1. SIFT A Literary Analysis Method

2. SIFT Method Symbol: examine the text and title for symbolism
Images/Imagery: identify images and sensory details
Figures of Speech: analyze figurative language and other devices
Tone and Theme: discuss how all devices reveal tone and theme

3. Symbols: Signs of Something More, represents MORE than itself
Our everyday lives are heaped with symbols:
These commonly accepted symbols are called public symbols

4. Symbols in Literature
In literature, a symbol is an object, a setting, an event, an animal, or even a person that functions in the story the way you’d expect it to, but also stands for something more than itself, usually for something abstract.
Meaning, a symbol has a literal and figurative function in the text
Don’t say “this line symbolizes…”, tell me the object, setting, event, animal or person is a symbol for ….

5. Symbol Example
When it says, he is a lion amongst sheep or the lion of the school …

6. Symbol For example: a “white dress” can symbolize
purity or innocence
Harry Potter – Quidditch
Successful teamwork, physical and practical application
As the preferred sport and pastime of the wizard world, Quidditch is entertainment, but the game is also a symbol of the deeper virtues taught at Hogwarts. The all-consuming importance of Quidditch at the school shows that magic is not just a bookish pursuit, but has a physical and practical application as well. Hermione may learn all of her textbooks perfectly, but she is not a hero for doing so; heroism is won on the Quidditch fields. Quidditch also shows that wizardry is intended for much more than the self-centered use of magic powers for personal glory. Any wizard who uses it for such ends alone is, like Voldemort, no longer a part of the team-spirit philosophy of Hogwarts. A person should use magic with an awareness of others’ needs and values, just as winning at Quidditch depends on the successful interaction of several players acting cooperatively. No matter how talented a single Quidditch player like Harry might be, he or she cannot play the game alone.

8. Is it a symbol? Guidelines to follow… Symbols are often visual.
When some event or object or setting is used as a symbol in the story, you will usually find that the writer has given it a great deal of emphasis. Often it reappears throughout the story.
A symbol in literature is a form of figurative language. Like a metaphor, a symbol is something that is identified with something else that is very different from it, but that shares some quality.
A symbol usually has something to do with a story’s theme.

9. (SIFT) Images Identify images and sensory details.
Imagery is descriptive language that appeals to the senses
Imagery helps to promote mood and tone.
What do I see, hear, taste, smell or feel?
What effect is the author trying to convey with these images?
Writers use language to create sensory impressions and to create specific responses to characters, events, object, or situations in their works.
The writer “shows” rather than “tells”

10. Now, what is the EFFECT of this imagery? Effect on reader and in poem

12. (SIFT) Figures of Speech
Analyze figurative language and other devices.
Writers form images by using figures of speech such as simile, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification.
Other devices can include: irony, allusion

13. Simile
A direct comparison of two things, usually using the words like or as.
“He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.” Tennyson
“Hell is a city much like London/
A populous and smokey city.” Shelley
My heart is like an apple tree whose boughs
are bent with thickest fruit.” Christina Raced

14. Metaphor
An IMPLIED comparison in which one thing is spoken in terms of something else. Metaphors are extremely valuable in making an abstract idea clearer by associating the idea with something concrete that relates to one or more of the senses.
“And merry larks are ploughman’s clocks.” Shakespeare
“Entangled in the cobweb of the schools.” Cowper
“Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes.” Thomas

15. Hyperbole
The use of exaggeration or overstatement to make a point. It may be used for emphasis, for humor, or for poetic intensity.
“Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard around the world.”
Emerson
It is used freely in sports broadcasting and news articles…
“…slaughtered their opponents on the basket ball court.”

16. Personification
A comparison that treats objects or things as if they were capable of the actions and feelings of people.
“…Sea that bears her bosom to the moon” Wordsworth
“The dirty nurse, Experience.” Tennyson
“Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.” Auden

17. Irony
An expression in which the author’s meaning is quite different (often the opposite) from what is literally said. Irony, as a matter of tone, occurs most frequently in prose as a technique for comedy, tragedy, suspense or horror.
Three types of irony:
Verbal
Situational
Dramatic

18. Tone
Tone is the author’s attitude toward the subject (the beginnings of theme)
Tone is revealed through the words he or she chooses. (Diction)
In literature, the reader does not have the benefit of voice inflection- even a dog understands the tone of his master’s voice!
So, the reader must understand the author’s word choice, details, imagery and language in order to understand the tone.
Fill in the blank: The author feels ________ about ______ (insert topic of poem) due to the word choice of _______ which shows __________

19. Tone & Mood
Tone: The attitude that an AUTHOR takes toward the audience, subject, or the character.
Tone is conveyed through the author’s word and details.
angry-challenging-sarcastic-outraged-humorous
Mood: The emotions that the READER feels while reading; the atmosphere of the story.
Mood is conveyed through character emotions, setting and other elements.
romantic-gloomy-optimistic-sad-hopeful

20. Shift in Tone Good authors rarely use only one tone!
A speaker’s attitude may be complex…
An author might have one attitude toward the audience and another attitude toward the subject.

21. More on tone… To misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning (THEME)
If you miss irony or sarcasm, for example, you may misread the meaning of an entire passage!

22. How to analyze tone: Diction: the connotation of word choiceS
How to analyze tone: D I L S
Diction: the connotation of word choice
Images: Imagery that appeals to the senses
Details: Facts and details that the author has included (does not appeal to the senses)
Language: Formal? Cliché? Jargon? Figurative Language?
Sentence Structure: Long or short sentences?

23. (SIFT) Theme
Theme: central, underlying, and controlling idea of a literary work.
Abstract concept represented by a character, by actions, or by images in the literary work.
Examples: Overcoming obstacles, learning responsibility, being a role model, unconditional love
A generalization about human conduct = a lesson learned about human behavior
Ordinarily expressed in a full sentence and it may even require a full paragraph.

24. Theme= What it is NOT Cannot be expressed in a single word.
Not the purpose of the work (entertainment or instruction)
Man versus nature is not a theme, it is a conflict.
Unlike a moral or fable, the theme is seldom, if ever, stated.
It is never a cliché.

26. How Do I Figure Out the Theme?
You must first understand the plot, the characterization and conflict, the imagery, and the author’s tone.
What LESSON did you learn from the text??
Identify the subject in one word…
Then, explain in one or two sentences what the author says about the subject.
NOTE: Many stories/novels have more than one theme and there is seldom just one “right” answer!

27. For Example… Literature: Mulan Subject: Overcoming adversity
Possible Theme: To overcome the manifold challenges of life, be the flower that blooms in adversity.

28. Practice What is the topic of this poem?
How does the author FEEL about the topic of the poem?
What images are being described here?
What is a lesson you can learn from this poem?
How many stanzas?
What is the rhyme scheme?
What are those stanzas called?
Can you identify any figurative language?