What tense do I use when writing about literature?
When writing about literature, or any piece of art, always use the present tense. For example, the following is in past tense:
- On his odyssey, Odysseus outsmarted the cyclops, slept with Circe, journeyed into the underworld, and still managed to kill all the suitors.
Write about the literature as if it is still alive, something that presently exists:
- On his odyssey, Odysseus outsmarts the cyclops, sleeps with Circe, journeys into the underworld, and still manages to kill all the suitors.
This might seem counter-intuitive, since Odysseus did these things in the past, both in the sense of authorship and readership; however, literature, like any work of art, exists in the present, and the actions of that work do as well when we write about them or refer to them.