Department of English and Related Literature
Close Reading
Writing Resources
Elaine Showalter describes close reading as: single words to demonstrate your insights. So instead of
doing a close reading of twenty lines from A Midsummer
...slow reading, a deliberate attempt to detach
Night‘s Dream *in* your essay, you would do it
ourselves from the magical power of story-telling
independently, and then cite and explain three key
and pay attention to language, imagery, allusion,
phrases, relating them clearly to your developing
intertextuality, syntax and form.
argument.
It is, in her words, ‗a form of defamiliarization we use in
Close reading is also sometimes known as Practical
order to break through our habitual and casual reading
Criticism, rooted in the techniques espoused by the
practices‘ (Teaching Literature, 98).
Cambridge critic I. A. Richards.
As readers, we are accustomed to reading for plot, or
He felt it was essential that students put aside their
allowing the joy of the reading experience to take over
preconceptions and learn to appreciate the liveliness
and carry us along, without stopping to ask how and
and multiplicity of language.
why a particular passage, sentence, or word achieves
its effects. With that in mind, he gave students poems without any
information about who wrote them or why they were
Close reading, then, is about pausing, and looking at the
written.
precise techniques, dynamics, and content of the text.
It‘s not reading between the lines, but reading further In the hands of subsequent critics, like William Empson,
and further into the lines and seeing the multiple the technique became a way to offer virtuoso accounts
meanings a turn of phrase, a description, or a word can of particular poems and literary works, with an emphasis
unlock. on ambiguity and the multiplication of possible
meanings.
It is possible to close read an extended passage, but for
essays it is often a good technique to do the close In essence, close reading means taking a step back
reading first and then to use very short extracts or even from the larger narrative and examining the constituent
This article was downloaded from [Link]/english/writing-at-york/
a library of writing resources for students of all ages Page 1 of 3
Department of English and Related Literature
Close Reading
Writing Resources
parts of a text. Partly for that reason, it is important to think about the
purpose behind your close reading – we are looking for
Think of close reading as something that you do with a
close readings, not closed readings. Essentially, the
pencil and book in your hand. Mark up the pages; fill the
close reading is the starting point for your essay, letting
margins.
you find what is interesting, intricate, and unexpected
―Annotate to appreciate; annotate to understand… about a literary text.
It builds reading confidence; it helps us
In the essay itself, you need to stitch that revelation
understand how literature is made—because it
about the complexities and ambiguities of particular
puts us there among the phrases.‖ from
terms, phrases and passages into a larger argument or
Sometimes the Best Way to Read is to Mark up
context – don‘t simply list everything you have found;
the Book - on the revelatory power of annotations
craft it into an argument, and be prepared to downplay
on the Literary Hub website
or leave out some of the elements you have spotted if
And then transcribe the poem, the passage, the they don‘t relate to the larger picture.
quotation.
For this reason, you might want to follow the ―Rule of 2‖.
Accurate transcription of quotations is, for some, the first Your analysis of your quotation should be twice as long
and last rule of close reading. If your passage isn‘t as the quotation itself. It's a nice reminder that we
transcribed meticulously, down to the last comma and always need to go back and explain the textual evidence
(with poetry) spacing on the page, you can‘t read it that's being cited.
closely.
Each piece of textual evidence needs and deserves
Careful transcription will also help you get inside a detailed analysis if it's being used to support the
passage: you‘ll get a feel for its rhythms, its twists and argument's claims. It also helps to remind us to vary the
turns, its breathing. Look at the words. lengths of quoted textual evidence so that an essay
Don‘t take your eyes off the words. Work from the actual doesn't end up with only very brief quotations or long
text in front of you, not from a sort of mental paraphrase block quotations, but includes a mixture of different
of what the text says. As you do so, remember to think lengths that will best suit the claim being developed at
carefully about sound, not only when reading poetry but any given point in the argument.
also when analysing prose.
Read the passage aloud, paying close attention to the
rhythms of sentences. You might be surprised by what
Some questions you may like to ask
you hear: the eye can often glide over aspects of a text Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to? What is the
that the ear is keen to pick up. Remember, too, that it‘s reader assumed to know/not know? (University essays
important not only to detect certain features but also to aren't written for an interested aunt or friend on a
consider their effects. If you need to pause to catch yourdifferent course, but for an audience familiar with the
breath in the middle of a sentence, ask yourself why. themes and readings under discussion. Students are
How are form and content working together? writing for an audience of engaged and interested peers.
This means that the writer can assume that their reader
knows the text and doesn't need extensive plot
Close, not closed readings summary in the introduction or start of the essay. This
frees up space for analysis and the laying out of each
Close reading has been criticised for being divorced section's claims. It also helps to develop an authoritative
from context and for pulling away from the historical and voice: you are an expert speaking to other experts.)
political engagements of the literary text.
What is the point of the details included in the passage
This article was downloaded from [Link]/english/writing-at-york/
a library of writing resources for students of all ages Page 2 of 3
Department of English and Related Literature
Close Reading
Writing Resources
(e.g. if mundane things are mentioned, why is that; if Extra Reading (and remember you
there are elements of description that don‘t seem to
contribute to the plot what do they do instead)? can close read secondary as well as
What generic clues are here (what kinds of writing are primary texts)
hinted at)? Thomas A. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a
Are there words or phrases which are ambiguous (could Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading
mean more than one thing)? If so, are we directed to Between the Lines (Harper, 2003).
privilege one reading over the other or do we keep both
in play? Does one meaning open up an alternative story/ Elizabeth A. Howe, Close Reading: an Introduction to
history/narrative? What are the connotations of the Literature (Prentice Hall, 2009).
words that are chosen? Do any of them open up new or
different contexts?
George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More than Cool
Are there patterns which emerge in the language (the Reason: a Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor (Chicago,
repetition of words or of certain kinds of words? 1989).
Repeated phrases? Rhymes or half-rhymes? Metrical
patterns?). What effects do they create?
Frank Lentricchia and Andrew DuBois (eds), Close
Is there any movement in the passage you are reading? Reading: the Reader (Duke, 2002).
Are there any shapes or dominant metaphors?
What kind of rhythm does the passage have? What is its Christopher Ricks, The Force of Poetry (Oxford, 1995).
cadence? Elaine Showalter, Teaching Literature (London: Wiley-
Is there anything that troubles you about the passage or Blackwell, 2002).
that you‘re not sure you fully understand?
Have you been to the dictionary (remember the full
Oxford English Dictionary is available online through the
library)? For more on Practical Criticism, with some useful online
exercises, try the Virtual Classroom on Practical
For more specific advice, you might Crticism
want to read our Ways of Reading
There‘s a neat example by Patricia Kain at Harvard
series
College‘s Writing Center.
Ways of Reading a Novel
Ways of Reading a Poem
Ways of Reading a Film
Ways of Reading a Play
Ways of Reading a Translation
This article was downloaded from [Link]/english/writing-at-york/
a library of writing resources for students of all ages Page 3 of 3