Chapter Two

Joseph TomchakAP English9/12/11

Close Reading

• Close reading is the analysis of a text, which can reveal many factors such as style

• When reading one notices small details, than the larger idea

• Conversely, when writing an essay one moves from the large picture to the small details in order to prove the point

Analyzing style

• Many factors are used in analysis such as:– Tone, the speaker’s attitude toward the audience– Sentence structure– Vocabulary

• Style is the distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech

Diction

• Choice of words• Artful diction (figures of speech) are called

tropes• Examples of tropes are– Metaphor– Simile– Personification– Hyperbole

• More things to look for– Archaic, or old fashioned, diction

Syntax• Arrangement of words• Artful syntax (sentence arranged for rhetorical

effect) are called schemes• Examples of schemes are– Parallelism, the repetition of similar grammatical or

syntactical patterns– Juxtapositions, or he placement of two things side by

side for emphasis– Antithesis, or parallel structure that places opposite

ideas next to each other

• More things to look for– Periodic sentences are those that move toward

something important at the end– Cumulative sentences are those that at detail to

support an important idea at the beginning of the sentence

– Complex sentences, ones that contain a subordinate clause

– Declarative sentences, those that make statements– Anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase at the

beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines– Hortative sentences, those that call for action

– Imperative sentence, a sentence that is used to command

Annotation

• Analysis of text involving marking it in the margins and addressing different stylistic devices

• Other things to identify– Thesis statement & topic sentences– Important imagery & detail

Note Taking

Dialectical Journal

• Breaking down of the entire selection accompanied by a column of analysis

Graphic Organizer

• Two column system of note taking• On the left- important passages from the text• On the right- the analysis of the passage

Analyzing a Visual Text

• The same rhetorical triangle (subject, audience, speaker) still applies

• Ethos, Pathos, Logos still applies• Essentially same strategies except with the

addition of visual aids

Other Important Tropes and Schemes

• Alliteration- repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence

• Allusion- reference to a person, place, or event from another work or from reality

• Antimetabole- repetition of words in reverse order

• Asyndeton- Omission of conjunctions between clauses or words

• Inversion- inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

• Metonymy- using a single feature to represent the whole

• Oxymoron- the placement of contradicting words next to each other

• Zeugma- use of two different words in a grammatically similar way but producing different meanings