Organizing Critical
Analysis Essays
You’ve done an intro and thesis.
Now it’s time to learn how to do the
rest… because you’ll be writing one
of these essays sooner than you
think!
Introduction

Okay, you know this…
GENERAL/
UNIVERSAL
1. Broad thematic
statement
2. Link from theme to
selection
SPECIFIC
3. Thesis Statement
Sample intro. – Mulvaneys
1. Broad,
thematic
statement
2. Link
theme to
selection
3. Thesis
The realization of one’s own mortality may be the
threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood and
the sober understanding of adulthood. In the excerpt
from Joyce Carol Oates’ We Were the Mulvaneys, the
adult narrator, Judd Mulvaney, reflects on a moment in
his childhood when death first entered his
consciousness. The juxtaposed symbols of Judd’s bike
and his father’s pickup, the moving brook and the
stationary railing, as well as the contrasting sentence
fragments and run-on sentences, all reveal the young
Judd’s astonishment and anxiety at his discovery, and
the mature Judd’s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal
moment.
Need an abbreviated intro in a
time crunch?
The realization of one’s own mortality may be the threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood
In the excerpt from Joyce
Carol Oates’ We Were the Mulvaneys,
the
juxtaposed symbols of Judd’s bike and his
father’s pickup, the moving brook and the
stationary railing, as well as the contrasting
sentence fragments and run-on sentences,
all reveal the young Judd’s astonishment and
anxiety at his discovery, and the mature
Judd’s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal
moment.
and the sober understanding of adulthood.
the adult narrator,
In <author’s> <title
of selection>,
<thesis statement>.
Judd Mulvaney, reflects on a moment in his childhood when death first entered his consciousness.
3.
Thesis
Need an abbreviated intro in a
time crunch?
The realization of one’s own mortality may be the threshold between the blissful naivete of childhood
In the excerpt from Joyce
Carol
Oates’
WeJoyce
Were
In the
excerpt
from
the Mulvaneys,
theWe
juxtaposed
symbols of
Carol Oates’
Were the Mulvaneys,
Judd’s bike and his father’s pickup, the moving
the
symbols railing,
of Judd’sasbike
and
brook juxtaposed
and the stationary
well
as his
the
father’s
pickup, the
moving brook
and the
contrasting
sentence
fragments
and run-on
stationary
railing,
well asJudd’s
the contrasting
sentences,
all reveal
theasyoung
sentenceand
fragments
and
run-on
sentences,
astonishment
anxiety
at
his
discovery,
and
3.
all reveal
the wistfulness
young Judd’sinastonishment
and
Thesis
the mature
Judd’s
recounting this
anxiety
at
his
discovery,
and
the
mature
pivotal moment.
and the sober understanding of adulthood.
the adult narrator,
Judd Mulvaney, reflects on a moment in his childhood when death first entered his consciousness.
Judd’s wistfulness in recounting this pivotal
moment.
Big Picture of Our Essays
Introduction
Body Paragraph 1
Body Paragraph 2
Body Paragraph 3…?
Concluding sentence
or paragraph
Body Paragraphs – Structure

Topic sentence



Chunks – usually 2 per paragraph; ideally, 3



Readily and clearly conveys what you are
analyzing/discussing in the paragraph
Should include specifics about the author’s technique
Concrete details – sentences with text evidence
Commentary – 2-3 sentences of your analysis; how
the author/poet conveys meaning through the device
Closing sentence – sums up this paragraph. The
best will segue to the next body paragraph.
Body Paragraphs – Sentence by
Sentence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Topic sentence
Concrete detail(s)
Commentary
Commentary
Concrete detail(s)
Commentary
Commentary
Concluding Sentence
Topic sentence and 1 chunk
1. Topic
sentence
The opening image of Judd straddling his bike establishes his
innocence, and later image of the pickup truck symbolizes the
contrasting world of experience in which Judd’s father and brother Concrete
detail
firmly reside. The image of the bike reappears in the latter part of the
passage as the pickup truck is “barreling up the drive,” breaking into
Judd’s figurative trance. The bike and the pickup truck: they are both
modes of transportation, but they are quite different in terms of what
they imply. Bikes carry with them the suggestion of childhood, and
since childhood is often associated with innocence, the bike itself may
be a symbol of Judd’s innocence. Bikes may also represent a child’s
newfound independence, since they give children a mobility that can
potentially carry them away from home.
Sentences of commentary connecting DEVICE to
MEANING, or the “HOW” to the “WHAT”
Conclusions




You will be in a time crunch at this point, so
sometimes your conclusion may just be a single
sentence at the end of your final body paragraph…
and that’s okay.
1-3 sentences that sum up your analysis.
PLEASE don’t just “invert” your introduction. So
banal…
A tip: comment on how the passage/excerpt/poem
itself ends and how that ending conveys the
meaning you pinpointed in your thesis
Sample conclusion
This passage from Oates’ novel is a poignant,
highly symbolic vignette of a boy wrestling with
mortality. From its autumnal setting to the
imagery of the innocent bike and the mature
pickup, Oates captures the somber realization that
everyone dies, a realization that is a steep price to
pay for admission into the freedom of adulthood.
So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 By tone
 If a work has multiple tones, this
may work well, particularly since you
will be writing about HOW the
author conveys a certain tone…
which means you will be talking
about devices
A word on attitude/tone
 More often than not, the tone is more
complex than just a single attitude:


Feels more than one way about a subject;
Feels conflicting ways about a subject
 How is that true in the Quoyle passage?
In “Convergence…”?
So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 By device

This is the most obvious and, if all you
ever discuss is diction and imagery, the
most pedestrian method.
 Works well for syntax and structure of a
piece
  Be careful with diction, imagery, and
figurative language – there’s a great deal of
overlap between these three.

So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 Topically
 If a work deals with more than one
theme, idea, location, etc., it may be
salient to organize by theme, idea, etc.
 As with tone, you would discuss
multiple devices within each body
paragraph
So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 Shift
 Literary works often shift in their
progress toward an end, so you could
devote a paragraph to what happens
pre- and post-shift. Shifts often occur
in:
-Tone
-Speaker
-Theme
-Motif
So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 Structure
 Sometimes the sequence of the work
lends itself to a body paragraph on the
beginning of the excerpt, the middle,
and the end.
 Within each body paragraph, you
would discuss the various devices the
author/poet employs
So… how should I organize
body paragraphs?
 Motif
 I’m starting to feel redundant here, but
you’re starting to get the idea. If a work
has recurring motifs, you could
organize your essay by motif. Again,
this allows you to discuss multiple
devices per paragraph
The Bottom Line
 I cannot give you a universal
template.
 What to consider:
 To what does the
passage/poem/excerpt best lend itself?
 What can you identify and discuss
most confidently and competently?
Elements of Literary Style
This is not an exhaustive list of literary elements. However, it provides a more than adequate foundation for understanding how literature
works.
DICTION
SYNTAX
1.Sentence length
General
•Formal/infor 2.Sentence structure
•
Decl./inter./imp./
mal/colloquial
exclam.
Word-specific
•Connotation
•Particularly
intense
denotation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ellipsis
Loose/periodic
Balanced
Antithesis
Parallel structure
Rhetorical questions
Arrangement of ideas
Asyndeton
Polysyndeton
Anaphora
FIGURATIVE
IMAGERY
LANGUAGE (figures of
speech, rhetorical devices,
tropes)
1.Metaphor
2.Simile
3.Personification
4.Synecdoche
5.Metonomy
6.Irony
7.Allusion
8.Oxymoron
9.Paradox
10.Hyperbole
11.Understatement
12.Pun
13.Synaesthesia
14.Symbol
15.Apostrophe
Words that
represent
concrete realities;
that which we can
see, hear, touch,
tase, or smell in a
text. The effect of
an image often
rests on the
common
associations we
have with it.
POINT OF
VIEW
1.First person
2.Third
person
(objective,
limited,
omniscient)
Products/Results/Outcomes of Style
Tone: the writer/narrator/speaker’s attitude toward a subject, as detected by close attention to the above
elements; emotional meaning.
Theme: Universal idea; central idea; intellectual meaning