Some Steps in Close Reading . . .
What is close reading? Close reading (cf. Latin explicare, to unfold, to fold out, or to make clear the meaning of) is a finely detailed, very specific examination of a text, in order to find the focus or design of the work, either in its entirety in the case, for instance, of a short poem or, in the case of a selected passage (a poem, a prose work, a novel, a drama, etc.), the meaning of the microcosm, containing or signalling the meaning of the macrocosm (the longer work of which it is a part).
To this end “close” reading calls attention to all dynamic tensions, polarities, or problems in a given text’s imagery, style, literal content, diction, etc. By examining and thinking about opening up the ways the text is perceived, writers establish a central pattern, a design that orders the narrative and that will, in turn, order the organization of any essay about the work. Very often, language creates a visual or temporal dynamic as well as verbal coherence.
Close reading operates on the premise that literature, as artifice, will be more fully understood and appreciated to the extent that the nature and interrelations of its parts are perceived, and that such understanding will take the form of insight into the theme of the work in question. Close reading also opens up possibilities for applying specific theoretical and literary approaches (cf. feminist readings, post-colonial readings, Marxist readings, poststructuralist or new historicist readings, etc). By becoming a careful and attuned close reader, you will avoid following Mrs. Arable of Charlotte’s Web, who, upon confronting Charlotte’s magical web, exclaims, “I don’t understand how those words got into the web. I don’t understand it, and I don’t like what I can’t understand.” To close read is to confront what you don’t fully understand with the energy and desire that it takes to try. Björk has it right about such confrontations: “I crawl into the unknown . . . I’m going hunting for mysteries . . . This is really dangerous . . . But worth all the effort.”
To begin . . . Read the text under consideration several times. Particularly if you are working with a poem, reading the text aloud is extremely useful. What follows are some suggestions, using a poem as an example.
1. Literal content: Paraphrase the poem; this way, you will immediately have to make interpretive decisions. This should be done as succinctly as possible. Briefly describe the skeletal contents of the work/passage in one or two sentences. Answer the journalist’s questions (who? what? when? where? why?) in order to establish character/s, plot, and setting as it relates to the text. You will also find that your paraphrase loses a great deal in translation, so other factors have to be considered and explored. After paraphrasing, read each section of the poem slowly, asking as many questions about each section as you can.
2. Theme: A theme is not to be confused with a thesis; the theme or more properly themes of a work of literature is its broadest, most pervasive concern, and it is contained in a complex combination of elements. In contrast to a thesis, which is usually expressed in a single, argumentative, declarative sentence and is characteristic of expository prose rather than creative literature, a theme is not a statement. Rather, it is often expressed in a single word or phrase, such as “love,” “illusion vs. reality,” “grief,” etc. There can be virtually as many themes as there are readers, for essentially the concept of theme refers to the emotion and insight which results from the experience of reading. As with many things, however, such an experience can be profound or trivial, coherent or giddy; and discussions of a work and its theme can be correspondingly convincing, or not. Everything depends on how well you present and support your ideas. Everything you say about the theme must be supported by quotations from the text you are reading. Your argument and proof must be convincing. And that, finally, is what close reading is about: marshaling the elements of a work of literature in such a way as to be convincing. Your approach must adhere to the elements of ideas, concepts, and language inherent in the poem itself.
3. How does the poet use structure (stanzas, refrains, arrangement of lines on page, punctuation) to organize the poem? In other words, what do the words look like on the page? How are they organized, and does this organization accord with known poetic forms? What units of meaning correspond to the units of structure? That is, how does form relate to content? Does the poet deviate from or follow specific conventions of a given poetic form (cf. sonnet, ode, ballad, blank verse, lyric, etc)?
4. The persona adopted by the poet can vitally affect the poem’s meaning. Consider the following:
Who is the speaker? Is it the same speaker throughout? What is the relation of the speaker to the reader? Why choose this speaker?
Is the speaker’s view reliable, or is it flawed by bias or limited perspective? Why? How can you tell?
What is the tone, or emotional attitude, expressed toward the theme or subject matter? Is the speaker’s attitude the same as the author’s? How can you tell?
Is there an ironic point of view (carefully manipulated discrepancy between the poet and the speaker’s perspectives)? Is there dramatic irony (a discrepancy between the speaker’s knowledge and the reader’s)?
5. Characterization: What insight does this work/passage give into specific characters other than the poetic voice as they develop through the work? Look for patterns of metaphoric language and allusions to other literary characters (either within or without this specific poem) to give added insight into their motives and feelings which are not verbalized.
6. Examine the poet’s language:
Ascertain the words’ denotations (their accepted meanings). Do not assume you know the depth or complexity of a word’s meaning at first glance. Rely on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Many words have changed drastically in meaning over the centuries, so one should consider a given word’s etymology to gain a surer grasp of what it meant/may have meant at the time of composition. Etymology refers to the history of a word, the tracing of its development from its first recorded occurrence in language. Words may also begin to take on multi-stable meanings. Be careful always to check back to the text, keeping meaning contextually sound. Do dictionary meanings establish any new dynamic associations with other words?
Consider the diction of the poem. Diction refers to the poet’s particular choice of words. Mark all verbs in the passage, mark or list all nouns, all adjectives, all adverbs, etc. The types of questions to ask yourself: Is the diction concrete or abstract? Formal or informal? Drawn from a specific dialect/terminology? Do you notice active or passive verbs? Do you notice awkward phrases or particularly eloquent ones? What connotations are explored? How does the diction have bearing on the meaning of the poem?
Consider the syntax of the poem. Syntax refers to the way in which words are put together to form phrases and sentences: word order. Do you notice a harmonious arrangements of parts or elements? Has the poet used unconventional syntax? Often syntax suggests emphasis or a psychological state. It may also reflect metrical demands. What is causing the unconventional syntax? Why does the poet use it?
Consider figurative language. Examine the passage carefully for images, similes, metaphors, metonomy, symbols, etc (see Terms Sheet for a short list of figurative terms; also, it would be wise to invest in a terms book such as The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms). Identify any and all. List their implications and suggested meanings as well as denotations. What insights does each word give? Look for multiple meanings and overlapping of meaning. Look for repetitions, for oppositions. Again, see also the etymology of each word because you may find that a word you think you are familiar with is actually dependent upon a metaphoric concept. Consider how each word or group of words suggests a pattern and/or points to an abstraction (such as time, space, love, soul, death). Can you visualize the metaphoric world? Are there spatial or temporal dimensions to the language? Are there verbal ironies (words which say one thing but mean something very different)?
7. Look for sound patterns:
Alliteration calls attention to the words in which it appears and suggests connections/comparisons/contrasts between words. What words alliterate? Why does the poet want the reader to pay attention to these words? How is the poet connecting these words? What statement does the poet make by alliterating these words?
Rhyme scheme. Is it predictable or unpredictable? What do variations in rhyme scheme mean?
Analyze the rhythm, meter, stress, and pause pattern (stress variation, caesura, endstopped lines, enjambment). Is the rhythm regular or irregular? How does this formal feature relate to the content of the poem?
8. Repetitions: What words/ideas/images appear consistently throughout the poem?
9. Has anything changed from the beginning of the poem to the end? Why (not)?
After asking yourself these questions (or similar ones), synthesize. What do your observations add up to? What can you say about this poem and why can you say it? How does form affect/constitute content? Start building an analytic argument/thesis about the text. You may also want to ask yourself how this analysis of the text fits in with the analysis of the period. How does the poem reflect/differ from reigning attitudes?
Some Poetic Terms
Alliteration: The repetition of a speech sound in a sequence of words. Ex: “sessions of sweet silent thought”
Ambiguity: The use of a single word or expression to signify two or more distinct references, or to express two or more diverse attitudes or feelings. Ex: “Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness.” “Still” may mean “even yet” or “immobile,” or both.
Apostrophe: A direct and explicit address either to an absent person or to an abstract or nonhuman entity. Ex: “And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that does prefer.”
Assonance: The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. Ex: “Thou foster child of silence and slow time.”
Caesura: A strong phrasal pause within a line. Ex: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee”(between first “this” and “and” there is a break).
Consonace: The repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowel. Ex: “said rider to reader, said farer to fearer.”
Hyperbole: A bold overstatement, or the extravagant exaggeration of fact or of possibility. Ex: “Though I be whipped a thousand times and my tongue be cut out from my mouth, I will never cease from saying I love you.”
Irony: A statement in which the meaning implied differs sharply from the meaning which is expressed.
Metaphor: The most important and widespread figure of speech in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two. In metaphor, this resemblance is assumed as an imaginary identity rather than directly stated as a comparison. Ex: referring to a man as that pig, or exclaiming, “My love is a rose.”
Metonymy: The literal term for one thing is applied to another with which it is closely associated, because of contiguity in common experience. Ex: “The crown” or “the scepter” can be used to stand for a king.
Onomatopoeia: A word, or combination of words, whose sound seems to resemble closely the sound it denotes. Ex:: “hiss” or “buzz.”
Oxymoron: The conjoining of two terms that in ordinary usage are contraries. Ex: Death in life (or the example being used widely today “military intelligence”).
Personification: Also called “prosopopoeia.” Either an inanimate object or an abstract concept is spoken of as though it were endowed with life or with human attributes or feelings. Ex: “Sky lowered, and muttering thunder... wept.”
Simile: A comparison between two distinctly different things indicated by the word “like” or “as.” Ex: “My love is like a rose.”
Synecdoche: A part of something used to signify the whole, or the whole used to signify a part. Ex: “Ten hands” signifies ten workers, or “a hundred sails” stands for ships.
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Overview
Flagg Road 124 
The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Volume 2A (The Romantics and Their Contemporaries)