This document provides guidance for conducting a close reading of a literary passage. It involves analyzing the passage in fine detail through commenting on points of style and one's reactions as a reader. The close reading focuses on impressions, vocabulary, patterns, point of view, symbolism, and determining the importance and meaning of the passage. Close reading is the building block for larger analysis of the text.

1. CloseReadingofaLiteraryPassage
To do a close reading,youchoose a specificpassage andanalyse itinfine detail,asif witha
magnifyingglass.Youthencommentonpointsof style andonyour reactionsasa reader.Close
readingisimportant because itisthe buildingblockforlargeranalysis.
1.FirstImpressions:
1.1 What is the first thing younotice about the passage?
1.2 What is the secondthing?
1.3 Do the two things you noticedcomplement eachother? Or contradict each other?
1.4 What mooddoes the passage create inyou?Why?
2.VocabularyandDiction:
2.1 Which words doyou notice first? Why? What is noteworthyabout thisdiction?
2.2 How do the important words relate to one another?
2.3 Do anywords seem oddlyusedto you? Why?
2.4 Do anywords have double meanings? Dotheyhave extra connotations?
2.5 Look up anyunfamiliar words. For a pre-20th centurytext, lookinthe OxfordEnglishDictionaryfor possible outdated
meanings.
3.DiscerningPatterns:
3.1 Does animage here remind youof an image elsewhere inthe book? Where?What's the connection?
3.2 How might this image fit into the pattern of the book as a whole?
3.3 Could this passage symbolize the entire work?Couldthispassage serve as a microcosm--a little picture--of what's
taking place inthe whole work?
3.4 What is the sentence rhythmlike? Short andchoppy? Long andflowing?Doesit buildonitself or stayat aneven pace?
What is the style like?
3.5 Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it?
3.6 Is there anyrepetitionwithinthe passage? What is the effect ofthat repetition?
3.7 How manytypes of writing are inthe passage?(For example, narration, description, argument, dialogue, rhymedor
alliterative poetry, etc.)
3.8 Can you identifyparadoxes inthe author's thought or subject?
3.9 What is left out or kept silent? What wouldyou expect the author to talk about that the author avoided?
4.Point ofViewandCharacterization:
4.1 How does the passage make us react or think about anycharacters or events within the narrative?
4.2 Are there colours, sounds, physical descriptionthat appealsto the senses? Does this imageryform a pattern?Why
might the author have chosen that colour, sound or physical description?
4.3 Who speaks in the passage? To whom does he or she speak? Does the narrator have a limited or partial point ofview?
Or does the narrator appear to be omniscient, andhe knows things the characters couldn't possiblyknow? (For example,

2. omniscient narrators might mentionfuture historical events, events takingplace "off stage," the thoughts andfeelings of
multiple characters, andsoon).
5.Symbolism:
5.1 Are there metaphors? What kinds?
5.2 Is there one controllingmetaphor? Ifnot, how manydifferent metaphors are there, andin what order dotheyoccur?
How might that be significant?
5.3 How might objects represent something else?
5.4 Do anyof the objects, colours, animals, or plants appearing in the passage have traditional connotations or meaning?
What about religious or biblical significance?
6.Importance:
6.1 Whyis it important for the reader to knowwhat you have just analysedandexplained? How does the passage you have
chosen help us understandthe text more completely?