How do I write literary analysis?

Literary analysis involves closely evaluating a text and using evidence from it to support an argument. First of all, you need to make an argument. Read the question carefully and think about how you can use your knowledge of the text to answer it. Once you have decided on your argument, you need to find evidence from the text to support it. Look for proof on different scales; from overarching themes, to literary devices such as dramatic irony or pathetic fallacy, to quotes from characters, you can make note of any textual evidence for your ideas. Once you have all your ideas and arguments planned out, you can begin to write the analysis. You need an introduction, the main body of text, and then a conclusion. The main part of the text can be broken down into paragraphs. Within these paragraphs, it is important to think about structure. For this, you can use PEEL: PointEvidenceExplainLink. At the start of each paragraph, state your POINT. This might be a comment on a quote, or a literary device used by the author, which relates to your question and supports your argument. Once you have stated your idea, you then need to include EVIDENCE, such as a quote from the text in order to demonstrate that you’re telling the truth! You can then EXPLAIN how this quote supports your idea and why it’s important. Finally, LINK your point and evidence back to your main question; everything you write needs to be relevant to your main argument.