SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO WRITE A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

What are you seeking to achieve in analysing a text? The answer is a heightened awareness of the intention of the author and appreciation of the merits of the text in terms of quality. A good analysis proves the student has undertaken a detailed critical reading of the text and understood its finer points. A commentary/textual analysis should be interesting to read and not merely state the obvious, it should be written in clear language in a neutral register and have an introduction which sets out how you are going to go about analysing the text. It should also have a conclusion.

It might help to follow the following points.

1. Read the text carefully several times and jot down every idea which comes to mind. 2. Look for the main points in the passage and list them. 3. Look for the underlying intention of the author: is he seeking to be didactic, critical etc. What does the language reveal about the writer? Look for examples in the text to justify your point of view. 4. How effective is the author in achieving his aim, and what tools does he use to achieve it? Is there a clear logic to the text? Look carefully at the way in which the ideas are linked. Look also at the use of tenses. Does the author use humour, irony? 5. What type of reader is the author appealing to? Find examples to justify your argument ie what register does the author use, are there quotations etc., does he assume a certain level of knowledge on the part of the reader? 6. You should address the question of style in a broader sense. What would the passage lose if various stylistic features were not present? Look for stylistic devices which express irony or humour - puns, word plays, syllepsis etc. - or which characterize the style of the text - literary devices such as onomatopoeia, assonance, rhyme,