{"id":149,"date":"2021-08-13T12:22:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T16:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/close-reading-for-literature\/"},"modified":"2021-08-13T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T16:23:15","slug":"close-reading-for-literature","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/close-reading-for-literature\/","title":{"raw":"Close Reading for Literature","rendered":"Close Reading for Literature"},"content":{"raw":"\n
\n\n\"\"\n\nIn addition to using reading comprehension skills such as predicting,  \"talking to the text,\" skimming a textbook before reading, and noting patterns and context clues, another strategy called \"close reading\" is helpful. This is popular with literature instructors; however, the skills involved in close reading are applicable to any complex reading assignment.\n

Titles<\/h1>\nTitles, for starters, particularly of non-fiction works, may tell you what the main idea, or thesis, is. For example, a book about \"The History of the Roman Empire\" usually gives you just that\u2014the history of the Roman Empire.\n\nThis is not usually true, however, for works of fiction, for which inference is the key to comprehension. For example, \"Story of an Hour,\" by Kate Chopin, while it might seem to be something about time, also suggests it is about something other than a clock ticking away seconds and minutes, and indeed it is.\n

Author<\/h1>\nMany people are familiar with Stephen King, who writes in the horror genre. Knowing this element lets the reader know to anticipate (and predict) a horror story with a lot of plot twists and turns in some horrible ways. Prediction has begun.\n\nKnowing about the remaining elements\u2014plot, characters, and setting\u2014help the reader close in on meaning enough to be able to discuss the theme or themes of the work with reasonable evidence to support one's conclusion.\n

Inference<\/h1>\nWe can do close reading of small passages, individual sentences, and even specific words. Each level of careful attention and thought helps a reader \"read between the lines\" when meaning is not overtly stated, when themes are inferred rather than explained outright. This is called [pb_glossary id=\"216\"]inference[\/pb_glossary].\n
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Ideoms<\/p>\n\n<\/header>\n

\n\nIdioms are good examples of  inference, or \"reading between the lines.\" They also employ the comparison skill called metaphor (comparing two things without using the terms \"like\" or \"as\").\n\nWrite out as many meanings for the list of idioms below as you can:\n