1. At least one quarter of your paper should be taken up with the description of the theory itself. Try to identify what you think are the four or five most important features or tenets of the theory and describe them as carefully and thoroughly as you can. In your introduction you should name the theory, identify its major tenets, and explain what work of literature you will be applying it to. I list here some of the theories or theorists we have discussed (or will discuss) and that Stevens discusses in her book: Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Neo-classical theory, Romanticism (Wordsworth and Shelley), Nietzsche, Poe, Arnold, Marx, Freud, Jung, Formalism, Deconstruction, Identity studies (cultural studies).
For example, for Plato’s theory, we noted that he did not trust representation (mimesis) at all because he felt that focusing on the physical world distracted from the truth which lies in the world of ideas; we also observed that Plato worried about the way the emotions of literature might weaken us by making us too emotional. Based on the criticisms, Plato said if he was a dictator, he would ban most forms of poetry. If you wanted to use Plato’s thought for your paper, you could outline the above ideas, and then look at a work of literature (or a movie or series) to see if you think it might have the effects Plato outlines.
2. The theory examined should be sufficiently narrow. Each major school of literary theory has almost as many variations as it has practitioners. In order to help you define and narrow your understanding of the theory you are discussing, please make use of Stevens’ Literary Theory and Criticism and class lectures to help you
3. Once you have sufficiently explained what you think are the most important features of the theory, you can spend the final two pages or so of your essay suggesting how a reader might apply that theory to some work of literature. Since you only have two or two-and-a-half pages for the application, it makes sense that you should probably pick a short work, say a lyric poem or a short story.
Your conclusion should re-sate your argument in a new and refined way so that the reader sees clearly all the ramifications of what vou have tried to demonstrate. Do not simply reproduce the thesis word for word in the conclusion. The conclusion should also review the main pieces of evidence from the argument, perhaps saving one crucial quotation for the final or nearly final paragraph.
I understand that using a theory in this way may feel awkward to you, but just do your best.