What We Mean By Close Reading |
Posted: November 4, 2020 |
I would usually wonder what my professor mean when he says to analyze so and so text. I quickly came to understand that he wants me to analyze the text. But what does it really mean to close read? Close reading, also known as explication de text and close analysis is scrutiny, it is thinking, it is re-reading, it is reflecting, and finally, it is interpreting a text. The purpose of close reading is a text to arrive at a deep, and precise understanding of it. We can understand better what close reading is by unpacking its definitionScrutinyTo do a close reading, you can't just read a text, that much is clear. You need to carefully observe the text, forget about comprehension at this stage. First read to observe the text for rhetorical feature, its structural element, cultural references, particular historical references, oppositions, facts, tenses, and whatnot. These alone can give you a sense of what the text is about, where it's going, answer some stable ideas that may arise in the course of re-reading it, e.t.c. It is a foundation of information that gives you a deeper and precise understanding of the entire text. ThinkingYour brain is already starting to try to make sense of the information it has gathered from scrutinizing the text. if you are satisfied with the conclusions you make based on the information you gathered, you will be curious to know if your conclusion(s) about the text is correct. If not, you would still be curious to know why they aren't. either way, it leads you to re-reading the text. Re-readingYou are now reading with a new aim. You are reading to extract additional information that will give more meaning to the first information you gathered, marrying them together to have an understanding of the text. ReflectingThis is thinking with depth, with a mind open to all kinds of possibilities. There is a fine line between thinking and reflecting. Where thinking is shallow, less careful, quicker, and less productive, reflecting is deeper, more careful, takes longer, and more productive. When you are thinking, your mind isn't taking you to all the places it should be taking you, but reflecting takes you there. Putting yourself in the shoes of the character, comparing worlds, discovering new worlds..., this is where you meet with the text, this is where whole answers are gotten. InterpretingWhen you interpret the text, you are saying it as you see it. Unveiling its ambiguities, its ironies, and meaning(s) on different levels. Close reading is fun when you know what you are doing. It's almost like the text is playing mind games with you, where it gets interesting, is when you beat it in its own game.
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