How to Analyze Syntax: A Top Literary Device
Analyzing literary devices, such as syntax, is the cornerstone of what the AP English Literature Exam will test you on—especially in the essay section. Although it's not too challenging to find the dictionary definitions of what literary terms mean, it's often tough to go from understanding what a literary device means, to spotting a literary device in the context of a book or poem, to then analyzing and writing about its significance for both the passage and text as a whole.
To make the analysis-writing process easier for one of the most common literary devices on the AP English Literature Exam, I’m going to teach you some basic questions you can memorize to help you write high-quality analysis for syntax.
First, what is syntax and why are we focusing on this particular literary device? Syntax is the arrangement of words an author or poet will use to form sentences—a more detailed definition of what syntax is can be found here.
Second, why are we focusing on syntax? Sentences are the building blocks of novels, plays and often poetry (I say "often" for poetry because some modern and post-modern poets are sneaky and like to fore-go sentences in their poems--I'm looking at you, E.E. Cummings). That means spending time to analyze syntax is a great investment because it will always be a literary device you can use when you write your three timed-essays for your AP English Literature Exam.
So, when you see sentences and need to analyze the significance of an author's arrangement of words, what do you do? Here's a guide to help you:
When you see long sentences, consider:
Is the author trying to replicate the physical movement of the character (as when McCarthy describes how the hunter in The Crossing carefully lowers the animal after cradling it in his arms, unwraps the body, and washes the blood off the sheet)?
Is the author trying to suggest confusion or simulate the rapid flow of ideas or emotions?
Is the author piling on detail after detail to illustrate the enormity, weight, or extensiveness of something, like the enormous English breakfast and the extensiveness of English domination?
When you see short sentences, consider:
Is the author trying to stress a key idea?
Is the author trying to sound objective and/or factual?
Is the author trying to convey anxiety or quicken the pace in contrast to longer, more complex ideas?
When you see parallelism (“on the sea, in the air, over the land...”) consider:
Is the author trying to stress the sheer number of things?
Is the author trying to create rhythm, force, and/or power?
Is the author trying to stir emotion? (“I have a dream”)
When you see repetition of key words or phrases, consider:
Is the author trying to stress a key idea?
Is the author using repetition to convey emotion, such as anger, bitterness, or joy?
If you want to learn more about how to write high-quality literary term analysis, check out my Udemy course, which provides you a four-step framework to make literary term analysis less daunting and more straight-forward (there's extra downloadable resources to help you study and prep for the exam, too!).