A literary essay deals with poems, short stories, novels in an attempt to understand them in detail, to compare them with each other, to attribute them to a particular literary movement, to a particular age and culture. Such an essay could perform an analysis of specific content, of main or secondary characters, of the themes, symbolism, literary devices, narration style. Understanding certain works of literature can often be very challenging without some preliminary research and without consulting expert opinion, hence, such essays are highly beneficial for greater insight. Alternatively, students are asked to express their own impressions, feelings, and opinions after reading a literary work, which helps with self-expression or with learning to deliver objective criticism.