doing an essay on a play?

[MagicGecko]

ok so im not sure how to tackle it, would i structure it like in poetry where you dedicate one paragraph to lets say, imagery and symbolism. If thats the case then do i dedicate one paragraph to stage driections in writing on plays?
please help! 

[Lolly]

I wouldn't make your analysis like a "layer cake" by separating techniques into different paragraphs. Your ideas are more important; the literary devices are just there to support your interpretation. You're probably better off dividing your paragraphs based on concepts or ideas, regardless of the text's genre.

[MagicGecko]

I wouldn't make your analysis like a "layer cake" by separating techniques into different paragraphs. Your ideas are more important; the literary devices are just there to support your interpretation. You're probably better off dividing your paragraphs based on concepts or ideas, regardless of the text's genre.

haha yeah you're right, an essay like that would be pretty boring for an examiner to read.
So when you say seperate the paragraphs based on concept or ideas, do you mean something along the lines of, lets say i had 4 ideas/concepts i wanted to talk about, i could use imagery, symbolism, languege etc in every one of them as long as it focuses on the idea/concept?

[whatever4321]

I wouldn't make your analysis like a "layer cake" by separating techniques into different paragraphs. Your ideas are more important; the literary devices are just there to support your interpretation. You're probably better off dividing your paragraphs based on concepts or ideas, regardless of the text's genre.

haha yeah you're right, an essay like that would be pretty boring for an examiner to read.
So when you say seperate the paragraphs based on concept or ideas, do you mean something along the lines of, lets say i had 4 ideas/concepts i wanted to talk about, i could use imagery, symbolism, languege etc in every one of them as long as it focuses on the idea/concept?

Yeah that is what I've always been taught to do. Dedicate each paragraph to an idea, then use the imagery, symbolism etc to explain how the writer demonstrates their idea. Use the literary devices every time you state an idea.

[MagicGecko]

I wouldn't make your analysis like a "layer cake" by separating techniques into different paragraphs. Your ideas are more important; the literary devices are just there to support your interpretation. You're probably better off dividing your paragraphs based on concepts or ideas, regardless of the text's genre.

haha yeah you're right, an essay like that would be pretty boring for an examiner to read.
So when you say seperate the paragraphs based on concept or ideas, do you mean something along the lines of, lets say i had 4 ideas/concepts i wanted to talk about, i could use imagery, symbolism, languege etc in every one of them as long as it focuses on the idea/concept?

Yeah that is what I've always been taught to do. Dedicate each paragraph to an idea, then use the imagery, symbolism etc to explain how the writer demonstrates their idea. Use the literary devices every time you state an idea.

alright! thanks alot! 

[charmanderp]

I don't think a thematic analysis structure is a good idea for this subject, purely because of how difficult it would be to constantly reference from which passage you're drawing the particular language feature from.

What I and most high-scoring Literature students that I know did is split their essay up as such

Paragraphs 1-3: Dedicated to one of the three passages
Paragraphs 4-6: Dedicated to another of the three passages
Paragraphs 7-8: Dedicated to the remaining passage

This is with no introduction or conclusion. Obviously the number of paragraphs would vary depending on how much you write, but I think it's a good structure. All the while you should be drawing links between the different passages.

[MagicGecko]

I don't think a thematic analysis structure is a good idea for this subject, purely because of how difficult it would be to constantly reference from which passage you're drawing the particular language feature from.

What I and most high-scoring Literature students that I know did is split their essay up as such

Paragraphs 1-3: Dedicated to one of the three passages
Paragraphs 4-6: Dedicated to another of the three passages
Paragraphs 7-8: Dedicated to the remaining passage

This is with no introduction or conclusion. Obviously the number of paragraphs would vary depending on how much you write, but I think it's a good structure. All the while you should be drawing links between the different passages.

wow thats an interesting way to go about it, but haha i've never written that many paragraphs before
I still need to work on my timed writing!
alright! thanks!!! 

[Lolly]

Hey guys, just got my SAC back   I'm pretty happy - 39/40, but I actually lost a mark from using this ^ structure. My teacher gave me full marks but when it was cross marked the head of English didn't understand why I went straight into analysis in the first paragraph and thought it was just a really really long introduction with unecessary analysis

At risk of appearing a pedant I guess it's hardly worth disputing; after all it /is/ only one mark. And I fully realise for the SAC you're meant to go with your teacher's requirements no matter what. But I think I really tried to do this to the best of my abilities - I integrated all the feedback I got from my practice SAC, and this structure was fully endorsed by my teacher. If I had got alternate feedback though I would have done things differently.
I really shouldn't worry about it I suppose; I got a good mark and something petty like this is just another reflection of how damn subjective this subject is!

[charmanderp]

You win some and you lose some. I've always thought that Lit had a very liberal approach to essay structure though to the point where I sometimes don't even consider them essays so much as very long 'answers'. It's not like English where you really have to write in a certain way (at least for Text Response and Language Analysis) to achieve top marks.

I'm not going to tell you what structure to use but it's about practising with the one that you feel the most confident with and the one that works best with your personal writing style, so long as there aren't any glaring fallacies in your choice.

[Lolly]

You win some and you lose some. I've always thought that Lit had a very liberal approach to essay structure though to the point where I sometimes don't even consider them essays so much as very long 'answers'. It's not like English where you really have to write in a certain way (at least for Text Response and Language Analysis) to achieve top marks.

I'm not going to tell you what structure to use but it's about practising with the one that you feel the most confident with and the one that works best with your personal writing style, so long as there aren't any glaring fallacies in your choice.

Aha I wasn't really attributing this to you specifically; after reading a lot of the essays here  and after getting tutoring I decided to copy this style. I'm just a little frustrated that my teachers are so intent on us adhering to their own fixed  formula when I've seen the range and flexibility of other lit structures.  Seriously at my school they've mandated this indestructible plan down to a T -  from the order we mention the passages to which paragraph discusses which aspect of the text- not to mention introductions and conclusions. It's just one mark and I'm not affected by the mark itself, but you can see why I'm kind of ticked off. :/

[charmanderp]

Yeah I know - it can be really frustrating but then again, sometimes it'll work in your favour. That could be the case for you with English next year?

That does sound rather contrived. Has your teacher given you a reason for why they're so stringent? Does your school normally get good grades for Lit?

[Lolly]

Yeah I know - it can be really frustrating but then again, sometimes it'll work in your favour. That could be the case for you with English next year?

That does sound rather contrived. Has your teacher given you a reason for why they're so stringent? Does your school normally get good grades for Lit?

Well... to be fair, /my/ teacher /did allow me/ to use this structure. I think it's just the personality of the Head of English.  If I was in her class there would be no chance of convincing her otherwise. She is very good at what she does and I respect her highly, but she likes having control.  Naturally, I find this constricting in a subject that's meant to be an exercise in freedom. I should mention, however, that I hold both of our lit teachers in good esteem - it's just small things like this which get my goat.

I'm not completely sure but I think the highest SS we've got for lit is about a 46.
What exactly do you mean in regards to English next year? The structure aren't so varied at least, so here's hoping this won't be a problem.