the narrator speaks
American Literature Study Guide
Use this study guide to help you with terms and concepts related to literature.
I. Point of View
II. Types of Essays
III. Critical Approaches for Studying Literature
IV. Literary Terms
V. Ten Steps of Poetry Analysis
I. Point of View – Point of view refers to how a story is told:
First person narration – the “I” voice; the narrator speaks from his or her own point of
view.
Third person narration – the “he” or “she” voice.
Limited omniscient narration – third person narrator who presents only the inner thoughts
of one or two characters.
Omniscient narration – third person narrator who presents the inner thoughts of ALL of
the characters, capable of describing events happening simultaneously in different places.
Unreliable narrator – a narrator whose interpretation and evaluation do not coincide with
the implicit beliefs and norms of the values held by the author or reader.
Reliable narrator – a narrator who is trustworthy, who offers a mainly unbiased account
of the events.
II. Types of Essays
Reflective essay – an essay in which the writer ponders ideas and offers reflections about
one or more topics. A reflective essay can have a personal tone.
Compare and Contrast essay – an essay in which a writer discusses the similarities and
differences between two works.
Analysis essay – an essay in which the writer offers an interpretation of a work,
suggesting what possible meanings might be hidden or embedded in the work.
III. Critical Approaches for Studying Literature
An approach to literature is defined by a reader’s focus. Below, you will see that
different approaches focus on different aspects of an author’s work:
o Formalist approach – focus on the “formal” elements of a work.
Structure
Tone
Plot
Character
Length
Style
o Biographical approach – use elements from the writer’s life.
Family background
Childhood experiences
Major events
o Psychological approach – examine motivations and unconscious material.
Of the author: the author may have written things without being
consciously aware of his or her motivation.
Of the characters: the characters’ actions and personalities may reveal
their “hidden” motivation.
Of the reader: readers may respond to a work for unconscious reasons.
o Historical approach – examine the historical context to find influences in an
author’s work.
Economic conditions
Cultural context
Major events, such as war
o Feminist approach – consider issues related to women in a work.
Language used to depict women
Women characters
Social conditions for women
Depictions of motherhood
Issues related to women writers
o Mythological approach – consider universal ideas and concepts.
Fear and death
Love and hope
Seasons and cycles
Quests and symbols
o Reader Response approach – consider the reader of a work.
Ways in which the reader imposes assumptions upon the work due to
background and culture
Ways in which the reader interprets a work by noticing different things
than another reader might notice
IV. Literary Terms
Allusion – a reference to another person, place, or event stated or implied.
Antagonist – the character or force that opposes the protagonist; sometimes the antagonist
is a storm or a situation against which the protagonist is fighting.
Drama – a narrative involving conflict and usually designed for presentation on a stage.
Essay – a work most often written in prose in which a topic is presented and discussed.
Genre – a category used to describe literary works:
o Novel
o Short story
o Drama
o Essay
o Speech
o Poem
o Science Fiction
Imagery – the visual objects and scenes included in a work; the use of language to
represent people and things descriptively. A work may have dominant types of imagery:
o nature imagery
o weather imagery
o war imagery
o fishing imagery
o technological imagery
Irony – a humorous or sarcastic use of language of a different or opposite meaning; an
incongruity between what actually happens and what is expected to happen, especially
when this disparity seems absurd or laughable.
Literature – the term suggests writings that are of superior quality which deal with
universal ideas.
Metaphor – a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is imaginatively applied to a
person, idea, or object:
o She’s a peach
o That car is a work horse
o My memory is foggy
Poem – a work written to produce auditory pleasure using sound and metrical or
patterned language.
Protagonist – the main character in a work, though not always the hero; the protagonist
may be good or evil, but the protagonist is always the main character.
Setting – the time, location, and social environment of a literary work.
Short story – a brief work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting.
Simile – a figure of speech in which two things are compared using “like” or “as”:
o My love is like a rose
o The child is as pretty as a picture
Stanza – An arrangement of lines grouped together in a poem
Style – the features of a work that pertains to a writer’s choice of words.
Theme – an idea that is central to the work.
Tone – the mood or attitude of a work:
o Melancholy
o Lighthearted
o Serious
o Playful
o Dramatic
o Formal
o Angry
o Eerie
o Solemn
o Loving
V. Ten Steps of Poetry Analysis
Use this method as a way to approach most poems of short to average length:
Step 1 – Read the poem out loud.
o Reading the poem out loud will help you to “hear” the sound devices the poet has
used, such as meter and rhyme
o Reading the poem out loud will help you to grasp what is happening in the poem
Step 2 – Use the dictionary.
o Look up unfamiliar words
o Look up familiar words to refresh your understanding of them
Step 3 – Focus on the speaker of the poem.
o Who is the speaker?
o Is the speaker male or female?
The poet may be one gender and the speaker another gender
Often there are no words that suggest the gender of the speaker, and you
can assume that it is probably the same gender as the writer
o Look for clues about the speaker
The speaker’s tone
The speaker’s age
The speaker’s situation or conflict
Step 4 – Focus on the audience.
o Does the speaker seem to be talking to a specific group of people, such as
children?
o Are there any words that let you know who the audience might be?
o Quite often, the audience is a general readership, but sometimes a speaker is
talking to a friend, lover, parent, or child.
Step 5 – Identify the tone, which will relate to moods or feelings.
o Sad, melancholy, subdued
o Contemplative, thoughtful, peaceful
o Chaotic, bitter, angry
o Playful, lighthearted, joyful
Step 6 – Identify the rhyme or lack of rhyme.
o Examine the end word in each line to see if there is a pattern of sound
o Examine words in the middle of the lines to see if there are internal rhymes
(rhymes that do not occur at the end of the line but somewhere in the middle)
o Chart the rhyme scheme using alphabetical letters.
o For the last word of the first line, use the letter “a.”
o If the last word of the second line rhymes with the last word of the first line, again
use the letter “a.”
o If the last word of the third line does not rhyme with the first and second lines, use
the letter “b.”
o If the last word of the fourth line rhymes with either the first line or the third line,
give it the same designation.
Example:
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow
The rhyme scheme of this stanza is aaba
Step 7 – Focus on the stanzas.
o Does the poem have stanzas or is it one long series of lines?
o How many lines are in each stanza?
o Do you see a turning point in a particular stanza?
o If there are no defined stanzas, is there a turning point somewhere in the poem?
Step 8 – Focus on the sounds.
o Harsh, tense sounds
o Soft, smooth sounds
o Long and short vowel sounds
o Alliteration (repetition of the first consonant)
“Long, lovely, and lush”
o Do the sounds go along with the content of the poem?
Is the poem angry, using harsh, tense sounds? (s, sh, z, k)
Is the poem peaceful, using soft, smooth sounds? (l, m, n, r)
Step 9 – Look for images and attempt to categorize them.
o Weather
o Seasonal
o Violent
o Technological
o Natural
Step 10 – Focus on the subject of the poem.
o What is the poem about?
o Can you write out what you think the subject is in a single sentence?
o Can you tell another person what the poem is about?
After going through this process with a poem, you will understand it more clearly.