Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis

Chapter 2

Close Reading

• An analysis of a text• Develop an understanding of the text that is first

based on the words themselves and then on the larger ideas

• Start with smaller details and then think about the larger meaning

• When you write about close reading, start with the larger meaning and use details as support

• Use it unconsciously and instantaneously• Close reading is used to analyze style

Style

• Components of style Body language Gestures Facial expressions Tone of voice Volume Sentence structure Colloquialisms vocabulary

Analyzing Style

• We can better understand a text by analyzing its tone, sentence structure, and vocabulary just like we can better understand a speaker by analyzing body language, gestures, facial expressions, and volume

• Style contribute to meaning, purpose, and effect of a text

Diction and Syntax

• Diction- the choice of words• Syntx- arrangement of words• A troupe is artful diction

Metaphor Simile Personification hyperbole

• A scheme is artful syntax Parallelisms Juxtapositions Antitheses

Questions to ask when you analyze diction:• Which of the important words in the passage

(verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are general and abstract? Which are specific and concrete?

• Are the important word formal, informal, colloquial, or slang?

• Are some words nonliteral or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors?

Questions to ask when you analyze syntax:• What is the order of the parts of the sentence?

Is it the usual (subject-verb-object), or is it inverted?

• Which park of speech is more prominent – nouns or verbs?

• What are the sentences like? Are they periodic (moving toward something important at the end) or cumulative (adding details that support an important ideas in the beginning of the sentence)?

• How does the sentence connect its words, phrases, and clauses?

Talking with the Text

• Helps us to generate questions to do a close reading

• Techniques Annotation – marking the text as you read Dialectical Journal (double column notes) – use

columns to represent visually the conversation between the text and the reader

Graphic Organizer – visually organized representation of information

Annotation

• Reading using a pen or pencil• Write on Post-it notes if you can’t write in you

book• Identify main ideas• Identify words, phrases, or sentences you don’t

understand• Look for figures of speech or tropes• Ask questions or comment on what you are

reading• As you read, listen to the voice inside your head

and write down what the voice is saying

Dialectical Journal

• Also call double entry notebook or double column notes

• Can be set up in a variety of ways Right side main idea, left side supporting details Rights side literary techniques identified, left side

examples of literary techniques

• Breaking the text into smaller sections can help you notice the details

Graphic Organizer

• Text can be divided for analysis Use paragraph divisions as natural breaking

points

• Takes times to complete, but allows you to a lot of information to analyze

• Can take many forms

Assignment

• P.48 – use handout provided• Complete the assignment using a close reading

of your choice• As a group, select a method of close reading• Everyone needs to do a close reading using the

technique selected by the group• When everyone has finished, compare how

other groups members approached this assignment

• Be sure to tell why you selected that close reading

Analyzing a Visual Text

• Many of the same tools of rhetorical analysis and close reading that we have practiced on written texts are also useful for detecting the underlying messages in visual texts, such as advertisements

Advertisting

• Aggressive tone Use of colloquialism “baby” Connotation Word choice

• Less aggressive picture Shows family values Appeals to women Tatseful Power under the hood

• Comical element Big soft letters Pleasure of unhealthy lifestyle

From Analysis to Essay

1. First, read last paragraph on p.51

2. Listen to Kennedy’s inaugural address

3. Read it using one of the close reading techniques

4. Answer the questions on diction and syntax as a group. (p.55)

5. For the remaining time in class and homework, crate a thesis and write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies John F. Kennedy uses in his inaugural address to achieve his purpose. (p.57)

6. Hand in annotation, questions, and essay for a grade