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Literary Analysis Essay Writing

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Outline - A Step By Step Guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Outline?

An outline is a structure that you decide to give to your writing to make the audience understand your viewpoint clearly. When a writer gathers information on a topic, it needs to be organized to make sense.

When writing a literary analysis essay, its outline is as important as any part of it. For the text’s clarity and readability, an outline is drafted in the essay’s planning phase.

According to the basic essay outline, the following are the elements included in drafting an outline for the essay:

Introduction
Thesis statement
Body paragraphs

A detailed description of the literary analysis outline is provided in the following section.

Literary Analysis Essay Introduction

An introduction section is the first part of the essay. The introductory paragraph or paragraphs provide an insight into the topic and prepares the readers about the literary work.

A literary analysis essay introduction is based on three major elements:

Hook Statement: A hook statement is the opening sentence of the introduction. This statement is used to grab people’s attention. A catchy hook will make the introductory paragraph interesting for the readers, encouraging them to read the entire essay.

For example, in a literary analysis essay, “ Island Of Fear,” the writer used the following hook statement:

“As humans, we all fear something, and we deal with those fears in ways that match our personalities.”

Background Information: Providing background information about the chosen literature work in the introduction is essential. Present information related to the author, title, and theme discussed in the original text.

Moreover, include other elements to discuss, such as characters, setting, and the plot. For example:

“ In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the fears of Jack, Ralph, and Piggy and chooses specific ways for each to deal with his fears.”

Thesis Statement: A thesis statement is the writer’s main claim over the chosen piece of literature.

A thesis statement allows your reader to expect the purpose of your writing. The main objective of writing a thesis statement is to provide your subject and opinion on the essay.

For example, the thesis statement in the “Island of Fear” is:

“...Therefore, each of the three boys reacts to fear in his own unique way.”

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Literary Analysis Essay Body Paragraphs

In body paragraphs, you dig deep into the text, show your insights, and build your argument.

In this section, we'll break down how to structure and write these paragraphs effectively:

Topic sentence: A topic sentence is an opening sentence of the paragraph. The points that will support the main thesis statement are individually presented in each section.

For example:

“The first boy, Jack, believes that a beast truly does exist…”

Evidence: To support the claim made in the topic sentence, evidence is provided. The evidence is taken from the selected piece of work to make the reasoning strong and logical.

“...He is afraid and admits it; however, he deals with his fear of aggressive violence. He chooses to hunt for the beast, arms himself with a spear, and practice killing it: “We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat—!”(91).”

Analysis: A literary essay is a kind of essay that requires a writer to provide his analysis as well.

The purpose of providing the writer’s analysis is to tell the readers about the meaning of the evidence.

“...He also uses the fear of the beast to control and manipulate the other children. Because they fear the beast, they are more likely to listen to Jack and follow his orders...”

Transition words: Transition or connecting words are used to link ideas and points together to maintain a logical flow. Transition words that are often used in a literary analysis essay are:

Furthermore
Later in the story
In contrast, etc.

“...Furthermore, Jack fears Ralph’s power over the group and Piggy’s rational thought. This is because he knows that both directly conflict with his thirst for absolute power...”

Concluding sentence: The last sentence of the body that gives a final statement on the topic sentence is the concluding sentence. It sums up the entire discussion held in that specific paragraph.

Here is a literary analysis paragraph example for you:

Literary Essay Example Pdf

Literary Analysis Essay Conclusion

The last section of the essay is the conclusion part where the writer ties all loose ends of the essay together. To write appropriate and correct concluding paragraphs, add the following information:

State how your topic is related to the theme of the chosen work
State how successfully the author delivered the message
According to your perspective, provide a statement on the topic
If required, present predictions
Connect your conclusion to your introduction by restating the thesis statement.
In the end, provide an opinion about the significance of the work.

For example,

“ In conclusion, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies exposes the reader to three characters with different personalities and fears: Jack, Ralph, and Piggy. Each of the boys tries to conquer his fear in a different way. Fear is a natural emotion encountered by everyone, but each person deals with it in a way that best fits his/her individual personality.”

Literary Analysis Essay Format

A literary analysis essay delves into the examination and interpretation of a literary work, exploring themes, characters, and literary devices.

Below is a guide outlining the format for a structured and effective literary analysis essay.

Formatting Guidelines

Use a legible font (e.g., Times New Roman or Arial) and set the font size to 12 points.
Double-space your essay, including the title, headings, and quotations.
Set one-inch margins on all sides of the page.
Indent paragraphs by 1/2 inch or use the tab key.
Page numbers, if required, should be in the header or footer and follow the specified formatting style.

Literary Analysis Essay Outline Example

To fully understand a concept in a writing world, literary analysis outline examples are important. This is to learn how a perfectly structured writing piece is drafted and how ideas are shaped to convey a message.

The following are the best literary analysis essay examples to help you draft a perfect essay.

AP Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Outline Middle School

High School Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Outline College (PDF)

Literary Analysis Essay Rubric (PDF)

Literary Analysis Essay Example Romeo & Juliet (PDF)

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Are you seeking inspiration for your next literary analysis essay? Here is a list of literary analysis essay topics for you:

The Theme of Alienation in "The Catcher in the Rye"
The Motif of Darkness in Shakespeare's Tragedies
The Psychological Complexity of Hamlet's Character
Analyzing the Narrator's Unreliable Perspective in "The Tell-Tale Heart"
The Role of Nature in William Wordsworth's Romantic Poetry
The Representation of Social Class in "To Kill a Mockingbird"
The Use of Irony in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
The Impact of Holden's Red Hunting Hat in the Novel
The Power of Setting in Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
The Symbolism of the Conch Shell in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

Need more topics? Read our literary analysis essay topics blog!

All in all, writing a literary analysis essay can be tricky if it is your first attempt. Apart from analyzing the work, other elements like a topic and an accurate interpretation must draft this type of essay.

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Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Outline Guide with Examples

Published on: Aug 22, 2020

Last updated on: Mar 25, 2024

The Basics of Literary Analysis Writing

Before diving into the specifics of the outline, let's grasp the fundamental elements of a literary analysis essay .

At its core, this type of essay requires a thoughtful examination and interpretation of a literary work. Whether it's a novel, poem, or play, the aim is to analyze the author's choices and convey your insights to the reader.

The Significance of an Outline

An outline is important for two reasons: It helps you organize your ideas and allows readers to follow along easily.

Think of it as a map for your essay. Without structure, essays can be confusing. By using an outline, you ensure that your writing is clear and logical, keeping both you and your readers on track.

Literary Analysis Essay Format

Letâs take a look at the specific and detailed format and how to write a literary analysis essay outline in simple steps:

Outline Ideas for Literary Analysis Essay

Here are sample templates for each of the outlined ideas for a literary analysis essay:

Five Paragraph Essay

This format is a traditional structure for organizing essays and is often taught in schools. It consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each body paragraph focuses on one main point or argument.

MLA Formatted Graphic Organizer

This format is designed to help organize your ideas according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) formatting guidelines. It ensures that your essay is properly structured and formatted according to MLA standards.

Compare and Contrast Essay on Two Texts

This format compares and contrasts two texts, highlighting similarities and differences. This is a common method used to analyze literature. There are two common methods: point by point and block method.

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Literary Analysis Essay Examples Outline

Letâs take a look at the literary analysis essay outline examples in easily downloadable PDF format:

Literary Analysis Essay Outline Middle School

Literary Analysis Outline Graphic Organizer

Critical Analysis Essay Outline Example

Character Analysis Essay Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Here are some literary analysis essay topics you can take inspiration from:

Analyze the corrupting influence of power in Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
Explore the symbolism of the green light in "The Great Gatsby" and its connection to the American Dream.
Examine Holden Caulfield's journey of self-discovery and identity in "The Catcher in the Rye."
Understand the use of magical realism in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and its reflection of Latin American culture.
Unravel the impact of race, class, and social hierarchy on moral justice in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Investigate feminist themes and gender roles in "Jane Eyre": Independence, equality, and the quest for autonomy.
Examine the theme of fate versus free will in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" and its tragic consequences.
Analyze the allegorical critique of totalitarianism in George Orwell's "Animal Farm."
Explore survival and resilience in "Life of Pi" through the protagonist's journey of faith and self-discovery.
Understand existential themes in "The Stranger": Absurdity, alienation, and the search for meaning in an indifferent world.

Need more topic ideas? Check out our â literary analysis essay topics â blog and get unique ideas for your next assignment.

In conclusion, crafting a literary analysis essay outline is a critical step in the writing process. By breaking down the essay into manageable sections and organizing your thoughts effectively, you'll create a compelling and insightful analysis that engages your readers.

Remember, practice makes perfect, so don't hesitate to revise and refine your outline until it reflects your ideas cohesively.

In case you are running out of time you can reach out to our essay writing service. At CollegeEssay.org , we provide high-quality college essay writing help for various literary topics. We have an extensive and highly professional team of qualified writers who are available to work on your assignments 24/7.

Get in touch with our customer service representative and let them know all your requirements.

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Writing A Literary Analysis Essay

Library Resources
Books & EBooks
What is an Literary Analysis?
Literary Devices & Terms
Creating a Thesis Statement This link opens in a new window
Using quotes or evidence in your essay
APA Format This link opens in a new window
MLA Format This link opens in a new window
OER Resources
Copyright, Plagiarism, and Fair Use

Video Links

Elements of a short story, Part 1

YouTube video

Elements of a short story, Part 2

online tools

Collaborative Mind Mapping – collaborative brainstorming site

Sample Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Paper Format and Structure

Introduction, Body, and Conclusion :: Health Sciences, Education and Wellness Institute

Analyzing Literature and writing a Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis are written in the third person point of view in present tense. Do not use the words I or you in the essay. Your instructor may have you choose from a list of literary works read in class or you can choose your own. Follow the required formatting and instructions of your instructor.

Writing & Analyzing process

First step: Choose a literary work or text. Read & Re-Read the text or short story. Determine the key point or purpose of the literature

Step two: Analyze key elements of the literary work. Determine how they fit in with the author's purpose.

Step three: Put all information together. Determine how all elements fit together towards the main theme of the literary work.

Step four: Brainstorm a list of potential topics. Create a thesis statement based on your analysis of the literary work.

Step five: search through the text or short story to find textual evidence to support your thesis. Gather information from different but relevant sources both from the text itself and other secondary sources to help to prove your point. All evidence found will be quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to help explain your argument to the reader.

Step six: Create and outline and begin the rough draft of your essay.

Step seven: revise and proofread. Write the final draft of essay

Step eight: include a reference or works cited page at the end of the essay and include in-text citations.

When analyzing a literary work pay close attention to the following:

Characters: A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story.

Protagonist : The main character of the story
Antagonist : The villain of the story
Love interest : the protagonist’s object of desire.
Confidant : This type of character is the best friend or sidekick of the protagonist
Foil – A foil is a character that has opposite character traits from another character and are meant to help highlight or bring out another’s positive or negative side.
Flat – A flat character has one or two main traits, usually only all positive or negative.
Dynamic character : A dynamic character is one who changes over the course of the story.
Round character : These characters have many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting.
Static character : A static character does not noticeably change over the course of a story.
Symbolic character : A symbolic character represents a concept or theme larger than themselves.
Stock character : A stock character is an ordinary character with a fixed set of personality traits.

Setting: The setting is the period of time and geographic location in which a story takes place.

Plot: a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story

Theme: a universal idea, lesson, or message explored throughout a work of literature.

Dialogue: any communication between two characters

Imagery: a literary device that refers to the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience or create a picture with words for a reader.

Figures of Speech: A word or phrase that is used in a non-literal way to create an effect.

Tone: A literary device that reflects the writer's attitude toward the subject matter or audience of a literary work.

rhyme or rhythm: Rhyme is a literary device, featured particularly in poetry, in which identical or similar concluding syllables in different words are repeated. Rhythm can be described as the beat and pace of a poem

Point of view: the narrative voice through which a story is told.

Limited – the narrator sees only what’s in front of him/her, a spectator of events as they unfold and unable to read any other character’s mind.
Omniscient – narrator sees all. He or she sees what each character is doing and can see into each character’s mind.
Limited Omniscient – narrator can only see into one character’s mind. He/she might see other events happening, but only knows the reasons of one character’s actions in the story.
First person: You see events based on the character telling the story
Second person: The narrator is speaking to you as the audience

Symbolism: a literary device in which a writer uses one thing—usually a physical object or phenomenon—to represent something else.

Irony: a literary device in which contradictory statements or situations reveal a reality that is different from what appears to be true.

Ask some of the following questions when analyzing literary work:

Which literary devices were used by the author?
How are the characters developed in the content?
How does the setting fit in with the mood of the literary work?
Does a change in the setting affect the mood, characters, or conflict?
What point of view is the literary work written in and how does it effect the plot, characters, setting, and over all theme of the work?
What is the over all tone of the literary work? How does the tone impact the author’s message?
How are figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, and hyperboles used throughout the text?
When was the text written? how does the text fit in with the time period?

Creating an Outline

A literary analysis essay outline is written in standard format: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. An outline will provide a definite structure for your essay.

I. Introduction: Title

A. a hook statement or sentence to draw in readers

B. Introduce your topic for the literary analysis.

Include some background information that is relevant to the piece of literature you are aiming to analyze.

C. Thesis statement: what is your argument or claim for the literary work.

II. Body paragraph

A. first point for your analysis or evidence from thesis

B. textual evidence with explanation of how it proves your point

III. second evidence from thesis

A. textual evidence with explanation of how it proves your point

IV. third evidence from thesis

V. Conclusion

A. wrap up the essay

B. restate the argument and why its important

C. Don't add any new ideas or arguments

VI: Bibliography: Reference or works cited page

End each body paragraph in the essay with a transitional sentence.

Links & Resources

Literary Analysis Guide

Discusses how to analyze a passage of text to strengthen your discussion of the literature.

The Writing Center @ UNC-Chapel Hill

Excellent handouts and videos around key writing concepts. Entire section on Writing for Specific Fields, including Drama, Literature (Fiction), and more. Licensed under CC BY NC ND (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - No Derivatives).

Creating Literary Analysis (Cordell and Pennington, 2012) – LibreTexts

Resources for Literary Analysis Writing

Some free resources on this site but some are subscription only

Students Teaching English Paper Strategies

The Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism

<< Previous: Literary Devices & Terms
Next: Creating a Thesis Statement >>
Last Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:22 PM
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How to write a literary analysis paper outline with examples, bob cardens.

December 16, 2023
How to Guides

Analyzing literature means looking closely at a written piece, figuring out what it means, and understanding why the author made certain choices. This applies to things like stories, novels, plays, and poems.

When you write a literary analysis essay, it’s not about just summarizing the story or giving your opinion. Instead, it’s like making an argument about how the author uses language, perspective, and structure to create effects and convey ideas.

Finding ideas for a literary analysis essay means knowing about the background, main ideas, and symbols in the work. Before you start writing, read the text carefully and come up with a main idea (thesis statement) to guide your essay. Following these tips, both new and experienced writers can write a thoughtful essay that gives smart explanations about a piece of literature.

What You'll Learn

Guidelines to Writing an Outstanding Literary Analysis Paper

Step 1: Carefully Read the text and look out for the literary devices

The first thing you should do is read the text carefully and take some notes. While you’re reading, pay attention to the parts that interest you the most, surprise you, or confuse you. These are the things you’ll explore in your analysis.

When you’re analyzing literature, your goal is not just to explain what happens in the story, but to understand how the writing itself works on a deeper level. Look for special techniques that writers use to give meaning and create effects—these are called literary devices. If you’re comparing different texts, also try to find connections between them.

To start your analysis, focus on a few important areas. Think about how each part of the text relates to the others. You can use highlights or notes to remember important parts and quotes.

Look out for the language that has been used

Think about how the writer talks. Are the sentences short and clear, or are they fancy and complicated? Look for special or weird words. Do they use words in a way that means something different than what it usually means? Like saying “her eyes were oceans” when they mean her eyes were really deep and mysterious. Watch out for pictures in the writing—pictures that show up a lot and mean something important. And don’t forget, in stories and poems, words can mean more than just what they say directly

Consider the narrators voice

Think about:

Who is telling the story?
How are they telling it?
Is it someone personally involved (using “I”) or someone observing from afar (using “he” or “she”)?

Also, think about the narrator’s viewpoint. Do they know everything about everyone , or do they only know some things? Can we trust them, or are they possibly lying or mistaken?

Consider the tone of the text. Is it meant to be funny, sad, or something else? Are serious things treated as jokes, or the other way around? Is the story more real-world or more fantastical?

Consider the structure of the text

Think about how stories are organized. Novels have chapters and parts, poems have lines and stanzas, and plays have scenes and acts. Consider why authors choose to divide their works this way.

Also, think about the less formal ways stories are put together. Does the plot follow a timeline, or does it go back and forth in time? Does it start in the middle of the action? Is there a clear high point in the story?

For poems, think about how the rhyme and rhythm affect your understanding and the tone. Reading it out loud can help you feel this.

In plays, notice how relationships between characters develop in different scenes, and how the setting connects to the story. Keep an eye out for dramatic irony, where the audience knows something the characters don’t, adding extra meaning to what they say or do.

Literary Analysis Paper Outline

I. introduction.

Set up the context of the novel. This includes stating the author, the title of the work, and perhaps some details as to the period the piece was written in or anything else you think would be relevant for your reader to know before reading your analysis. This is where you might also include a very short summary of the text you are analyzing (by short, Imean no more than a sentence or two).

Claim:

Your claim will be your stance as to the meaning (or a meaning) behind the novel (or aspects of the novel). Example: While survival is still a major topic throughout the story, “The Open Boat” can also be read as a striving for community, . . .

Reasons/key areas/focus:

These will be your reasons that you have that support your claim. Here is where you might delve into the use of literary devices in the text. Example : . . . . as the survivors find a sort of friendship with one another, and as they struggle together to live.

II. Reason #1

Topic Sentence:

This sentence will state the first reason that you have supporting your claim in your thesis. Phrase this sentence in a way that restates the reason you had in your thesis, and explain how it is relevant to your claim.

Example: Multiple points throughout the story highlight the moments of the passengers finding a type of friendship with each other.

Introduce the Evidence:

Either briefly state the context of the quote you are about to give, or give a littleglimpse into the function of the quote within the story.

Example: The narrator of the text specifically highlights the brotherhood that thesurvivors have formed:

Quote:

Give the quote, along with the citation.

Example: “It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him” (Crane 370).

Explication (un-packing the quote):

Explicating the quote involves picking out the specific words and language usedby the author within the quote. Essentially, you are saying what the quote means.

Example: This brotherhood is described as “subtle,” and the text goes on to explain that no one has verbally discussed this reality, which hints that it may not even consciously recognized by each of the men. However, even though it is not fully recognize, it is tangibly felt by each of the men, as each “felt it warm him.”

Analysis (consider the larger significance of your explication):

After detailing what the quote means, you need to take another step outwards. What does this use of language mean? Why is this quote important? What conclusions can we draw from this evidence?

Example: As the narrator himself is commenting on the apparent brotherhood between the survivors, the conclusion is that this is no mere illusion of a single passenger . . .

Tie-Back to Thesis:

How does this evidence support your thesis? Be sure to give a tie-back that shows how this example that you’ve analyzed proves your thesis. Example: . . . but rather a reality of the community that is drawing the four men together.

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III. Section II – Reason #2

(Note: You can have as many sections as you like; two is probably a good minimum, and the maximum would depend on the paper length requirements set by your instructor. Also, if you have more than one quote/piece of evidence, you can have more than one paragraph per reason.)

A. Topic Sentence B. Evidence C. Quote D. Explication E. Analysis F. Tie-Back to Thesis IV. Conclusion

Restate Thesis:

Restate your thesis again in the conclusion. Be sure to change the wording so it is not repetitive, and so that it is more conducive to a conclusion, rather than an introduction. Example: Apart from the obviously seen theme of survival in the face of an in a different world, the striving of the four survivors for community in Crane’s “The Open Boat” is decidedly a major theme.

Larger Significance of Thesis:

Take a step further outwards from your initial claim. What is the larger significance of what you’ve just argued, beyond the contents of the story? Example: While this particular story of Crane’s is usually categorized as a Naturalist piece, the search for community demonstrates a very Modernistic theme.

Wrap-up Statement/Call for Further Inquiry:

Either provide a satisfying concluding statement to end your paper, or perhaps spark more interest in your reader by leaving them with a thought that they can pursue further. Example: Perhaps rather than lumping this piece in with Naturalism, it would be better placed as a bleed from Naturalism to Modernism.

Sample Literary Analysis Essay college

This novel is about a lady”: brett ashley in the sun also rises.

While Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is told from the viewpoint of one Jake Barnes, another prominent figure within the novel is Lady Brett Ashley. In fact, in Hemingway’s original opening for the novel, he had written, “This novel is about a lady. Her name is Lady Ashley” (Qtd. in Martin 70).

Brett, as she is developed in the novel, has been painted in different lights, depending on the interpreter, ranging from a sympathetic view to one of condemnation. The portrait of her that I will attempt to show is one of a human being, caught between the ideologies of two eras.

Brett Ashley is a woman living during an age of a new femininity and sexual freedom, during the end of the repressive Victorian era. Reflecting changing behaviors, she wears pants and has her hair cropped, and she is sexually uninhibited.

Her experience may be analogous to the stereotypical college freshman who grew up in a strict household, one where the idea of drinking before twentyone is demonized, so the freshman was not educated in safe practice.

The newfound freedom is exhilarating, and the freshman is known to binge-drink, not thinking of his or her tolerance level and the consequences, such as an incapacitating hangover. The sexual promiscuity of Brett, and other women of her time period, may be viewed in the same light: after a repressive era, sex is, in a way, “new” and exciting.

However, because of the prior taboo of discussing sex, a sense of responsibility, self-respect, and self-care was likely not passed down to Brett. Because of this, she, as a “new woman,” binges on sex. This is not necessarily because she is an emasculating man-eater.

Rather, this is a reflection on her being almost child-like in her behavior, being given power without being made aware of the responsibility of it. As Martin expresses, for Brett, the need to rebel against the traditional idea of the feminine outweighs the practice of responsible sex (67-8, 71).

However, her existence during such a cultural transition takes a toll on Brett’s psychological well-being. In trying to cope with Robert Cohn’s infatuation with her, for example, she turns to alcohol: As Jake returns a bottle of Fundador to the bartender, she stops him. “‘Let’s have one more drink of that,’ Brett said. ‘My nerves are rotten’” (Hemingway 186).

As stated by Martin, “In spite of the fact that Brett tries to break free of patriarchal control, she often vacillates between the extremes of self-abnegation and self-indulgence, and her relationships… are filled with ambivalence, anxiety, and frequently alienation” (69).

Among one of her many discussions with Jake where she admits her dissatisfaction and misery, Brett confides in him that “When I think of all the hell I put chaps through. I’m paying for it all now” (34). Thus, Brett is not without a sense of guilt.

Despite this, she continues with one affair after another, knowing how it has affected the men she has been and will be with. There must then be other driving factors in her behavior beyond a desire for sexual pleasure.

Like many people of her generation, in testing out a life free of restrictive and seemingly worn-out Victorian ideologies, Brett feels disillusionment and a loss of agency after World War I, leaving her with a “moral and emotional vacuum” (Spilka 36).

She cannot even take solace in religion. When she attempts to pray for her young lover Romero before his bullfight, she becomes uncomfortable in the atmosphere of the chapel: “‘Come on,’ she whispered throatily. ‘Let’s get out of here. Makes me damned nervous’” (Hemingway 212).

She attempts to fill this void using intimate encounters with men, seeking a momentary feeling of human connection but remains unwilling to submit herself to anyone long term. This is particularly seen in her relationship with Jake, as she constantly uses him as a financial source and emotional support, all the while knowing that he is tormented by all her lovers (Spilka 42-3). Onderdonk points out that, at times, Brett appears to want a true relationship, such as with Romero, before he attempts to “tame” her (81).

Yet, as Djos notes, she generally manipulates men, asserts her dominance over them, and avoids commitment to them (143, 148). This behavior might be interpreted as a sign that the sexual freedom Brett is trying out inevitably leads to an ethical dead end.

Unlike an imperialistic government, however, Brett is a human being with a conscience, giving rise to the aforementioned guilt. This guilt, coupled with the internal void common to the Lost Generation, is what drives her and her colleagues to seek comfort in a bottle.

Often taken for a sign of immorality, alcoholism here signifies quite the opposite. It is Brett’s conscience and her discomfort with the lack of moral direction that drive her to drink. Djos presents the following theory, based on real-life alcoholics: “There is a great deal of fear here, fear of selfunderstanding, fear of emotional and physical inadequacy, and … fear of each other” (141-2).

Because Brett and her friends are travelling an unmapped road, with no signs pointing to ethical landmarks or spiritual meaning, they must deal with the uncertainty of their situation. The characters throughout the novel do seem to have shallow interactions and relationships with each other, yet the fact that so much is left unsaid between them is evidence of Hemingway’s “tip of the iceberg” style.

For them alcohol is a social lubricant, and even a means to survive day by day, minute by minute, suggesting that these characters are navigating great psychological challenges (Djos 141) and must suffer in isolation as they do so. Brett is no exception to this experience. Early on in the novel, Brett alludes to this despair when she bemoans to Jake, “Oh, darling, I’ve been so miserable” (Hemingway 32).

Brett is far from being a role model or the picture of perfection. Yet, she is not a cold-hearted succubus, either. She is a woman attempting to find her place in the wake of a war and a gender revolution, surrounded by changing ideas, gender roles, and cultural standards.

Hiding behind a wall of alcohol abuse, she struggles, as did many women of her time, between her libido and desire for freedom from patriarchy and male ownership, and her sense of guilt and discomfort with herself and others. Brett is nothing more, or less, than a human being experiencing the tumultuous waves produced by life.

Works Cited

Djos, Matts. “Alcoholism in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: A Wine and
Roses Perspective on the Lost Generation.” 1995. Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, edited by Linda Wagner-Martin, Oxford UP, 2002, pp. 139-53.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Scribner, 1926.
Martin, Wendy. “Brett Ashley as New Woman in The Sun Also Rises.” New
Essays on The Sun Also Rises, edited by Linda Wagner-Martin, Cambridge UP, 1987, pp. 65-81.
Onderdonk, Todd. “‘B itched’: Feminization, Identity, and the Hemingwayesque
in The Sun Also Rises.” Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 52, no 1, 1 Mar. 2006, pp. 61-91. Academic Search Complete. doi:10.1215/0041462X-2006-2007. Accessed 16 Sept. 2013.
Spilka, Mark. “The Death of Love in The Sun Also Rises.” 1958. Ernest
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, edited by Linda Wagner-Martin, Oxford UP, 2002, pp. 33-45.

Does the Sun Rise? A Study of Metaphors in Ernest – literary analysis example for a short story

Although Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises begins with an epigraph from the biblical book of Ecclesiastes that suggests the constantly renewing cycles of the earth and of human generations, the author’s use of metaphors in this story raises the question of whether we will always be able to recover from our own destructive behavior.

If it is true that humans and the earth are resilient and that no force can disrupt the cycle of rebirth and regeneration, the novel should leave readers feeling optimistic. However, it does not end on a positive note. Instead, it ends with confirmation that even though Brett Ashley likes to imagine a happy life with protagonist Jake Barnes, they are too damaged to have one.

Jake’s cynical response to Brett’s fantasy reminds us of this point: “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Jake’s difficulty coping with his injury, his tendency to self-medicate with alcohol, his inability to pray, and his failure to sustain an intimate relationship with another person all exemplify the irreversible destruction inflicted byWorld War I. Specifically through the metaphors of Jake’s wound and the tainted Pamplona fiesta, the novel conveys the possibility that if we are not careful, we can dangerously disrupt the cycle of renewal.

Jake’s service as an American soldier in World War I has left him with an unusual wound: he took a hit to the groin and his sexual organs were damaged. Not only does this wound affect him physically, preventing him from being able to have sex and to reproduce, but it also affects him psychologically, robbing him of masculine confidence and of the chance for an intimate relationship with the woman he loves, Brett Ashley.

Jake’s response to the injury as he looks in the mirror reveals how powerfully the scar affects him: “I looked at myself in the mirror of the big armoire beside the bed….Of all the ways to be wounded. I suppose it was funny” (38). Although Jake tries to laugh off the injury, he suffers from the constant effort to cope with it and the general effects of his war experience: “I lay awake thinking and my mind jumping around.

Then I couldn’t keep away from it, and I started to think about Brett and all the rest of it went away. I was thinking about Brett and my mind stopped jumping around and started to go in sort of smooth waves. Then all of a sudden I started to cry” (39). The wound is a constant reminder to Jake that his life is different now.

Yet it also serves as a general metaphor for the psychological wounds he and all his friends are coping with. Like Jake’s genital scar, his friends’ pain is kept well-covered. They almost never speak of the war. When Robert Cohn asks Mike Campbell if he was in the war, Mike answers, “Was I not?” And then the subject shifts to a funny story about Mike’s stealing medals earned by someone else so Mike could wear them to a formal dinner.

Although he seems fun-loving, ready to laugh and party with his companions, Mike drinks and spends money indiscriminately in order to cope with his pain. We see the characters’ dysfunctional behavior throughout the novel as the group constantly drinks and engages in distractions to cope with their own psychological wounds. The worst effects of these injuries are their inability to find hope in anything, even God, and to enjoy close and healthy

Relationships with each other.

Another metaphor employed effectively in the novel to suggest irreversible destruction is the ruined bull fights. Jake has been an aficionado of the bull fights for many years. He considers them almost sacred. He shares this feeling with his friend Montoya, at whose hotel he stays when he comes to Pamplona for the fiesta.

“I had stopped at the Montoya for several years. We never talked for very long at a time. It was simply the pleasure of discovering what we each felt.” (137). Even though Jake’s mind wanders when he goes to church now, he has been able to maintain this special experience of the bull fights. The way he describes this “art” reveals that he sees something pure in it—a chance to confront one’s fears with dignity, courage, and grace and then destroy those fears: “Romero’s bull-fighting gave real emotion, because he kept the absolute purity of line in his movements and always quietly and calmly let the horns pass him close each time” (171). Since the events recur each year during fiesta, there is a sense of renewal associated with it.

However, when Brett initiates Romero into manhood through a brief sexual affair, it not only compromises Romero’s innocence and purity as an artist, but it spoils the experience of fiesta for Jake. Montoya, his fellow aficionado blames Jake and his friends for not respecting Romero and the bull fight, and the loss of this friendship hurts Jake. Just before the group leaves town, Jake says, “We had lunch and paid the bill. Montoya did not come near us” (232).

Montoya’s previous regard for Jake will not likely be regained, since the aficion, or passion, they shared was very rare, and the affair has spoiled their bond. Like Jake and his friends’ faith in anything transcending ordinary mundane life, Jake’s experience of the bull fight has been tainted now by the dysfunctional actions of him and the rest of the group. This metaphor suggests that some kinds of destruction are permanent.

As the novel concludes, the reader wants to believe that Jake will survive and find some kind of happiness. Yet, the metaphors of Jake’s wound and the tainted bull fights suggest that some kinds of damage cannot be undone. The novel implies that, as a result of one of the most destructive wars in human history, these characters will simply have to learn to live with their injuries and cope with their lost hopes. Their hardship serves as a warning that humans should think carefully before waging war against each other.

Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises . Scribner, 1926.

here’s how to cite a poem

Literary Analysis Essay Outline – A Step By Step Guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay: An Insightful Guide

Welcome to the fascinating world of writing a literary analysis essay – where words come alive, stories unravel, and your insights take center stage. Have you ever wondered how to decode the deeper meanings of your favorite books or express your thoughts in a way that captivates your reader? Well, you're in the right place. In this article, we're diving headfirst into essays writing, breaking down the complexities, and showing you how to craft an essay that not only impresses your teacher but also makes you appreciate literature in a whole new light.

What Is Literary Analysis Essay

According to a literary analysis essay definition, it is a written examination and interpretation of a literary work, typically dissecting its elements such as plot, characters, themes, and symbolism. Going beyond summarization, this type of essay delves into the intricacies of a text, aiming to uncover deeper meanings, explore the author's intentions, and critically evaluate the literary techniques employed. It requires the writer to engage in thoughtful analysis, supported by evidence from the text, to unveil the layers of significance within the work. Through this process, the essay not only offers a nuanced understanding of the literature but also encourages readers to appreciate the artistry and complexity inherent in written narratives. Those students who are not ready to work on such an assignment can simply say, ‘ write my papers ,’ and our experts will handle the task shortly.

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What Is the Purpose of a Literary Analysis Essay

The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to delve deeply into a literary work, examining its various elements and uncovering layers of meaning beyond the surface narrative. Through critical analysis and interpretation, this type of essay aims to illuminate the themes, characters, settings, and literary devices employed by the author, offering insights into their intentions and the broader significance of the text. By dissecting the nuances of the work, a literary analysis encourages readers to engage with literature on a deeper level, fostering a richer understanding of the human experience, societal issues, and the complexities of language and storytelling. Ultimately, the essay serves as a platform for readers to explore and appreciate the artistry and impact of literature while honing their analytical and critical thinking skills. When you have time, study our guide regarding how to write an analytical essay , which will shed light on more important academic writing aspects.

Literary Analysis Outline

Here's a basic outline for this type of essay:

Introduction

Hook: Engage the reader with a compelling quote, question, or anecdote related to the literary work.
Background Information: Provide relevant information about the author, the title, and the context of the work.
Thesis Statement: Clearly state the main point or argument of your analysis.

Body Paragraph 1: Analysis of the Plot

Provide a brief summary of the plot.
Analyze key events, plot twists, and their significance.
Discuss the structure of the narrative and how it contributes to the overall theme.

Body Paragraph 2: Character Analysis

Introduce and describe the main characters.
Analyze their traits, motivations, and relationships.
Discuss how the characters contribute to the development of the story.

Body Paragraph 3: Theme Exploration

Identify and discuss the major themes in the literary work.
Provide examples and evidence from the text to support your analysis.
Explore the deeper meanings and messages conveyed through the themes.

Body Paragraph 4: Literary Devices and Techniques

Identify and analyze literary devices such as symbolism, imagery, metaphors, and foreshadowing.
Discuss how these elements enhance the overall impact of the work.
Summarize the main points discussed in the body paragraphs.
Restate the thesis in a fresh way.
Offer final insights or reflections on the literary work's significance and enduring relevance.

Optional: Additional Considerations

Discuss the cultural or historical context that may influence the interpretation of the work.
Address any alternative perspectives or counterarguments.
Offer recommendations for further reading or exploration related to the literary work.

We recommend analyzing this article about how to start a reflection paper to gain extra competence in the domain of school and college writing.

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Before you commence the assignment, it’s important to find a great topic. For your inspiration, our writers shared 20 literary analysis essay ideas that you can develop in a written form within the framework of your current task.

Symbolism in "The Great Gatsby."
Character development in "Hamlet."
Themes in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
The significance of the southern setting in "The Sound and the Fury."
Foreshadowing in "Of Mice and Men."
Point of view in "The Catcher in the Rye."
Irony in "Othello."
Social class in "Pride and Prejudice."
The motif of light and dark in "Romeo and Juliet."
Archetypes in "The Hero’s Journey" in "The Hobbit."
The tragic flaw of Macbeth in "Macbeth."
The use of nature imagery in "Wuthering Heights."
The symbolism of the green light in "The Great Gatsby."
The role of technology in "Fahrenheit 451."
Character motivations in "The Scarlet Letter."
The exploration of identity in "The Invisible Man."
The impact of war on characters in "All Quiet on the Western Front."
The role of dreams in "A Raisin in the Sun."
The representation of women in "Jane Eyre."
The symbolism of the mockingbird in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Step by Step

In this section, we're ditching the jargon and breaking down the process into simple, actionable steps. Whether you're a wordsmith in the making or someone feeling a bit lost in the world of dissecting literature, we've got your back. Think of this as your roadmap, helping you navigate through characters, themes, and all the juicy stuff that makes a story tick. So, grab your metaphorical magnifying glass and let's dive into the art of making sense of written words without the unnecessary fuss!

Step 1: Choose Your Text and Topic

Before actually writing a literary analysis essay, select a literary work that piques your interest or aligns with your academic requirements. Whether it's a novel, play, or poem, opt for a piece that offers rich content for analysis. Once you've chosen your text, narrow down a specific topic or theme within it that you find compelling. This initial step sets the stage for a focused and meaningful exploration. Use our analytical essay writing service to gain the upper hand when tackling this assignment.

Step 2: Create a Strong Thesis Statement

Write a clear and concise literary analysis essay introduction with a thesis statement that outlines the main argument or interpretation you'll be presenting in your essay. This statement should encapsulate your perspective on the chosen topic, providing a roadmap for both you and your readers. A well-defined thesis serves as the backbone of your literary analysis, guiding your analysis and ensuring a cohesive and purposeful essay. In this guide on how to write an essay introduction , you will find more information on this matter.

Step 3: Conduct Textual Analysis

Delve into the chosen literary work and conduct a thorough textual analysis. Pay attention to key elements such as characters, plot, setting, and literary devices employed by the author. Extract relevant quotes and passages that support your thesis, and consider how each element contributes to the overall meaning of the work. By the way, are you working on your capstone or dissertation at the moment? If yes, try our thesis writing services , which is especially helpful for students dealing with long-format scholarly documents.

Step 4: Set the Stage with Context

Establish the context of your literary analysis essay by providing relevant background information on the chosen work. Briefly introduce the author, the time period, and any significant historical or cultural factors that may impact the interpretation of the text. Creating this contextual framework helps orient your readers and prepares them for the nuanced exploration that follows. By offering a snapshot of the broader landscape in which the literary work exists, you set the stage for a more informed and insightful analysis.

Step 5: Construct Analytical Body Paragraphs

Organize your analysis into well-structured body paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect of your thesis, supported by evidence from the text. Analyze characters, themes, and literary devices individually, connecting each point back to your overarching argument. Use clear and concise language to convey your insights and interpretations effectively.

Step 6: Craft a Thoughtful Conclusion

Summarize your main points, restate your thesis in a new light, and offer final insights in a thoughtful conclusion. Avoid introducing new information in this section but rather emphasize the significance of your analysis and its broader implications. A well-written conclusion leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the value of your literary interpretation. At this point, you have everything you need to become a student who knows how to write a literary analysis essay from A to Z.

Literary Analysis Essay Do’s and Don’ts

Develop a clear thesis statement.
Use evidence from the text to support your analysis.
Organize your essay logically with coherent paragraphs.
Focus on specific elements like characters, themes, and literary devices.
Engage with the text critically, questioning and probing meanings.
Don't summarize the plot extensively; focus on analysis.
Avoid vague or generic statements without supporting evidence.
Don't introduce new ideas in the conclusion. Stick to summarizing.
Avoid excessive quoting; provide brief, relevant excerpts.
Don't rush; take the time to revise and edit for clarity.

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Literary Analysis Essay Writing Tips

Get ready to up your academic writing game! This section is packed with straightforward tips to help you sharpen your skills. Whether you're a senior year student or just a freshman, we've got you covered. From digging into themes to writing insightful interpretations, our tips are here to make your literary analyses shine. Let's dive in and boost your writing skills!

Maintain Consistent Tone and Style

Keep a consistent tone throughout your essay, aligning with the formality or informality required. Ensure that your writing style complements the nature of your analysis, creating a cohesive and engaging reading experience for your audience.

Focus on Analysis, Not Summary

Avoid lengthy plot summaries. Instead, delve into the 'why' and 'how' aspects of the text – analyzing characters, themes, and literary devices to uncover deeper meanings.

Provide Textual Evidence

Support your analysis with concrete examples from the text. This strengthens your argument and demonstrates a close engagement with the literary work.

Organize Coherently

Structure your essay logically with well-organized paragraphs. Each paragraph should explore a specific aspect of your analysis, contributing to the overall understanding of your thesis.

Critical Engagement

Approach the text with a critical mindset. Question the author's choices, explore alternative interpretations, and analyze the implications of various literary elements.

Concise and Clear Language

Express your ideas using clear and concise language. Avoid unnecessary jargon, and ensure that your analysis is easily understandable by a broader audience.

Revise and Edit

Take the time to revise your essay for clarity and coherence. Check for grammar and spelling errors, and ensure that each paragraph contributes meaningfully to your overall analysis.

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Literary Analysis Essay Example

Students might find a literary analysis essay example invaluable for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a practical demonstration of the theoretical concepts they learn in class, offering a tangible model of how to analyze and interpret literary elements effectively. Additionally, examples serve as templates, offering insights into the proper structure and organization of an essay. They help students grasp the application of critical thinking skills, showcasing how to dissect a text, identify themes, and support arguments with textual evidence.

Example 1: The Symbolism of Light and Darkness in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

This literary analysis of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" explores the pervasive symbolism of light and darkness throughout the novel. Examining the journey of the protagonist, Marlow, and the character of Kurtz, the essay delves into the metaphorical implications of light and darkness as they represent moral ambiguity, the corrupting influence of power, and the ironic consequences of European imperialism.

Example 2: The Complex Portrait of Identity in Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake"

This literary analysis of Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" explores the intricate layers of identity depicted in the novel, focusing on the protagonist Gogol Ganguli's navigation through the complexities of cultural assimilation and the immigrant experience. The essay delves into the symbolic significance of Gogol's name as a representation of the clash between his Bengali heritage and the American environment, examining the tension between tradition and modernity.

Final Thought

To sum it up, getting the hang of how to write a literary analysis essay is an experience that benefits both new and experienced writers. Throughout this guide, we've tried to simplify the process, offering practical insights and tips. Analyzing literature isn't just an academic exercise – it's a way to dive deeper into the richness of written expression. Now armed with these tools, you're not only prepared to analyze literature effectively but also to bring your unique perspectives to the ongoing discussion about the stories we encounter. Happy writing!

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What Is the Purpose of a Literary Analysis Essay?

What is literary analysis essay, how to start a literary analysis essay.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

How to Research a Topic: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

Table of contents

1 Understanding the Assignment
2 Preparatory Work
3.1 First Reading
3.2 Second Reading
3.3 Take Notes
4.1 Defining Your Audience
4.2 The Title of Your Essay
4.3 Literary Analysis Essay Outline
4.4 Introduction
4.5 Body Paragraphs
4.6 Conclusion
5 Revising the Essay
6 In Conclusion

Writing a literary analysis essay is one of the most difficult tasks for a student. When you have to analyze a certain literary work, there is a whole set of rules that you have to follow. The literary analysis structure is rigid, and students often are demoralized by things like that.

Our article hopes to be a comprehensive guide that can explain how to write literary analysis essay. Here is what you will learn:

The importance of understanding your assignment and choosing the right topic;
Organizing your critical reading into two sessions to get the most out of the text;
Crafting the essay with your audience in mind and giving it a logical and easy-to-follow structure;
Importance of revising your piece, looking for logical inconsistencies, and proofreading the text.

This way, you will be able to write an essay that has its own identity, its coherence, and great analytical power.

Understanding the Assignment

Let’s start with the first obvious step: understanding the assignment. This actually applies to all types of essays and more. Yet, it is an aspect still underestimated by many students. There are so many who rush headlong into a literary text analysis before even figuring out what they need to do. So, let’s see what are the real steps to follow before writing a literary analysis essay.

First, we need to understand why we are doing this and what is a literary analysis essay. The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to evaluate and examine a particular literary work or some aspect of it. It describes the main idea of the book you have read. You need a strong thesis statement, and you always have to make a proper outline for literary analysis essay.

Secondly, you always need to read the prompt carefully. This should serve as your roadmap, and it will guide you towards specific aspects of the literary work. Those are the aspects you will focus on. You should be able to get the main ideas of what to write already from the prompt. Failure to comprehend the prompt could invalidate the entire work and cause you to lose many valuable hours.

Preparatory Work

Great, so we understood what the purpose of a literary analysis is and that it is crucial to understand the prompt. Now, it’s time to do some preparatory work before you start your draft of the literary analysis paper.

When you write a literary analysis essay, the first thing you should do is select a topic. It is usually impossible to talk about a book or poem in its entirety. Choosing a more specific theme is essential. Firstly, because it will make your literary analysis paper more interesting. Secondly, it will also be easier for you to focus on a single aspect. This could be a single character or what style and literary techniques were used by the author.

At this point, it’s time to consider the broader context. For example, if you have picked a character, think about their character’s development and their significance. If you are analyzing literature looking for a specific theme, try to reflect on how it permeates the narrative and what messages it conveys.

Now, it’s time to frame your literary analysis thesis statement. This should be concise and clear. Think of it as the compass that will guide your analysis. Plus, if it’s clear to you, it’ll be clear to your reader as well. Do not underestimate this point because it can make everything way easier when you start. Finally, feel free to read another book review to get inspired.

Critical Reading

It’s time to read the work you will analyze. We talk about what we call critical reading. This is the heart of all literary criticism, and it consists of immersing yourself in the story. Because of this, it is advised not to read the story just once but twice.

First Reading

The first reading will serve to get a general understanding of the literary texts. This means comprehending the storyline, characters, and major plot developments. You should be able to enjoy it without thinking too much about the assignment. So don’t delve too deeply into analysis just yet.

Second Reading

Your second reading should be much more methodical. Here, you start analyzing things concretely without forgetting what your literary analysis thesis is. Resist the temptation to get lost in the narrative’s flow. Instead, go through a thorough examination and identify key literary elements and literary devices, like the plot, the character development, and the mood of the story. But also other literary elements: the symbolism, the protagonists, whether there is a first-person narrator or a third-person perspective, and whether the author uses figurative language when describing the main conflict.

Pay special attention to how these literary elements are interwoven into the narrative. For example, consider how character development influences the plot. Alternatively, how symbolism enhances the mood. Recognizing these connections will be crucial for your analysis. Finally, and this might be the hardest part, try to see how all of these literary analysis elements collectively contribute to the overall impact of the work. Ask yourself whether it all works together to convey the message the author wants to convey or not.

While reading, it’s important to take notes and annotate the text. Even a brief indication could be enough. You can do this to highlight passages or quotes that strike you as significant. But also to make connections between different parts of the story. These annotations and notes will become invaluable when you start a literary analysis essay.

Crafting the Essay

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to craft your lit analysis piece. This section will help you do just that. The main points focus on:

Understand who you’re writing for and tailor your text accordingly
Craft a compelling introduction using a powerful hook and highlighting your thesis statement
Structure the body paragraphs in a logical and coherent way
Summarize your analysis, summing up the main points and key takeaway

Follow our suggestions, and you shouldn’t have any issues with your work. But, if you are facing a time crunch and need assistance with writing your literary essay, there is an online essay service that can help you. PapersOwl has been providing expert help to countless students with their literary essays for many years. Their team of professional writers is highly qualified and experienced, ensuring that you receive top-quality literary works. With PapersOwl’s assistance, you can rest assured that your literary essay will be well-written and thoroughly analyzed.

Defining Your Audience

Before putting pen to paper, and even when you are familiar with the literary analysis format, take some time to consider your audience. Who are you writing for? Is it your professor or another reader? This will help you understand what type of analysis you are going to write.

The Title of Your Essay

If you are wondering how to choose a title , you should know that some prefer to choose it when they start, while others do it as the last thing before submitting it. Usually, the literary analysis title includes the author’s name and the name of the text you are evaluating. However, that is not always necessary. What matters is to make it brief and interactive and to catch the reader’s attention immediately.

Take this example of literary analysis: “Unmasking the Symbolism: The Enigmatic Power of the Green Light in The Great Gatsby”.

It works because, while introducing the story, it hints at the theme, the specific focus, and the intrigue of unraveling a mystery.

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Writing a literary analysis essay starts with understanding the information that fills an outline. This means that writing details that belong in how to write an analytical essay should come fairly easily. If it is a struggle to come up with the meat of the essay, a reread of the novel may be necessary. Like any analysis essay, developing an essay requires structure and outline.

Let’s start with the first. Normally in high schools, the basic structure of any form of academic writing of a literature essay, comprises five paragraphs. One of the paragraphs is used in writing the introduction, three for the body, and the remaining literary analysis paragraph for the conclusion.

Every body paragraph must concentrate on a topic. While writing a five-paragraph structured essay, you need to split your thesis into three major analysis topics connected to your essay. You don’t need to write all the points derivable from the literature but the analysis that backs your thesis.

When you start a paragraph, connect it to the previous paragraph and always use a topic sentence to maintain the focus of the reader. This allows every person to understand the content at a glance.

After that, you should find fitting textual evidence to support the topic sentence and the thesis statement it serves. Using textual evidence involves bringing in a relevant quote from the story and describing its relevance. Such quotes should be well introduced and examined if you want to use them. While it is not mandatory to use them, it is effective because it allows to better analyze the author’s figurative language.

Let’s see a concrete literary analysis example to understand this.

✏️ Topic Sentence : In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald employs vivid descriptions to characterize Jay Gatsby’s extravagant parties.

✏️ Textual Evidence : Gatsby’s parties are described as “gaudy with primary colors” and filled with “music and the laughter of his guests”.

✏️ Literary Analysis : These vibrant descriptions symbolize Gatsby’s attempt to capture the essence of the American Dream. The use of “gaudy” highlights the emptiness of his pursuits.

Now that you know how to write a literature analysis, it’s crucial to distinguish between analysis and summary. A summary only restates the plot or events of the story. Analysis, on the other hand, tries to unveil the meaning of these events. Let’s use an example from another famous book to illustrate the difference.

✏️ Summary : In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, an innocent Black man accused of raping a white woman.

✏️ Literary Analysis : Atticus Finch’s defense of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a rather bitter commentary on the racial prejudices of the time. In the book, Harper Lee highlights the rampant racism that plagued Maycomb society.

Introduction

The literature analysis essay, like other various academic works, has a typical 5-paragraph-structure . The normal procedure for writing an introduction for your literary analysis essay outline is to start with a hook and then go on to mention brief facts about the author and the literature. After that, make sure to present your thesis statement. Before going ahead, let’s use an example of a good literary analysis introduction. This will make it easier to discuss these points singularly.

“On the shores of East Egg, a green light shines through the darkness. The book is “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, written in 1925, and this is not just a light. It’s much more. It symbolizes the American Dream chased and rejected by Gatsby and the other characters.”

As an introductory paragraph, this has all the characteristics we are looking for. First, opening statements like this introduce a mysterious element that makes the reader curious. This is the hook. After that, the name of the book, the author, and the release year are presented. Finally, a first glimpse of what your original thesis will be – the connection between the book and the topic of the American Dream.

Afterwards, you can finish writing the introduction paragraph for the literary analysis essay with a clue about the content of the essay’s body. This style of writing a literature essay is known as signposting. Signposting should be done more elaborately while writing longer literary essays.

Body Paragraphs

In a literary analysis essay, the body paragraphs are where you go further into your analysis, looking at specific features of the literature. Each paragraph should focus on a particular aspect, such as character development, theme, or symbolism, and provide textual evidence to back up your interpretation. This structured approach allows for a thorough exploration of the literary work.

“In ‘The Great Gatsby,’ Fitzgerald uses the symbol of the green light to represent Gatsby’s perpetual quest for the unattainable – specifically, his idealized love for Daisy Buchanan. Situated at the end of Daisy’s dock, the green light shines across the bay to Gatsby’s mansion, symbolizing the distance between reality and his dreams. This light is not just a physical beacon; it’s a metaphor for Gatsby’s aspiration and the American Dream itself. Fitzgerald artfully illustrates this through Gatsby’s yearning gaze towards the light, reflecting his deep desire for a future that reconnects him with his past love, yet tragically remains just out of reach. This persistent yearning is a poignant commentary on the nature of aspiration and the illusion of the American Dream.”

The final paragraph, as usual, is the literary analysis conclusion. Writing a conclusion of your essay should be about putting the finishing touches on it. In this section, all you need to do is rephrase your aforementioned main point and supporting points and try to make them clearer to the person who reads them. But also, restate your thesis and add some interesting thoughts.

However, if you don’t understand how to write a conclusion and are just thinking, “ Write my essay for me , please”, there are solutions. At PapersOwl, you get expert writers to help you with your analysis, ensuring you meet your deadline.

Let’s go back to Gatsby’s green light and look at how to write a literary analysis example of a good conclusion:

“Our journey through the green light of “The Great Gatsby” ends here. In this literary essay, we analyzed Fitzgerald’s style and the way this allowed him to grasp the secret of the American Dream. In doing so, we realized that the American Dream is not just about one person’s dream. Rather, it is about everyone who struggles for something that will never be realized.”

Here we have it all: restating the thesis, summing up the main points, understanding the literary devices, and adding some thoughts.

Revising the Essay

At this point, you’re almost done. After you write a literary analysis, it is usually time for a revision. This is where you have a chance to refine and polish your work.

Read your analysis of literature again to check coherence and consistency. This means that your ideas should flow smoothly into each other, thus creating a coherent narrative voice. The tone should always be consistent: it would be a terrible mistake to have a body written in a style and a conclusion in a different style.

Use this final revision to refine the thesis and overall the literary argument essay. If you see there are some flaws in your discourse or some weak and unsupported claims, this is your last chance to fix them. Remember, your thesis should always be clear and effective.

Finally, do not underrate the possibility of spelling and punctuation errors. We all make mistakes of that kind. Read your piece a few times to ensure that every word is written correctly. Nothing bad with a couple of typos, but it’s even better if there is none! Finally, check if you used transition words appropriately.

The revision process involves multiple rounds of review and refinement. You could also consider seeking feedback from peers or professors. This way, you could gain a new perspective on your literary analysis.

In Conclusion

Educational institutions use works like the textual analysis essay to improve the learning abilities of students. Although it might seem complex, with the basic knowledge of how to go about it and the help of experts, you won’t find it difficult. Besides, if everything else fails, you can still try buying essays online at PapersOwl.

In this guide, we went through all the steps necessary to write a successful literary analysis. We began by understanding the assignment’s purpose and then explored preparatory work, the structure of a literature essay critical reading, and the actual crafting. In particular, we showed how to divide it into an introduction, body, and conclusion. Now it’s your turn to write a literary criticism essay!

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay: Purposes, Outline, Samples

Firstly to understand what a literary analysis essay means, it’s a way to determine and understand the work of an author, even if it is a single work or an entire body of work. Literary criticism is a description, analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a particular literary work or an author’s writings as a whole.

Many students, writers, and english scholars are told to write essays on different literary analysis essay topics because this type of assignment helps and makes writers to think about the reason why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To analyze literature, writers will need to remember that authors have specific decisions for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s decision and try to explain their intentions.

Learn how to write a book review and check out related guides: poem analysis essay , poetry analysis essay or critical lens essay at EssayHub blog.

What Is A Literary Analysis Essay?

The most comprehensive literary analysis definition goes as follows. It is a text that objectively analyzes the weak and strong points of another text. One author shares their opinion on what another author wrote. The most common literary analysis format is an essay.

The writer examines a novel, short story, or another type of fiction created by someone else. They praise or criticize the plot, style, characters, and other aspects of the text. After reading a piece of literary analysis, people should understand whether the book is worthy or not.

What Is The Purpose Of A Literary Analysis Essay?

When a newbie checks literary analysis examples, they will see that they are very personal. Different people might perceive the same text very differently. It depends on their character, life experience, and cultural background. The aim of writing a literary analysis is to express one’s individual understanding of the text and back it up with facts.

It is not sufficient to say, "I enjoyed every minute of reading this book!" or "It is too dull." All types of literary analysis involve the assessment of both technical and emotional aspects of the text. It implies an impartial balancing of pros and cons.

Imagine that someone is looking for a good book. Their time and finances are limited, so they can afford just one text. They want to avoid hit-or-miss decisions. They prefer an expert to recommend to them what to read.

They do not want this expert to be a high-brow professional critic. They are interested in the opinions of people whose lifestyle and worldview are close to theirs. They read book blogs and unbiased reviews on profile sites. When they finally buy a piece of fiction, they know what to expect of it.

After a reader gains experience, they become ready to share viewpoints with others. They read articles on how to analyze literature and start writing their own reviews. They can post their works in their private blogs or share them on social networks. Plus, literary analysis is an essential part of the educational process in schools and colleges.

Content Of A Literary Analysis Essay

There are many topics for literary analysis, but it all depends on the kind of work that a writer analyzes. For instance, the approach is not the same in poems as it is in the case with a play. Before writing it is important to know what you want to analyze in the literature that you have read. That brings us to types of literature analysis. How can a writer analyze the literature? This is done by:

Character Analysis
Symbolism Analysis
Theme Analysis
Setting Analysis
Structure and Style Analysis
Diction, Imagery, and Denotation Analysis. etc.

How To Write A Literary Analysis Essay?

Read the text critically.

When carrying out literature analysis, a person should read slowly. They should start a notebook where they would put down their thoughts. They should take notes when they find themselves in one of the following situations:

disagree with the author;
want to praise the author’s skills;
come across a plot twist that resembles their own lives;
have anything to say on the matter.

When people read an interesting text, they have controversial desires. On the one hand, they want to finish it to get to know what happens in the end. On the other hand, they want to enjoy it for as long as possible. When compiling a literary analysis sample, people should focus on their thoughts and not emotions.

Literary Devices

When newbies ask about how to write a good literary analysis, literary devices become the most challenging aspect for them. These devices involve the following terms and notions:

literary elements, such as plot, mood, and protagonists;
figurative language, including symbolism and metaphors;
literary techniques, such as foreshadowing and repetition.

To be able to analyze these aspects, newbies should read theory in textbooks. Also, they should examine enough sample literary analysis essays. They need to see how other writers handle the overview of literary devices without making their texts too formal.

In a literary analysis paper, it is not enough to say that the author has a masterful command of the word. The writer should concentrate on the following important aspects.

Is the language modern, archaic, or full of slang?
Does the author use poetic phrases?
Are the sentences predominantly long or short? How does the rhythm of the text impact its mood?

It would be wise to answer the following question in a literary analysis essay example. Do all characters speak the same language, or does each one have their particular style? Individual speech manners are significant merits of fiction.

Narrative Voice

A text can be written either from a first-person or third-person perspective. In a literary analysis example, the author should explain the position of the narrator. Are they omnipresent, or does the reader hardly notice them? Are they reliable, or do they share a distorted version of events?

Writers with little experience might ask how to do literary analysis when the narrator is absent. In this case, speak about the tone. Is it neutral, comic, or tragic? What emotions does it evoke in the readers from the first passage? How often does the reader come across exaggerations, irony, or incongruities?

In a novel, the key elements of literary analysis are chapters. In a play, these constituents are acts and scenes. In a poem, these are lines and stanzas. The author of the essay should think of how skilfully the writer divided their text into parts.

Chapters, scenes, and stanzas should be interconnected logically and emotionally. The last line of the previous part should motivate the reader to glance through the next one. The structure of the text helps emphasize its conflicts and build up the tension. The pauses between every two parts might speak louder than a thousand words.

Most examples of literary analysis essay include comments on the timeline of the story. Do the events unfold in chronological order? Does the author make the readers travel back and forth in a time machine? How easy is it to switch between different time layers, and which effect does it produce?

The following types of conflicts are most likely to be present in a literary analysis:

one person versus another;
person versus society;
person versus technology;
person versus supernatural forces;
an inner conflict within a person (good versus bad intentions).

Instead of one person, there might be a group of people.

Newbies should not get confused about how to write a thesis for a literary analysis. The term "thesis" denotes the main point that they are planning to focus on. Modern books are multifaceted: they feature numerous problems and give readers a lot of food for thought. Yet, the writer should concentrate only on a handful of aspects in their work.

There are three approaches to thesis writing:

analytical;
argumentative;
explanatory.

The literary analysis thesis of the first type strives to answer the questions "why?" and "how?" The writer tries to explain why the author created that book. Why is their perception of the world so unique and innovative? Why do they draw certain parallels and use specific devices?

This sentence might serve as a good example of an analytical thesis: "Outraged by gender inequality in this Eastern country, the author ridicules the problem instead of trying to undermine the traditions."

An argumentative thesis for literary analysis implies that the writer explains their own perception of the text. They take a certain position that might differ from the opinion of the majority. They further prove their point by quoting the book. For instance: "While most critics perceive this novel as an educational one, I believe that the main conflict lies in the lack of tolerance in society."

Literary analysis thesis examples of the explanatory type do not include the author’s opinion at all. They just help other readers understand the message of the book: "The author depicts their ideal political system."

Write A Literary Analysis Essay

Write a title.

After reading the title, the person should understand what the literary analysis paper example is about. The title should contain the digest of the paper. It should reveal the writer’s attitude to the piece of fiction that they criticize.

Those who do not know how to start a literary analysis can use a popular trick that works for any book genre. They can include a short quote from the book in the name of their essay. Then, they should put a colon and accompany the quote with their own comment.

Write An Introduction

The instruction on how to write literary analysis starts with a clear statement of one’s goals. The author should tell their readers what the book they are going to criticize is about and why they chose it. They should share the title of the text and the name of its writer. They might briefly outline the plot and problems of the manuscript. They might focus the readers’ attention on the main points of their essay — language, characters, or conflicts.

Write A Body

All the best examples of literary analysis essay have an identical structure. Each paragraph is focused on one aspect or topic. In the first sentence, the author briefly outlines this topic. That initial phrase should be concise and unambiguous.

The last sentence of each paragraph should summarize its essence. It should not contradict the first phrase and overall logic of the passage.

The writer should avoid lengthy and complicated structures. Even if the author of the book prefers compound sentences, a literary analysis sample should be easier to read. One phrase should contain only one thought. To link sentences, the writer should use transition words.

"The book dissects the impact of virtual reality technologies on the life of single people in cosmopolitan cities" — this is an example of a topic sentence that opens a paragraph. "Nevertheless, its target audience is not geeks or die-hard gamers" — here, the word "nevertheless" serves as a transition.

In any literary analysis template, the writer should back up their opinion with textual evidence. They should quote parts of the original texts only if they contain no more than 30 words. Otherwise, they should reword the quotes to deliver the essence of large passages.\

Write A Conclusion

The answer to the question "How to conclude a literary analysis?" is very simple. The writer needs to reword and sum up everything that they have said above. They should share no original quotes and introduce no new thoughts. It is enough to summarize their main ideas logically and concisely.

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Introduction.

Introduction should be sophisticated and creative, and it should catch the reader’s attention, so they can read the rest of the essay. A literary analysis should not sound boring. It should create some enthralling and fascinating quotes, reflection or motives. The main sentences of the introduction should give backdrop facts so that the analysis will make sense; facts such as Title of the Book, Name of Author and little information about the book. Don’t write bulky details of the book the reader would have read this book and they just want to read the analysis. Make sure that your backdrop information and your thesis statement are short and transitional. To make the reader understand and connect to the literature and what exactly is been analyzed. The analysis or thesis statement is what you will prove in your essay, and it should come at the end of your introductory paragraph. The Intro could be more than one paragraph but about 5 important sentences.

The body must be very convincing. Here start rendering evidences of the argument. A convincing body will have at least three to four paragraphs or more. Also, do not go out of context the question has to be related. How does it relate to the overall theme of what the analysis? Make emphasis on the ways in which these elements bestow to the entire quality of the book. Emphasize one major point per paragraph in this section. No need to rush all of your evidence into one idea. Do more reading and analyze different factors in your literary analysis. Argue on a character's development, for example how the individual changes from the beginning to the end of the book. Center core on a character's fatal flaw and query or question the person's mistakes.

The conclusion should end dynamically and energetically. Start rounding up the literary essay paper in the last paragraph. It should include all the major points that have been made in the aforementioned statements of your literary analysis. Also, make emphasis on the on the implications of your argument.

Literary Analysis Essay Example

Symbolism Manifestation in Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupery

The storyline arose from the author's personal experience. He survived an airplane accident in a desert. It happened when the writer served as a pilot during World War II.

A seemingly simple-hearted fairy tale has two main plotlines that uncover deeper problems. The leading one is the pilot-narrator line, lined up with the metaphor of adult reality. The second line dwells on the adventures of the Little Prince. Two protagonists travel to different planets, get acquainted with various characters, both positive and negative.

Each planet introduces the readers to a different philosophical conundrum. Each item and being in the book bear unique symbolic meaning.

The Pilot impersonates the author in his adult years. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was, in fact, a pilot and survived a plane crash in the desert.

The sudden encounter of an adult and a child (both are metaphors for inner psychological states) occurs in the desert, symbolizing the disastrous inner state of the narrator. The story unravels during the repair of the plane. The maintenance itself is a metaphor for mending the inner traumas through direct dialogue with the inner child.

The Little Prince

The description of the Little Prince gives the readers a hint of its relation to the author in his childhood years. Antoine de Saint-Exupery came from an impoverished aristocratic family. Through the Little Prince, the author shows himself. He reveals his struggle to survive within the boring world of adults.

His visit to our planet is a symbol of birth. The return to the home planet occurs through physical death from the poison of a snake. Here, we can observe the impact of Christian religious thinking on the plotline. The physical death of the protagonist is a reference to the religious idea of an immortal soul. Thus, after receiving knowledge about life from the Fox and Pilot, Little Prince has to die to be reborn into a new state.

The line telling about the love of the Little Prince and Rose shows an allegorical depiction of love. It reveals the ironic unsimilarity of how men and women see and express this feeling.

Rose gets introduced to the readers as a proud and beautiful character who has power over the Little Prince and his feelings. Gentle, timid, dewy-eyed Little Prince suffers from the frivolity of Rose. Because of his naïve perception, the protagonist struggled to see that it was necessary to love her for her essence – for the aroma and the joy she brought him.

When the protagonist sees that roses are abundant in the gardens on Earth, he feels disappointed. Later, he meets the Fox who serves as the guide to the little lost being. Fox explains to the protagonist some basic philosophical truths. He teaches the Little Prince to look with his heart, not his eyes, and be responsible for those we have tamed.

When Little Prince absorbs the knowledge imparted by his new friend, he becomes mortal. This transition symbolizes him growing up and shaking off idealistic world perception.

Planets And Their Inhabitants

The author shows his readers two sorts of evil. The first kind of evil reveals itself in the negative sides of separate people.

The inhabitants of different planets, visited by the protagonist, reveal the most dangerous human vices. It seems relevant to note that all of them are adults. Drunkards, politicians, and selfish people seem quite morally bankrupt.

The author exposes life devoid of meaning as a common vice. The only relatable person to the protagonist is a lamplighter. He differs because his craft is good for others.

Baobab Trees

Another element of evil in the book is macro-evil. Baobabs represent evil in general. This image is a metaphor for fascism. Saint-Exupery gently leads the readers to the idea that such evil endangers the world. It should be extinguished like undesirable plants.

The main idea of the used allegories is the presentation of true values. The author contrasts naive and rational ways of world perception, the individual, and the crowd. In the tale, the unraveling of the main themes is connected with compositional structure, metaphors, and similes used by the author.

The author dwells on deep philosophical issues through similes and symbols. He emphasizes such topics as true love, friendship, and loneliness.

Romantic traditions play a keynote role in the plot formation. Unraveling the deep problems of humanity in a form of the fairytale is the main sign of that. It comprises all typical elements of this genre: child protagonist, fairy-tale characters, and a fantastic journey. These symbolic characters and items introduce the depth to the plot. They make readers see deeper into the book and reconsider their perception of reality.

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Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis Essay Writing

Last updated on: May 21, 2023

Literary Analysis Essay - Ultimate Guide By Professionals

By: Cordon J.

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Dec 3, 2019

A literary analysis essay specifically examines and evaluates a piece of literature or a literary work. It also understands and explains the links between the small parts to their whole information.

It is important for students to understand the meaning and the true essence of literature to write a literary essay.

One of the most difficult assignments for students is writing a literary analysis essay. It can be hard to come up with an original idea or find enough material to write about. You might think you need years of experience in order to create a good paper, but that's not true.

This blog post will show you how easy it can be when you follow the steps given here.Writing such an essay involves the breakdown of a book into small parts and understanding each part separately. It seems easy, right?

Trust us, it is not as hard as good book reports but it may also not be extremely easy. You will have to take into account different approaches and explain them in relation with the chosen literary work.

It is a common high school and college assignment and you can learn everything in this blog.

Continue reading for some useful tips with an example to write a literary analysis essay that will be on point. You can also explore our detailed article on writing an analytical essay .

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What is a Literary Analysis Essay?

A literary analysis essay is an important kind of essay that focuses on the detailed analysis of the work of literature.

The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to explain why the author has used a specific theme for his work. Or examine the characters, themes, literary devices , figurative language, and settings in the story.

This type of essay encourages students to think about how the book or the short story has been written. And why the author has created this work.

The method used in the literary analysis essay differs from other types of essays. It primarily focuses on the type of work and literature that is being analyzed.

Mostly, you will be going to break down the work into various parts. In order to develop a better understanding of the idea being discussed, each part will be discussed separately.

The essay should explain the choices of the author and point of view along with your answers and personal analysis.

How To Write A Literary Analysis Essay

So how to start a literary analysis essay? The answer to this question is quite simple.

The following sections are required to write an effective literary analysis essay. By following the guidelines given in the following sections, you will be able to craft a winning literary analysis essay.

Introduction

The aim of the introduction is to establish a context for readers. You have to give a brief on the background of the selected topic.

It should contain the name of the author of the literary work along with its title. The introduction should be effective enough to grab the reader’s attention.

In the body section, you have to retell the story that the writer has narrated. It is a good idea to create a summary as it is one of the important tips of literary analysis.

Other than that, you are required to develop ideas and disclose the observed information related to the issue. The ideal length of the body section is around 1000 words.

To write the body section, your observation should be based on evidence and your own style of writing.

It would be great if the body of your essay is divided into three paragraphs. Make a strong argument with facts related to the thesis statement in all of the paragraphs in the body section.

Start writing each paragraph with a topic sentence and use transition words when moving to the next paragraph.

Summarize the important points of your literary analysis essay in this section. It is important to compose a short and strong conclusion to help you make a final impression of your essay.

Pay attention that this section does not contain any new information. It should provide a sense of completion by restating the main idea with a short description of your arguments. End the conclusion with your supporting details.

You have to explain why the book is important. Also, elaborate on the means that the authors used to convey her/his opinion regarding the issue.

For further understanding, here is a downloadable literary analysis essay outline. This outline will help you structure and format your essay properly and earn an A easily.

DOWNLOADABLE LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY OUTLINE (PDF)

Types of Literary Analysis Essay

Close reading - This method involves attentive reading and detailed analysis. No need for a lot of knowledge and inspiration to write an essay that shows your creative skills.
Theoretical - In this type, you will rely on theories related to the selected topic.
Historical - This type of essay concerns the discipline of history. Sometimes historical analysis is required to explain events in detail.
Applied - This type involves analysis of a specific issue from a practical perspective.
Comparative - This type of writing is based on when two or more alternatives are compared

Examples of Literary Analysis Essay

Examples are great to understand any concept, especially if it is related to writing. Below are some great literary analysis essay examples that showcase how this type of essay is written.

A ROSE FOR EMILY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

THE GREAT GATSBY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

If you do not have experience in writing essays, this will be a very chaotic process for you. In that case, it is very important for you to conduct good research on the topic before writing.

There are two important points that you should keep in mind when writing a literary analysis essay.

First, remember that it is very important to select a topic in which you are interested. Choose something that really inspires you. This will help you to catch the attention of a reader.

The selected topic should reflect the main idea of writing. In addition to that, it should also express your point of view as well.

Another important thing is to draft a good outline for your literary analysis essay. It will help you to define a central point and division of this into parts for further discussion.

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Literary analysis essays are mostly based on artistic works like books, movies, paintings, and other forms of art. However, generally, students choose novels and books to write their literary essays.

Some cool, fresh, and good topics and ideas are listed below:

Role of the Three Witches in flaming Macbeth’s ambition.
Analyze the themes of the Play Antigone,
Discuss Ajax as a tragic hero.
The Judgement of Paris: Analyze the Reasons and their Consequences.
Oedipus Rex: A Doomed Son or a Conqueror?
Describe the Oedipus complex and Electra complex in relation to their respective myths.
Betrayal is a common theme of Shakespearean tragedies. Discuss
Identify and analyze the traits of history in T.S Eliot’s ‘Gerontion’.
Analyze the theme of identity crisis in The Great Gatsby.
Analyze the writing style of Emily Dickinson.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should a literary analysis essay include.

A good literary analysis essay must include a proper and in-depth explanation of your ideas. They must be backed with examples and evidence from the text. Textual evidence includes summaries, paraphrased text, original work details, and direct quotes.

What are the 4 components of literary analysis?

Here are the 4 essential parts of a literary analysis essay;

No literary work is explained properly without discussing and explaining these 4 things.

How do you start a literary analysis essay?

Start your literary analysis essay with the name of the work and the title. Hook your readers by introducing the main ideas that you will discuss in your essay and engage them from the start.

How do you do a literary analysis?

In a literary analysis essay, you study the text closely, understand and interpret its meanings. And try to find out the reasons behind why the author has used certain symbols, themes, and objects in the work.

Why is literary analysis important?

It encourages the students to think beyond their existing knowledge, experiences, and belief and build empathy. This helps in improving the writing skills also.

What is the fundamental characteristic of a literary analysis essay?

Interpretation is the fundamental and important feature of a literary analysis essay. The essay is based on how well the writer explains and interprets the work.

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Cordon. is a published author and writing specialist. He has worked in the publishing industry for many years, providing writing services and digital content. His own writing career began with a focus on literature and linguistics, which he continues to pursue. Cordon is an engaging and professional individual, always looking to help others achieve their goals.

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Interesting Literary Analysis Essay Topics for Students

Write a Perfect Literary Analysis Essay Outline

beginner's guide to literary analysis

Understanding literature & how to write literary analysis.

Literary analysis is the foundation of every college and high school English class. Once you can comprehend written work and respond to it, the next step is to learn how to think critically and complexly about a work of literature in order to analyze its elements and establish ideas about its meaning.

If that sounds daunting, it shouldn’t. Literary analysis is really just a way of thinking creatively about what you read. The practice takes you beyond the storyline and into the motives behind it.

While an author might have had a specific intention when they wrote their book, there’s still no right or wrong way to analyze a literary text—just your way. You can use literary theories, which act as “lenses” through which you can view a text. Or you can use your own creativity and critical thinking to identify a literary device or pattern in a text and weave that insight into your own argument about the text’s underlying meaning.

Now, if that sounds fun, it should , because it is. Here, we’ll lay the groundwork for performing literary analysis, including when writing analytical essays, to help you read books like a critic.

What Is Literary Analysis?

As the name suggests, literary analysis is an analysis of a work, whether that’s a novel, play, short story, or poem. Any analysis requires breaking the content into its component parts and then examining how those parts operate independently and as a whole. In literary analysis, those parts can be different devices and elements—such as plot, setting, themes, symbols, etcetera—as well as elements of style, like point of view or tone.

When performing analysis, you consider some of these different elements of the text and then form an argument for why the author chose to use them. You can do so while reading and during class discussion, but it’s particularly important when writing essays.

Literary analysis is notably distinct from summary. When you write a summary , you efficiently describe the work’s main ideas or plot points in order to establish an overview of the work. While you might use elements of summary when writing analysis, you should do so minimally. You can reference a plot line to make a point, but it should be done so quickly so you can focus on why that plot line matters . In summary (see what we did there?), a summary focuses on the “ what ” of a text, while analysis turns attention to the “ how ” and “ why .”

While literary analysis can be broad, covering themes across an entire work, it can also be very specific, and sometimes the best analysis is just that. Literary critics have written thousands of words about the meaning of an author’s single word choice; while you might not want to be quite that particular, there’s a lot to be said for digging deep in literary analysis, rather than wide.

Although you’re forming your own argument about the work, it’s not your opinion . You should avoid passing judgment on the piece and instead objectively consider what the author intended, how they went about executing it, and whether or not they were successful in doing so. Literary criticism is similar to literary analysis, but it is different in that it does pass judgement on the work. Criticism can also consider literature more broadly, without focusing on a singular work.

Once you understand what constitutes (and doesn’t constitute) literary analysis, it’s easy to identify it. Here are some examples of literary analysis and its oft-confused counterparts:

Summary: In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator visits his friend Roderick Usher and witnesses his sister escape a horrible fate.

Opinion: In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe uses his great Gothic writing to establish a sense of spookiness that is enjoyable to read.

Literary Analysis: “Throughout ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ Poe foreshadows the fate of Madeline by creating a sense of claustrophobia for the reader through symbols, such as in the narrator’s inability to leave and the labyrinthine nature of the house.

In summary, literary analysis is:

Breaking a work into its components
Identifying what those components are and how they work in the text
Developing an understanding of how they work together to achieve a goal
Not an opinion, but subjective
Not a summary, though summary can be used in passing
Best when it deeply, rather than broadly, analyzes a literary element

Literary Analysis and Other Works

As discussed above, literary analysis is often performed upon a single work—but it doesn’t have to be. It can also be performed across works to consider the interplay of two or more texts. Regardless of whether or not the works were written about the same thing, or even within the same time period, they can have an influence on one another or a connection that’s worth exploring. And reading two or more texts side by side can help you to develop insights through comparison and contrast.

For example, Paradise Lost is an epic poem written in the 17th century, based largely on biblical narratives written some 700 years before and which later influenced 19th century poet John Keats. The interplay of works can be obvious, as here, or entirely the inspiration of the analyst. As an example of the latter, you could compare and contrast the writing styles of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe who, while contemporaries in terms of time, were vastly different in their content.

Additionally, literary analysis can be performed between a work and its context. Authors are often speaking to the larger context of their times, be that social, political, religious, economic, or artistic. A valid and interesting form is to compare the author’s context to the work, which is done by identifying and analyzing elements that are used to make an argument about the writer’s time or experience.

For example, you could write an essay about how Hemingway’s struggles with mental health and paranoia influenced his later work, or how his involvement in the Spanish Civil War influenced his early work. One approach focuses more on his personal experience, while the other turns to the context of his times—both are valid.

Why Does Literary Analysis Matter?

Sometimes an author wrote a work of literature strictly for entertainment’s sake, but more often than not, they meant something more. Whether that was a missive on world peace, commentary about femininity, or an allusion to their experience as an only child, the author probably wrote their work for a reason, and understanding that reason—or the many reasons—can actually make reading a lot more meaningful.

Performing literary analysis as a form of study unquestionably makes you a better reader. It’s also likely that it will improve other skills, too, like critical thinking, creativity, debate, and reasoning.

At its grandest and most idealistic, literary analysis even has the ability to make the world a better place. By reading and analyzing works of literature, you are able to more fully comprehend the perspectives of others. Cumulatively, you’ll broaden your own perspectives and contribute more effectively to the things that matter to you.

Literary Terms to Know for Literary Analysis

There are hundreds of literary devices you could consider during your literary analysis, but there are some key tools most writers utilize to achieve their purpose—and therefore you need to know in order to understand that purpose. These common devices include:

Characters: The people (or entities) who play roles in the work. The protagonist is the main character in the work.
Conflict: The conflict is the driving force behind the plot, the event that causes action in the narrative, usually on the part of the protagonist
Context : The broader circumstances surrounding the work political and social climate in which it was written or the experience of the author. It can also refer to internal context, and the details presented by the narrator
Diction : The word choice used by the narrator or characters
Genre: A category of literature characterized by agreed upon similarities in the works, such as subject matter and tone
Imagery : The descriptive or figurative language used to paint a picture in the reader’s mind so they can picture the story’s plot, characters, and setting
Metaphor: A figure of speech that uses comparison between two unlike objects for dramatic or poetic effect
Narrator: The person who tells the story. Sometimes they are a character within the story, but sometimes they are omniscient and removed from the plot.
Plot : The storyline of the work
Point of view: The perspective taken by the narrator, which skews the perspective of the reader
Setting : The time and place in which the story takes place. This can include elements like the time period, weather, time of year or day, and social or economic conditions
Symbol : An object, person, or place that represents an abstract idea that is greater than its literal meaning
Syntax : The structure of a sentence, either narration or dialogue, and the tone it implies
Theme : A recurring subject or message within the work, often commentary on larger societal or cultural ideas
Tone : The feeling, attitude, or mood the text presents

How to Perform Literary Analysis

Step 1: read the text thoroughly.

Literary analysis begins with the literature itself, which means performing a close reading of the text. As you read, you should focus on the work. That means putting away distractions (sorry, smartphone) and dedicating a period of time to the task at hand.

It’s also important that you don’t skim or speed read. While those are helpful skills, they don’t apply to literary analysis—or at least not this stage.

Step 2: Take Notes as You Read

As you read the work, take notes about different literary elements and devices that stand out to you. Whether you highlight or underline in text, use sticky note tabs to mark pages and passages, or handwrite your thoughts in a notebook, you should capture your thoughts and the parts of the text to which they correspond. This—the act of noticing things about a literary work—is literary analysis.

Step 3: Notice Patterns

As you read the work, you’ll begin to notice patterns in the way the author deploys language, themes, and symbols to build their plot and characters. As you read and these patterns take shape, begin to consider what they could mean and how they might fit together.

As you identify these patterns, as well as other elements that catch your interest, be sure to record them in your notes or text. Some examples include:

Circle or underline words or terms that you notice the author uses frequently, whether those are nouns (like “eyes” or “road”) or adjectives (like “yellow” or “lush”).
Highlight phrases that give you the same kind of feeling. For example, if the narrator describes an “overcast sky,” a “dreary morning,” and a “dark, quiet room,” the words aren’t the same, but the feeling they impart and setting they develop are similar.
Underline quotes or prose that define a character’s personality or their role in the text.
Use sticky tabs to color code different elements of the text, such as specific settings or a shift in the point of view.

By noting these patterns, comprehensive symbols, metaphors, and ideas will begin to come into focus.

Step 4: Consider the Work as a Whole, and Ask Questions

This is a step that you can do either as you read, or after you finish the text. The point is to begin to identify the aspects of the work that most interest you, and you could therefore analyze in writing or discussion.

Questions you could ask yourself include:

What aspects of the text do I not understand?
What parts of the narrative or writing struck me most?
What patterns did I notice?
What did the author accomplish really well?
What did I find lacking?
Did I notice any contradictions or anything that felt out of place?
What was the purpose of the minor characters?
What tone did the author choose, and why?

The answers to these and more questions will lead you to your arguments about the text.

Step 5: Return to Your Notes and the Text for Evidence

As you identify the argument you want to make (especially if you’re preparing for an essay), return to your notes to see if you already have supporting evidence for your argument. That’s why it’s so important to take notes or mark passages as you read—you’ll thank yourself later!

If you’re preparing to write an essay, you’ll use these passages and ideas to bolster your argument—aka, your thesis. There will likely be multiple different passages you can use to strengthen multiple different aspects of your argument. Just be sure to cite the text correctly!

If you’re preparing for class, your notes will also be invaluable. When your teacher or professor leads the conversation in the direction of your ideas or arguments, you’ll be able to not only proffer that idea but back it up with textual evidence. That’s an A+ in class participation.

Step 6: Connect These Ideas Across the Narrative

Whether you’re in class or writing an essay, literary analysis isn’t complete until you’ve considered the way these ideas interact and contribute to the work as a whole. You can find and present evidence, but you still have to explain how those elements work together and make up your argument.

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

When conducting literary analysis while reading a text or discussing it in class, you can pivot easily from one argument to another (or even switch sides if a classmate or teacher makes a compelling enough argument).

But when writing literary analysis, your objective is to propose a specific, arguable thesis and convincingly defend it. In order to do so, you need to fortify your argument with evidence from the text (and perhaps secondary sources) and an authoritative tone.

A successful literary analysis essay depends equally on a thoughtful thesis, supportive analysis, and presenting these elements masterfully. We’ll review how to accomplish these objectives below.

Step 1: Read the Text. Maybe Read It Again.

Constructing an astute analytical essay requires a thorough knowledge of the text. As you read, be sure to note any passages, quotes, or ideas that stand out. These could serve as the future foundation of your thesis statement. Noting these sections now will help you when you need to gather evidence.

The more familiar you become with the text, the better (and easier!) your essay will be. Familiarity with the text allows you to speak (or in this case, write) to it confidently. If you only skim the book, your lack of rich understanding will be evident in your essay. Alternatively, if you read the text closely—especially if you read it more than once, or at least carefully revisit important passages—your own writing will be filled with insight that goes beyond a basic understanding of the storyline.

Step 2: Brainstorm Potential Topics

Because you took detailed notes while reading the text, you should have a list of potential topics at the ready. Take time to review your notes, highlighting any ideas or questions you had that feel interesting. You should also return to the text and look for any passages that stand out to you.

When considering potential topics, you should prioritize ideas that you find interesting. It won’t only make the whole process of writing an essay more fun, your enthusiasm for the topic will probably improve the quality of your argument, and maybe even your writing. Just like it’s obvious when a topic interests you in a conversation, it’s obvious when a topic interests the writer of an essay (and even more obvious when it doesn’t).

Your topic ideas should also be specific, unique, and arguable. A good way to think of topics is that they’re the answer to fairly specific questions. As you begin to brainstorm, first think of questions you have about the text. Questions might focus on the plot, such as: Why did the author choose to deviate from the projected storyline? Or why did a character’s role in the narrative shift? Questions might also consider the use of a literary device, such as: Why does the narrator frequently repeat a phrase or comment on a symbol? Or why did the author choose to switch points of view each chapter?

Once you have a thesis question , you can begin brainstorming answers—aka, potential thesis statements . At this point, your answers can be fairly broad. Once you land on a question-statement combination that feels right, you’ll then look for evidence in the text that supports your answer (and helps you define and narrow your thesis statement).

For example, after reading “ The Fall of the House of Usher ,” you might be wondering, Why are Roderick and Madeline twins?, Or even: Why does their relationship feel so creepy?” Maybe you noticed (and noted) that the narrator was surprised to find out they were twins, or perhaps you found that the narrator’s tone tended to shift and become more anxious when discussing the interactions of the twins.

Once you come up with your thesis question, you can identify a broad answer, which will become the basis for your thesis statement. In response to the questions above, your answer might be, “Poe emphasizes the close relationship of Roderick and Madeline to foreshadow that their deaths will be close, too.”

Step 3: Gather Evidence

Once you have your topic (or you’ve narrowed it down to two or three), return to the text (yes, again) to see what evidence you can find to support it. If you’re thinking of writing about the relationship between Roderick and Madeline in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” look for instances where they engaged in the text.

This is when your knowledge of literary devices comes in clutch. Carefully study the language around each event in the text that might be relevant to your topic. How does Poe’s diction or syntax change during the interactions of the siblings? How does the setting reflect or contribute to their relationship? What imagery or symbols appear when Roderick and Madeline are together?

By finding and studying evidence within the text, you’ll strengthen your topic argument—or, just as valuably, discount the topics that aren’t strong enough for analysis.

Step 4: Consider Secondary Sources

In addition to returning to the literary work you’re studying for evidence, you can also consider secondary sources that reference or speak to the work. These can be articles from journals you find on JSTOR, books that consider the work or its context, or articles your teacher shared in class.

While you can use these secondary sources to further support your idea, you should not overuse them. Make sure your topic remains entirely differentiated from that presented in the source.

Step 5: Write a Working Thesis Statement

Once you’ve gathered evidence and narrowed down your topic, you’re ready to refine that topic into a thesis statement. As you continue to outline and write your paper, this thesis statement will likely change slightly, but this initial draft will serve as the foundation of your essay. It’s like your north star: Everything you write in your essay is leading you back to your thesis.

Writing a great thesis statement requires some real finesse. A successful thesis statement is:

Debatable : You shouldn’t simply summarize or make an obvious statement about the work. Instead, your thesis statement should take a stand on an issue or make a claim that is open to argument. You’ll spend your essay debating—and proving—your argument.
Demonstrable : You need to be able to prove, through evidence, that your thesis statement is true. That means you have to have passages from the text and correlative analysis ready to convince the reader that you’re right.
Specific : In most cases, successfully addressing a theme that encompasses a work in its entirety would require a book-length essay. Instead, identify a thesis statement that addresses specific elements of the work, such as a relationship between characters, a repeating symbol, a key setting, or even something really specific like the speaking style of a character.

Example: By depicting the relationship between Roderick and Madeline to be stifling and almost otherworldly in its closeness, Poe foreshadows both Madeline’s fate and Roderick’s inability to choose a different fate for himself.

Step 6: Write an Outline

You have your thesis, you have your evidence—but how do you put them together? A great thesis statement (and therefore a great essay) will have multiple arguments supporting it, presenting different kinds of evidence that all contribute to the singular, main idea presented in your thesis.

Review your evidence and identify these different arguments, then organize the evidence into categories based on the argument they support. These ideas and evidence will become the body paragraphs of your essay.

For example, if you were writing about Roderick and Madeline as in the example above, you would pull evidence from the text, such as the narrator’s realization of their relationship as twins; examples where the narrator’s tone of voice shifts when discussing their relationship; imagery, like the sounds Roderick hears as Madeline tries to escape; and Poe’s tendency to use doubles and twins in his other writings to create the same spooky effect. All of these are separate strains of the same argument, and can be clearly organized into sections of an outline.

Step 7: Write Your Introduction

Your introduction serves a few very important purposes that essentially set the scene for the reader:

Establish context. Sure, your reader has probably read the work. But you still want to remind them of the scene, characters, or elements you’ll be discussing.
Present your thesis statement. Your thesis statement is the backbone of your analytical paper. You need to present it clearly at the outset so that the reader understands what every argument you make is aimed at.
Offer a mini-outline. While you don’t want to show all your cards just yet, you do want to preview some of the evidence you’ll be using to support your thesis so that the reader has a roadmap of where they’re going.

Step 8: Write Your Body Paragraphs

Thanks to steps one through seven, you’ve already set yourself up for success. You have clearly outlined arguments and evidence to support them. Now it’s time to translate those into authoritative and confident prose.

When presenting each idea, begin with a topic sentence that encapsulates the argument you’re about to make (sort of like a mini-thesis statement). Then present your evidence and explanations of that evidence that contribute to that argument. Present enough material to prove your point, but don’t feel like you necessarily have to point out every single instance in the text where this element takes place. For example, if you’re highlighting a symbol that repeats throughout the narrative, choose two or three passages where it is used most effectively, rather than trying to squeeze in all ten times it appears.

While you should have clearly defined arguments, the essay should still move logically and fluidly from one argument to the next. Try to avoid choppy paragraphs that feel disjointed; every idea and argument should feel connected to the last, and, as a group, connected to your thesis. A great way to connect the ideas from one paragraph to the next is with transition words and phrases, such as:

Furthermore
In addition
On the other hand
Conversely

Step 9: Write Your Conclusion

Your conclusion is more than a summary of your essay's parts, but it’s also not a place to present brand new ideas not already discussed in your essay. Instead, your conclusion should return to your thesis (without repeating it verbatim) and point to why this all matters. If writing about the siblings in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” for example, you could point out that the utilization of twins and doubles is a common literary element of Poe’s work that contributes to the definitive eeriness of Gothic literature.

While you might speak to larger ideas in your conclusion, be wary of getting too macro. Your conclusion should still be supported by all of the ideas that preceded it.

Step 10: Revise, Revise, Revise

Of course you should proofread your literary analysis essay before you turn it in. But you should also edit the content to make sure every piece of evidence and every explanation directly supports your thesis as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Sometimes, this might mean actually adapting your thesis a bit to the rest of your essay. At other times, it means removing redundant examples or paraphrasing quotations. Make sure every sentence is valuable, and remove those that aren’t.

Other Resources for Literary Analysis

With these skills and suggestions, you’re well on your way to practicing and writing literary analysis. But if you don’t have a firm grasp on the concepts discussed above—such as literary devices or even the content of the text you’re analyzing—it will still feel difficult to produce insightful analysis.

If you’d like to sharpen the tools in your literature toolbox, there are plenty of other resources to help you do so:

Check out our expansive library of Literary Devices . These could provide you with a deeper understanding of the basic devices discussed above or introduce you to new concepts sure to impress your professors ( anagnorisis , anyone?).
This Academic Citation Resource Guide ensures you properly cite any work you reference in your analytical essay.
Our English Homework Help Guide will point you to dozens of resources that can help you perform analysis, from critical reading strategies to poetry helpers.
This Grammar Education Resource Guide will direct you to plenty of resources to refine your grammar and writing (definitely important for getting an A+ on that paper).

Of course, you should know the text inside and out before you begin writing your analysis. In order to develop a true understanding of the work, read through its corresponding SuperSummary study guide . Doing so will help you truly comprehend the plot, as well as provide some inspirational ideas for your analysis.

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12.14: Sample Student Literary Analysis Essays

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Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap
City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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The following examples are essays where student writers focused on close-reading a literary work.

While reading these examples, ask yourself the following questions:

What is the essay's thesis statement, and how do you know it is the thesis statement?
What is the main idea or topic sentence of each body paragraph, and how does it relate back to the thesis statement?
Where and how does each essay use evidence (quotes or paraphrase from the literature)?
What are some of the literary devices or structures the essays analyze or discuss?
How does each author structure their conclusion, and how does their conclusion differ from their introduction?

Example 1: Poetry

Victoria Morillo

Instructor Heather Ringo

3 August 2022

How Nguyen’s Structure Solidifies the Impact of Sexual Violence in “The Study”

Stripped of innocence, your body taken from you. No matter how much you try to block out the instance in which these two things occurred, memories surface and come back to haunt you. How does a person, a young boy , cope with an event that forever changes his life? Hieu Minh Nguyen deconstructs this very way in which an act of sexual violence affects a survivor. In his poem, “The Study,” the poem's speaker recounts the year in which his molestation took place, describing how his memory filters in and out. Throughout the poem, Nguyen writes in free verse, permitting a structural liberation to become the foundation for his message to shine through. While he moves the readers with this poignant narrative, Nguyen effectively conveys the resulting internal struggles of feeling alone and unseen.

The speaker recalls his experience with such painful memory through the use of specific punctuation choices. Just by looking at the poem, we see that the first period doesn’t appear until line 14. It finally comes after the speaker reveals to his readers the possible, central purpose for writing this poem: the speaker's molestation. In the first half, the poem makes use of commas, em dashes, and colons, which lends itself to the idea of the speaker stringing along all of these details to make sense of this time in his life. If reading the poem following the conventions of punctuation, a sense of urgency is present here, as well. This is exemplified by the lack of periods to finalize a thought; and instead, Nguyen uses other punctuation marks to connect them. Serving as another connector of thoughts, the two em dashes give emphasis to the role memory plays when the speaker discusses how “no one [had] a face” during that time (Nguyen 9-11). He speaks in this urgent manner until the 14th line, and when he finally gets it off his chest, the pace of the poem changes, as does the more frequent use of the period. This stream-of-consciousness-like section when juxtaposed with the latter half of the poem, causes readers to slow down and pay attention to the details. It also splits the poem in two: a section that talks of the fogginess of memory then transitions into one that remembers it all.

In tandem with the fluctuating nature of memory, the utilization of line breaks and word choice help reflect the damage the molestation has had. Within the first couple of lines of the poem, the poem demands the readers’ attention when the line breaks from “floating” to “dead” as the speaker describes his memory of Little Billy (Nguyen 1-4). This line break averts the readers’ expectation of the direction of the narrative and immediately shifts the tone of the poem. The break also speaks to the effect his trauma has ingrained in him and how “[f]or the longest time,” his only memory of that year revolves around an image of a boy’s death. In a way, the speaker sees himself in Little Billy; or perhaps, he’s representative of the tragic death of his boyhood, how the speaker felt so “dead” after enduring such a traumatic experience, even referring to himself as a “ghost” that he tries to evict from his conscience (Nguyen 24). The feeling that a part of him has died is solidified at the very end of the poem when the speaker describes himself as a nine-year-old boy who’s been “fossilized,” forever changed by this act (Nguyen 29). By choosing words associated with permanence and death, the speaker tries to recreate the atmosphere (for which he felt trapped in) in order for readers to understand the loneliness that came as a result of his trauma. With the assistance of line breaks, more attention is drawn to the speaker's words, intensifying their importance, and demanding to be felt by the readers.

Most importantly, the speaker expresses eloquently, and so heartbreakingly, about the effect sexual violence has on a person. Perhaps what seems to be the most frustrating are the people who fail to believe survivors of these types of crimes. This is evident when he describes “how angry” the tenants were when they filled the pool with cement (Nguyen 4). They seem to represent how people in the speaker's life were dismissive of his assault and who viewed his tragedy as a nuisance of some sorts. This sentiment is bookended when he says, “They say, give us details , so I give them my body. / They say, give us proof , so I give them my body,” (Nguyen 25-26). The repetition of these two lines reinforces the feeling many feel in these scenarios, as they’re often left to deal with trying to make people believe them, or to even see them.

It’s important to recognize how the structure of this poem gives the speaker space to express the pain he’s had to carry for so long. As a characteristic of free verse, the poem doesn’t follow any structured rhyme scheme or meter; which in turn, allows him to not have any constraints in telling his story the way he wants to. The speaker has the freedom to display his experience in a way that evades predictability and engenders authenticity of a story very personal to him. As readers, we abandon anticipating the next rhyme, and instead focus our attention to the other ways, like his punctuation or word choice, in which he effectively tells his story. The speaker recognizes that some part of him no longer belongs to himself, but by writing “The Study,” he shows other survivors that they’re not alone and encourages hope that eventually, they will be freed from the shackles of sexual violence.

Works Cited

Nguyen, Hieu Minh. “The Study” Poets.Org. Academy of American Poets, Coffee House Press, 2018, https://poets.org/poem/study-0 .

Example 2: Fiction

Todd Goodwin

Professor Stan Matyshak

Advanced Expository Writing

Sept. 17, 20—

Poe’s “Usher”: A Mirror of the Fall of the House of Humanity

Right from the outset of the grim story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Edgar Allan Poe enmeshes us in a dark, gloomy, hopeless world, alienating his characters and the reader from any sort of physical or psychological norm where such values as hope and happiness could possibly exist. He fatalistically tells the story of how a man (the narrator) comes from the outside world of hope, religion, and everyday society and tries to bring some kind of redeeming happiness to his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, who not only has physically and psychologically wasted away but is entrapped in a dilapidated house of ever-looming terror with an emaciated and deranged twin sister. Roderick Usher embodies the wasting away of what once was vibrant and alive, and his house of “insufferable gloom” (273), which contains his morbid sister, seems to mirror or reflect this fear of death and annihilation that he most horribly endures. A close reading of the story reveals that Poe uses mirror images, or reflections, to contribute to the fatalistic theme of “Usher”: each reflection serves to intensify an already prevalent tone of hopelessness, darkness, and fatalism.

It could be argued that the house of Roderick Usher is a “house of mirrors,” whose unpleasant and grim reflections create a dark and hopeless setting. For example, the narrator first approaches “the melancholy house of Usher on a dark and soundless day,” and finds a building which causes him a “sense of insufferable gloom,” which “pervades his spirit and causes an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an undiscerned dreariness of thought” (273). The narrator then optimistically states: “I reflected that a mere different arrangement of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression” (274). But the narrator then sees the reflection of the house in the tarn and experiences a “shudder even more thrilling than before” (274). Thus the reader begins to realize that the narrator cannot change or stop the impending doom that will befall the house of Usher, and maybe humanity. The story cleverly plays with the word reflection : the narrator sees a physical reflection that leads him to a mental reflection about Usher’s surroundings.

The narrator’s disillusionment by such grim reflection continues in the story. For example, he describes Roderick Usher’s face as distinct with signs of old strength but lost vigor: the remains of what used to be. He describes the house as a once happy and vibrant place, which, like Roderick, lost its vitality. Also, the narrator describes Usher’s hair as growing wild on his rather obtrusive head, which directly mirrors the eerie moss and straw covering the outside of the house. The narrator continually longs to see these bleak reflections as a dream, for he states: “Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building” (276). He does not want to face the reality that Usher and his home are doomed to fall, regardless of what he does.

Although there are almost countless examples of these mirror images, two others stand out as important. First, Roderick and his sister, Madeline, are twins. The narrator aptly states just as he and Roderick are entombing Madeline that there is “a striking similitude between brother and sister” (288). Indeed, they are mirror images of each other. Madeline is fading away psychologically and physically, and Roderick is not too far behind! The reflection of “doom” that these two share helps intensify and symbolize the hopelessness of the entire situation; thus, they further develop the fatalistic theme. Second, in the climactic scene where Madeline has been mistakenly entombed alive, there is a pairing of images and sounds as the narrator tries to calm Roderick by reading him a romance story. Events in the story simultaneously unfold with events of the sister escaping her tomb. In the story, the hero breaks out of the coffin. Then, in the story, the dragon’s shriek as he is slain parallels Madeline’s shriek. Finally, the story tells of the clangor of a shield, matched by the sister’s clanging along a metal passageway. As the suspense reaches its climax, Roderick shrieks his last words to his “friend,” the narrator: “Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door” (296).

Roderick, who slowly falls into insanity, ironically calls the narrator the “Madman.” We are left to reflect on what Poe means by this ironic twist. Poe’s bleak and dark imagery, and his use of mirror reflections, seem only to intensify the hopelessness of “Usher.” We can plausibly conclude that, indeed, the narrator is the “Madman,” for he comes from everyday society, which is a place where hope and faith exist. Poe would probably argue that such a place is opposite to the world of Usher because a world where death is inevitable could not possibly hold such positive values. Therefore, just as Roderick mirrors his sister, the reflection in the tarn mirrors the dilapidation of the house, and the story mirrors the final actions before the death of Usher. “The Fall of the House of Usher” reflects Poe’s view that humanity is hopelessly doomed.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” 1839. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library . 1995. Web. 1 July 2012. < http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PoeFall.html >.

Example 3: Poetry

Amy Chisnell

Professor Laura Neary

Writing and Literature

April 17, 20—

Don’t Listen to the Egg!: A Close Reading of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky”

“You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir,” said Alice. “Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called ‘Jabberwocky’?”

“Let’s hear it,” said Humpty Dumpty. “I can explain all the poems that ever were invented—and a good many that haven’t been invented just yet.” (Carroll 164)

In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass , Humpty Dumpty confidently translates (to a not so confident Alice) the complicated language of the poem “Jabberwocky.” The words of the poem, though nonsense, aptly tell the story of the slaying of the Jabberwock. Upon finding “Jabberwocky” on a table in the looking-glass room, Alice is confused by the strange words. She is quite certain that “ somebody killed something ,” but she does not understand much more than that. When later she encounters Humpty Dumpty, she seizes the opportunity at having the knowledgeable egg interpret—or translate—the poem. Since Humpty Dumpty professes to be able to “make a word work” for him, he is quick to agree. Thus he acts like a New Critic who interprets the poem by performing a close reading of it. Through Humpty’s interpretation of the first stanza, however, we see the poem’s deeper comment concerning the practice of interpreting poetry and literature in general—that strict analytical translation destroys the beauty of a poem. In fact, Humpty Dumpty commits the “heresy of paraphrase,” for he fails to understand that meaning cannot be separated from the form or structure of the literary work.

Of the 71 words found in “Jabberwocky,” 43 have no known meaning. They are simply nonsense. Yet through this nonsensical language, the poem manages not only to tell a story but also gives the reader a sense of setting and characterization. One feels, rather than concretely knows, that the setting is dark, wooded, and frightening. The characters, such as the Jubjub bird, the Bandersnatch, and the doomed Jabberwock, also appear in the reader’s head, even though they will not be found in the local zoo. Even though most of the words are not real, the reader is able to understand what goes on because he or she is given free license to imagine what the words denote and connote. Simply, the poem’s nonsense words are the meaning.

Therefore, when Humpty interprets “Jabberwocky” for Alice, he is not doing her any favors, for he actually misreads the poem. Although the poem in its original is constructed from nonsense words, by the time Humpty is done interpreting it, it truly does not make any sense. The first stanza of the original poem is as follows:

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogroves,

An the mome raths outgrabe. (Carroll 164)

If we replace, however, the nonsense words of “Jabberwocky” with Humpty’s translated words, the effect would be something like this:

’Twas four o’clock in the afternoon, and the lithe and slimy badger-lizard-corkscrew creatures

Did go round and round and make holes in the grass-plot round the sun-dial:

All flimsy and miserable were the shabby-looking birds

with mop feathers,

And the lost green pigs bellowed-sneezed-whistled.

By translating the poem in such a way, Humpty removes the charm or essence—and the beauty, grace, and rhythm—from the poem. The poetry is sacrificed for meaning. Humpty Dumpty commits the heresy of paraphrase. As Cleanth Brooks argues, “The structure of a poem resembles that of a ballet or musical composition. It is a pattern of resolutions and balances and harmonizations” (203). When the poem is left as nonsense, the reader can easily imagine what a “slithy tove” might be, but when Humpty tells us what it is, he takes that imaginative license away from the reader. The beauty (if that is the proper word) of “Jabberwocky” is in not knowing what the words mean, and yet understanding. By translating the poem, Humpty takes that privilege from the reader. In addition, Humpty fails to recognize that meaning cannot be separated from the structure itself: the nonsense poem reflects this literally—it means “nothing” and achieves this meaning by using “nonsense” words.

Furthermore, the nonsense words Carroll chooses to use in “Jabberwocky” have a magical effect upon the reader; the shadowy sound of the words create the atmosphere, which may be described as a trance-like mood. When Alice first reads the poem, she says it seems to fill her head “with ideas.” The strange-sounding words in the original poem do give one ideas. Why is this? Even though the reader has never heard these words before, he or she is instantly aware of the murky, mysterious mood they set. In other words, diction operates not on the denotative level (the dictionary meaning) but on the connotative level (the emotion(s) they evoke). Thus “Jabberwocky” creates a shadowy mood, and the nonsense words are instrumental in creating this mood. Carroll could not have simply used any nonsense words.

For example, let us change the “dark,” “ominous” words of the first stanza to “lighter,” more “comic” words:

’Twas mearly, and the churly pells

Did bimble and ringle in the tink;

All timpy were the brimbledimps,

And the bip plips outlink.

Shifting the sounds of the words from dark to light merely takes a shift in thought. To create a specific mood using nonsense words, one must create new words from old words that convey the desired mood. In “Jabberwocky,” Carroll mixes “slimy,” a grim idea, “lithe,” a pliable image, to get a new adjective: “slithy” (a portmanteau word). In this translation, brighter words were used to get a lighter effect. “Mearly” is a combination of “morning” and “early,” and “ringle” is a blend of “ring” and "dingle.” The point is that “Jabberwocky’s” nonsense words are created specifically to convey this shadowy or mysterious mood and are integral to the “meaning.”

Consequently, Humpty’s rendering of the poem leaves the reader with a completely different feeling than does the original poem, which provided us with a sense of ethereal mystery, of a dark and foreign land with exotic creatures and fantastic settings. The mysteriousness is destroyed by Humpty’s literal paraphrase of the creatures and the setting; by doing so, he has taken the beauty away from the poem in his attempt to understand it. He has committed the heresy of paraphrase: “If we allow ourselves to be misled by it [this heresy], we distort the relation of the poem to its ‘truth’… we split the poem between its ‘form’ and its ‘content’” (Brooks 201). Humpty Dumpty’s ultimate demise might be seen to symbolize the heretical split between form and content: as a literary creation, Humpty Dumpty is an egg, a well-wrought urn of nonsense. His fall from the wall cracks him and separates the contents from the container, and not even all the King’s men can put the scrambled egg back together again!

Through the odd characters of a little girl and a foolish egg, “Jabberwocky” suggests a bit of sage advice about reading poetry, advice that the New Critics built their theories on. The importance lies not solely within strict analytical translation or interpretation, but in the overall effect of the imagery and word choice that evokes a meaning inseparable from those literary devices. As Archibald MacLeish so aptly writes: “A poem should not mean / But be.” Sometimes it takes a little nonsense to show us the sense in something.

Brooks, Cleanth. The Well-Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry . 1942. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1956. Print.

Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking-Glass. Alice in Wonderland . 2nd ed. Ed. Donald J. Gray. New York: Norton, 1992. Print.

MacLeish, Archibald. “Ars Poetica.” The Oxford Book of American Poetry . Ed. David Lehman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. 385–86. Print.

Attribution

Sample Essay 1 received permission from Victoria Morillo to publish, licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International ( CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 )
Sample Essays 2 and 3 adapted from Cordell, Ryan and John Pennington. "2.5: Student Sample Papers" from Creating Literary Analysis. 2012. Licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported ( CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 )

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A Research Guide
Writing Guide
Assignment Writing

How to Write a Literary Analysis

What is the underlying or intentional message that the author hoped to deliver? Ask yourself what the primary theme or concept the author was hoping to create and what message they wanted to send to their readers.
Who are the characters, not just on the outside – who are they really? Consider the external factors as well: The tone, the environment, the plot and any other literary devices that the author may have used to ensure that readers truly understand the characters and their value.
Why did the author choose to use specific literary devices in the specific ways they were used? What did the author intend on teaching their readers? How have the characters or the setting or plot twist helped the reader to better understand the theme of the writing?

What is a Literary Analysis

Definition of literary analysis, literary analysis outline.

Remember to include the full name of the author, the title of the piece that you will be analyzing and any supplementary information that will be helpful to strengthen your thesis and following thematic statements.
Clearly deliver your thematic statement or statements. A thematic statement is the overall concept or main idea as it relates to life that the author is attempting to deliver. (This is the ‘why’)
End your introduction with your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should include the who, what, why and Remember to include parts of the question that you intend to answer.
Start each paragraph with a concise argument that relates to your initial thesis statement.
Each paragraph must have a single point of view.
Include relevant quotes to validate your argument. This should focus on “how” things work and also answer your question.
Quotes should consist of both narrative and dialogue.
Don’t simply uncover a literary technique and offer an example of it. Instead explain how using that particular technique relates to the question you are answering.
End with a strong statement that reiterates the sole focus of the paragraph.
Consider mentioning the theme in your body paragraphs, but do not divert from the question being answered.
Start your conclusion by carefully and concisely restating your thesis – but do not do so verbatim.
Clearly explain how the ideas and concepts presented in the body of the essay depict the theme. Simply put, your conclusion should also explain what message the author was hoping to deliver about life and how it relates to the examples you’ve included in your analysis.

Types of Literary Analysis

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Maritime shipping ports performance: a systematic literature review

Open access
Published: 04 June 2024
Volume 5 , article number 108 , ( 2024 )

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L. Kishore 1 ,
Yogesh P. Pai 2 ,
Bidyut Kumar Ghosh 1 &
Sheeba Pakkan 3

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The maritime sector has evolved as a crucial link in countries' economic development. Given that most of the trade across regions takes place through naval transportation, the performance of the seaports has been one of the focus areas of research. As the publication volume has significantly grown in the recent past, this study critically examines the publications related to the performance of ports for exploring the evolution, identifying the trends of articles, and analyzing the citations covering the publications based on relevant keywords in Scopus database for the period 1975–April 2024. Bibliometric and scientometric analysis was done using R, Python, and VOS software tools. Results indicate the core subject areas as “port efficiency”, “data envelopment analysis” (DEA), “port competitiveness”, “simulation”, “port governance”, and “sustainability,” with "sustainability" as the most discussed and highly relevant theme that has evolved in the last five years. Bibliometric data analysis on the subject area, yearly trends, top journals of publications, citation and author analysis, impact analysis, country-wise publication, and thematic analysis with clusters are also performed to outline future research directions. The analysis indicates an exponential rise in publications in recent times and with sustainability-related studies gaining more importance, especially for empirical research on port performance and demands for future empirical research on sustainability and smart port performance subject area. The study's findings are helpful for researchers, academicians, policymakers, and industry practitioners working towards a sustainable maritime port industry.

Green Port Indicators: A Review

Instruments Utilized in Short Sea Shipping Research: A Review

Port economics, management and policy studies (2009–2020): a bibliometric analysis

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Maritime trade and seaports have evolved as an integral part of global economic development, with the trade through sea comprising more than 80 percent of the volume of international merchandise trade [ 1 ] and connecting developing countries with developed as well as between various modes of global logistics and transportation [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Given the critical role of maritime seaports in the worldwide supply chain, there has been an exponential rise in research in maritime seaport-related studies covering diverse topics and themes. With the burgeoning volumes of publications, as recommended by Moral-Muñoz et al. [ 6 ], bibliometric and systematic studies are helpful in scientifically tracking the growth trend of publications and in evaluating the essential characteristics and attributes of the research studies, supported by various contemporary statistical analysis software tools. Junquera et al. [ 7 ] highlighted the benefit of bibliometric data analysis in assisting the exploration of different characteristics and attributes related to the study area, such as publication trends, authors in the field, themes of ongoing research along country-specific details which are essential to understanding and enhancing the body of knowledge on the topic of interest, the ongoing trend, and aid in exploring the characteristics associated with different themes related to the subject of study.

Numerous bibliometric and systematic review studies by multiple authors discuss the synthesis of reviews on port management, port governance, port economics, digitization and new-age automation technology adoption in ports, and port choice selection topics. In their novel bibliometric study, Pallis et al. [ 8 ] identified significant emerging themes under various categories of port-related research. A large number of bibliometric and systematic review studies were published in the recent decade [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] that covered many of the themes and categories, including “green port”, “container port terminal”, “seaport competitiveness”, “port sustainability” “dry port”, “port management”, “digitization of port operations”, “smart port.”

However, a holistic bibliometric data analysis on the “port performance” topic could not be traced in the extant publications. For shipping ports, which act as the backbone of the maritime transportation ecosystem [ 23 , 24 ], the port’s competitiveness and performance are considered one of the most critical elements [ 25 ]. For the growth and sustenance of the global maritime trade, the performance of the ports plays a crucial role. Numerous studies [ 5 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] have proven the positive impact of the performance of ports on the economic development of a country and how poorly performing ports result in lower trade volumes, especially in developing or less-developed countries. Given ports' vital role in economic development through boosted production-consumption in the value chain and increasing global trade, along with the interest of academicians, researchers, and policymakers in the field, the literature on port performance has been growing [ 5 ]. Bibliometric and systematic analysis can give an overview of the studies on port performance. It can demonstrate a broad understanding of ongoing research work and themes since the first publication will benefit researchers and practitioners in port management.

Therefore, this study aims to explore the bibliometric data of research articles related to the performance of ports and identify the trend and ongoing themes of research through bibliometric data analysis. The study also attempts to analyze scholarly publications' evolution and critical insights on port performance-related fields regarding themes or topics, subject areas, leading journals, citations, and country-wise contributions, along with collaboration and outline future research directions. This novel study explores the bibliometric data on the “port performance” studies published in the Scopus database. It analyzes the data through creative visualizations to identify trends, establish ongoing research themes, and outline future research.

The following sections cover the literature overview on port-related bibliometric studies to trace the ongoing research and identify the gap along with framing research questions, then describe the methodology adopted in the current bibliometric survey, followed by results and discussion, leading to drawing conclusions along with contributions and outlining the implications and future research directions.

2 Review of literature

The literature review of the extant body of knowledge on port-related bibliometric analysis studies identified many significant contributions in the Scopus database. The keywords search using the combination “TITLE-ABS-KEY ("port" OR "seaport" OR "shipping port" OR "maritime port" OR "maritime shipping port" OR "container port" AND bibliometric OR scientometric) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "English"))” identified 48 articles. After the screening, 25 bibliometric data analyses published since 2010 were shortlisted and reviewed in detail. Among those, eight were published in 2023 and 7 in just the first quarter of 2024, indicating the pace with which research is burgeoning in port-related fields. Elsevier is the leading publisher, with about nine publications covering around 30% of the total publications. Springer and Routledge share the second spot with four publications each. “Maritime Policy and Management” and “Sustainability” were the leading sources, with 4 and 2 bibliometric articles published, respectively. Table 1 summarises the literature reviewed, along with their source and citations.

The bibliometric studies on port-related topics commenced with the review article of Pallis et al. (2010), who conducted a bibliometric analysis of port economics and management policy-related topics to unravel the emerging research field based on the papers published between 1997 and 2008 in multiple scholarly databases such as ScienceDirect, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Econlit. They concluded that research on port-related studies is rapidly emerging, international collaboration is rising, and the majority were on container port terminals. We could also identify the recent trend of literature on port-related studies getting focussed on container terminals discussing innovation and digital automation of container terminal operations and the application of new-age big-data technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine learning techniques (ML), and Internet-of-things platforms for productivity improvement and real-time port operations management.

Along the lines of technology development and integration in port management, the study of Li et al. [ 34 ] focused on the novel technology integrated ports with the concept of Smart ports incorporating intelligent digital technology and infrastructure comprising of cloud computing technology, big data analytics, Internet of things (IoT), and AI-based applications for capacity and resource optimization as a new-age solution to cope with the challenges faced in the dynamic port industry. The most recent publication on the maritime port sector is the bibliometric analysis study by Diniz et al. [ 22 ] on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), wherein they used IRaMuTeQ and VOSviewer software tool to evaluate the trends through a systematic literature review. In the years 2023 and 2024 till the 20th of April, published six articles each year, the highest number of bibliometric-related publications since 2010. The highest citation of 177 was received for the study by Davarzani et al. [ 9 ] on “green ports,” followed by 122 citations for the study of Pallis et al. [ 8 ] on port economics and management.

Many studies [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ] have pointed out the dynamic nature of maritime business. Amidst the dynamic nature of the port sector, as highlighted by Mantry and Ghatak [ 46 ], the country’s economic development is impacted by poor port performance. As per the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) [ 1 , 47 ], more than 80% of the international trade volume is handled through maritime transportation. [ 23 , 48 ] Studies have emphasized the significance of ports in the economic growth of a country. Given ports' vital contributions to economic development and global trade, along with the increasing interest of academicians, researchers, and policymakers, the literature on port performance has grown exponentially, especially in the last decade.

OConnor et al. [ 5 ] systematically reviewed port performance-related studies to identify performance dimensions and discussed port performance as a multi-dimensional construct. However, the study should have addressed the other characteristics and attributes that cause and impact the performance of ports. Notably, Wang et al. [ 35 ] were the first to use the WoS database exclusively for collecting bibliometric data for the period 2000 to 2020 and analyzing the data using the CiteSpace software tool. Their study focused on visual mapping of bibliometric data to uncover insights into trends of publications and authors along with their affiliations and countries and keyword analysis to derive more frequently discussed topics and themes. Though future research directions were indicated in the studies and many themes were highlighted, there needs to be more on the performance of ports and related variables for enhancing port performance. The scientometric analysis and computational text analysis by Sung-Woo et al. [ 49 ] were specific to port performance-related bibliometric study; however, they focused mainly on port and shipping along with supply chain logistics-related high-quality publications between 2000 and 2018 in journals listed in the Science Citation Index (SCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) available in the Scopus and the WoS scholarly databases only. Since the number of articles was 1947 in the count, they adopted topic modeling using a text mining technique called “Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)” to uncover significant research topics.

The qualitative study by Somensi et al. [ 50 ] analyzed the bibliographical characteristics of evaluating port performance studies published during 2000—2016 and discussed management practices and organizational performance aspects. Bibliographical data comprising 3112 articles for their research was collected from popular scholarly databases, and a series of keywords were used to search for performance, evaluation, and management-specific articles. Bibliographical portfolio selection and analysis were done using the Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist (ProKnow-C) tool developed at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. They selected 37 articles at the end of the portfolio selection procedure to analyze further regarding an author, journal, topic, and country analysis. They suggested increasing the research by extending the analysis period and conducting a more in-depth systematic analysis as the future research direction.

To address the gap identified, bibliometric data analysis can be adopted to explore the hidden characteristics and attributes related to the study area, such as publication trends, authors in the field, themes of ongoing research along with country-specific details and help with deep insights on the continuing trend, and identify the characteristics associated with different themes related to the topic of study. Therefore, a holistic bibliometric data-based exploratory study on “port performance” can give an overview of all the studies on port performance to date and demonstrate a broad understanding of ongoing research work and themes since the first publication. Further, the previous studies have not discussed co-occurrence or co-citation in articles published on port performance.

In this backdrop and taking a cue from shortcomings identified through the literature review, this study focuses on the following research questions:

What is the trend and evolution of research publications in maritime port performance?

What are the dynamics of journals publishing articles and citations of articles related to port performance?

Which countries have given utmost importance to port performance-related studies?

How are the citations, authorship, and collaborations shaping up?

What are the new and emerging topics and themes related to port performance studies?

3 Methodology

Akbari et al. [ 51 ] discuss how bibliometric analysis has recently received greater importance and hailed bibliometric analysis methods over traditional methods due to the benefits associated with conducting bibliometric analysis. The authors adopted an exploratory research approach by analyzing the bibliometric data downloaded from the most popular scholarly database, Scopus, to assess the trend and existing scenario of port performance-related studies, leading to the researcher's analysis and interpretation of visualized data in various plots and diagrams using relevant software tools. Scopus is one of the leading scholarly databases that has witnessed increasing citable articles and multi-disciplinary publications that provide quick and authoritative access to high-quality, comprehensive, and reliable content in multi-disciplinary fields [ 52 , 53 , 54 ].

In the first phase of the bibliometric study, we started with the search for scholarly articles in the Scopus database using an initial set of keywords and Boolean operator combinations to retrieve the relevant and possible publications available in the Scopus database. After multiple trials, the keyword combination was identified as "port performance" OR "performance of port" OR "performance of the port." With the identified keywords and boolean operators, the search in the Scopus database was conducted using the combination of keywords and Boolean operators as “ALL (("maritime port" OR "sea-port" OR "sea? port" OR "seaport" OR "shipping port" OR "container port" OR "container terminal port") AND ("port performance" OR "performance of port" OR "performance of the port" OR "performance of the shipping port" OR "performance of the maritime port" OR "performance of the seaport" OR "performance of shipping port" OR "performance of seaport")) AND (EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "PHAR") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "NURS") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "VETE") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "NEUR") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "MEDI") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "CHEM") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "BIOC") OR EXCLUDE (SUBJAREA, "PHYS")) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, "no") OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, "er") OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, "tb") OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, "ed")) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "English")).” The scope of the study was limited to research, review, book, and conference publication articles available in English. The search was conducted on the 20th of April, 2024.

In the second phase, the filtered documents available after the search were downloaded from the Scopus database in CSV and Bib file formats for further bibliometric data analysis. Scopus database also provides a quick, ready-to-use results analysis option with basic diagrams representing documents per year, by source, by author, affiliation, country, type, and subject area, and by funding agency. These results are also available for download in CSV file format for customized data visualization and extended analysis. This was followed by a distinct analysis of the downloaded datasets in the third phase to analyze and interpret, leading to the discussion and conclusion in the fourth phase. Further, scientometric analysis was performed based on co-authorship and co-occurrence using the VOSviewer software tool [ 55 ]. VOSviewer is acknowledged as a scientific tool for data visualization to perform exploratory data analysis on various aspects of publication, such as keywords, countries of research activity, and its density [ 56 ]. Bibliometric data related to the subject area, yearly trend, journal, author, citation, and country-wise publication was visualized and analyzed using open-source R and Python software tools and relevant available libraries and packages. “bibliometrix” package available in R was the primary tool used for importing the raw bibliometric data and later developing many visualizations supported with Python for data cleaning before further analysis and developing visualizations.

The evolution themes developing over time were analyzed with three cutting points in 2008, 2014, and 2020, representing an equal distribution from 2008 to April 2024. The first cutting point of 2008 was fixed as the number of publications saw an upswing after 2007 as per the preliminary analysis and hence could be the milestone to start with further analysis as the first cutting point. Following the benchmark values adopted by Cobo et al. [ 57 ] and Wang et al. [ 58 ] in their bibliometric analysis study, the word count was set to default as 200, minimum cluster frequency of 5 per thousand documents, the number of labels for each cluster as 4 for optimal mapping with minimum weight index as 0.1 and thematic analysis using the Louvain clustering algorithm since past studies [ 59 , 60 ] have proven the Louvain algorithm’s consistency of performance and better results of modularity when compared with other clustering algorithm approaches. Informative trends and patterns identified through the analysis were discussed, and conclusions were outlined, leading to future research directions and highlighting emerging focus fields in port performance-related studies. A co-occurrence analysis for the country was performed to identify the density of research activities in different countries. In the co-authorship analysis for the country, the minimum number of documents was set as 75 to get the overlay of visualization of the top 20 countries, and the country-specific citation minimum threshold was zero, considering the score of the average number of publications per year. Further, the co-occurrence of the keywords was analyzed to create the network using Louvin’s algorithm while limiting the number of nodes to 30 and the minimum number of edges to 0.

4 Results and analysis

In this section, the visualizations of bibliometric data based on citation metrics, co-citation, and co-occurrences are discussed along with bibliometric data analysis comprising the trend in publications, publication subject areas highlights, country of research work, author analysis, collaboration, and the journals publishing the relevant articles, to derive meaningful insights.

4.1 Descriptive analysis

The keyword search in the database identified 2245 articles published collectively from 691 sources of scientific publications from 1979 till April 20th, 2024. Of 4189 authors who contributed to publications in the port performance field, close to 29% had international co-authorship, and 274 had single-authored publications. The annual growth rate was 10.62%, and average citation was 20.24 per document. The descriptive summary of the bibliometric data is given in Table 2 .

4.2 Trend of publications

Descriptive analysis of the bibliometric data shows a phenomenal annual growth rate of 10.62% in research publications related to port performance. The trend of published articles, along with the mean total citations per year from the first article published in 1979 till 20th April 2024, is shown in Fig. 1 . There has been a spike in the number of publications since 2007, as indicated in the figure, and the number of publications has exponentially increased after that, suggesting that port performance is one of the most focused research areas in the recent decade.

Publication trend and citations from 1975 till 2023

Ahrens' [ 61 ] novel research on the engineering performance of ports outlined the importance of management training through audio-visual techniques for improving port performance in developing countries. The trend of core engineering-related performance studies continued till Thomas [ 62 ] discussed the strategic management of ports and their development. Roll et al. [ 63 ] introduced the application of the DEA methodology in port performance comparison with a sample of 20 selected ports. Later, a noticeable surge in port performance studies started after Lin et al. [ 64 ] studied the operation performance of major container ports in the Asia–Pacific region and applied the DEA approach to evaluate the operational performance of ports based on their operation efficiency.

4.3 Subject area of publication analysis

The percentage share of the articles published in different subject areas of research is shown in Fig. 2 . “Social Sciences,” “Engineering,” and “Business, Management, and Accounting” areas contribute more than 50% of the overall and are followed by the “Environmental Science,” Decision Sciences, and Economics, Econometrics and Finance,” and “Computer Science,” subject area and so on, out of which “Business, Management, and Accounting” areas account around 12%. Other areas include “Earth and Planetary Sciences,” “Energy,” “Mathematics,” “Agricultural and Biological Sciences”, “Arts and Humanities,” “Materials Science,” “Multidisciplinary,” “Chemical Engineering,” and “Psychology.”

Subject-wise publication share

4.4 Journal of publication analysis

The distribution of the articles published in journals is shown in Fig. 3 for journals that have published more than 30 articles. “Maritime Policy and Management” journal is the leading source, with about 156 publications, followed by “Maritime Economics and Logistics” and “Sustainability” journals, together contributing to 5% of the total publications to date. “Research in Transportation and Management,” “Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics,” and International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics” are closely competing with only one-third of the publications from the “Maritime Policy and Management” journal.

Top publishers with more than 30 publications

To get a deeper understanding of the growth of sources, source dynamics were analyzed using a trend line, as shown in Fig. 4 . Accordingly, it was identified that although “Maritime Policy and Management,” “Maritime Economics and Logistics”, “Sustainability”, “Research in Transportation Business and Management”, “Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics”, “International Journal of Shipping and Logistics”, “Ocean and Coastal Management”, and “Transport policy” are the leaders in terms of total publications in the given order. Phenomenal growth was achieved by the “Sustainability” journal, which was at the bottom in 2007 and has shown exponential growth since then, reaching the third position in annual publications growth, overtaking the “Research in Transportation Business and Management” journal.

The trend of annual publications in top sources

4.5 Author publication and citation analysis

The publications from the leading authors based on their number of publications and their citations are shown in Fig. 5 . Lam JSL occupies the top position, with 27 publications commencing with the first publication in 2006. At the same time, the top author with the highest citation is Cullinane K, with the first publication in 2002 and contributing 21 publications in the last 20 years. Six of his publications in 2006 alone have received 822 citations so far.

Number of Publications and Citation to Publication ratio for top authors

The authors’ collaboration network diagram is shown in Fig. 6 . Some top authors, especially Cullinane, Pallis, Lam, Chen J, Ducruet, and Song, collaborate highly, leading to higher quality publications with increasing citations.

Author's network diagram

4.6 Country of research analysis

The distribution of articles published across the top 15 countries based on publications and based on citations is shown in Figs. 7 and 8 , respectively. China has the highest contribution, close to 24%, followed by the US and UK, with 8.6% and 4.6% of publications, respectively. Somensi et al. [ 50 ] also highlighted China as the highest contributor with the most significant port performance-related studies. India-centric publications are merely 3.47%, a mere 15% of that of China, which has 571 publications, followed by the US and the UK, with 205 and 110 publications, respectively. China is again the leader in citations with 8116 citations, followed by the US and UK 5189 and 4819 citations, respectively. However, Spain overtook Italy with 1843 citations from 93 articles, with 1628 citations from 94 publications.

Country-wise publication

Country-wise citation

The scatter plot in Fig. 9 shows China, the USA, and Korea leading mainly with single-country publications, compared with Singapore and the UK, which have more multi-country collaborated publications. Among the top 10 countries in collaboration aspects, India has higher single-country publications and only a few multi-country collaborated publications.

Scatter plot of single and multi-country publications

4.7 Co-authorship and country-collaboration analysis

We considered the publications where the minimum number of publications was set as two, and the maximum number of countries counted as 25. Thus, among the 105 countries published, 77 meet this threshold. When calculating the total strength of the co-authorship links with other countries, only the countries with the greatest total link strength will be selected. The visualization of country-wise coauthorship and publication network in Fig. 10 shows that China has the highest density compared to other countries, indicating intense research on port and port performance.

Country-wise overlay of co-authorship

4.8 Impact metrics analysis

The “Research Metrics Guidebook” provides a comprehensive list of metrics to assess the research impact at various levels, including journal, article, author, and affiliated institutional level productivity, citation, and collaboration based on scholarly content in the Scopus database [ 65 ]. Table 3 shows the citation impact metrics since 2018.

“Field-weighted citation Impact” (FWCI) metric is a comparative metric that calculates the citations received by a document compared to the expected citations. It is a normalized bibliometric indicator that factors in the type of document, subject area, and publication period [ 66 ]. As we can see, the FWCI has been fluctuating; overall, it is at 1.12, indicating that the impact is 12 percent above the global average. Further break-up analysis on the authorship impact, as shown in Table 4 , suggests more than 50 percent impact above the worldwide average of international collaboration. Industry-institute collaboration has significantly increased in 2024. “Outputs in Top Citation Percentiles” shows that 11.5 percent of the publications are in the top 10 percent. International collaboration has seen close to 30 percent collaboration over the years. The top fifteen country impact metrics, as shown in Table 5 , indicate China is leading with the highest number of views and citations, along with an FWCI of 1.85, suggesting they are 85 percent above the global average. Spain, India, and Indonesia are 15, 18, and 36 percent below the global average.

4.9 Co-occurrence analysis

The co-occurrence of the keywords was analyzed for keywords having a minimum of 40 occurrences to create cluster-based density visualization based on the weight of occurrences, as shown in Fig. 11 . The core subject areas with the highest occurrences in the field of port performance-related studies are “Data Envelopment Analysis”, “efficiency”, “simulation”, “container terminal”, “port competitiveness”, “port governance”, “port management”, and “sustainability”. DEA and efficiency are the most weighted labels in the performance-related studies, with counts of 55 and 53, respectively. DEA and efficiency labels were followed by a simulation of the performance of seaports and container terminals and then the constructs related to performance, such as competitiveness, governance, management, and sustainability practices. In the computations text analysis of Sung-Woo et al. [ 49 ], the LDA output indicated DEA methodology as the most weighted term.

Density visualization of co-occurrences using VOSViewer

4.10 Keyword analysis

The scatter plot in Fig. 12 with size measures showing the frequency count of the top trending words indicates that the trending words with the highest frequency in the last ten years are “port operations”, followed by “Container terminal”, “Data Envelopment Analysis”, “efficiency”, and “Sustainability” with the count as 341, 168, 155,136 and 92 respectively. Automation has been the trending word in recent years, with the previous years trending with the COVID-19 keyword, followed by performance, port automation, and economic development.

Top Trending words

4.11 Thematic evolution analysis

Thematic evolution using a longitudinal map (alluvial graph) divides the timespan of the research field into slices of time duration prescribed based on the developments in the field. It illustrates the continuation and discontinuation of identified themes, thus explaining the conceptual structure of the field of interest [ 67 , 68 ]. The thematic evolution shown in Fig. 13 demonstrates the evolution of the themes with three cutting points in the years 2008, 2014, and 2020. 2008 was set as the first cutting point as the publications trend showed an exponential increase after 2007. Then, the remaining cutting points were set as equal intervals to assess the thematic evolution. The word count was set to default as 200, with a minimum cluster frequency of 5, the number of labels for each cluster as 4 with a minimum weight index of 0.1, and thematic analysis using the Louvain algorithm.

Thematic evolution since 1979 using R-bibliometrix package

Callon et al. [ 69 ] developed the co-word analysis technique based on the centrality and density matrix to analyze and explain word interactions in any research field over some time. According to Cobo et al. [ 57 ], the thematic map comprises four quadrants on which the themes are placed based on the centrality and density of the themes over the years. Centrality demonstrates the theme's importance or relevance within the given study area, whereas density represents the development of the theme over the selected timespan. The bubbles in the graph indicate the size of the occurrence within the cluster, comprised of interacting words demonstrating the co-occurrence network. Each quadrant has its characteristics based on the degree of centrality and density measures. Motor themes are those of high importance and development happening in the field. Niche themes are, by and large, isolated and highly developed combined with negligible, low, or limited importance. Emerging or declining themes are of low significance, and the density of the theme needs to be vigorously developed. Basic themes are characterized by high-importance and relevant and low-density themes. They are reasonably crucial for research since those topics still need to be fully developed and, therefore, potential issues for conducting future research [ 57 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. The recent 4th stage of the thematic map is shown in Fig. 14 for the 2019 to 2024 time span.

Thematic map of the 4th stage from 2018 till date using R-bibliometric package

The thematic map resulted in nine clusters in the 4th stage, as tabulated in Table 6 , summarising the themes and the related topics associated with each cluster.

The theme with the highest centrality, complimented with high density, is “sustainability” among the topics mapped. To get more insight into the theme of “sustainability” topic identified, the trend of sustainability keywords in the previous two decades was visualized as shown in Fig. 15 . Through the review of literature, it was also determined that the surge in usage of sustainability terms in research started after the pioneering work of Yap et al. [ 72 ], who initiated the focused discussions on sustainability-related topics, and after that, the usage has steadily grown exponentially.

Frequency Trend of Sustainability keyword

5 Discussions

This study focused on bibliometric analysis of port performance-related studies based on the bibliometric data available on the Scopus database. This article critically examined bibliometric data of studies related to the performance of ports to explore the evolution, identify trends of articles published from 1975 till April 20th, 2024, the leading authors, top journals, impact metrics, and leading countries in terms of publications, and thereby highlight the research directions on port performance studies. From the trend of publications, it is evident that there has been a significant spike in the number of publications after 2007. After that, it has been exponentially increasing in concurrence with the findings of Pallis et al. [ 8 ], indicating that port performance is one of the highly focused research areas in recent times with over 10 percent annual growth rate. OConnor et al. [ 5 ] also highlighted the growing desire of policymakers and stakeholders in port performance evaluation and policy development, keeping in mind the interests of the public as well. The average citations were over 20 per document; however, the citations fluctuated with irregular peaking and flattening patterns. The timespan from 2000 to 2007 saw the highest number of citations and, after that, has been moderate but more significant than the rate of publications over the years except for the last two years, where the citations are yet to pick up due to the recently published articles. A review of publications gives insight into the fact that the articles are predominantly on port efficiency-related studies, with many articles starting to focus on DEA methodology application on port efficiency and port performance evaluation studies. Other studies [ 49 , 50 ] also found that DEA-based studies have the highest number of publications and citations.

Among the various pre-defined subject areas of port-performance-related publications in Scopus, “Business, Management, and Accounting” contributes close to 12 percent, about half of the contribution in the “Social Sciences” subject area and, indicating “Business, Management, and Accounting” as a highly potential subject area for focused contribution in the port performance related field. Somensi et al. [ 50 ] also highlighted the need to enhance the research on business management. Among the sources of publications, “Maritime Policy & Management” leads the race in publications, with close to 7 percent of the publications. Our findings concur with the observations of Somensi et al. [ 50 ], who found similar results in their systematic literature review on the performance of the port topic. In their content analysis study, Notteboom et al. [ 49 ] highlighted 267 articles published in the “Maritime Policy & Management” journal, and the leading and continuous contributions of studies related to port were highlighted in the journal. Therefore, “Maritime Policy & Management” should be one of the primary journals researchers must subscribe to for notifications and regularly track updates on port research. The publications in “Maritime Policy & Management” are equal to the publications in “Maritime Economics and Logistics” and “Sustainability” journals. In the source of publication analysis, “Maritime Economics and Logistics” and “Sustainability” were identified as the sources with the highest growth rate for publications related to port performance. These two journals were at the bottom during 2000 and have shown exponential growth, especially the “Maritime Economics and Logistics” journal, which has reached second in annual publications growth, closely followed by the exponentially growing “Sustainability” journal, which has been gaining momentum since 2015. The “Sustainability” journal is growing steadily and exponentially compared to other trailing journals behind “Maritime Policy & Management”. The findings of Zhou et al. [ 73 ] also confirm that “Sustainability” and “Maritime Policy & Management” journals are the leading journals in port-related studies.

Among the authors contributing, Lam JSL, Notteboom, Song DW, Pallis, Ng AKY, Yang Z, and Ducruet C are a few critical leading authors with the highest contribution and co-citation in port performance-related studies. Zhou et al. [ 73 ] have a fascinating insight into the changing pattern of research hot spots in port-related studies and their associated dynamics. The study of Wang et al. [ 35 ] also identified LSL Lam as the most productive contributor with the highest number of publications. The collaborations network shows collaborations happening in some pockets within the US, UK, some parts of Europe, and South Korea to a greater level, thus taking international collaboration to 30% share. Although the US is ahead of the UK in publications, the normalized FWCI for the UK is higher by 30% at 1.75 compared to the US. It is worth highlighting that in addition to the multi-country-author collaboration, industry-institute collaboration is also improving and uplifting the impact further. Analyzing the country of publications, with about 20% contributions, China is the only developing economy in the leading countries of publications and citations, followed by the US, UK, Korea, Spain, and Italy. However, regarding citations, the UK has dominated other countries with the highest citations, followed by China and the US. This finding confirms the past conclusions [ 35 , 73 ], where China was identified as the leading country regarding the number of publications, followed by the US and South Korea.

Density visualization of co-occurrences categorized the keywords into 3 clusters centered around the port operation, container terminal, and efficiency topics. The port operations-centered cluster had related keywords: performance assessment, competitiveness, sustainability, sustainable port development, decision-making, and policy. The container terminal-centered cluster had container cargo handling and computer simulation aspects. Lastly, the port efficiency-centered cluster had DEA, benchmarking, and productivity aspects. In the top ten labels based on occurrence frequency, DEA and efficiency are the most weighted labels, which aligns with the findings of the past conclusions [ 49 , 50 ]. An overview of existing literature on port performance research also shows the studies were predominantly based on applying DEA methodology to compute the efficiency of the port, simulation modeling followed by critical dimensions such as port competitiveness, port performance, and sustainability, along with port governance and strategic management. DEA and efficiency labels were followed by a simulation of the performance of seaports and container terminals and then the constructs related to performance, such as competitiveness, governance, management, and sustainability practices.

Remarkably, thematic evolution shows the absence of DEA methodology after the cutting point in 2018, where it peaked and was later taken over by the sustainability theme. The sustainability theme started to evolve in 2013, far below DEA, and attained the top position from 2019 to 2024. The DEA theme, which has evolved since 2008, has been taken over by the port performance theme since 2019. The thematic analysis has also shed light on the themes revolving around the port hinterland theme, which have evolved through DEA methodology and recently, since 2017, into sustainability-related themes along with port performance. Container terminal and port governance have been themes that have continued to exist since 2008. The “COVID-19 pandemic” and “automatic detection systems” (AIS) were the latest themes that have explicitly evolved. As the entire world faced the wrath and impact of the global pandemic, the port industry was also not left free, and many studies [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ] have evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on the port sector. Alongside this, most industries have adopted automation technologies to overcome the challenges and effects of the pandemic. This phenomenon is confirmed by the top trending words “automation” and “technology adoption” in 2023 and 2024. The application of robotics and other AIS in port operations became eminent, leading to many studies [ 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ] exploring innovative applications and opportunities for automation and digital technology adoption. Even the keywords analysis indicates that technology adoption and automation have been the topics that have been highly discussed in recent times.

Yang et al. [ 81 ] also highlighted the increasing popularity of AIS in their review work on AIS and big data in maritime research. Ashrafi et al. [ 83 ] discussed the design of games to address various contain terminal problems. They proposed using virtual and augmented reality and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies through simulation games in the dynamic port industry that can train and develop professionals who handle port planning, operations, and management. Meanwhile, Lee et al. [ 84 ] underlined the crucial role of AI and computer vision technology in response to dynamics in the port industry, specifically focusing on intelligent traffic management and parking space and container operations optimization in maritime ports. Applications of AIS and IoT through the “Smart Port” concept were detailed by Rajabi et al. [ 82 ] to overcome the challenges in port operations in the dynamic environment within which the port operates. Similar to the Industry 4.0 framework, the new-age innovative automation and robotics applications in seaport operations were conceptualized under the Shipping 4.0 framework in the study of Muhammad et al. [ 79 ].

The most trending words with the highest frequency in the last five years were identified as “Sustainability”, similar to the findings of Sung-Woo et al. [ 49 ], who highlighted the term as a core focus area in port-related research since 2010. They reviewed port-related research works applying the computational text analysis approach to the articles available in both the Scopus database and WoS database related to port research and published in international journals indexed in the Science Citation Index and Korea Citation Index also highlighted the need for sustainable port development and more focus on environmental sustainability alongside the development of port competitiveness. A similar finding was underscored by Wagner (2019) in the bibliometric data-based study on port cities. Sustainability is the new theme that has taken center stage, with a high density of publications and high importance and greater centrality, indicating the relevance of the studies in the current context. Most recent studies have spotted sustainability in the maritime industry as a topic of focused interest, as pointed out by Lee et al. [ 85 ], ever since the term was used at the first Earth Summit in 1992. It is emphasized as the need of the hour, supported by SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda on emission reduction and sustainable maritime operations that have put significant pressure on maritime seaports, thereby demanding regulator compliance and sustainability reporting. Sustainability and intelligent ports were part of the motor theme cluster, indicating the theme of high importance and development happening in the field. AIS and ML were part of Motor cum niche cross-over themes indicating they are developed in isolation but are niche in nature. Similarly, the blockchain technology keyword in the niche theme is a highly developed concept, but it is isolated from the application in port in the development and growth stage.

We identified some of the major theoretical foundations that were adopted in port-related studies, such as “Business model innovation theory”, “resilience theory”, “resource dependence theory” and “stakeholder theory”. Ashrafi et al. [ 83 ] adopted stakeholder theory to synthesize the drivers of sustainability in maritime ports in the systematic review study. They discussed the sustainability strategies grouped into different clusters based on multi-stakeholder perspectives to integrate into port planning and operations as a response to the changing industry dynamics. Denktas-Sakar et al. [ 86 ] adopted the “resource dependence theory” to conceptualize a framework to integrate the relationships between the supply chain and port stakeholders to identify the impact on the sustainability of ports. Giudice et al. [ 13 ] adopted the “Business model innovation theory” and “resilience theory” to determine the innovative technologies and digitization of port operations as a solution for the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of ports in line with the description of Elkington [ 87 ] who coined the “Triple Bottom Line” foundations of sustainability. No specific definition of sustainability has been universally accepted, even though many have attempted to define it [ 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ]; however, there is a common understanding from different schools of thought [ 88 , 89 ] that sustainability encompasses most frequently related dimensions which are termed as the three pillars of sustainability have respective practices, viz economic sustainability practices, environmental sustainability practices, and social sustainability practices, that facilitate and lead towards sustainable development through practicing these practices. Recently, Jugović et al. [ 32 ] highlighted the emerging concept of a green port governance model of adopting sustainability practices in the port. Many studies [ 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ] defined sustainability practices as the practices that aid organizations in developing opportunities and, at the same time, managing the three dimensions of organizational processes—economic, environmental, and social aspects in value creation over the long term.

Furthermore, Bjerkan et al. [ 96 ] highlighted the need for more port sustainability-related studies and empirical research on port sustainability. Adding to that, Lim et al. [ 97 ] also emphasized the importance of sustainable port performance in their systematic review of port sustainability and performance-related studies. They raised the flag on the focus of extant studies, mainly on environmental sustainability, and the need for more importance placed on social and economic sustainability in research studies. Multiple studies [ 98 , 99 , 100 ] have pointed out the uncertainty and lack of clarity among industry professionals and other research-oriented consultants and academicians on approaches to excel in sustainable performance and whether there are any significant positive results on performance due to sustainability. This considerable gap must be addressed and indicates the dire need for research incorporating sustainability concepts within the framework related to port performance. Many studies [ 14 , 49 , 101 , 102 ] also acknowledged sustainability as one of the primary factors contributing to port competitiveness and performance enhancement. The report by UNCTAD [ 1 ] highlights the expectations of ports to consider sustainability aligned with port performance through strategic and operational steps as it has become a priority in overall maritime shipment. The report also opined that ports operating with higher sustainability have greater chances of attracting investments and increased support from various port stakeholders. Lim et al. [ 97 ] also highlighted the importance of sustainable port performance in their systematic review of port sustainability and performance. They mentioned the focus on only environmental sustainability and the need for more importance on social and economic sustainability in research studies. A similar emphasis on the ecological sustainability of green and sustainable ports was found in other studies [ 103 , 104 ]. However, their studies also mentioned incorporating sustainability's economic and social dimensions in future research. Lee et al. [ 85 ] also outlined the need to explore the methodologies adopted in sustainability-related studies in their proposed future research directions.

Even though Sung-Woo et al. [ 49 ] highlighted quality and sustainability as the focus areas of port-related research since 2010, [ 99 ] opined that sustainability is an emerging concept that has yet to be overlooked. They also raised doubts about practitioners' and researchers' need for more clarity on whether the sustainability concept can yield positive results or has been successful. Broccardo et al. [ 100 ] also highlight the concern and crucial gap of need for clarity among academicians and researchers on the excellence that can be achieved in sustainability and performance. Further, in the review of tools and technologies work by Bjerkan et al. [ 96 ], empirical data-based research on the sustainability of ports was demanded due to the need for more sufficient studies related to experiences on implementation and associated challenges in port operations. More importantly, empirical data-driven research on sustainability-related topics and port performance will be critical to the growing body of knowledge.

Summarising the above discussions and findings, the insight drawn indicates that sustainability” is the most highlighted and evolving theme in recent years in port performance-related studies. [ 105 ] also pointed out the increased focus and evolution of sustainability in the context of society, industry as well as regulatory bodies in line with the argument of Broccardo et al. [ 100 ], who highlighted the concern and gap of lack of clarity among academicians and researchers on the excellence that can be achieved in sustainability and performance and emphasizes on addressing this crucial gap. Further, although companies are becoming increasingly involved in sustainability [ 106 ], academic researchers still need to make clear how to excel in sustainability and performance [ 98 ], thus highlighting a gap that must be addressed. This has resulted in a gush of publications on topics related to sustainability, as highlighted by [ 107 ].

6 Conclusion and future research directions

To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this study is novel due to its holistic coverage of the span of publications and growth and the thematic evolution of publications in maritime port performance-related studies. The bibliometric exploratory data analysis of articles published from 1979 to April 2024 was conducted to review the trend, explore the existing characteristics of port performance-related studies, and identify opportunities for future research. The increasing number of publications related to port performance indicates the extreme importance and focus on the performance of ports and related topic areas, especially from 2008 onwards.

The study contributes in the following ways. Firstly, it contributes to the overall understanding of the introduction and growth of port performance-related studies worldwide. Secondly, it provides exploratory data analysis on key characteristics such as the occurrence of keywords, research subject areas, top publishing journals, and country-wise research publications. Lastly, the findings give possible future research directions and opportunities. This is also a pioneer study that demonstrated the use of Python software and relevant packages for creating advanced visualizations using bibliometric data and the Bibliometrix package of the R-programming tool.

The study and the outcome discussions are bound with limitations, as in most research, and future research can address the shortcomings. Primarily, this study was limited to articles published in the Scopus database alone. Even institutional ranking agencies like Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) are adopting indexing matrices from Scopus due to its popularity and reliability of peer-reviewed publications in reputed journals. However, future research could integrate articles from other databases like WoS, ProQuest, IEEE, and Google Scholar for a holistic view of research publications available in other leading scholarly databases. An extended scoping review study can be conducted to understand better the underlying themes and the antecedents of port performance variables. Also, the studies should be focused on port management, competitiveness, and sustainability constructs to keep in line with the growing number of studies on these important and relevant labels related to sustainable port performance management. As recommended by Jeevan et al. [ 14 ], topic modeling, also termed LDA, to uncover the specific themes in port performance can be explored for further thematic research and comparing the studies between countries. Further, the digital and technology revolution has given way to innovative technologies and automation systems that aid resource optimization in various port operations and management. The extent of AI and ML applications supported with big data and blockchain concepts could also be explored for technology-aided sustainable development.

Despite the limitations mentioned above, the study contributes to the body of knowledge in terms of the evolution and trend of ongoing research in port performance, the leading journals of publication, publication citations, the most prolific authors, the co-authorship and occurrence network, top frequently used labels and topics, the thematic evolution and subject areas of study which will be of significant review and reference to researchers, academicians, and industry practitioner giving future directions of research on port performance and increased focus on a sustainability theme.

Data availability

The data for analysis in the study was based on the bibliometric data downloaded from the scholarly database Scopus and was limited to published research and review articles in English till March 2024. The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are private for some as the bibliometric data search is available for subscribed users but from the corresponding author at a reasonable request.

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Kishore L conceptualized the manuscript, collected the data, performed analysis, and authored the manuscript. Dr. Yogesh Pai P conducted an in-depth literature review of the bibliometric studies available in the Scopus database, authored the manuscript, and contributed to the results and discussion chapter along with justifications. Dr.Bidyut Kumar Ghosh co-authored the analysis and discussion chapter of the manuscript. Dr. Sheeba Pakkan contributed to co-occurrence, co-authorship network analysis, citation impact-related data collection, analysis, and discussion.

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Kishore, L., Pai, Y.P., Ghosh, B.K. et al. Maritime shipping ports performance: a systematic literature review. Discov Sustain 5 , 108 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00299-y

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Writing a Literary Analysis To analyze, by definition, is to examine, in detail, the structure/makeup of something with the purpose of explaining or interpreting how its parts work together. A literary analysis is a paper on one, or many, of the key elements in a text and how they support a main idea or purpose. When writing a literary analysis,
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The Basics of Literary Analysis Writing. Before diving into the specifics of the outline, let's grasp the fundamental elements of a literary analysis essay.. At its core, this type of essay requires a thoughtful examination and interpretation of a literary work. Whether it's a novel, poem, or play, the aim is to analyze the author's choices and convey your insights to the reader.
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Microsoft Word - Literary analysis.rtf. The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an ...
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A literary analysis is not a summary; it reaches past basic comprehension and facts. Often, this type of analysis will argue the theme, message, or purpose of a work by analyzing the writer's use of literary devices and narrative techniques. ... Create an outline to organize your thoughts, so when it's time to start writing, you won't ...
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Literary Analysis Outline. Here's a basic outline for this type of essay: Introduction. Hook: Engage the reader with a compelling quote, question, or anecdote related to the literary work. Background Information: Provide relevant information about the author, the title, and the context of the work. Thesis Statement: Clearly state the main point or argument of your analysis.
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Learn how to think critically and creatively about a work of literature and form an argument for its meaning. Find out what literary analysis is, how to perform it, and why it matters.
How to Write an Essay Outline
Learn how to plan the structure of your essay before you start writing with an essay outline. See examples of outlines for different types of essays, including literary analysis.
How To Write a Literary Analysis Step by Step
Create a rough outline. The first part of the actual process of how to write a literary analysis is to create a synopsis of the entire examination of the work. This will act as a framework for your analysis and help make it more coherent and keep it focused on the point you're trying to make. 4. Formulate a thesis.
12.14: Sample Student Literary Analysis Essays
Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap. City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative. Table of contents. Example 1: Poetry. Example 2: Fiction. Example 3: Poetry. Attribution. The following examples are essays where student writers focused on close-reading a literary work.
How to Write a Literary Analysis Structure & Format Example
Remember to clearly discuss the essence of your analysis and the chief idea based on the theme.) Literary Analysis Outline. A literary or critical analysis follows the same format as most other essays, given that it requires an introduction, a thesis statement, the body and lastly an analysis conclusion. Use the following guideline to help you ...
Writing a Literary Analysis Presentation
Writing a Literary Analysis Presentation. Our presentation is designed to help teachers introduce writing literary analysis to their students.
Maritime shipping ports performance: a systematic literature ...
The most recent publication on the maritime port sector is the bibliometric analysis study by Diniz et al. on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), wherein they used IRaMuTeQ and VOSviewer software tool to evaluate the trends through a systematic literature review. In the years 2023 and 2024 till the 20th of April ...

Literary Analysis Essay Outline - A Step By Step Guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Outline?

Literary Analysis Essay Introduction

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Literary Analysis Essay Conclusion

Literary Analysis Essay Format

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Literary Analysis Essay Outline Guide with Examples

The Basics of Literary Analysis Writing

The Significance of an Outline

Literary Analysis Essay Format

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Five Paragraph Essay

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Compare and Contrast Essay on Two Texts

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Writing A Literary Analysis Essay

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Paper Format and Structure

Analyzing Literature and writing a Literary Analysis

Creating an Outline

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Guidelines to Writing an Outstanding Literary Analysis Paper

Literary Analysis Paper Outline

II. Reason #1

III. Section II – Reason #2

Restate Thesis:

Sample Literary Analysis Essay college

Works Cited

Does the Sun Rise? A Study of Metaphors in Ernest – literary analysis example for a short story

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay: An Insightful Guide

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Literary Analysis Outline

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Step by Step

Step 1: Choose Your Text and Topic

Step 2: Create a Strong Thesis Statement

Step 3: Conduct Textual Analysis

Step 4: Set the Stage with Context

Step 5: Construct Analytical Body Paragraphs

Step 6: Craft a Thoughtful Conclusion

Literary Analysis Essay Do’s and Don’ts

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Final Thought

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

Understanding the Assignment

Preparatory Work

Critical Reading

First Reading

Second Reading

Crafting the Essay

Defining Your Audience

The Title of Your Essay

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

Introduction

Body Paragraphs

Revising the Essay

In Conclusion

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay: Purposes, Outline, Samples

What Is A Literary Analysis Essay?

What Is The Purpose Of A Literary Analysis Essay?

Content Of A Literary Analysis Essay

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