Close Reading Close reading is used to analyze text When reading closely you develop an understanding of the text that is based first on the words themselves and then on the larger ideas suggested by those words in other words you take the small details think about them and discover how they ID: 648220
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Slide1
Close Reading
Discovering How Writers Use Tropes and Schemes to Achieve an EffectSlide2
Close Reading
Close reading is used to analyze text. When reading closely, you develop an understanding of the text that is based first on the words themselves and then on the larger ideas suggested by those words; in other words, you take the small details, think about them, and discover how they affect the text’s larger meaning
(Shea, Scanlon, and
Aufses
35).Slide3
Writing about Close Reading
Conversely, when writing about close reading, you start with the large meaning (CLAIM & UNIVERSAL IDEA IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT) and use the small details (DIRECTIONS IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT) to support your interpretation of the text.Slide4
Style
One simple way to define style is
the way you write.
Style is comprised of many different elements, including tone, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
If you have read enough works by the same writer, you may have picked up on distinct traits of that writer’s style, so much so that you might even recognize it even if his or her name is not on the work.Slide5
Everything leads to an effect
Authors use various rhetorical strategies and resources of language to achieve certain effects.
THE THREE MAJOR EFFECTS WRITERS STRIVE TO ACHIEVE ARE:
Theme – Tone – Purpose Slide6
Theme
Depending on whom you’re asking, theme has a couple of different meanings.
Theme is a unifying subject or idea in a story. It is NOT to be confused with a moral; theme is more like a central idea.
Example: A unifying subject or idea in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is tradition, especially tradition that goes unquestioned by society.Slide7
Theme and Motif
Theme and motif are two different concepts. While theme is a central, unifying idea in a work, motif is a recurring event or element used to reinforce a theme.
There is a good explanation of the difference between theme and motif at:
http://
www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-theme-and-motif.htmSlide8
Tone
Tone is the attitude of the speaker/writer towards the subject in a work.
We will be looking at tone a great deal over the course of the year. Slide9
Purpose
Purpose is why the author wrote a work.
Some basic purposes are to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to describe, etc. Slide10
REVIEW – THE THREE EFFECTS
Learn this now. Writers use various strategies to achieve:
THEME
TONE
PURPOSE
Make sure you know this.Slide11
Theme, Tone, and Purpose
Know it yet?
I sure hope so.
It’s important.
I’m serious, you better know it. Slide12
Seriously…
Theme, tone, and purpose. They’re huge.Slide13
Some terms you need to know
Diction – a writer’s choice of words. When looking at tone, it is very important to look at diction.Slide14
Diction
Choosing a synonym for a word can change the tone of a sentence in a major way.
I drove my
car
into town to get gas.
I drove my
jalopy
into town to get gas.
I drove my
gas-guzzler
into town to get gas.
I drove my
hooptie
into town to get gas.
I drove my
bucket
into town to get gas.
I drove my
ride
into town to get gas.Slide15
Syntax
Syntax is the arrangement of words in a sentence.Slide16
Syntax
Something as simple as inverting the order of a sentence has a significant impact on its emphasis.
I drove my car into town because I desperately needed gas.
Desperately needing gas, I drove my car into town.
In the first sentence, the action of driving the car is more emphasized because it comes first. A writer may choose the second sentence (even though both are correct) if he or she would prefer to more strongly emphasize his or her “desperation.”Slide17
Tropes and Schemes
Trope – artful diction. Some examples are metaphor, simile, personification, and hyperbole.
Scheme – artful syntax. Some examples are parallelism, juxtaposition, and antithesis. Slide18
Analyzing Tropes (Diction)
When analyzing diction, ask yourself:
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 words formal, informal, colloquial, or slang?
Are some words nonliteral or figurative, creating figures of speech such as metaphors? (
Shea, Scanlon, and
Aufses
37)Slide19
Analyzing Schemes (Syntax)
When analyzing syntax, ask yourself:
What is the order of the parts of the sentence? Is it the usual subject-verb-object, or is it inverted?
Which part 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 idea in the beginning of a sentence)?
How does the sentence connect its words, phrases, and clauses?
(Shea, Scanlon, and
Aufses
37)Slide20
Resources
Shea, Renée, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin
Dissin
Aufses
. "Close Reading: The Art and Craft of
Analysis
."
The Language of Composition
. Boston:
Bedford/St
. Martin's, 2008. 35-59.
Print
.