Literary Analysis- Dickinson, "The Last Night She Lived" The last Night that She lived It was a Common Night Except the Dying—this to Us Made Nature different We noticed smallest things— Things overlooked before By this great light upon our Minds Italic

Tips for Writing about Literature

1. Give your essay a title that states the topic. The title should include the author’s full name and the name of the work. An example is “The Influence of the Jungle in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”

2. The introduction (the first paragraph or the first few paragraphs) should state your topic and your intentions. This means that you will be repeating the information already given in your title, but in your introduction you should expand on that information as if your reader has not read the title

3. Your thesis will answer the question "what is the theme?"

4. The rest of your essay, except the conclusion, will attempt to prove that thesis. Give your essay unity by excluding everything, especially plot summaries, not relevant to your thesis. Devote at least one fully developed paragraph to each of your main points.

5. Finally, provide a conclusion that summarizes briefly what you have tried to accomplish or that at least reminds the reader of your primary purpose in writing the essay.

OTHER RULES OF USAGE

1. Tense. Describe fictional events, whether in drama, poetry, or prose fiction, in the present tense.

2. Authors’ names. Use either the full name (Charles Dickens) or the last name (Dickens). Some exceptions are Lord Byron, Mrs. Browning, and Dr. Johnson.

3. Titles.

a. Capitalize the first letter of all words in a title except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.

EXAMPLE: “How I Won the World but Lost My Soul to the Devil’s Wiles”

b. Use quotation marks when you give the title of works included within larger works. This includes short stories, short poems, songs, chapter titles, articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, and unpublished works such as dissertations and master’s theses.

c. Underline the titles of works published independently, such as books, plays, long poems published as books, periodicals, pamphlets, novels, movies, works of art, works of music, and radio and television programs. An exception is sacred writings such as the Bible, books of the Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud.

d. Do not underline or put in quotation marks the titles of your own essays.