Podcast Summary: "Teaching Students the Elements of Analysis"

Podcast: Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast
Episode Date: November 17, 2025
Host: Scott Bertram
Guest: Dr. Justin Jackson, Chair and Professor of English, Hillsdale College

Overview

This episode centers on teaching analytical skills in literature, with a focus on Dr. Justin Jackson’s forthcoming book, Elements of Analysis. The conversation explores the persistent challenges both students and teachers face when engaging with literature at a deep, analytical level—particularly the gap between recognizing a work’s thematic vision and understanding the methods by which an author achieves it. Dr. Jackson explains why close analysis is essential to a classical education and describes practical approaches for educators aiming to cultivate true literary analysis in their students, rather than mere plot summary or moralizing.

Key Discussion Points

Origins and Purpose of "Elements of Analysis"

[02:01 – 06:56]

• Dr. Jackson describes his 20 years at Hillsdale, observing students’ strengths in writing and organization but a lingering deficiency in genuine textual analysis.
• Recognizing this, he and his colleague Dr. Dutton Carney began creating handouts and, ultimately, a concise handbook intended for high school and college students.
• He emphasizes the goal: "If we can get these students in 9th through 12th grade, then they're going to be prepared for this and we can take them yet to another level once they're in college." — Jackson [05:07]

Why Students Struggle With Literary Analysis

[06:56 – 13:16]

• Literature Serves as a Tool: Too often, literature is treated as a vehicle for something else—history, cultural study, or simply moral instruction—rather than as art to be explored for its own sake.
• Fear of ‘Being Wrong’: Students fear risking an interpretation, wanting certainty about "the right answer" or the author's intention.
  • "Until you become an expert in the art of necromancy, I don't know that you're going to figure that out." — Jackson [08:00]
• Analysis vs. Summary: Many students stop at giving the "aboutness" of a poem or story, confusing summary with analysis.

The Nature and Practice of Close Analysis

[13:16 – 19:02]

• The book rejects "tricks" and decoder rings in favor of cultivating analytical habits: "What we just simply try to teach students is how to ask questions of the text." — Jackson [13:33]
• Dr. Jackson illustrates close analysis using Emily Dickinson's poem ("Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me"), focusing on the significance of the word "kindly."
  • "Kindly means two things simultaneously. It means pleasantly, graciously, perhaps... But kindly also means by kind, naturally." — Jackson [14:47]
• The essence of analysis is: "How does a single word, image, line... become a vehicle for a vision of that whole poem?" — Jackson [15:38]
• Analogy to math teaching: Getting the right answer is less important than showing the logical path to the answer.
  • "What I care about is, how did you get there?" — Jackson [16:23]

The Role of Analysis in Classical and Other Schools

[19:02 – 23:39]

• Classical schools have revived great content and moral/virtue-centered curricula but sometimes still treat literature as a means rather than an end.
• Dr. Jackson sees Elements of Analysis as a supplement, adaptable for classical, public, or private schools, designed to help all students treat a text as something valuable "for itself."
• On teaching literature: "It is not to try to pull out those platforms from anything. It's really a question of how do you enrich what it is that you're doing and then get students to maybe really figure out why they Love this literature." — Jackson [22:56]

Choosing Texts That Teach Analysis

[25:08 – 28:43]

• When selecting works for analysis, seek those by authors who "teach students how to read": Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Melville, and Emily Dickinson among them.
• Ovid is highlighted as particularly effective for instructing analysis:
  • "If anyone's listening out there and you're teaching his Metamorphoses, please don't teach it as an encyclopedia of myths... He wants to know what makes you tick." — Jackson [25:34]
• The mark of great literature is not only the depth of its message but the subtlety and complexity of its craft.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the fear of analysis:
  "They're afraid that analysis destroys things. They're afraid that if you pull something apart, there's no goal to that. But the goal to analysis is to... enter into the world of the author, then in some ways you're just going to have to risk being wrong." — Jackson [10:36]

• On good prose and the challenge of shifting to analytical writing:
  "When you have to do a new type of writing and analytical writing, your prose is shot. And some of them don't want to give that up. They like their adjectives and adverbs." — Jackson [12:22]

• On the limitations of didactic readings:
  "If literature just simply plays the vehicle for those things [virtue, wisdom, etc.], then we just treat literature superficially. And I think we do dishonor to these great authors in doing that." — Jackson [07:21]

• On the real aim of analysis:
  "It's not what the author says, but it's how does he do it?" — Jackson [17:22]

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Origins of the Book & Analytical Deficiencies: [02:01 – 06:56]
• Diagnosis of Analytical Deficit: [07:10 – 09:29]
• The Risks and Rewards of Analysis: [09:29 – 11:37]
• Why Analytical Prose is a Struggle: [11:38 – 13:16]
• What Close Analysis Looks Like in Practice: [13:30 – 16:19]
• Craft vs. Message – The ‘How’ of Literature: [16:20 – 19:02]
• Supplementing Classical & Other Education Approaches: [19:02 – 23:39]
• Choosing the Right Texts to Learn Analysis: [25:08 – 28:43]

Takeaways for Teachers and Students

• Analysis involves digging into how a piece of literature achieves its effect, not just what it says or what its moral lesson is.
• Teachers should encourage risk-taking in student interpretations, as long as they are thoughtfully reasoned and grounded in the text.
• The greatest literary works function as both subject and teacher, providing not just content but also models from which students can learn close reading and analytical skills.
• Elements of Analysis is crafted to be accessible, pragmatic, and directly supportive of teacher-led classrooms, aiming to supplement—not supplant—existing curricula.

Episode's Closing Note

Dr. Jackson concludes that while moral and thematic readings are important, the lasting engagement with literature comes from analyzing craft and detail—encouraging students to ask, "How does this move me?" and "How did the author do it?" This book, and the teaching philosophy behind it, aim to empower students to become attentive, thoughtful readers across genres and traditions.

[This summary was composed for educators, parents, and students interested in classical education or seeking practical insights on teaching literary analysis.]