ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Combining Persuasion and Literary Analysis
Contains plans for eight lessons that ask students to put characters from a work of literature on trial. This lesson uses Shakespeare's "The Tempest" as an example, but this concept can be applied to other works as well. In addition to...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Creative Outlining?from Freewriting to Formalizing
Contains plans for five 50-minute lessons that ask young scholars to write literary analysis essays about Edgar Allen Poe's ?The Fall of the House of Usher.? In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links...
Other
Clemson University: Literary Essay
Literary essay example by a student discussing two works by Annie Dillard and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. A good example of a strong literary essay.
Other
Univ. Of Mississippi: Critical Approaches to Literature
Here are nine common critical approaches to the study of literature based on X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia's Literature: An Introductionto Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
Other
Concepts and Practices for Writing Courses: Interpreting Literature
This tutorial surveys the way readers should interpret literature or text in symbols, syntax, meaning, and the like. The article features a Literary Toolkit for Analyzing Literature.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University: American Romanticism: Reading Walden
This Virginia Commonwealth University site discusses the language and rhetoric used in Walden, accompanied by questions about how to interpret it.
Texas A&M University
American Transcendentalism Web: Walden Study Text
This Virginia Commonwealth University site contains study notes that explain the text to each chapter of Thoreau's "Walden."
Goshen College
Goshen College: Literary Analysis Guide
This resource not only explains how to analyze a text, but also, provides student examples of literary texts. W.9-10.9b Research/Argum, RI.11-12.5 Evaluate text structure
TES Global
Tes: The Dark Beneath by Alan Gibbons
[Free Registration/Login Required] This PowerPoint presentation includes incremental steps that will help students write a language analysis essay of Alan Gibbons' The Dark Beneath.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Poetry Figurative Language
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart discusses various forms of poetry and gives examples of each. Figurative language is explored as a way of determining the meaning of a piece of literature.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Comparing and Contrasting Texts
Two PowerPoint presentations and a video [2:57] on comparing and contrasting literary and informational texts as well as how to write a literary analysis. Includes links to external resources.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Research Essay for the Turn of the Screw
This PDF lesson plan is for students to write a 5-7 page essay which uses research to support their stance on a topic. For this essay, the students will argue whether they believe the character of the Governess, from Henry James' The...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Selecting Topics for Literary Analysis
A series of three PDF documents providing definitions of commonly used terms when preparing to write a literary analysis, explaining how to comment on a literary text, and demonstrating the process of analyzing the literary text "Hills...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Analyzing Shakespeare
Learn to analyze Shakespearean comedies, tragedies, and sonnets. First use examples provided in a slideshow of A Midsummer Night's Dream to understand the process and topics included in an analysis of a comedy. Then learn to use three...
Harvard University
Harvard College Writing Center: How to Do a Close Reading
A brief explanation of the tasks involved in doing a close reading in preparation for writing. This writer breaks the process into three steps which involve annotating the text, looking for patterns, and asking questions of the text.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Literary Visions
A series of 24 instructional videos, each about 30 minutes in length, designed to teach literary analysis. Topics include Responding to Literature, The Elements of Short Fiction, Tone and Style in Short fiction, The Elements of Poetry,...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Marxism
A basic explanation of Marxism as it applies to literary theory. Includes a bibliography.
Other
Teengagement: Targeted Intervention: Word Choice Shapes Meaning and Tone
In this lesson, students interpret how words are used in a literary text and examine how word choice affects meaning and tone. A sample analysis of a poem is presented, terms are defined, and question stems for assessment purposes are...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Feminism
This site tackles the "F-word," -- and questions how feminism, especially feminist literary theory, got turned into a dirty word. A basic explanation of the critical approach of feminism to literature.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Sti Lesson 39: People Everyday
This activity with a song of my choice, 'People Everyday' by Arrested Development, will be an introduction to literary analysis and media/popular music literacy. Students will learn to examine critically what they view and hear. They...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Models for Literary Analysis
Explore these links to see models for literary analysis including a model analysis of poetry. "Types of Papers: Literary Analysis" from Roane State OWL and "Deep Desires that Transcend Time" by Alyssa Ensminger, from Roane State OWL....
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Critical Theory: Interpretive Strategies
Defines various critical approaches in brief. Click the Critical Theory link at the bottom of the page for more detail.
Other
Marxist Literary Criticism: Brief Guide
Brief overview and guide to Marxist criticism. Easy to digest and fairly comprehensive page.
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Writing About Literature
Purdue University's Writing Lab offers some hints and tips for writing about literature, including how to construct a thesis and how to handle secondary material.