CLOSE READING OF A LITERARY TEXT

Close Reading

• deep analysis of how a literary text works

• both a reading process and something you include in a literary analysis paper

• analyzing a text in fine detail

• should produce a lot of questions

• questions should lead to thoughtful analysis and literary analysis

I. First Impressions

• What is the first thing you notice about the passage/text?

• What is the second thing?

• Do the two things you noticed complement each other? Or contradict each other?

• What mood does the passage create in you? Why?

II. Subject

• What is the text about?

• What is its plot?

• What is its most important topic?

III. Form

• How is the text put together?

• How is the text divided?

• If it is a short story, why did the author choose to write short-form fiction instead of a novel or novella?

• If it is a poem, how are the words/lines/stanzas arranged? Is there a pattern?

IV. Vocabulary and Diction

• Which words do you notice first? Why? What is noteworthy about this diction?

• How do the important words relate to one another?

• Do any words seem oddly used to you? Why?

• Do any words have double meanings? Do they have other connotations?

• Look up any unfamiliar words. For a pre-20th century text, look in the Oxford English Dictionary for possible outdated meanings.

V. Discerning Patterns

• Does an image here remind you of an image elsewhere in the passage/text? Where? What's the connection?

• How might this image fit into the pattern of the text as a whole?

• Could this passage symbolize the entire work? Could this passage serve as a microcosm--a little picture--of what's taking place in the whole work?

• What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace? What is the style like?

• Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it?

• Is there any repetition within the passage? What is the effect of that repetition?

• How many types of writing are in the passage? (For example, narration, description, argument, dialogue, rhymed or alliterative poetry, etc.)

• Can you identify paradoxes in the author's thought or subject?

• What is left out or kept silent? What would you expect the author to talkabout that the author avoided?

VI. Point of View and Characterization

• How does the passage/text make us react or think about any characters orevents within the narrative?

• Are there colors, sounds, physical description that appeal to the senses?Does this imagery form a pattern? Why might the author have chosen thatcolor, sound or physical description?

• Who speaks in the passage/text? To whom does he or she speak? Does thenarrator have a limited or partial point of view? Or does the narrator appearto be omniscient, and he knows things the characters couldn't possiblyknow? (For example, omniscient narrators might mention future historicalevents, events taking place "off stage," the thoughts and feelings ofmultiple characters, and so on).

VII. Symbolism

• Are there metaphors? What kinds?

• Is there one controlling metaphor? If not, how many different metaphors are there, and in what order do they occur? How might that be significant?

• How might objects represent something else?

• Do any of the objects, colors, animals, or plants appearing in the passagehave traditional connotations or meaning? What about religious or biblicalsignificance?

• If there are multiple symbols in the work, could we read the entire passageas having allegorical meaning beyond the literal level?

VIII. Theme

• What is the meaning of the text?

• What point is the author making?

• How do the elements contribute to the theme?