What is Close Reading?
Close reading
 Close reading means you read and analyze a passage in
fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass
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Take your time—don’t rush
Go line by line or sentence by sentence
 Close reading is essential for larger analysis
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Making notes is crucial to helping you organize your thoughts once
you’ve finished reading.
You will most likely need to read the piece several times to glean all
the information you need for a thorough analysis
 Your thoughts evolve as your own—what do YOU notice
or observe?
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You are not just repeating someone else’s truth; you are advocating
your own discoveries!
How do I start?
 As you read, try to answer at least 10 of the close
reading questions
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The questions are a starting point for your own thoughts.
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Once those questions have answers, you can start to consider a
thesis if you plan to write an analysis.
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The answers to these questions will help you determine how to
organize your paper.
The Questions
I.
First Impressions
1. What is the first thing you notice about the passage?
2. What is the second thing?
3. Do the two things you noticed complement each other? Do
they contradict each other?
4. What mood does the passage create in you? Why?
The Questions
II. Vocabulary and Diction
1. Which words do you notice first? Why? What is noteworthy about this
diction?
2. How do the important words relate to one another?
3. Do any words seems oddly used to you? Why?
4. Do any words have double meanings? Do they have extra
connotations?
5. Look up any unfamiliar words. (For pre-20th century words, use the
Oxford English Dictionary.)
The Questions
III. Discerning Patterns
1. Does an image here remind you of an image elsewhere in the
text? Where? What’s the connection?
2. How might this image fit into the pattern of the book/text as
a whole?
3. Could this passage symbolize the entire work? Could this
passage serve as a microcosm—a little picture of—what is
taking place in the whole work?
4. What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long
and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace?
What is the style like?
The Questions
III. Discerning Patterns (con’t.)
5. Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it?
6. Is there any repetition within the passage? What is the effect of
that repetition?
7. How many types of writing are in the passage? For example,
narration, description, argument, dialogue, rhymed or alliterative
poetry, etc.)
8. Can you identify paradoxes in the author’s thought or subject?
9. What is left out or kept silent? What would you expect the
author to talk about that the author avoided?
The Questions
IV. Point of View and Characterization
1. How does the passage make us react or think about any
characters or events within the narrative?
2. Are there colors, sounds, physical descriptions that appeal to
the senses? Does this imagery form a pattern? Why might the
author have chosen that color, sound, or physical description?
3. Who speaks in the passage? To whom does he or she speak?
Does the narrator have a limited or partial point of view? Or does
the narrator appear to be omniscient, and he knows things the
characters couldn’t possibly know?
The Questions
V. Symbolism
1. Are there metaphors? What kinds?
2. Is there one controlling metaphor? If not, how many different
metaphors are there, and in what order do they occur? How might
that be significant?
3. How might objects represent something else?
4. Do any of the objects, colors, animals, or plants appearing in
the passage have traditional connotations or meanings? What
about religious or biblical significance?
5. If there are multiple meanings in the work, could we read the
entire passage as having an allegorical meaning beyond a literal
level?