Performing a Close Reading Using a “Distant Reading” Tool
Assignment: Our task in this third assignment is to use a research tool that will
allow us to perform the function of textual analysis by examining the frequency
of certain words within Poe’s “Man of the Crowd.”
Objectives:
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To discover patterns of word frequency and their significance
To use multiple modes of representing textual analysis
To enact new ways to “play” with a text
To gain familiarity with a tool used by researchers interested in large corpuses
What is “Distant Reading”?
Answer: Distant Reading or “macro-analysis” is a technique that allows
researchers to analyze not just a single work but thousands of them at a time.
Wow! That’s exciting! How can we do that?
Answer: There are several text mining tools that can perform this function;
however, we will be using a tool called “Voyant.” This tool is a web-based textual
analysis environment that is designed to be user-friendly and is part of the
Hermeneuti.ca, a collaborative project to develop and theorize text analysis tools
and text analysis rhetoric.
What specifically can we do with Voyant?
Answers:
 use texts in a variety of formats including plain text, HTML, XML, PDF,
RTF and MS Word
 use texts from different locations, including URLs and uploaded files
 perform lexical analysis including the study of frequency and distribution
data; in particular
 export data into other tools (as XML, tab separated values, etc.)
 embed live tools into remote web sites that can accompany or complement
your own content
How will we use it with Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd”?
Answer: Though Poe’s tale is a single, rather short work, we will use this distant
reading tool to analyze patterns and frequency of words and phrases. This will help
us build a better understanding of the process of formal analysis and the skill of
close reading. Since we began this process by mapping the parts of the whole, this
stage in our discovery process entails considering the relative importance of words
and phrases to the whole. Moreover, this process will assist us in confronting the
problematic statement: poetic form and poetic meaning are inseparable.
Directions: We will begin by opening the Voyant page. Copy and paste the URL
for the electronic version of the tale in the box below “Add Texts.” (A link to the
story can be found here).
Since the first word cluster will aggregate ALL words in the text, the cluster will look something
like this:
But, we can tell Voyant to omit prepositions, articles, etc. To do this click on the
“Options” icon in the “Summary” section:
Then choose the “Taporware” Stop Word list, mark the box to apply the stop list
“globally,” and click OK. (You can scroll through the list to see which words will
be not be used. This maybe be important if you are looking for stylistic nuances
where the predominance of certain conjunctions maybe very informative.)
It should now look something like this:
Analyzing the Data:
We are going to focus on THREE different modes of representing this textual data
(1) visualization of word frequency (word cluster)
(2) graphical representation of that frequency relative to segments of the text
(3) keyword context
Questions to answer:
Compose a brief response (three to four sentences) to each of the following questions. Post your
responses to the questions to your blog and be sure to include “screen-shots” or import the data
from each section.
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What strikes you about the visualization of the word frequency (i.e., the word cluster)?
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Identify THREE to FIVE words and analyze their frequency over the text. What
conclusions (or questions) can you draw from this analysis)? Is there a relational value to
these words (that is, does the word “despair” and “crowd” occur at the same time in the
text and why might that be significant)?
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Examine the “Keywords in Context.” How does the word change (or remain static) in
context? Can you make a connection between context and the text as a whole?
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Now select a word (or phrase) in the text that appears only a single time, but struck you
as significant. Explain how that relates to one or two of the words that appeared
frequently.
How did this exercise change the way you saw or understood Poe’s tale?
What are the limitations of text mining tools like Voyant? What is left up to the reader to
“reveal”? Did it reveal images, motifs, or symbols? Why or why not?