How do I analyze the point of view of a poem, prose passage, or play?
Point of view Adapted from the College Board Vertical Teams booklet A piece of literature is told or recorded by a narrator, who has a particular identity. The story is rarely told by the writer speaking in his own personality; usually, it is told through an assumed point of view, an assumed eye and mind, or persona. The author determines whose perspective will be used, whose words are being read, where the narrator stands in relation to the events, and whether the events are viewed from a fixed or mobile position. Students sometimes have difficulty understanding that the choice is deliberate, that a different point of view would change the story significantly, and that the author chooses the point of view for its precise effect on the meaning of the story. Sometimes an Advanced Placement English exam question may ask the reader to identify the narrative techniques the author has used in a given passage. Narrative techniques are the methods used in telling the story; these techniques w
