Difference between Lit. essays and English essays

[Mkiryo]

Hi there, I'm currently undetaking Literature 1/2 as well as English and I'm very new to the style of essay writing in Literature so I was wondering if anyone could help me pinpoint the differences between the two. Your help is very much appreciated.

[colline]

Hey Mkiryo!

I've only done unit 2 of English so pls take my advice with a grain of salt! From my understanding, some of the major differences are:

1. Literature is less restrictive in terms of essay structure and style. For Close Passage Analysis, you're allowed to write in whatever format you wish - it could be the classic "English essay" of intro, 3 x body paragraphs, conclusion; OR you could write in a completely different style! Introductions and conclusions aren't necessary, and there's no rule that you have to start with a 'contention' and then follow the 'TEEL' structure to back up your arguments. For my CPAs, I always jumped right into analysis instead of wasting time on introductions and conclusions.

2. Literature requires you to analyse not just the TEXT but also to analyse other people's PERSPECTIVES of said text. This is mostly for Literary Perspectives but it doesn't hurt to bring in perspectives for other essays too. Perspectives are 'lenses' that allows different interpretations of the text and in the LP SAC you'll be required to analyse different critics and their views. Essentially, it really allows you to zoom out of the text and to look at things from a broader POV.

3. Having a deep social / political / historical understanding of your text is CRUCIAL in literature. I got away with barely knowing any historical context for my texts in English, but you simply cannot do the same in lit. It's pretty self-explanatory with Literary Perspectives, since you're required to comment on the broader societal features as well, but it's often neglected in CPA as many people are too focused on 'closely analysing' that they forget to zoom out and look at the big picture.

These are just some things I can think of atm. If I think of any more I'll make sure to add them Lemme know if you have any questions!

[literally lauren]

Hi there, I'm currently undetaking Literature 1/2 as well as English and I'm very new to the style of essay writing in Literature so I was wondering if anyone could help me pinpoint the differences between the two. Your help is very much appreciated.

colline's basically answered this perfectly already! One other difference I'd add that is that English is very much idea-focused, whereas Literature is more explicitly language-focused. So although both English and Lit essays should obviously talk about both ideas and language, what distinguishes the two is:
- English essays START with ideas, and use language to back up these ideas
- Literature essays START with language, and then 'build out' to reach ideas as overall conclusions

Metaphorically, English essays are like recipes where start with an overview of the dish you're making, and then you use the ingredients to get there, whereas Literature essays are like pyramids where you start from the bottom up, placing one brick at a time until you reach the top. You wouldn't make a recipe by just 'doing stuff with ingredients' until you end up with... something... and you wouldn't build a pyramid by putting the top (idea) bricks down before dealing with the lower (language) bricks.

So in essays, the simplest thing to do is to make sure your English essays start with ideas in the Topic Sentences of body paragraphs. Then, in Literature, you can just start with language features and close analysis. Though, as colline noted, you do still need to 'zoom out' and examine the bigger picture eventually in Lit Close Analysis pieces too...

e.g. English: Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores the depths of man's propensity to chase dreams without truly considering the consequences.

cf. Literature: The creature's assonant characterisation of life as an "accumulation of anguish" underscores his profound suffering and loneliness.

^That differentiation made it easier for me to keep the two separate in my head in Year 12, so I hope that's helpful for you too!

[Mkiryo]

Thank you so much guys! This is definitely going to help me understand the differences between the two. Much appreciated!