Some Basics of Close Reading
Meegan Kennedy
Florida State University

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Although you should be able to use these terms correctly, you do not need to memorize them.
Use this guide as a quick reference to remind you of the various possibilities at work in a text.

diction : choice of words
syntax : how words are put together into phrases and sentences ("grammar" describes the rules of syntax)
denotation: the "dictionary meaning" of a word
connotation: the evoked or suggested meaning of a word

Rhetorical schemes

apostrophe : addressing or invoking an inanimate or absent object or person as if it were present and listening
antithesis : describing something through contrast to its opposite
hyperbole : exaggeration
litotes or meiosis : understatement in order to create irony or intensify feeling
anaphora : repeating the initial word of a line in following lines
homoeoteleuton : repeating the ending word of a line in following lines
chiasmus : X-ing formal elements of sound or syntax
zeugma : a Z-shaped syntax in which one verb is used for two, usually contrasting, objects; often humorous
ellipse : leaving out words that are implied by grammatical structure
anacoluthon : breaking off of a phrase without concluding it, juxtaposing it with something entirely different
inversion : reversing normal word order
periphrasis : roundabout description of something instead of naming it
prolepsis : describing some future event as if already accomplished
irony: a double meaning (usually two conflicting meanings). Includes litotes, hyperbole, foreshadowing, and parody.
verbal irony: a statement with a secret intent or meaning which contradicts it
dramatic irony: the meaning of a scene or event exceeds or contradicts the participants' understanding of it; or their actions cause a result contrary to the effect they desire and/or perceive (especially through comparing and contrasting paired characters)

Many more of these are listed in Arthur Quinn, Figures of Speech: Sixty Ways to Turn a Phrase (Salt Lake City: Smith, 1982).

personification: attributing living qualities (esp. personal or human qualities) to nonliviing objects or to ideas
pathetic fallacy: a phrase invented by the critic Ruskin to describe how authors (wrongly, he thinks) imagine sympathetic feelings in Nature when natural forces seem to harmonize with the emotional tenor of a dramatic scene
anthropomorphism: attributing human characteristics to non-humans (contrast animalization )
figures of similarity or substitution : (Jakobson)
metaphor : direct substitution of one object for another, unrelated one, or the use of words that imply such a substitution [N.B. The term "metaphor" (as opposed to "a metaphor") is also, confusingly, often used to describe figurative language in general]. More interested in the object under discussion than in its metaphorical counterpart ; the text brings in the metaphorical object as a known quantity, without need of explanation, in order to illuminate or explain some point of interest in the object at hand. Other critics (esp. Richards) emphasize the interaction between terms or the effect of their combination or identification with each other.
simile : comparison of one object to another unrelated on, using "like" or "as"
epic simile (Homeric or expanded simile): a simile expanded into a whole scene and dwelt upon, as a digression from the action
conceit : a clever, complex, unusual, even witty metaphor
catachresis: intentional misuse of a word, esp. in a mixed or awkward metaphor

Figures of contiguity or displacement : (Jakobson)
metonymy : referring to something related to the object for the object itself
synecdoche : referring to a part for the whole (a type of metonymy)
allegory: a fictional narrative in which the characters in the story, their characteristics, obstacles, and triumphs all represent those of another narrative or conceptual structure, in a formal analogy that clearly holds throughout the text. (Texts in which the analogy is not consistent use allegory but are not themselves allegories). A simple allegory is more interested in its allegorical meaning than in its literal one ; thus, simple or naïve allegories sometimes suffer from flat, predictable characters and conflicts. Allegory limits possible interpretations by directing the meaning of its analogies.
symbol: invoking a material or tangible object in such a way as to suggest its identity with an intangible object or an abstraction as its more authentic or "truer" meaning. Unifies the material and the ideal by making a literal object the visible sign of an immaterial object or a concept. (Not really a figure of speech, but often a pattern of metaphor or a repeated metaphor can take on symbolic weight). One useful way to decide what is or is not symbolic in a text: something is probably a symbol if undue interest or emphasis is given to a literal object, so that a simply literal reading does not explain or would not expect the text's evident fascination with this object.

sublime: an aesthetic associated with what is high, noble, and great; evokes awe and even terror
picturesque: an aesthetic interested in what is merely pretty and pleasing

1 st -person narrator (major or minor character)
3d person narrator
           " objective " - does not let us into any character's head, does not follow any one character more than another, acts like a camera. Is it really "objective," though?
            limited - inside one character's head (though does not use "I"), focuses on this character

            omniscient - in more than one character's head, more diffuse focus

Discourse situation

How does the narrative get to us? (nested boxes)
Who's talking?
Direct statement :
Direct quotation of speeches or thoughts by a third-person narrator.
Fifi sauntered closer. "That dog must be the new performer!" I thought.
Indirect statement (reported discourse) :
Speeches or thoughts of another, reported by an omniscient or limited third-person narrator.
As Fifi sauntered closer, I thought that she must be the new performer.
Free indirect discourse :
A limited third person narrator uses the idiom of a character's speeches or thoughts but without attributing them as above, leaving ambiguous whether the narrator is quoting his or her own thoughts or speeches; or quoting the speech of another speaker without using " " or "he said"; or quoting thoughts from inside the head of another speaker without using " " or "she thought." This ambiguity makes the development of stream-of consciousness writing possible.
Fifi sauntered closer. That dog must be the new performer!

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