A step-by-step guide to IB English Literature analysis By Jackson Huang To get a 7 in IB English Literature or IB English Language and Literature, you must understand not just how to analyse, but how to analyse properly and correctly. What exactly is analysis? Analysis is the act of explaining how and why a writer uses specific language choices. This is the fundamental task of IB English. If you understand this statement, then you will understand the whole of IB English. Let s break it down. specific language choices : We are intensely interested in the specific wording, literary techniques, punctuation, and grammar used by the writer of a given text. All of these aspects fall under language, so we must analyse all of them. explaining : Always seek to explain these language choices rather than just stating the fact. Always go deeper. For example, don t just say that The writer uses technique X and move on. You must go further in analysis, by addressing the two key questions: 1. How / in what way is technique X being used? 2. Why is technique X being used in this way? how : Is it being used to construct an idea or create an emotional effect, or both at the same time? Is the technique being contrasted or combined with another technique to enhance its effectiveness? How a writer chooses to manipulate and utilise a technique is a unique to every text. There are infinite ways in which a technique can be used, but your job is to just consider and explain a particular usage by a particular writer of a particular text. why : Why did the writer choose to use this specific word (or technique) instead of all the thousands of other capable options in the English language? Why this particular word? What makes this technique so special and important that the writer couldn t help but use it? The next step in this guide is to show you how to address these key questions of how and the why in your analytical writing!
A formula for IB English Literary Analysis So you have a quote that you want to analyse. An example might be: The wind danced to the music of the autumn birds as it wound its way through every branch, every tree, and every leaf in the quiet forest. Step 1. Identify specific language choices The first step of analysing any quote is simply to 1. Annotate the quote. 2. Find interesting language choices (i.e., literary techniques). 3. Decide on one or more techniques to analyse in your point. Steps 2 and 3. How to address how specific language is used So you ve picked a specific technique from an imaginary quote. To address the how to a satisfactory standard, there are two things that you need to do: Step 2. Explain how that specific technique creates a meaning (aka: idea, theme, notion). As an example, the metaphor the man was a mountain constructs the notion of the man s strength. Step 3. Explain how that specific technique creates an effect on the reader. This is the component that probably 80% (?) of IB English students fail to include, and yes, it s also the thing that drags down their mark. As an example, the language choice of the man was a mountain creates a feeling of fear in the reader, but that only occurs if the man refers to an evil character. If the man refers instead to a heroic figure, then the reader would feel an entirely different emotion, namely admiration, etc. Here s a more detailed diagram to show Steps 2 and 3. Notice how the why has been left out. We ll add it back in after the next section. Steps 4 and 5. How to address why specific language is used First, you must understand that all writer s have a purpose. In other words, a writer always writes for a reason. Perhaps there is a profound insight that they want to share with the world, or a interesting story that they want others to be entertained by. Writers always have some sort of message, idea or story that they want to convey through their words. This assumption makes a lot of sense. Just sit down in front of an A4 piece of paper and tell yourself to Write. Without motivation or an end goal, you can t write half a page, let alone a poem, a story or a novel.
Now, since a writer is motivated by a purpose that they desperately want to see happen, the writer s writing process is obviously influenced by this intention. In fact, every part of the writing process is influenced by this purpose; every word, every technique, every punctuation that a writer chooses must pass the one test that is applied again and again by the writer himself/herself: Is this the best word or technique that I can use to get me closer to reaching my purpose? EXAMPLE OF WRITER S PURPOSE: HARRY POTTER For example, a certain JK Rowling is tossing up between using horrendous and disturbing to describe a Dementor in her upcoming Harry Potter book. Which word would she choose? Let s think it through in a logical way. Rowling s purpose would be to make the Dementor seem as horrifying as possible and to inspire as much fear from the reader as it is physically possible to do so. The word choice of horrendous holds much graver, darker connotations than the word disturbing. A dead rat is disturbing; wearing socks with sandals is disturbing; but a Dementor is not disturbing, despite the irresistible alliteration that just rolls of the tongue: disturbing Dementor. No, a Dementor is decidedly horrendous, and that is why JK Rowling would have chosen horrendous over disturbing to describe her beloved Dementor. This specific language choice aligns with her purpose more so than the other potential language choice(s). Hence, the job of the IB English student, or the AP English student, or any student of literature for that matter, is to probe into the mind of the writer and justify why this specific word or that specific technique helps to achieve the writer s own purpose / message. Usually, a specific word is chosen to create a meaning and an effect that in turn achieve the writer s purpose.
Concretely, steps 4 and 5 of the five-step formula are these: Step 4. Explain how the meaning from Step 2 helps to achieve the writer s purpose. Step 5. Explain how the effect from Step 3 helps to achieve the writer s purpose. A final tip Steps 4 and 5 are often very similar. To avoid repeating yourself, just combine steps 4 and 5 in the same sentence. For example, here s some smooth analysis that touches on all 5 steps a little bit, without the analysis sounding mechanical and dumb: In line 5 of the poem, the poet personifies the dancing hand sliding over the piano (LANGUAGE CHOICE). The personification of the musician s fingers as a dancer animates the scene with energy and life, suggesting not only the pianist s dexterity but also his musical excellence (MEANING). Furthermore, the jovial connotations of dancing establishes a celebratory, mirthful mood (EFFECT), a feeling that captures the pianist s passion as well as the profound beauty of music a beauty that is grounded in motion as much as in sound (PURPOSE).
NAMES: The wind danced to the music of the autumn birds as it wound its way through every branch, every tree, and every leaf in the quiet forest. Step One: Step Two: Step Three: Step Four: Step Five: