1. Writing a Compare/Contrast Essay About Literature

2. First… a word about compare/contrast
Many teachers in the past may have told you that when you are comparing things, you are only looking at similarities, and when you are contrasting things, you are only looking at differences.
So… do you have to deal with BOTH similarities and differences in your essay?
ONLY YOU can answer that question. This is YOUR paper. YOU are the one coming up with the literary analysis. If you ONLY wish to focus on similarities, go for it. If you want to focus on a striking difference, do that. If you want to have a couple of paragraphs comparing the works and a couple of paragraphs contrasting them, that’s fine too.
The point is, YOU HAVE FREEDOM TO MAKE CHOICES THAT SUIT THE NEEDS OF YOUR UNIQUE ESSAY. Use it wisely.

3. The Purpose of a Literary Compare/Contrast Essay
When you write a compare/contrast essay about literature, you have two goals:
Goal 1: To provide excellent analysis that shows a deep understanding of each individual work you are writing about. Your analysis should give your reader insight into the works of literature that they might not have had just reading it.
Goal 2: To look at the works of literature side by side and make observations that could not have been made if you were writing about only one work. In other words, when you compare/contrast the works you choose, you must say why these similarities and differences you are pointing out MATTER.

4. What Not to Do
Some textbooks and websites that give advice about compare/contrast essay suggest that you structure your essay like this:
Intro
Paragraph about first work
Paragraph about second work
Paragraph comparing first and second works
Conclusion
DO NOT DO THIS. Having read many essays for these prompts, I can say that for 99% of students, this structure does not help you fulfill the purpose of the essay.

5. Successful Structures
A successful compare/contrast essay for these prompts will constantly be looking at the works of literature together, moving back and forth between them and using the tools of literary analysis to point out significant similarities and differences.
This means that using a point-by-point compare/contrast structure is more effective for these prompts.
Point-by-point structure calls for you to choose several points of comparison between your works of literature, and for each body paragraph to discuss multiple works and how those works deal with the topic of that paragraph.

6. Example Compare/Contrast Point-by-Point Structure
Thesis: In introduction. What major point are you going to make about the relationship between your play and the original story?
Body paragraph 1: Setting in play vs. story
Body paragraph 2: Symbolism in play vs. story
Body paragraph 3: Foreshadowing in play vs. story
Conclusion
Please note that there are LOTS of ways to use this structure. I chose setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing as the topics for my body paragraphs, but you might focus on three (or more) different characters, three different themes, etc. Choose the points of comparison that work for YOU.

7. An Example of a Claim Comparing Two Poems
In “Ars Poetica” and “Poetry,” Archibald MacLeish and Nikki Giovanni both use carefully crafted poetic language, specifically imagery and metaphors, to suggest that the experience of reading poetry transcends language.
Now YOU come up with a claim about ANY TWO poems we read for today. (Yes, you should write this down.)
Make sure your claim mentions the titles and authors of both works.
Make sure your claim asserts something that is not immediately obvious to a casual reader. (For instance, “Both of these poems are about poetry,” is not an appropriate claim.)