Literature and Text Study: Devices, Themes and Essay Response
The Literature and Text Study domain tests your response to poetry, prose and drama, including PNG and Pacific texts. You need to identify literary devices, discuss character, theme, setting and structure, and write a literary essay that answers a set question with evidence.
Close reading
- Name the device, quote it briefly, explain its effect, then link it to theme.
- Poetry: distinguish the persona from the poet; consider form, stanza shape, rhythm and imagery.
- Drama: use stage directions, dialogue and conflict; watch for dramatic irony.
- Prose: examine narrative voice, characterisation, setting and symbolism.
Essay structure
Introduction: author, text and thesis. Body: point, evidence (a short quotation), explanation, link. Conclusion: restate the thesis and comment on wider significance. Answer the exact question; do not retell the plot.
Worked example
A poem describes a river: The river wears a coat of mud. Question: How does the image convey the poet's attitude? Reasoning: wears a coat personifies the river; a coat is worn over something, so the mud is a covering; mud suggests pollution. The attitude is critical and mournful. Answer: The personification presents the river as a person dressed in mud, suggesting pollution has become a garment it cannot remove; the poet's attitude is sorrowful and accusing.
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a device without explaining its effect.
- Retelling the story instead of analysing.
- Making claims with no quotation.
- Confusing the poet with the speaker.
- Ignoring the key word in the question, such as how or to what extent.