The Language of composition

1. Chapter Two Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Analysis The Language of composition Reading, Writing, Rhetoric

2. Close Reading • Goal is to develop an understanding of text • Close reading is strategy • Create meaning based first on the words, then on the larger ideas suggested • When writing about a text, you start with larger ideas, then use examples from the language to support

3. Close Reading • We do it subconsciously every day • We are aware of interaction of subject, speaker, audience in conversation • We analyze conversations • We even consider style (body language, tone, expression, etc.)

4. Analyzing Style • Consists of tone, sentence structure and vocabulary • Style contributes to meaning, purpose and effect • Examples of style questions based on Ground Zero text, p 37 • Style falls into two categories: diction and syntax

5. Diction • Diction: choice of words • Trope: artful diction • Examples: metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole

6. Diction – Considerations • Which important words are general/abstract vs. specific/concrete? • Are the important words formal, informal, colloquial or slang? • Are some words non literal, creating figures of speech?

7. Syntax • Syntax: arrangement of words • Scheme: artful syntax • Examples: parallelisms, juxtapositions, antithesis

8. Syntax – Considerations • What is the order of the parts of a sentence: normal or inverted? • Which part of speech is most prominent? • Are the sentences periodic or cumulative? • How does the sentence connect its words, phrases and clauses? • Which of the questions on p. 37 are about diction and which are about syntax??

9. Talking with the Text • The point: generate your own questions • Remember, not just identifying techniques, but analyzing their effect. • Also, remember style is a subset of rhetoric so we’re analyzing it as a means of persuasion • Therefore, determine the PURPOSE, what style choices are made, and what is their effect (towards the purpose)

10. Annotation • Using a pen or pencil, on text or post-its • Words you don’t know? • Words that seem related? • Thesis statements and topic sentences? • Imagery? • Allusions? • Things that stand out – quotation marks, punctuation, certain sentences, facts Example on page 40 – Joan Didion

11. Dialectical Journal • Double-entry notebook • Visually represent the conversation between text nd reader • See example, p. 42 • Note Taking (text) vs. Note Making (commentary)

12. Graphic Organizer • See example, p. 44 • Copy something the writer has said • Restate it in your own words • Analyze how the writer makes the point (strategy or style element) • Function or effect on the reader

13. Close Reading Assignment • Assignment, p. 48 • Complete a Dialectical Journal Entry for the passage by Ascham

14. Analyzing a Visual Text • When we analyze a visual text, we look at both the words AND the visuals • There are six basic aspects of a visual text that we look at • Example: Video Clip

15. Analyzing a Visual Text • Arrangement – “the organization of visual elements so that readers can see their structure” • Emphasis – making certain parts more prominent than others by changing its size, shape and color. • Clarity – helps the reader to “decode the message, to understand it quickly and completely” • Conciseness – “generating designs that are appropriately succinct to a particular situation” • Tone – tone reveals the designer’s attitude towards the subject matter • Ethos – earning the trust of the person receiving the message.