On Close Reading
Close Reading isn’t holding the book an inch and a half from your eyes -it’s a method of paying close attention to details in a piece of literature, and systematically explaining what you find. Literature is made out of words; close reading is careful analysis of this construction. Close reading connects the ideas of a literary text with the literary devices and formal techniques that compose and convey those ideas. A really good close reading ought to be able to account for the contribution of every line of a passage, and perhaps even every word. Close reading is the opposite of paraphrase: once you’ve figured out the literal meaning of a passage, your job is to decode how the passage conveys that meaning. What makes the poem or novel or play so much more effective than a summary of its plot or contents would be?
* Choose a passage that strikes you as particularly beautiful, weird, ambiguous, surprising, or exemplary of the author’s style. Avoid passages of dialogue in favor of narration or poetic lines.
*Start by asking some very basic questions:
What verb tense is used in the passage? What person? What is the
context? What is the progression of ideas in the passage? Are there
repetitions? What kind of text is this? How does genre (ode, lyric, etc) shape the passage?
Examine the diction of the passage. Are there words unfamiliar to you? Look them up! Think about the straightforward denotations, and consult the Oxford English Dictionary to help uncover the connotations. Pay attention to connections among roots of words, or to words whose connotations repeat or oppose other words in the passage.
Study the syntax and the rhythm of sentences, as well as their length, caesuras, run-ons, etc. Does punctuation affect meaning?
Think about wordplay, irony, humor.
Look for imagery and figurative language, and pay attention to musical devices like rhyme, internal rhyme, and alliteration.
*For every aspect of the passage that you notice, ask yourself:
How does it work? How does it contribute to the meaning of the passage? How does it reinforce the effect of other aspects of the passage, or work against other aspects of the passage? Can you form groups or clusters of images and stylistic choices according to likenesses, differences, and their significance?
Vocabulary:
— are the words chosen short or long, monosyllabic or polysyllabic?
— simple or complex?
— from Anglo-Saxon (ask, kingly), French (question, royal) or Latin
(interrogate, regal)?
— concrete or abstract?
— particular or general?
— in common use or from a specialized subculture?
— being used literally or figuratively?
— context-sensitive (e.g., “here,” “now,” “I,” “you”) or context-
independent?
Syntax:
— how are words grouped? into familiar phrases or new
juxtapositions? into long or short sentences? complex (many subordinate clauses) or simple?
— What parts of speech are used most heavily (e.g. adjectives, nouns,
verbs)?
— Are the verbs active or passive?
— What verbal modes predominate: stating, questioning, exclaiming,
commanding?
— How many voices can you distinguish in the passage?
— Is speech quoted (directly or indirectly, freely or precisely)?
Structure:
— How does the passage begin, and where does it end up?
— Which words or ideas are repeated? Does the passage progress in a
linear fashion or circle back upon itself?
— What moments of transition can you identify in the passage? Does
one statement flow smoothly into the next, or is the passage structured by abrupt juxtapositions?
— Are there parts of the passage that don’t seem to fit with the rest? If
so, can you explain both what sets them apart and what they contribute to the passage?
— Are there moments where the logical or narrative structure gets
interrupted or breaks down? (You can also ask these questions of individual phrases and sentences.)
Think about the text as whole before you begin, and again after you’ve finished a draft. As you make individual observations, keep your larger point in mind. Try to integrate quotations with analysis, instead of alternating long block quotations with long generalizations. You do not have to comment on every word, but a thorough close reading should have something to say about most every line or sentence. If a line or an aspect of the text puzzles you at first, don’t simply gloss over it, even if successive readings clear up the problem: the initial ambiguity is worth noticing and explaining. The fact that a close reading pays special attention to detail does not preclude a general argument; it does mean that you should support that argument as precisely as possible.
*What patterns can you discern among the dynamics you’ve identified? Are there repetitions, contradictions, similarities, differences, negations, reinforcements? Patterns are crucial evidence for what a passage is thinking about, grappling with, representing, activating. A good thesis statement for a close reading focuses on a pattern, and may also bridge the meaning of a passage to the broad themes of a whole text. I.e.: “Through punctuation, imagery, rhythm, and syntax, this passage highlights the tension between progress and erosion that preoccupies this novel.”
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