Close Textual Analysis

Close Textual Analysis

• Work in sections: paragraph, page, subject, etc• Analyze for intrinsic and extrinsic meaning,• Relationship to the rest of the text,• Rhetorical devices, • Structure and aesthetics. • Even though you are concentrating on a single

portion of the communication, it is important that you read/listen to the entire work to understand its relationship to the whole.

Detailed Work

• Work to understand the denotative and connotative meanings of every word in the text. – Use your thesaurus and dictionary frequently so that you

understand every possible meaning even when you think you know what is being said.

• Analyze sentence structure – (simple, complex, compound, compound-complex) and

paragraph structure and progression.

• Does the passage describe a natural or artificial scene?• What is the degree of plausibility, suspension of

disbelief? • How vivid and explicit is the descriptive language?

You Ask Many Questions

• Does it describe character as monologue or dialogue, explicit or unconscious?

• Does it describe an action, develop an argument or an idea?

• How is the passage sequenced, in other words, what comes before and after, and why?

• Is the passage devoted to exposition, complication, turning point, crisis, climax or resolution?

• What are the levels of empathy or emotional involvement?

• What comedic and tragic techniques or devices are used?

• In what person is the text written or delivered?

Keep asking Questions

• Who is the audience? • Analyze language; pay close attention to both

diction, or choice of words, (formal, informal, colloquial, concrete, abstract) and rhetorical devices.

• Meter can be analyzed. Prose passages can be looked at to determine rhythm.

• What socio-political or philosophical knowledge is necessary to understand the meaning of the passages.

• Compare and contrast multiple passages for similar theme, style or objective.

Pull the thing together

• It is not enough to just identify all these devices and answer the questions.– you must relate them to the whole, – evaluate their impact on dramatic structure,

aesthetics, meaning, and objective.

• What patterns emerge?