Chapter 2 Notes
Close Reading
- The Art and Craft of Analysis
- Good literature has many layers of meaning
- Close reading gives a more complete understanding of the text
- start with small ideas and then move on to larger ideas
- Analyzing Style
- close reading will improve with practice
- we use it everyday unconsciously
- A Model Analysis
- diction the authors choice of words
- syntax how the words are arranged
- together these provide more understanding of tone
- setting also help to provide more understanding
- the rhetorical triangle helps with analysis
- note the use of ethos, pathos, and logos
- tone is the speaker's attitude toward a subject
- mood is the feeling created by the work
- Talking with the Text
- effective close reading requires active reading
- rereading is helpful, but one must ask questions to gain a full understanding
- Asking Questions
- one of the simplest ways to analyze is to interrogate
- ask yourself questions
- many of the questions will relate to diction and syntax
- Sample Questions
- What type of words draw your attention? Do they tend to be a particular part of speech, such as verbs, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs? Is the language general and abstract or specific and concrete?
- Is the language formal, informal, colloquial, or slang?
- Are some words non literal or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors?
- Are there words with strong connotations? Words with a particular emotional punch?
- What is the order of the parts of the sentence? is it the usual order, or is it inverted?
- What are the sentences like? Are they periodic or cumulative?
- Are many of the sentences simple? Complex? Compound? Are the sentences short or long?
- Does the writer ask questions?
- How does the writer connect words, phrases, and clauses?
- Annotating
- identify main ideas, thesis statements, topic sentences, and words, phrases, or sentences that appeal to you, seem important, or that you don’t understand
- look for literary techniques
- ask questions
- reference example of annotation on page 50
- Using a Graphic Organizer
- systematic, visual way to look at texts
- divide the text into smaller portions
- use a graphic organizer to summarize the text
- see example on page 52
- put things into your own words
- break the text into small portions, systematically analyze it
- From Close Reading to Analysis
- keep in mind to not only identify techniques, but to also analyze them
- use your earlier notes to help with analysis
- ask questions and try to answer them
- Annotating