Due Dates: Draft Due Sat. Feb. 28 (4-5 pages)
Please put a hard copy with a copy of the self-evaluation in Laura's mailbox in ELiot
Also email or give a hard copy of your paper to your peer response group members. You may want to include any one of the following editing sheets (read them and determine which kind of feedback you would prefer):
Return Paper with Peer Responses to Group Members March 7th
Final Paper Due March 14th (4-5 pages) in Laura's Eliot Hall Mailbox. Attach Peer Comments and Draft with Laura's Comments
The Assignment: Due a Close Reading of a Prose Passage or of a Poem we have read
What is a Close Reading?
When you are asked to do a "close reading" of a passage you are basically being
asked to explicate it. To "explicate" comes from a Latin word meaning to
unfold. Thus, the purpose of an explication is to unfold the significance of
a text. Explications pay close attention to the parts of a text in order to
support a larger argument about its overall impact. The following are some of
the most common attributes people look for in passages (whether in poetry or
prose) and how they might use a close reading of such details.
1. Figurative Language (e.g. metaphors, similes): Metaphors and similes
usually try to explain an abstract idea by comparing it to something concrete.
In this sense, a metaphor or simile is a short hand for how the author wants
you to understand an idea. By trying to decide why two things are being
compared, you can unpack fundamental themes and associations in the poem or
passage. For example, in his history Bradford compares England to Sodom. What
do we learn from these comparisons?
2. Character Sketch: Sometimes people use close readings of passages to get at
the essential attributes of a character. Thus, if you wanted to get more
information about a character, you might look closely at a passage which gives
you detailed information about him or her. For example, in a number of
Bradstreet's she is either constructing the narrator of the poems as a good
Puritan female, or is telling us about the virtues of her husband or a dead
relative. What are the most important features of these characters and how
does the poet bring them to the surface?
3. Style and Diction: Sometimes a passage or poem stands out because of the
way in which it was written or the type of language that it uses. We have
discussed throughout the semester authors who have used "objective" language in
order to make their account seem more factual. What type of language does
your author use and what is the impact of her word choice?
4. Genre: Is the poem or text you are analyzing written in a particular
genre? What do we expect from this genre? (What story does the form tell?)
How does the author play with our expectations? (This was an issue I raised
when we were discussing Catalina de Erauso's Memoir of a Basque Lieutenant Nun,
and Kim raised with respect to Oroonoko. If you are writing on an elegy by
Bradstreet you might want to use Sacks' article to give you a sense of what the
"story" is that most elegies tell. Does Bradstreet's poem tell the same story
or use the same means to tell it?)
5. Point of View: Is the narrator reliable or unreliable? How does the
narrator establish his or her authority? What type of narrator (see Bradstreet handout) is the
author using and what does this help us understand
about the passage/poem?
For More Help See the Doyle O.W.L.--Reed's On-Line Writing Lab or E-mail Laura at Laura.Arnold@Reed.edu