“Mother to Son” Langston Hughes

“Mother to Son” Langston Hughes

“My Father’s Love Letters” Yusef Komunyakaa “To My Dear and Loving Husband” Anne Bradstreet “Annabel Lee” Edgar Allen Poe

—YOU MAY ONLY USE ONE WORK FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT—

***OTHER THAN A DICTIONARY/THESAURUS, NO OUTSIDE SOURCES ARE PERMITTED FOR THIS ESSAY!!!!

Guidelines:

For your close reading assignment, select a poem of your choice from the above list. ​Write at least ​three​pages analyzing the significance of

its point of view, characterization, setting, tone, symbolism, metaphors, similes, descriptive phrases, etc. Pay attention to sensory details: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. Your ideas should be organized and reflected in a thesis statement, with supporting evidence throughout your essay​.[unique_solution]

Be sure to use MLA citation.

Below you will find two critical sources with explanation detailing what a close reading writing assignment should cover. Please read through carefully, and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

1. Close Reading of a Literary Passage¹

To do a close reading, you choose a specific passage and analyze it in fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass. You then comment on points of style and on your reactions as a reader. Close reading is important because it is the building block for larger analysis. Your thoughts evolve not from someone else’s truth about the reading, but from your own observations. The more closely you can observe, the more original and exact your ideas will be. To begin your close reading, ask yourself several specific questions about the passage. The following questions are not a formula, but a starting point for your own thoughts. When you arrive at some answers, you are ready to organize and write. You should organize your close reading like any other kind of essay, paragraph by paragraph, but you can arrange

• Wheeler’s Website. 16 September 2004. http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_lit.html

it any way you like.

​I. First Impressions:

• What first strikes you about the passage?

• What strikes you a second time you look?

• Do the two striking moments you noticed complement each other? Or contradict each other?
• What mood does the passage create for the reader? Why?

• Which words stand out first? Why? What is noteworthy about this diction?

• How do the important words relate to one another?

• Do any words seem oddly used? Why?

• Do any words have double meanings? Do they have extra connotations?
• Look up any unfamiliar words.

• Does an image here remind the reader of an image elsewhere in the work? Where? What’s the connection?

• How might this image fit into the pattern of the work as a whole?

• Could this passage symbolize the entire work? Could this passage serve as a microcosm–a little picture–of what’s taking place in the whole work?

• What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace? What is the style like?

• Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it? Pay attention to hyphens (-), colons (:), semi-colons (;) periods (.), italics, etc.

• Is there any repetition within the passage? What is the effect of that repetition?

• How many types of writing are in the passage? (For example, narration, description, argument, dialogue, rhymed or alliterative poetry, etc.)

• Can you identify paradoxes [a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true] in the author’s thought or subject?
• What is left out or kept silent? What would the reader expect the author to talk about that the author avoided?

• How does the passage make us react or think about any characters or events within the narrative?

• Are there colors, sounds, physical description that appeals to the senses? Does this imagery form a pattern? Why might the author have chosen that color, sound or physical description?
• Who speaks in the passage? To whom does he or she speak? Does the narrator have a limited or partial point of view? Or does the narrator appear to be omniscient, and he/she knows things the characters couldn’t possibly know (for example, future historical

events, events taking place “off stage,” the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters, and so on).

1. Symbolism:

• Are there metaphors? What kinds?

• Is there one controlling metaphor (the same comparison throughout, but in varying versions)? If not, how many different metaphors are there, and in what order do they occur? How might that be significant?

• How might objects represent something else?

• Do any of the objects, colors, animals, or plants appearing in the passage have traditional connotations or meaning? What about religious or biblical significance?