The object of analysis is often quite short.  It might be a page, a paragraph, a few lines, a sentence, a phrase, or even a word. It is a way to examine more fully the resonances of language.

DEFINITION: A close reading is a thoughtful, careful, detailed observation and analysis of a small section of text.  You separate the text into its parts, scrutinize each element, search for patterns, and then conclude what it means AND how it means.   A good close reading attends to subtleties, avoiding rehashing the superficial or obvious.

Think of close reading as reading a letter from someone that you are infatuated with, but your uncertain of exactly where your relationship stands.  You read and reread the letter very carefully looking for all the possible mearnings that could be in words and their organization trying to decipher what the person really thinks of you.

It is NOT a summary or a paraphrase, although it may involve both.

DIG. DIG. DIG. The longer you look at something and the more angles that you look from, the more things you'll find. So look, look. look.  Dig beyond the surface.  This is like farming.  Don't expect to see your results right away.  Be patient and work steadily.  Slowly, ever so slowly and idea will grow. In the end, you will have an idea to harvest, but it might take a while for the idea to develop. Be patient.
 

CLOSE READING IS PREWRITING:
It is used to collect support for a broader argument. It is a method of reading that is the foundation of most literary essays, especially explications and analyses.  It is the prewriting that you OFTEN have to do BEFORE you can find a thesis.  It is crucial to the logic that will support an argument.  It is like recorded data for the scientist.  A scientist must closely observe something before she can make postulate a hypothesis.  A methodology for testing the hypothesis is developed.  Data is collected. Conclusions are made.
 

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR?
In close reading, the more detail you go into, the more information you can pull out. It's a lot like detective work, and it’s a great way to start brainstorming for a paper topic.

Here is what almost every group examines closely:

1.  Begin with the words and then build up into patterns.
You may go so far as looking up EVERY word in a short passage. You can skip "the" and "a" and other minor words, but don't skip many.
    a) Denotations.  Most common use? Especially not multiple denotations.  Words may be intended to resonate with more than one denotation.
    b) Connotations. Where else has it been used?  What subtle shading does this give the word?  What ideas does it have attached to it that the other options don't?
    c) Word Etymologies:  The Oxford English Dictionary will give you this.
    d) Unusual word choice.  Why did the author choose this word instead of the other choices?

2.  Phrases and Sentences
    a) Unusual word order,
    b) Grammar: Shifts in person, number, or tense may be loaded with meaning. Indefinite antecedents.
 

3.  Figurative language. (metaphor, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, allegory) What relationship exists between literal and figurative meanings?

4.  Imagery.  What sense image (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) does the author create with her word choice? Why does he focus on these?  What does he omit? Why?

5.  Patterns.  Within sentences. Within paragraphs.  Within chapters. Within the entire text. (Have you read a similar story? What does this tell us about ourselves as S. Georgians, Southerners, Americans? Humans?)

• Repetition of similar or identical sounds, words, sentences, etc.
• Repetition of images.
• Repetition of ideas.

7.  Absences.  What is missing? Why might it be left out?  How does its omission affect the narrative?

8.  Tone: the mood or feeling conveyed by the author’s words

9. Point of View:

10.  Setting: where the action takes place

11.  Sound:  Rhythm, Rhyme, Beat.

The list of possible things to examine is very long.  Here is a thorough explanation of this theory called New Criticism

    Close reading is primarily used to literature as an artistic object.  Some people will say that because it is art, literature has ONE definitive reading if you used dictionaries and seek patterns of logic in the text.

  HOWEVER,

I would maintain that what YOU bring to the letter will shape your reading of it as much as the words themselves.
I believe that while literature is art, it also contains values, ideas, and presuppositions that need to be discussed.

DIFFERENT EMPHASES OF VARIOUS READERS.

• Literature Teaches us Values.  Ideological Analysis. This often examines issues of gender, class, race, ethnicity . . .
• Literature Teaches Us About Ourselves. Reader Response. How do you respond to the work? Why do you respond in this way?  (Focus on the text for your answer.) How do the various parts of the text work together to produce this affect?
• Literature is Rife with Class Conflict Ideological Analysis.
• Literature Teaches us Essential Human Stories
• Literature is a Reflection of the Author
• Literature Reflects and Helps Create the Socio-historical Context with which it was written.

LITERARY ANALYSIS (deductive structure--thesis at beginning)
After stating your thesis, you must support it with evidence from the text. The point of close reading is to prove that your interpretation is valid by examining specific details of the language.
 

RESOURCES
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http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~babydoll/coursematerial/spring96/closereading.html  Excellent explanation of how to use Close Reading to discover a thesis.

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~babydoll/coursematerial/spring96/closereading.html Excellent explanation of how to do close reading of a narrative text.

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/hurt/103/close.htm  Close Reading for a short story.