Life is founded on literature. Literature covers numerous topics from the many tragedies that afflict human life to stories of love or the constant quest for ever-lasting love. While literature takes a physical form i.e. written words, it is the vividness of people’s imaginations and their ability to understand texts – whether these are simple or complex – that brings words to life.
Imagine thinking you have just written a good literature essay and that you have to mark this work you did by yourself. Suppose you were feeling tired after already reading around fifty English essays that same day? The fact is that readability is the key to writing a successful essay on literature.
- Do not just regurgitate facts, lecture or course notes, or the opinions of other people in your essays.
- If it is the case you would not enjoy reading your own essays, then it is unlikely that other people will.
When you are writing an essay on English literature, another crucial point to keep in your mind is the planning aspect. Do not begin writing unless you know or have some idea of what main points you will cover:
- Before beginning, jot down your main ideas and/or points.
- Create a plan for the paragraphs in your essay.
- What argument(s) will you make?
- Try looking at the entire picture before beginning.
- When do you intent to have written at least some part – say 300 to 500 words – by?
There are, of course, plenty English literature essay samples available if you need more ideas. In the meantime, the practical suggestions and questions above are designed to help you both write an effective essay and prevent you becoming overwhelmed in a myriad of ideas and words. Once the process is underway, it is fine to alter your argument(s) or change your direction, but it does help to begin with some idea about where you want to get to.