The Language of Composition Chapter 2: Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis

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The Language of CompositionChapter 2 Close
Reading The Art and Craft of Analysis

• AP English
• Language and Composition

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Close Reading

• Close Reading is the process of analyzing a text
  at the diction level to develop a greater
  understanding.
• Deeper understanding is derived from the
  connotative meanings of these words.

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Close Reading

• Writing about close reading reverses this
  process, starting with the deeper understanding
  and then supporting that understanding by
  addressing the smaller details, via the words
  used.

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Close Reading

• Close reading is an instinctive process that we
  undertake daily.
• In a personal conversation, we always ask
  ourselves
• Whats his purpose?
• Whats she after?

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Close Reading

• We take into account the context of the
  situation.
• Has anything significant just happened to prompt
  the conversation?

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Close Reading

• We take into account more subtle elements
• Body language
• Facial Expressions
• Gestures
• Tone of Voice

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Close Reading

• Close Reading requires a return to the Rhetorical
  Triangle.
• These elements help establish Ethos, Logos, and
  Pathos with the audience.

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Analysis of Style

• Understanding style provides insight into the
  choices the author makes at the diction and
  syntax levels.

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Analysis of Style

• Style is the authors use of tone, sentence
  structure, and vocabulary.
• Style can be divided into two categories
• Tropes use of diction.
• Schemes use of syntax.

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Diction

• 1. Which of the important words in the passage
  (verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) are
  general and abstract? Which are specific and
  concrete?

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Diction

• 2. Are the important words formal, informal,
  colloquial, or slang?
• 3. Are some words non-literal or figurative,
  creating figures of speech such as metaphors?

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Syntax

• 1. What is the order for the parts of the
  sentence? Is it the usual (subject-verb-object),
  or is it inverted?

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Syntax

• 2. Which part of speech is more prominent nouns
  or verbs?

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Syntax

• 3. What are the sentences like?
• Are they periodic (moving toward something
  important), or
• Are they cumulative (adding details that support
  an important idea in the beginning of the
  sentence)?

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Key Questions for the Analysis of Syntax

• 4. How does the sentence connect its words,
  phrases, and clauses?

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Rhetorical Analysis

• Rhetorical analysis is understanding how the
  author connects the speaker, subject, and
  audience, and why the author makes the stylistic
  choices he/she makes.

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Rhetorical Analysis

• Close reading is about identifying techniques and
  strategies (diction and syntactical choices), but
  it is also about understanding how these choices
  help to achieve the authors overall purpose.

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Rhetorical Analysis

• Analysis is about answering the so what
  question.

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Rhetorical Analysis

• As an analyst, you must
• 1. Determine the authors purpose

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Rhetorical Analysis

• 2. Identify the authors rhetorical choices
• 3. Explain the effect the authors choices have
  on the meaning of the text

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Types of Close Reading

• Annotation is a process of note taking in the
  text or on post-it notes in the margin of the
  text.
• Its the process of recording your inner
  discussion with the text.

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Annotations

• Heres what to do
• Circle unfamiliar words
• Identify main ideas thesis statements and topic
  sentences
• Identify words, phrases, or sentences that appeal
  to you or that confuse you

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Annotations

• Look for figures of speech, tropes, schemes,
  imagery, and/or details
• Identify contradictory phrases
• Jot down questions or comments about the text

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Dialectical Journal

• Dialectical Journal (Double-Entry Notebook) is a
  visual representation of the conversation between
  you and the text.

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Dialectical Journal

• Dialectical Journals allow the reader to break
  the text up into smaller chunks.
• This allows for greater analysis of the diction
  and syntax employed within the text.

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