Literary Analysis: Language, Structure and Form
The AO2 close-analysis skill: how language, structure and form create meaning, common techniques and their effects, and the method of naming a technique, quoting evidence, and explaining its effect.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
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How writers create meaning
Studying literature is not about retelling what happens; it is about explaining how a writer makes you think and feel. Every strong analysis looks through three lenses. Language is the words a writer chooses and the images they build. Structure is how the whole text is organised and ordered, from where it begins to where it turns. Form is the type of text and the conventions that come with it, such as the shape of a sonnet or the acts of a play. The real skill, worth the most marks, is not spotting a technique but explaining its effect on the reader. This module shows how to analyse language, structure and form, and how to turn a noticed technique into a full analytical point.
Analysis words
Learn these five terms before you analyse a text closely.
Match each technique to what it does
- a metaphor
- alliteration
- a very short sentence
- first-person narration
- a rhyme scheme
- describes one thing as if it were another
- repeats a sound to draw attention to words
- creates pace or emphasis in the structure
- puts the reader inside the view of one character
- gives a poem a pattern that shapes its form
Language, structure and form
A close analysis looks through three lenses. Know what each one asks.
What are you analysing?
A writer describes a room as cold and grey, and you explain that these words suggest sadness and emptiness. What are you analysing?
- The connotations of the language
- The structure of the text
- The form of the text
- The number of pages
Name it, then explain the effect
The commonest way to lose marks in literature is to spot a technique and stop there. Writing that there is a metaphor, or that the poem rhymes, earns almost nothing on its own. The marks live in the explanation: what does this choice do to the reader, and how does it shape the meaning of the text. A strong point names the technique, supports it with a short, well-chosen quotation, and then explains the effect in detail, often exploring more than one possible reading. So train yourself never to leave a technique un-explained. The question is always the same: the writer chose this, so what does it make me think or feel, and why.
Pick the true facts about analysis
Select every statement about literary analysis that is true.
- Language analysis looks at the words a writer chooses
- Structure is how a text is organised and ordered
- Form is the type of text and its conventions
- Naming a technique on its own earns full marks
- Connotation is only the plain dictionary meaning
Order how to build an analysis point
Put the steps of a strong analytical point in a sensible order.
- Make a clear point about the method a writer uses
- Give a short quotation as evidence
- Name the technique at work
- Explain the effect it has on the reader
- Link it back to the meaning of the text
Complete the analysis facts
The words a writer chooses are the _____. How a text is organised and ordered is its _____. The type of text and its conventions are its _____. Language that paints a picture is _____.
How a film scene is put together
Think about a tense scene in a film. Nothing in it is an accident. The director picks dim lighting to make you uneasy, a low rumble of sound to build dread, a slow build and then a sudden cut to make you jump. Every one of those is a deliberate decision made to have an effect on you, the viewer. Studying a piece of writing is the same kind of detective work. A writer picks each word with care, orders the events in a chosen way, and shapes the whole thing to a set pattern, all to make a reader feel or understand something. Your task in analysis is to notice those decisions and explain what each one does, rather than simply retelling what happens on the page.
Tap the language techniques
Tap every item below that is a language technique, not a structure or form feature.
- a metaphor
- alliteration
- a simile
- the number of chapters
The analysis run
Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.
Analyse it properly
Read each situation and choose the best answer.
- In an exam you spot a metaphor in a poem. What should you do to earn the marks?
- You want to support a point about a choice the writer made. What do you include?
- A poem is written in short, broken lines that scatter down the page. What kind of feature is this?
Build a literary point
Choose the word for each gap to complete one accurate point about literary analysis.
Explain how to analyse a text
A friend can spot techniques in a poem but keeps losing marks. Explain clearly how to analyse language, structure and form properly.
- Explain what analysing language means
- Explain what analysing structure means
- Explain what analysing form means
- Explain why you must explain the effect, not just name the technique
- Explain how to use a short quotation as evidence