TEXT ANALYSIS

Analysing a text
An exam question might focus on:

• Characters
• Themes and ideas
• Language (figurative language, emotive lang, persuasive devices,
sentence structures used, specific vocabulary etc)
• Structure (type of text structure)
• The effect on the reader
How to respond
• Read and understand the question carefully to know what is being asked.
• Read the text more than once to clearly understand all the areas of
analysis
• Check number of marks for the question – this gives you an idea of how
much you need to write.
• Annotate while reading so evidencing becomes easy
• Always follow format and structure for presenting your response
• Avoid repetitive sentences and phrases
• Check your answer for punctuation, word order, grammatical errors.
Examples of questions asked

• From lines 1 to 5, identify the phrase that shows why the boy is
hungry. (1 mark)
This task aims to check your reading skills and ability to pick out the
relevant phrase from the fictional text. Don’t spend too long on this
type of question
• From lines 10-16, give two ways the character’s behaviour shows
that she feels nervous. You can use your own words or a quotation
from the text. (2 marks)
This type of question is asking you to find evidence to show the
character’s emotions. You are not being asked to analyse the evidence,
just to show that you can select the right bit of text. You can write the
evidence in your own words 
Example
• In lines 15 – 20, how does the writer use language and structure to create tension /
engage the reader? (6 marks)
If you’re asked to focus on a particular section of an extract, then focus your analysis on
that bit. When you’re looking at language remember to examine particular words and
phrases used. What patterns of words do you notice – for this question, are there lots of
words connected with uncertainty or fear?
Look at sentence structures and notice how the writer is using these to create tension.
Are there lots of short sentences to build pace? Do longer sentences keep us hanging on?
How do the characters behave and respond to their situation? Notice dialogue as well as
descriptions.
As well as action, think about how characters contribute to tension, how setting is
important and how ideas are presented by the writer.
Example
• In this extract, the writer wants the reader to feel sympathy for the
main character. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. (15
marks)
This question is asking for a judgement, so you are evaluating as well as
analysing. Your main task is to explain the extent to which you agree
with this opinion and how the extract makes the reader feel. You still
need to use quotations to support each point you make - look closely at
the word choices the author makes and explore how these affect the
reader.
Common approaches to writing your response

• PEE - point/evidence/explain
• PEEL - point/evidence/explain/link to point
• PEA - point/evidence/analysis
• SEAL - state your point/evidence/analyse/link
• WET - words/effect/techniques
• RATS - reader’s response/author’s intention/theme/structure
Sample task
• During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when
the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on
horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as
the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I
know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of
insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved
by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind
usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked
upon the scene before me - upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features
of the domain - upon the bleak walls - upon the vacant eye-like windows - upon a few
rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression
of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-
dream of the reveller upon opium - the bitter lapse into everyday life - the hideous
dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an
unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture
into aught of the sublime. What was it - I paused to think - what was it that so
unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
• The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe
Sample questions and answers
• Example question one
• From lines 1-5, identify the phrase that shows the reader what time
of day it is. (1 mark)
“…as the shades of the evening drew on…”
This response answers the question precisely, using lines 1-5 to find the
exact phrase that shows what time of day it was.
The quotation is not explained or analysed – the question does not
require a developed response.
Sample questions and answers
• In lines 10-16, give two examples that show the narrator is feeling
negative. You may use your own words or quotation from the text.
(2 marks)
• “…utter depression of soul...”
• “…a sinking, a sickening of the heart…”

This response uses two quotations from the text. They are well selected
and are evidence to show that the narrator is feeling negative. It’s
important to quote selectively to show you are picking out the right
detail.
Sample questions and answers
• In lines 1- 11, how does the writer use language to create a sense of the setting? (6 marks)
The writer’s choice of language leaves the impression of a gloomy setting, “dull, dark, and soundless
day…” The subtle alliteration and monosyllabic adjectives give the description an abrupt, stark tone. The
use of pathetic fallacy, “The cloud hung oppressively low…” also creates a negative feeling, as if the
weather mirrors the character’s depressed emotions. The house is described as having “vacant eye-like
windows..” This eerie simile creates a death-like feel with the use the adjective ‘vacant’.

This paragraph gets straight into the close analysis - no introduction is needed for this type of question.
The response is focused on the task, analysing language and setting.
Every point is supported by evidence from lines 1-11 of the extract.
Details of the language are linked and the effect is analysed closely.
At least one more paragraph would be needed to fully answer this question, the 6 marks suggests a
longer answer is appropriate here.
Presenting figures of speech - simile
• The author uses the simile of the boy flying "like a butterfly" to convey
the impression that he is light and graceful.
OR
• The author uses the simile of the boy flying "like a butterfly" to
convey the impression that he is light and graceful.
Sentence structures used
Sentence structure used..
Example - How has the writer structured this text to increase the sense of tension?

No doubt I now grew very pale; but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the
sound increased -- and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound -- much such a sound as a
watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath -- and yet the officers heard it not. I
talked more quickly -- more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about
trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would
they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the
observations of the men -- but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed -- I
raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but
the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the
men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -- no, no! They
heard! -- they suspected! -- they knew! -- they were making a mockery of my horror! -- this I
thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable
than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die!
and now -- again! -- hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! here, here! -- It is
the beating of his hideous heart!"
The Tell Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe
Analysis
• The structure of the text allows the reader to share the narrator’s increased agitation.
• In the first long paragraph the writer builds the tension, as the narrator’s emotions become more extreme.
• The whole first paragraph has the structure of a fragmented thought process to show the narrator’s disturbed mind.
The multi-clause sentences further enhance the impression of this frantic mind. The frequent use of dashes also adds
to the feeling of broken and jumping thoughts, “I gasped for breath -- and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more
quickly -- more vehemently…”
• The calm, simple sentence “And still the men chatted pleasantly and smiled…” shows the reader that this frantic
energy is confined to the mind of the narrator.
• This is linked to later in the paragraph the narrator mentions their “…hypocritical smiles…”, further emphasising the
paranoia of the character.
• The repetition of the personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘they’ at the start of sentences shows the narrator’s focus and intensity.
• The writer uses punctuation to structure the narrator’s changing emotional state, at first question marks are used
frequently, “What could I do?” is repeated to show his desperation.
• The abundance of exclamation marks later in the paragraph show his extreme emotion, as he loses the little control he
had - “no, no! They heard! -- they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!”
• The dramatic repetition of “…louder! louder! louder! louder!...” gives a manic impression of the narrative voice and
increases the tension for the reader.
• The resolution in the text is reached in the final paragraph, when the narrator manically confesses his crime, “I admit
the deed!”
• The use of dialogue here breaks the tension of the narrator’s thoughts and leads to a final climax of emotion.
• The alliterative “…hideous heart.” makes a gruesome, dramatic final impression on the reader.
Exam question and answer - How does the writer use language to create interest for the reader
in this opening to The Picture of Dorian Gray? (10 marks)

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind
stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy
scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as
was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam
of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous
branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs; and
now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk
curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of
momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of
Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey
the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way
through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty
gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive.
The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

Wilde’s language choices create an intoxicating sense of luxury and decadence, especially
those words in the opening sentences which engage the reader’s senses: “rich odour…heavy
scent…delicate perfume…”. The repetition of ‘honey’ in the compound adjectives “honey-sweet
and honey-coloured…” introduce a multi-sensory description that immerses the reader in the
setting. The subtle use of alliteration adds to the sensual feel of the setting: “…fantastic
shadows of birds in flight flitted across…”. The verb ‘flitted’ has connotations of being
insubstantial, as does the word ‘tremulous’: the reader is presented with the impression of
shallow beauty. The alliteration of “bear the burden of a beauty…” seems to further develop
this sense of a beauty that seems weary.

The reader is intrigued by this aristocratic reclining figure; we are given no details about his
appearance, it is as if the writer wants the setting to reveal his character. The verb choices like
‘shouldering’ and ‘circling’ reinforce a sense of restlessness, but there is also a more negative
undercurrent that interests the reader: “…sullen…monotonous… straggling…oppressive…”.
These word choices create an unsettled atmosphere, despite the richness and luxury of the
setting. The final short sentence seems to deflate the mood further, contrasting the multi-
clause sentence describing the studio and garden with the “dim roar” of the city. The language
choices imply that this character is restless, despite the beauty and richness of his
surroundings.
Examiner feedback
• Each point is supported by an embedded quotation and developed
with reference to other details.
• It uses technical vocabulary like "alliteration", "multi-clause
sentence", "compound adjectives" and "connotations" to explain
how effects are created, and it weaves these terms into the argument,
rather than stating "this is a simile".
• The effect on the reader is explored implicitly, signalled by words like
"intrigued" and "deflate the mood".
• The points are not based around the techniques, but around the
effects, which creates a more sophisticated analysis.