02/12 2. Close Reading and Literary Analysis Free Online FlashCards

What is close reading?

Close reading deliberately examines a passage’s specific words, patterns, structures, and effects to explain how it creates meaning and why its choices matter.

What are the four stages of close reading?

Observe details, describe the technique or formal feature, analyze its effect, and interpret what the passage suggests as a whole.

What is diction?

Diction is an author’s choice of words, including their literal denotations and their emotional, cultural, or historical connotations.

What does imagery do?

Imagery uses language to evoke sensory experience, such as sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, temperature, movement, or bodily sensation.

How do metaphor and simile differ?

A metaphor identifies one thing with another, while a simile makes a comparison using “like” or “as.”

How do form and structure differ?

Form is the kind of literary work and its conventions; structure is the arrangement of parts, such as sequence, pacing, repetitions, interruptions, and endings.

How do voice and tone differ?

Voice is the distinctive manner of speaking created by vocabulary, syntax, rhythm, attitude, and perspective; tone is the attitude communicated through the language.

What does point of view determine?

Point of view is the position from which a story or account is presented; it filters what readers know, what remains hidden, and whose experience is centered.

How do motif and symbol differ?

A motif is a recurring element that gains significance through repetition and variation; a symbol carries meaning beyond its immediate literal function.

What makes a literary interpretation defensible?

A literary interpretation is a reasoned explanation of what a text means or does, supported by specific evidence and tested against the work as a whole.

What is the claim–evidence–analysis–significance sequence?

Claim, evidence, analysis, and significance: state an arguable point, provide a precise detail, explain its technique or meaning, and connect it to the passage’s larger significance.

How does analysis differ from plot summary?

Plot summary retells events; analysis explains the significance of textual details, including how techniques and patterns create meaning.