Define close reading in your own words. Describe a time when you engaged in close reading of a book, article, letter, photograph, movie, or any other type of text.
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Introduction to English Studies
Instructor: Mat Wenzel, MFA, M.Ed.
E-Mail: mwenzel@fsu.edu
Office: WMS 331 Office Hours: T/R 9:15 to 10:45 SYLLABUS
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Close reading, as I understand it, is the process of digging deeper into a text to decipher its meaning more thoroughly. Close reading is often used by fans of poetry and songwriting because these types of texts use hidden/deeper meanings as a main trope. In my own experience, I have used close reading many times while reading a book, reading song lyrics, and even analyzing the background details of certain films because there are always references and hints at deeper meanings within these things.
Close reading is basically when you take a text of any ind and read into it exposing the most meticulous of details allowing for you to better understand it. In my class, "American Literature Beyond 1845" we close read every day and everything. Most times novels and books written by postmodern artists but we also have done videos, movies, music, and paintings. By reading into these things we get a better understanding for what exactly Postmodernism encompasses as a period of art.
Close reading for me is a combination of annotation and focused, conscious reading. It is the process a reader goes through to thoroughly understand the meaning and context of the text, whether that be scribbling notes on the margin or pausing to contemplate for minutes at a time. Questions are being asked and answered, vocabulary can be learned, and underlying symbolism/meaning is discovered.
I experienced close reading when I read Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. I read through a physical copy of the book in addition to listening to its audio format. Being able to engage in literature on both physical and digital platforms was helpful in obtaining a closer view of the piece than I might have otherwise been able to. Taking the time to read through the book at my own pace gave me the ability to read and re-read specific parts that stood out to me on the page. The audiobook provided a different but equally helpful perspective of the work. Listening to someone else read the book aloud forced me to pay attention to what the reader chose to emphasize. The objective…
Close reading is carefully analyzing text and fully comprehending what the text means and why it was written. In my opinion, close reading consists of re-reading a text several times until you have fully absorbed the information. It may take 2-3 times of reading a text to really gather deeper information from an author. An example of a time that I have used close reading is when I am reading a class syllabus. I usually reread it a couple times so I can fully grasp the whole concept of the class.