Developing critical argument
The process of constructing and sustaining a literary argument across an essay or longer work (NEA), ensuring that analysis accumulates toward a coherent interpretive position. Critical argument differs from plot summary or descriptive analysis.
Real World
Literary critic Helen Vendler doesn't just describe Keats's imagery — across her book 'The Odes of John Keats' she advances the sustained claim that the odes chart a movement from sensory indulgence toward tragic acceptance, each chapter adding complexity to that position rather than repeating it.
Exam Focus
Each paragraph should advance your argument, not restate it; examiners penalise essays that identify features without building toward an interpretive conclusion.
How well did you know this?