Academics throw the word analysis around often. With that, it appears to imply numerous ways to understand one particular thing and in no particular discipline. This is okay because academia is all about how you define a term as long as you define it. This included analysis and literary analysis.
Unfortunately, though, analysis is one of the words that reminds most people of a scientist in a lab coat This is not very helpful. Yet, outside of the connotative qualities, analysis is integral to more communities than just stereotypical scientists in big-budget, end-of-the-world movie. In fact, if you read and write, analysis is a big part of your life. That is, you will passively analyze every short story, every novel, and every poem that you ever read or write. Our brain is always analyzing, but sometimes it doesn’t know what to look for when in the moment.
In this post, we are going to look at the definition of this analysis. We will also see if it can help us think or reflect on our own literary analyses.
The Definition of Analysis
The definition of analysis as defined by Merriam-Webster is, “a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other.” Likewise, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines analysis as, “The process of breaking a concept down into more simple parts, so that its logical structure is displayed.”
Therefore, we already have a definition that might defy some of your prior understandings. That is to say, analysis isn’t an umbrella term that involves poking something with the eraser of a pencil. In fact, according to definitions, it has to do with viewing a particular subject and its moving parts to see how they relate.
How Does This Apply to Literary Analysis?
Understanding analysis helps us understand a term close to the heart of a writer: literary analysis.
As literary analysis has been defined, it is “not merely a summary of a literary work,” but rather “an argument about the work that expresses a writer’s personal perspective…” Thus, it’s not just our opinion, but our perspective on a work. All the while, analysis involves using our own background and understanding as well. It is literally looking at the elements of a story or a written work and seeing how they interact. We also want to have something to glean from it or understand.
As stated by some researchers: “This is accomplished by examining the literary devices the author uses within the work. The purpose of a literary analysis is to demonstrate why the author used specific ideas to convey his or her message” (Germanna).
Examples of Analysis Using Writing
Think about it. We could analyze a single author’s works just by looking at literary conventions such as form and tone.
As a fan of Ray Bradbury on this blog, we know that his work and tone differ from book to book, because after reading a great deal of his writings, one can begin to understand his style. For example, if you read The Martian Chronicles, then you will know that this book is a collection of short stories (form) that is filled with curiosity and imagination (tone).
However, if you read Something Wicked this Way Comes by the same author then you will see that it’s a full-length novel (form) that is dark and mysterious (tone). This is a surface-level interpretation but I can also use my own experiences with imagination, wonder, horror, and mystery to inform my analysis.
Concluding Analysis
Our quick examination, and comparisons and contrasts, help us analyze the text by understanding a subjects’ form and tone (short stories, novels, or poems); yet, we can look at any literary conventions of a text (aside from form and tone), whether that be the characters, the plot, or the theme (or whatever) to conduct our own analysis.
Works Cited
Academic Center for Excellence. “Writing a Literary Analysis Paper.” Germanna Community College, Feb. 2AD, germanna.edu/wp-content/uploads/tutoring/handouts/Literary-Analysis.pdf.
Analysis > Definitions and Descriptions of Analysis (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). plato.stanford.edu/entries/analysis/s1.html#1.
Definition of ANALYSIS. 20 Nov. 818, merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analysis.
