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Chapter 2
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Close Reading:
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Developing an understanding of a text that is based on its small details and the larger ideas those
details evoke or suggest.
By looking at the various parts of a poem or passage of fiction, you come to appreciate the writer’s
artistry and understand how a writer uses various techniques to make a statement, suggest an
emotion, or convey an idea.
Purpose of close reading: to analyze not just what a piece of literature means but how that meaning
comes about. You start with the larger ideas you’ve discovered and use the small details.
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Close Reading:
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After reading a piece of literature, what’s important at this point is not necessarily answering
questions you’ve posed but simply asking them. By posing questions, you’re engaging with the
text--you’re reading actively.
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The Elements of Style:
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The point of close reading is to go beyond merely summarizing a work.
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Literary elements to follow . . . .
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The Elements of Style:
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Diction: The author’s word choice.
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Denotation: The dictionary definition.
Connotation: The implied or associated meaning of a word.
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The Elements of Style:
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Figure of speech: Language that is not literal.
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Simile: A comparison using like or as.
Metaphor: An implied comparison.
Personification: A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given humanistic qualities.
Analogy: A figure of speech that usually helps explain something unfamiliar or complicated by
comparing it to something familiar or simple.
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The Elements of Style:
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Extended metaphor: When a metaphor is extended over several lines in a work.
Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an
overstatement to make a point.
Understatement: The presentation or framing of something as less important, urgent, awful, good,
powerful, and so on, than it actually is, often for satiric or comical effect; the opposite of hyperbole
Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but actually is not.
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The Elements of Style:
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Verbal irony: A figure of speech that occurs when a speaker or character says one thing but means
something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected.
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Imagery: The Verbal expression of a sensory experience and can appeal to any of the five senses.
Syntax: The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject of the work.
Mood: The feeling the reader experiences as a result of the tone.
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The Elements of Style:
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Rhyme: The repetition of the same (or similar) vowel or consonant sounds or constructions.
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Free verse: A form of poetry that does not have a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme.
End rhyme: A rhyme at the end of two or more lines of poetry.
Internal rhyme: A rhyme that occurs within a line.
Eye (sight) rhyme: A rhyme that only works because the words look the same.
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The Elements of Style:
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Near rhyme: A rhyme that pairs sounds that are similar but not exactly the same.
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Stanza: Lines in a poem that the poet has chosen to group together, usually separated from other
lines by a space.
Quatrain: A four-line stanza.
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The Elements of Style:
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Couplet: A two-line, rhyming stanza.
Tercet: A three-line stanza.
Sestet: A six-line stanza.
Octet: An eight-line stanza.
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The Elements of Style:
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Rhythm: The general pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Meter: The formal, regular organization of stressed and unstressed syllables, measured in feet.
Feet: Distinguished by the number of syllables it contains and how stress is placed on the syllables-stressed (‘) or unstressed (ᵕ).
Blank verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, blank verse is the most commonly used verse form in
English because it is the verse form that comes closest to natural patterns of speaking in English.
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The Elements of Style:
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Elegy: A contemplative poem, usually for someone who has died.
Lyric: A short poem expressing the personal thoughts or feelings of a first-person speaker.
Ode: A form of poetry used to meditate on or address a single object or condition.
Villanelle: A form of poetry in which five tercets, or three-line stanzas (rhyme scheme aba), are
followed by a quatrain (rhyme scheme abaa). At the end of tercets three and five, the last line of
tercet one is repeated. These two repeated lines, called refrain lines, are repeated again to conclude
the quatrain.
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The Elements of Style:
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Enjambment: When one line ends without a pause and must continue into the next line to
complete its meaning.
Caesura: A pause within a line of poetry, sometimes punctuated, sometimes not.
Sound: The musical quality of poetry.
Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in a sequence of words.
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The Elements of Style:
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Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words.
Onomatopoeia: Use of a word that refers to a noise and whose pronunciation mimics that noise.
Cadence: Similar to rhythm, but related to the rise and fall of the voice.
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Talking with the Text:
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To become a more careful reader, the most important and helpful thing you can do is read, read,
and reread, but there are some techniques that can make your reading more active. The most
important point to keep in mind is that your goal is not simply to identify and list literary elements-although that’s a first step--but to analyze their effect.
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Think Aloud: The first step to close reading is to start asking questions. These can be simple ones
(such as the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary) or more complex ones (such as the meaning
suggested by figurative language). Since the goal is to “talk with the text,” a good place to start is
by talking to one another.
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Think Aloud:
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Pair with a classmate and take turns reading and thinking out loud; that is, read a line or sentence,
then stop and comment. See what your partner has to say. Then let him or her read the next line or
sentence, and repeat the process until you’ve finished the text. Although your comments can go in a
number of directions, here are a few suggestions:
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Pose questions about something that confuses you or about a possible interpretation
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Identify unfamiliar vocabulary or allusions
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Note specific stylistic elements and their effects
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Rephrase inverted lines
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Make connections within the poem, or passage of fiction, noting any repetition, patterns, or
contrasts
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Annotation: Simply noting on the page words that strike you, phrases that confuse or thrill you, or
places where you want to talk back to the speaker or narrator.
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Goal: Record ideas and impressions for later analysis.
Find a combination of highlighting/underlining words/phrases and actually making comments
within the text.
If you’re not allowed to write in your book, use sticky notes attached to the outside margins of the
text.
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Annotation (continued):
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On your first reading, circle or highlight words or phrases that are interesting or unfamiliar, as well
as any elements of style. Don’t worry if you can’t remember the literary term for what you find; just
describe it.
On your second reading, move from investigating individual words and phrases to making largerscale observations. If you see patterns, words, or ideas that seem to connect to one another or are
repeated, circle those words or ideas and use lines to connect them.
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Annotation (continued):
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After the third reading, write for three to five minutes about the work. Paraphrase it, and then react
to it as a whole and to its parts. Respond to the work in any way you like. Informal, exploratory
writing can help you begin to understand what you read.
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Graphic Organizer:
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Helps break down the poem or passage of fiction down into specific areas for commentary.
Setting up the close reading in such a structured way guides you through an analysis that does not
stop with simple restatement or even identification of elements of style but links them to effect and
meaning.
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Lines
When, in disgrace with
Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my
outcast state,
Paraphrase/Summary
When things are bad, he
cries about it by himself.
Element of Style
“Fortune” refers to both
wealth and luck.
Inversion “all alone”
before “beweep” “outcast
state.”
Effect or Function
First reference to words
connected to money or
riches.
Inversion sounds more
formal, mournful, sadder.
First appearance of three
“states.”
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Analyzing:
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Sometimes it’s helpful to start by summarizing the work in one sentence, just so you’re sure what’s
going on.
You might bring in insight from the title of the work. Does the title construction anticipate the
rhythm in the poem itself, for example?
In poetry, a good mnemonic device to rely on is SOAPSTone.
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Analyzing:
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Who is the Speaker? (Who are you? What details will you reveal? Why is it important that the
audience know who you are?)
What is the Occasion? (How does your knowledge of the larger occasion and the immediate
occasion affect what you are writing about?)
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Who is the Audience? (What are the characteristics of this group? How are they related to you?
Why are you addressing them?)
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Analyzing:
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What is the Purpose? (Explain to yourself what you hope to accomplish by this expression of
opinion. How would you like your audience to respond?)
What is the Subject? (Just a few words. What are you talking about?)
What is the Tone?) (What attitude[s] do you want your audience to feel? How will your attitude[s]
enhance the effectiveness of your piece? Choose a few words or phrases that will reflect a particular
attitude.)
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Developing a Thesis Statement:
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Your thesis must be an interpretation.
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It’s an argument about the meaning of a work that you will support with evidence from the text.
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Avoid creating a thesis that is so broad that it just restates the prompt.
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You may end up changing it as you go.
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The thesis needs to focus on specific characteristics.
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On the other hand, it’s important not to narrow your thesis so much that there’s nothing to say
about it.
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Organizing a Close Analysis Essay:
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Once you have an idea for a thesis statement, think about the way you will support it.
Look back at the text and at your notes.
Think about the ideas that inspired your thesis.
Stay away from the developmental five-paragraph essay. It’s too elementary for this level; however,
your essay should have a beginning (introduction), a middle (body), and an end (conclusion).
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Documenting Sources:
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Purpose:
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To allow readers to reference your sources easily.
To give you credibility as a writer/creator.
To protect yourself from plagiarism.
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Documenting Sources:
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Two (2) basic features of MLA style
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In the text of your paper
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Include the author or title and page citation for each source
At the end of your paper
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Create list on a new page titled “Works Cited”
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Include all sources used in your paper
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Alphabetized by author’s last name or title if author is unknown
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Documenting Sources--In-text citations:
Author is named by last name in parentheses followed by page number if fiction and line number(s) if
poetry
e.g., At the end of Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard drops dead upon learning that her
husband is alive. In the final irony of the story, doctors report that she has died of a "joy that kills" (25).
Note: The ending punctuation always goes outside the parentheses.
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Chapter 2
Documenting Sources--In-text citations:
Author is named by last name in parentheses followed by page number if fiction and line number(s) if
poetry
e.g., In “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard drops dead upon learning that her husband is alive. In the final
irony of the story, doctors report that she has died of a "joy that kills" (Chopin 25).
Note: The ending punctuation always goes outside the parentheses.
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Documenting Sources--In-text citations:
Author is named by last name in parentheses followed by page number if fiction and line number(s) if
poetry
e.g., Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
Note: The ending punctuation always goes outside the parentheses.
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Documenting Sources--In-text citations:
For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place
quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the
quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin;
maintain double-spacing. Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional
quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should
come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line
breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
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Documenting Sources--Works Cited Page:
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Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch
margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the
words Works Cited at the top of the page.
Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.
List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225
through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a
span of pages.
If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an
online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not need to provide subscription
information in addition to the database name.
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Documenting Sources--Works Cited Page:
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Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the, an), prepositions, or
conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is
Nothing Left to Lose.
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Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of
shorter works (poems, articles).
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Documenting Sources--Works Cited Page:
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Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author
names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name:
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Burke, Kenneth
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Levy, David M.
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Wallace, David Foster
Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, Saint, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, DDS, etc.) with names. A book listing an author named
"John Bigbrain, PhD" appears simply as "Bigbrain, John"; do, however, include suffixes like "Jr." or "II." Putting it all
together, a work by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be cited as "King, Martin Luther, Jr." Here the suffix following
the first or middle name and a comma.
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Documenting Sources--Works Cited Page:
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e.g., Berman, Morris. The Twilight of American Culture. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. Netlibrary. Web. 22 Aug.
2009. Web.