Write a literary analysis essay about Beowulf. The essays for this class are based on the idea of an in-depth analysis in literature through a specific focus or “lens.” A “literary lens” is a perspective of interpretation in the text, ranging from questions about the way an individual word should be interpreted to much larger questions of theme and context, such as what the problem/tension implies about character, gender, symbolism, irony, or religious references in the poem. This “lens” can also be a political, psychological, or cultural discussion of the text. For our purposes a “lens” is any question about how a piece of literature could be interpreted in multiple ways and why that is interesting or strange or possibly what this interpretation reveals about a place, time, or community . Your assignment for the literary analysis paper is to choose a lens to analyze in Beowulf which interests you and tell why the implications matter to understanding and appreciating the poem.
In the paper, you should:
1. Identify the lens clearly. What is the perspective and what will you use to explain and explore this lens? (with symbolism, diction, irony, gender, etc.). For example, a possible thesis for the essay could look like this:
Prompt: Numerology–We see the repetition of several numbers in Beowulf. What significance does this have in the poem?
Thesis: While numbers play a significant role in all literature, the repetition of numbers in Beowulf is significant in both a Pagan Numerology and Biblical Numerology, revealing a subtext to the poem that offers a duality of interpretations.
2. Provide textual evidence to support your interpretation. This is about your original thoughts on the text (you may use a secondary source as a support for the lens but not as your thesis). If a student uses a secondary source without attribution and integration, he or she is plagiarizing the source ideas and will receive a zero for the assignment. Use secondary sources ethically.
3. Do not generalize about the issue. Provide specific examples from the literary work (quotations that reveal the lens) and make strong analytical claims (the lens of cultural connections is interesting, significant, revealing, or strange because _______________).
4. There is a difference between a formal, academic analysis and an informal, personal response. This paper focuses on an academic, argumentative thesis (versus solely informative thesis) that argues for an interesting or unusual interpretation of a lens (ambiguity/tension) in the text, using textual examples to support your points. Since this is a formal analysis, use 3rd person pronouns only. Must have Works Cited entry for the poem in your anthology or online poem (see link in Modules) and any other scholarly secondary sources you use (do not quote a dictionary, Spark Notes, enotes, Wikipedia, etc.).
Purpose: To analyze the meanings and contradictions from a specific perspective/context and develop a complex, argumentative thesis. You will not simply make an observation about how an element is used in the poem or an observation about what the theme is, but rather answer the question, “Why does it matter?” How does this connect to a specific lens? You must make your thesis clear in your introduction.
Audience: Assume your audience is familiar with the poem you will write about and with all of the literary elements we have studied. In other words, there is no need to “tell the story” or define literary terms. DO NOT SUMMARIZE the text, only analyze and support with examples.
Points to consider: Do not discuss the entire work but rather discuss a specific lens/focus. Focus your argument. Beware of being too broad or general. Instead, FOCUS on the parts of the poem that best demonstrate what you are trying to argue. (This is why we analyzed a section at a time) Use applicable literary terms in your analysis (speaker/persona, tone, imagery, figurative language, symbolism, syntax, diction, sound, rhythm and meter, or structure). You must be able to say how an element works in the poem to create multiple meanings. For instance, if you are discussing a specific focus in diction, you should talk about why different words create different meanings (symbolism, figurative language, etc.). You will need to give specific textual evidence (at least two direct quotations from the per body paragraph that specifically reveal the lens/focus) to support your argument, and then you will need to analyze your evidence. To analyze means to show HOW your evidence supports your argument — analysis draws an interpretive (i.e., others might see it a different way) conclusion, explains, and illuminates. Be careful that your analysis does not simply restate the evidence, evaluate whether the writing is a good or bad example of the element, or only make an observation about the evidence.
