
speeches / speech types
Starting places for learning genres:
8
Where do speeches or monologues occur and what do they do?
Gale - Literature Resource Center
(LRC) - subscription database
Formal Literary
Analysis: A Primer
What is the effect of a speech upon its auditors?
2
Rhetoric
dr. gideon burton
brigham young university
persuasion & argumentation
Narrator
thematic analysis
what is this work about?
How is someone trying to get someone else to believe or to do something?
Who tells the tale?
formal analysis
identify formal elements
interpret their function
how does form influence meaning?
How do I read thee?
Let me count the ways...
Is the narrator limited or biased?
via
Historical Context
Cultural Context
close
reading
How are persuasive appeals used (logos, pathos, ethos)?
via
Literary Theories
via
Formal Analysis
of the Text
What is the point of view?
What proof or logic is provided to persuade?
Narrated or depicted?
arrangement
prewriting
review basic categories
What are the parts of this work?
list instances of form
Plot
comment on patterns and effects
What is the logic of their arrangement?
Conflict?
Is there a plot? Does it follow the standard pattern? (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion)
How is the action divided? (scenes, acts, locations...)
Is the instability stabilized satisfactorily?
diction
3
Who is the protagonist?
What are the author’s word choices?
What is the overall tone of the literary work?
denotation? connotations? etymology? sound qualities? patterns?
Does the character have a foil?
How would you describe the author's style?
What is the character’s gender, age, and position?
Is the work satirical? Dramatic? Humorous?
imagery & symbolism
What images or patterns of images stand out?
Are any of the images symbolic?
Tone & Style
Character
Language
How is setting understood?
7
Is the setting hard to determine?
What does the character look like?
What is the place and time?
figurative
language
5
What is the cultural, historical, or social setting?
What does the character do?
parallelism
similes
4
alliteration
hyperbole
What does the character think?
antithesis
metaphors
schemes?
tropes?
6
What does the character say?
personification
unusual word order
intertextuality
wordplay
Setting
What other works are referenced in this text?
What does dialogue do in this text?
Where is the character?
Does the text quote, incorporate, imitate other texts?
Do characters mention key themes?
How does the character change?
dialogue
How much dialogue? Minimal / dominant?
How does this affect characterization?
Textual
Awareness
Does dialogue include wordplay?
metatextuality
Where are characters self aware of texts and why does it matter?
Is writing, literature, or composing
a topic or theme in the text?
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