What does the teacher want from the student, demanding a comprehensive analysis of the text? The plan for such a task includes several points, which we will consider in this article. The work should take into account the historical realities in which the work was created, the characters and roles of the characters (both main and secondary), the features of the language and the construction of the structure of the text.
Context
The author of the work you are researching is an ordinary person who exists in some historical period of time. Problems in public life, political tension, personal experiences leave an indelible imprint on the works he published. Study what factors contributed to the writing of the book, and if you can, find parallels between the storylines and the events that actually happened in the world. All this will form the first paragraph of the plan for analyzing the text on literature.
Often, the relationship between the characters unfolds against the backdrop of major domestic and foreign political events: civil and international wars, revolutions, riots and uprisings, the adoption of high-profile legislative acts. There are natural phenomena reflected in the text: drought and subsequent famine, eclipses,to which a symbolic meaning is attributed, flooding of territories.
Main idea
Highlight the main idea of the piece. What is the message that the author wants to convey to the reader? What is the theme of the story around? State how the writer sets the stage for the content.
When making a plan for analyzing the text, pay attention to the keywords that often appear in the work. Based on them, you can easily highlight storylines, sharp and debatable issues. Besides, it will make your task easier. “Picking up words” is often the most difficult thing when you understand the meaning, but you cannot convey it using the language. This skill only comes with experience.
Types of speech
What stylistic means does the author use to express his thoughts? Perhaps he uses a narrative type of speech: you follow the actions of the characters, the process of their communication in various environments. At times, the focus of attention switches to "settings" and forms - the writer clarifies the details, uses the description of objects in order to create a more realistic picture, literally "draws" in the imagination of a person holding a book.
The most difficult type to analyze is reasoning, in which arguments are given, a certain point of view of the author is defended, which may be different from yours. Writing a work on a work of this kind can be a real test if you fundamentally disagree withthe arguments presented. And sometimes it’s very difficult to find your own arguments.
Style
Conversational style is usually used when describing the communication of characters. If the characters belong to the uneducated population, to the peasantry, etc., then the author can even use reduced and rude vocabulary; if aristocrats or representatives of other “higher circles” communicate, then in the text they often own too lofty words. This is worth noting in the complex analysis of the text (the plan provides for the analysis of the styles used).
The text may also include an artistic or journalistic style - the language of newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. There is also a kind of speech used in the preparation of documents and other business papers. This style is called formal business.
Behavior of heroes
Watch what the characters do and say. What is their function? Why were they introduced by the writer into the narrative, included in the author's plan? An analysis of a literary text cannot do without an assessment of their activities. "What is good and what is bad?" - This is, of course, a very controversial issue. However, you, as a researcher, must at least try to answer it using the arguments and examples from the book.
Author's Features
Note what figures of speech, artistic and stylistic structures distinguish the creations of the selected writer from many others? What lexical units does he use more often than others? What can you say about the copyrightmorphology, syntax, phonetics? It is these details that ultimately create a complete portrait of a literary classic.
Artistic media
What constructions can you see in the text? Which of them are used more often than others? This point should in no case be omitted in terms of the analysis of a prose text. Your instructor has taught you this topic and will be happy to see you apply what you have learned.
Perhaps the author is often ironic or distinguished by sarcastic attacks on characters? This is true of many writers. In particular, the works of Bernard Shaw or Mark Twain are distinguished by the abundance of such elements. Russian writers also liked to joke: Pushkin, and Gogol, and even Mayakovsky - after reading their creations, you will certainly see what they are talking about.
On the other hand, the text can be replete with epithets, metaphors, hyperbole and litotes - all these terms you should know from literature lessons. All these tools are often used, for example, when describing nature or assessing by some characters the actions and characters of others.
A text analysis plan should also include a careful analysis of the phonotactic component and rhythm if you are working with a work written in poetic form. Poems, epigrams, ballads, songs - each of these genres has features that need to be highlighted explicitly. Otherwise, the teacher will lower your grade.
Achievements
Turning to the conclusion of the work, in the last paragraph of the text analysis plan, planstudy what trace the work of your choice has left in history. Perhaps we should talk not only about a specific work, but also about the writer: what works of his can be mentioned along with the analyzed one?
What is the importance of his work then, in the past, and now? Not a single work is included in the course of literature lessons by chance. Try to cover this topic.
Conclusion
So, the text analysis plan discussed in this article consists of almost ten points, each of which should be covered in your work.
If you do everything according to the recommendation presented, the teacher will be pleased and will give you an excellent mark. Of course, a lot depends on the depth and quality of your reasoning and argumentation, but the very presence of a structure that affects all the questions of interest to the teacher will add an extra point to your mark.
