for students : all the ingredients of a good essay
Studying for a literature degree? Taking a literature course? Literature students will appreciate our range of literature essays covering a variety of popular topics. Get a helping hand with these essay examples, donated by students like yourself! Find more literature essays here.
Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in 1930s America during the dust bowl and The Great Depression. In the novel Steinbeck introduces the reader to many different characters. One of the characters we are introduced to is Curley’s wife who is represented as a very lonely and selfish person. Steinbeck also portrays Curley’s … Read more
In William Shakespeare’s poem King Lear, the character King Lear is an aging king with no male heir to inherit his throne, who decides to play a game with his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan in order to determine who would inherit the biggest piece of his land after his death. King Lear was … Read more
Main Character Miles lived his life as an underdog. He is tall and skinny, that is why his friends at Culvers Creek called him Pudge. He had been obsessed with the last words from people who died since he was 12. One of his favorite quotes is “I go to seek a great perhaps”—François Rabelais. … Read more
In both novels, A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens and Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, the authors generate powerful scenarios for the reader to understand the influence romanticism has on individuals. Charles Dickens does this by taking his character through a journey that involves going through the past, present and future and suggests … Read more
Experts lament the loss of childhood—the pressures placed upon the young right from birth, technology’s snuffing out of imagination and play—but childhood, it turns out, has far more recently been found. Perhaps, even, invented. It all began with the 1960 release of Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life by French historian Philippe … Read more
Life for children in Victorian Era was very different than childhood in today’s world. Especially life for young children was very cruel. The texts, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, and “The Chimney Sweeper”, by William Blake, deal with the idea of how children were perceived in Victorian Era. Stage one of the book, Great Expectations, … Read more
Pan as an idealised symbol of Childhood in the Golden Age of Children’s literature. Peter Pan, Pantheism and The Muse of Childhood. 3014 Words. In this essay, I will discuss, with reference to Peter Pan and The Wind in the Willows, and C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. I will explore … Read more
In Charles Dickens short story, “The Signalman”, he takes a conceptual and theoretical approach as he uses critical moves to suggest a mystery within the characters and the spectres portrayed. Dickens focuses on elements such as setting and environment, ambiguity, symbolism, and conflict which are employed to intensify the supernatural effects within the story. In … Read more
DRAFT Aestheticism as a philosophy has not dominated English literature or our critical understanding of it. Literature has long served as a vessel for discussing accepted morality and social norms, protesting injustice, and inviting readers to consider or rethink contemporary issues. This became especially apparent in Renaissance and Augustan literature, where prose satires such as … Read more
This essay will analyse the themes, influences and wider context of William Kentridge’s ‘The Refusal of Time’, first created in 2012 and exhibited at dOCUMENT (13), Kassel, Germany. The Refusal of Time projects a barrage of Kentridge’s personal interests and themes amongst these are theatre, the origin of time zones, perception of time, Einsteins theory … Read more
The theme of love being stronger than hate is illustrated in the novel A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens which takes place in France and England during the French Revolution. Charles Dickens demonstrates how Sydney Carton makes his decisions based on love for the benefit of others and himself and Madame Defarge makes … Read more
The explanation of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby has two key problems like delusion and actuality. Fitzgerald showed how delusion represents Jay Gatsby as a young American dreamer. “Because Gatsby places all his hope for happiness in Daisy and what it takes to get such a girl he is ultimately ruined by his … Read more
The American Dream Summative The Great Gatsby Specific View Jay Gatsby: Really there was no “American Dream” for Jay. He was caught up in a memory and realizes Daisy is not the woman he fell in love with. The affair collapsed because Daisy was to stubborn to give up her social status for a man … Read more
Wuthering Heights (1847) and The Great Gatsby (1925) both examine the difficulties introduced when a member of a lower social class approaches the dominant social class. Fitzgerald introduces Daisy Fay (a girl from a rich upper class family) and Jay Gatsby (an ex soldier who was raised in an impoverished neighbourhood in North Dakota), following … Read more
The meaning of “mother” as indicated by the word reference is “a female guardian, however the way society sees a mother is more. A mother isn’t just a lady who brought forth a kid, however a lady who can raise, solace, and watch over their kid. A mother’s employment changes relying upon what social standing … Read more
Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice and Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, present opinions on society through irony, wordplay and characterization. The central themes of society that influence both texts include the significance of hierarchy and societal class, how love and courtship is either financially beneficial or true passion and how first … Read more
Though written in a remarkably distant past, The Poetics of Aristotle extraordinarily hold value and relevancy in modern criticism and analysis of art and aesthetics. Aristotle’s views on comedy and tragedy, as well as his description of the structure and shaping on narratives can be seamlessly applied to a modern analysis of film, as well … Read more
Eating is the most important thing that people do everyday. Eating brings people together and give people satisfaction by getting away from the hunger. Every living creature will eat, but human are the only one who will cook the food. Being able to cook make the food become one of the most important cultural identification … Read more
Pride and Prejudice was written in 1797, around the same time as Marie Antoinette’s execution and Napoleon’s reign. So, it seems unlikely that Jane Austen has anything left to say to us today in 2019. But, hidden under unrequited love and prideful millionaires, Jane Austen used her books to impart morals and subtle debates on … Read more
Writing is a beautiful thing, before technology it was one of the only modes of communication. Letters that have been used for hundreds of years, people were able to update others about their lives, confess love, and express emotion. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen letters were a common motif often used for significant … Read more
Pride and Prejudice is historical fiction, it shows the reader real accounts that happened in the Regency era. The Regency era was an era where women just were there to look good, cook, clean, and help around the house. In the novel Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen uses Allegory, Imagery, and Symbolism to express the … Read more
Through analysing the narrative techniques used by Austen in Pride and Prejudice, and Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby we develop a true sense of heroism in the protagonists, Darcy and Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, the hero of The Great Gatsby is a mysterious representation of wealth and status living in West Egg, Long Island, in the … Read more
Jane Austen is an author noted for being ahead of her time in literature by shying away from the romanticism of the time and setting the stage for the realist movement. She uses concrete, polite language, oddly crafted sentences, characterization through their effect on others, and meaningful dialogue structure. All of these elements helped Austen … Read more
Have you ever been judged by your social position? In “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen gives readers a glimpse inside the immense standards of wealth and class. Set in the tranquil English countryside the novel takes place at the same time when England was fighting for its life against the threat of Napoleon, and all … Read more
Intentional or not, Jane Austen gave important details about issues of class in her novel, Pride and Prejudice. Many people would learn issues of life and languages that would affect them later on in life. In Jane Austen’s novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane uses issues of class as her theme. Jane Austen was a dynamic … Read more
When writing a literature essay, it is crucial to keep in mind the importance of the readability of your essay. Throughout the essay, ensure that the essay is not a regurgitation of other writers’ ideas, research notes or facts. This is important because people will not find your essay interesting to read if you would not read it yourself.
The following sections offer fundamental guidelines on how to write an literature essay.
Planning is an important point, which you need to keep in mind before you even start to write your essay. It is important that before starting to write your literature essay, you identify your audience. Planning for your essay requires that you identify a goal or the major points to discuss in your essay. Before starting the essay, ensure that you write all the key points or ideas you intend to discuss in your essay. Visualize how you want your essay to be, and develop an outline of all the paragraphs. Identify the argument of the essay and position.
It is important to have an idea of where you want to take the reader in terms of the impacts you seek to have on the audience after reading the literature essay. These are among the various important aspects that you need to keep in mind when writing a literature essay. These suggestions when followed are helpful in writing a high standard essay, which is relevant to the topic of discussion.
Learning how to write a literature essay is not just about writing the essay. You also need to know how to structure the essay in the correct way.
This is the most important factor in an essay. The length of each paragraph is a crucial point for consideration to avoid a reader getting lost while reading it. Paragraphs are useful to both you as the writer, and the reader of the essay. Use different paragraphs to categorize your points and ideas. Ensure that you use short paragraphs throughout your essay. A high standard essay should not have paragraphs that exceed an A4 page.
Literature essays require that you have a strong argument unless the paper instructions need you to write a summary of a provided text. Ensure that your argument is not biased. The discussion should comprise all the possible position of the argument. A quality essay should provoke discussion by including different thoughts using the texts creatively.
The aim of writing a literature essay is to demonstrate an individual’s love of words and English language. Utilize literary devices like alliterations, onomatopoeia, sibilance, and anaphora to make your English essay interesting. These technique can be effectively used when writing poetry.
All sources used in the essay should be credited and acknowledged using footnotes and creating a reference list. There are various ways which you can use to credit texts and ideas from other writers that you have used in your essay. In-text references can comprise name of the author, year of publication, and page number of the source. This allows a reader to look up the source used should he want. Ensure that your footnotes for the essay are well notated, and include information about the edition of the source and name of the publisher.
Use quotations in your essay to support facts, theories, ideas, thoughts, and argument in the essay. Quotations are effectively presented either as part of an essay sentence or as a word. Ensure that you include quotations in your essay creatively. In cases where you think that you need to use lengthy quotations to support your discussion or argument, make sure that you satisfy the following areas in your essay:
