Jean: Hello, and welcome to the Bitesize English Literature Exam Skills podcast. If you want the skills to tackle those texts when it matters most, this is where it's at.
Carl: So, whether you're determined to ace that essay or perfect your analysis of poetry, we are here with practical advice to help you with your exams.
Jean: I’m Jean Menzies. An ancient historian, author and presenter.
Carl: And I'm Carl Anka, a journalist, author and broadcaster.
Jean: And in this episode, we are delving deeper into analysis so you can explain why writers make the choices they do, whether that's writers from today, the 19th century or way back to Shakespeare.
Carl: We're going to have loads of useful information along the way too, so it's a good idea for you to grab a pen and paper now, in case you want to make notes.
Jean: Let's get started on analysis. We're now moving away from simply describing what happens in a text to investigating why the writer chose specific techniques. This is sometimes called the writer's intention.
Carl: Here's a good starting point, think of every detail in a text as a deliberate choice by the writer, that means everything from a single word to the timing of a major plot event. Writers use language structure and form to guide the reader's thoughts and feelings.
Jean: Before we jump in, let's do some quick definitions.
Carl: So, when we say language, we literally mean word or phrase choices.
Jean: When we say structure, we mean how the text is organised and ordered, such as its punctuation and flashbacks.
Carl: And form is the type of text, whether that's a play, a poem, a gothic novel, whatever it may be.
Jean: Great. To help explain what we mean, we'll use examples from a range of texts starting with Shakespeare's Macbeth. Don't worry if you're not studying this play, the methods we'll show you can be used to analyse any text at all, whether it's a Shakespeare play, a romantic poem or a modern novel.
Carl: And let me give a little context about this play too, because it's one of my favourites.Macbeth is a respected Scottish warrior. Hi Jean…
Jean: Just like me.
Carl: …who after hearing a prophecy that he shall be king hereafter chooses to commit evil deeds to pursue power, and everything collapses as a result of his own choices. So not just like Jean.
Jean: I hope not anyway, but that's a great summary, and crucial point, we're not revising Macbeth here. We're using Macbeth moments as a kind of showcase for how to think like an analyst in a text.
Carl: Excellent. So, let's zoom in on one of Shakespeare's language choices. His recurring imagery of blood. It's not a theme in itself, but Shakespeare uses it again and again to symbolise themes like guilt, violence and fate.
Jean: Yeah. There's a lot of blood in Macbeth,
Carl: A lot of blood, exactly, Shakespeare uses imagery of blood throughout Macbeth. From this point on, we are doing two different things in our analysis, we are going to look at how and why?
‘How’, we'll look at the technique the writer chooses, for example, metaphors, symbols, structural shifts.
Jean: ‘Why’ looks at the effect or purpose this has - what does the writer want us to think about or understand here? So, let's apply those…
When Macbeth says, ‘Will all great Neptune's Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?, the ‘how’ is that Shakespeare is using blood as a metaphorical symbol. The ‘why’ is to show Macbeth's psychological guilt. It's the idea that this sin can't ever be washed away even by the ocean.
Carl: Later on, Macbeth says ‘It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood’. So, the ‘how’ is that Shakespeare deliberately repeats the word blood, building up blood imagery. The ‘why’ is to show how the cycle of violence continues, signalling to the audience that more brutal events are to come - ‘Blood will have blood’.
Jean: So, by connecting the ‘how’, which is the technique, to the ‘why’, which is the effect or intention, you're moving beyond just describing what happens and towards explaining and analysing the writer's craft.
Carl: And it's not just language that you can analyse, writers also make structural choices for a reason. For example, ending a chapter on a cliffhanger is a choice.
Why does the writer do this? To build suspense and to keep the reader hooked, so they want to turn the page.
Jean: Or in poetry, if the rhythm or imagery shifts halfway through, that’s a choice. ‘Why’ is often to mirror a change in the speaker's emotions or understanding and that change affects how we respond as readers.
Carl: Now we are going to see how this works in practice. Okay Jean, I'm going to invite you to take off your host hat for a moment so we can tackle this as two writers. We're going to hear two different quotes, one from Macbeth and then one from A Christmas Carol. Both of these are GCSE texts.
And once you've heard these quotes, we are going to try and work out what the writer is doing and why, and you can join in too.
Okay, so let's look at a couple of quotes. One from Macbeth and one from A Christmas Carol and then let's look at the language.
‘Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.’
Jean: This is one of my favourite quotes, it's beautiful, but also dark.
Carl: Tell me more.
Jean: Contrast. You know, it's very poetic, but we're actually learning about someone doing something quite horrific. So, Macbeth at this point, we know wants to be king. He thinks he should be king, but in order to be king, other people have to die.So, you know, his brain's working away and he's coming up with some plans, and he realises that there is perhaps something to be ashamed of, so he doesn't want the universe, the stars, to observe him.
Carl: Yes. It's this idea that he has evil intentions, but he doesn't want to reveal them to the world yet. And also it sounds like he's afraid of them, just a little bit.
Jean: He recognises in himself there is something wrong here, even if he's letting it drive him.
Carl: Mm. And now for A Christmas Carol. This is a quote describing Scrooge‘s secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster.’I love that one because it’s Dickens doing something that I'm especially fond of, which is loads of alliteration - ‘secret’, ‘self-contained’ and ‘solitary’. Triple ‘s’.
A very good way of getting people to remember anything is if you just keep repeating the same letters or noises. If you are listening to this and you are a fan of hip hop music, loads of rappers do this too.
And then also, ‘as solitary as an oyster’. Simile is slightly different from metaphor, if it's ‘as’ something, that's a simile.
So you use the triple ‘s’ - ‘secret’, ‘self-contained’ and ‘solitary’ to help create a very, very vivid picture and help it root in your mind and in ‘solitary as an oyster’, if you've ever encountered an oyster or you’ve ever seen an oyster, be it in real life or in a TV show or anything, you know, oysters live very lonely lives and the only rarely ever really open up, well they’re not really supposed to open up.
Jean: No and they’ve got a hard shell that protects them but also isolates them.
Carl: There you go. That is good language. I hope it was useful to hear us change our thinking about what writers do to why writers do it. Did you join in too and think about why the writers were using those words and those ways? You could try analysing quotes with a friend. It's good practice.
Jean: ‘Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires’, I have said that quote so many times and it never gets old. You can find out more analytical tips for Shakespeare, Dickens, and other set texts at the Bitesize website.
But right now, let's take a look at some techniques you can use to deepen your analytical response.
Carl: Right then, a very effective place to start is close and purposeful reading, where you carefully work through a passage to see how the words, phrases, sentences and any other choices add to the overall meaning.
Jean: Don't forget to also look at the writer's structural choices when doing this. For instance, who is narrating the text? When is certain information revealed, delayed or withheld? Because those choices shape how the reader sees things and what the text means.
Carl: So, here is a simple three step process that you can actually use. Number one, identify the technique. What is the writer doing? For example, are they using imagery? Are they using repetition or sentence length?
Jean: Number two, explain the effect. What impact does that choice have on the reader or audience?
Carl: And thirdly, explore the writer's intention. Why has the writer made that choice? What message or emotion are they trying to create?
Jean: Let's try that process with an example. For some context, An Inspector Calls is a play by JB Priestley and is about the wealthy Birling family whose dinner is interrupted by Inspector Goole. He reveals that each of them has played a part in a young woman's death.
Let's look at a quote from An Inspector Calls when Mr. Birling confidently calls the Titanic ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’.
Carl: Now, here Priestley is using dramatic irony. We, as the audience know that the Titanic sank, so the effect here is that Mr. Birling immediately loses credibility. You're not supposed to trust his judgment.
Jean: And the writer's intention is to make the audience question the values and opinions of the older generation. Priestley wants us to think more socially and take more responsibility for others.
Carl: And did you notice how we both use the writer's name when we explained our points?
That's a really powerful habit. If you start your sentences with ‘Priestley shows’ or ‘Priestley chooses’ or swap in the name of the writer whose text you're studying, your analysis becomes more purposeful because you're keeping the focus on the writer and their intention.
Jean: And often there's more than one technique happening in one small quotation. That's why there can be more than one valid interpretation and that's actually a strength to demonstrate, it shows your thinking.
Carl: Exactly. So, let's lock in this big message. Every single thing that a writer does in a text has a purpose. Our job is to draw a clear line between the evidence we select and the writer's purpose behind it.
Jean: So, whenever you quote, zoom in on a keyword phrase or structural choice, and explain what ideas or feelings it suggests, how that shapes the reader's perspective and why the writer might want that effect.
Carl: Alright then, I think our analytical brains have been switched firmly on. Now, let's move on.
Jean: Now we're going to show how that same three step approach we just used, technique, effect and the writer's intention, works with any GCSE text.
Carl: As we've seen by taking evidence from a text and analysing the language structure and form that writer uses, we can explore the effect on the reader and the writer's reasons for doing this.
And it's true, you can take these elements and apply them to any written work.
Jean: In a play, you might look at where scenes are placed and how the writer uses moments like entrances and exits to guide the audience's understanding.
Carl: In a poem, you might analyse why the lines are a specific length or a number of syllables.
Jean: And in a novel you might look at how the focus shifts in the story or how we see the plot from a particular character's perspective.Writers do everything for a reason, and your job in analysis is to connect a specific choice you can see in the text, to the effect it creates and the writer's likely intention.
Carl: One important factor for the writer - now, this is one we really want you to note down - is the context of the work. Context essentially means what was happening in the world when the text was written and why this is relevant.
Jean: An easy way to do this is, you can ask yourself three quick questions. When was the text written? What was happening socially, politically, and historically at that time? And how might that have influenced the writer's message or purpose?
Carl: Let's apply those questions to An Inspector Calls. Priestley wrote this in 1945, just after the Second World War had ended. At the time, Britain was questioning old social attitudes and there was a new push towards fairness and rebuilding society.
Jean: So, Priestley uses the play to criticise selfishness and class inequality. His intention is to get the audience to think differently about responsibility, especially shared responsibility.
Carl: So, context isn't just extra knowledge, it helps you explain why a writer believed what they believed and why they wanted their audience to think or feel in a certain way. Each writer responds to the world around them and uses their work to reflect or critique the society they inhabit. It's also important to know what was going on in the writer's life as they were reading it.
It should also bear in mind who the writer is. If we're talking about social changes, and it's written by a woman, that might be interpreted differently than that compared to a male author.
Isn't that right, Jean?
Jean: Yeah, absolutely. Who they are, where they lived, what they did, their experiences in life are all going to impact the writing they produce.
Let's finish with a couple of quick-fire questions. You can answer along with us.
Carl: Okay then, question number one. What do we mean when we say writer's intention?
Jean: It means what the writer wants a reader to think or feel.
Carl: Exactly.
Jean: Next one. When analysing a quotation, what should you always do?
Carl: You should explain how it supports your argument. Don't just drop it in.
Jean: And here's another: Fill in the blank - Writers use language form and … to create meaning.
Carl: Ah, I know that one - structure - the trio creates meaning!
And I'll give you the last one Jean, what does context refer to in text analysis?
Jean: Context refers to the time and circumstances in which a text was written and how that influences the writer's message.
Carl: Nice. A bit of fun to test ourselves as we round things up. So listener, how did you get on?
Jean: Thanks so much for listening to the Bitesize English Literature Exam Skills podcast.
Carl: And remember, you can find the rest of this series right now on BBC Sounds.
