Literary Responses and Essays

Responses to literature can be informal or formal. Informal responses capture the reader's thoughts and connections as she or he reads the text. For an example of a strong reading response, follow this link. Formal responses take the form of reviews (further information under "News Writing" from the Genres page) or essays about literature.

An essay about a work of literature (or an analytical or critical essay) argues an idea about some aspect of the work (i.e., character or symbol or theme). Sometimes, the writer refers to critical essays about the work; sometimes the writer offers only his or her interpretation. Such essays always make direct references to the text in support of the ideas put forward. For advice about writing such an essay, see Conventions of Writing about Literature (State University of New York at Geneseo), Writing about Literature (Purdue University OWL), Literary Anxiety, Basic Literary Essay, Writing a Thesis Statement for Literature (Colorado State University), Literary Analysis (Georgia Perimeter College), and Literary Analysis (Bucks County Community College).