English Literature & Composition
/ Honors Literary Analysis

The Art of Reading, Thinking, and Writing at the Honors Level

A rigorous Honors English Literature course developing college-level skills in close reading, literary analysis, and academic essay writing — guided by Prof. Elena Hartwell and SofAI.

Poetry Analysis

• › Reading poems for literal meaning and emotional arc
• › Analyzing speaker, tone, and point of view
• › Identifying and interpreting figurative language and imagery
• › Understanding form: line breaks, stanza structure, and sound devices

Prose Fiction

• › Close reading of narrative prose passages
• › Analyzing character, setting, and plot structure
• › Examining narrator perspective and reliability
• › Studying how authors use figurative language and syntax in prose

Drama & Shakespearean Literature

• › Reading plays as literary texts and as performance
• › Analyzing dramatic structure: exposition, conflict, climax, resolution
• › Examining soliloquy, aside, and dramatic irony
• › Close reading of Shakespearean language and verse

Literary Criticism & Essay Writing

• › Constructing a defensible, arguable thesis statement
• › Selecting and integrating textual evidence effectively
• › Writing commentary that explains how evidence supports the claim
• › Building a coherent line of reasoning across a full essay

Read any literary text closely and identify how specific craft choices create meaning

Write a clear, defensible thesis that makes an arguable literary claim

Select and integrate textual evidence with precision and relevance

Write commentary that explains how evidence supports your argument

Compare two or more texts around a shared theme or literary technique

Essay Assessment Suite

This course uses three essay formats to build your literary analysis skills from focused close reading to extended comparative argument.

Always read with a pencil. Annotate for tone, figurative devices, structural choices, and moments of surprise or tension. The more you mark, the more you have to analyze.

For poetry: always quote specific words, not full lines. Precise evidence shows that you are reading closely — 'the word blight' is stronger than 'the second stanza.'

For prose: discuss the narrator in every analysis, even if the assignment doesn't ask for it. The narrator's perspective shapes what the reader understands and feels.

For comparative essays: organize by idea, not by text. Build each paragraph around a shared concept and show how both texts engage it — this produces argument, not summary.

Write your thesis first, before anything else. A clear, arguable thesis focuses your entire essay and ensures your body paragraphs stay analytical rather than drifting into plot summary.

After every piece of evidence you quote, write: 'This suggests...' or 'This reveals...' — it forces you to write commentary and ensures you are always connecting evidence to your argument.

Phase 1: Foundation — Literary Skills and Close Reading

• Read one novel from the representative text list with LitCharts alongside
• Study Units 1-3: Character, Setting, and Structure
• Daily: annotate one poem and identify 3 literary devices with explanation
• Writing practice: write one close reading paragraph per week (not a full essay)

Phase 2: Deep Skill — Narrator, Figurative Language, and Argumentation

• Study Units 4-6: Narrator/Speaker, Figurative Language, Literary Argumentation
• Read second novel — focus on narrator perspective and figurative language
• Write one full literary analysis essay each week (timed: 40 min)
• Practice the thesis-evidence-commentary structure in every paragraph you write

Phase 3: Essay Mastery and Comparative Writing

• Prepare 3-4 texts deeply for comparative essays: know 8-10 specific scenes and passages for each
• Write one comparative literature essay per week — try different thematic pairings
• Complete close reading responses on unfamiliar poems and prose passages
• Revise previous essays to strengthen thesis claims and improve commentary depth

Phase 4: Honors-Level Polish and Portfolio Completion

• Write and revise final literary analysis and comparative essays for your portfolio
• Review all feedback from Prof. Elena (SofAI chat) and apply revisions
• Build a one-page study guide per major text: themes, key scenes, quotable passages
• Practice adding sophistication: revise each essay to acknowledge complexity or competing interpretations

Ready to Take Your Literary Skills Further?

The skills you build in Honors English Literature — thesis-driven argument, close reading, and sophisticated written analysis — are exactly the foundation AP English Literature and AP Seminar demand. See how Jiang applied these skills at the national level.