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Explication de texte

Explication de texte. Or, how to do a close reading of a literary passage. The Game Plan. Read the Text Look for Patterns Interpret the Text. Read the Text. Consider typing a copy of the text. Read text once for comprehension. Read text again. Look up unfamiliar words.

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Explication de texte

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  1. Explication de texte Or, how to do a close reading of a literary passage

  2. The Game Plan • Read the Text • Look for Patterns • Interpret the Text

  3. Read the Text • Consider typing a copy of the text. • Read text once for comprehension. • Read text again. • Look up unfamiliar words. • Write a quick summary of content. • Read text again. Out loud. • React with your pen. • Read text again. • Read text again. • Repeat ad nauseum, marking the poem as you go.

  4. e. e. cummings into the strenuous briefness Life: handorgans and April darkness, friends i charge laughing. Into the hair-thin tints of yellow dawn, into the women-coloured twilight i smilingly glide. I into the big vermilion departure swim, sayingly; (Do you think?) the i do, world is probably made of roses & hello: (of solongs and, ashes)

  5. Look for Patterns: zoom in! • Examine diction (word choice) • Identify and look up any unknown words. • even if you think you know! • Key words or phrases • Strands (our favorite ) • Contradictory words? • Repeated words • Does the meaning change? • Connotation and puns • Multiple meanings?

  6. More Looking for Patterns: take your time! • Figurative Language • Comparisons: metaphors and similes • Imagery • Symbols • List implications and suggested meanings • Form • Structure: verse vs. prose • Rhyme: what is the rhyme? How does the rhyme affect the mood? • Rhythm: meter? syllables? • Rhetorical tropes: alliteration; assonance; chiasmus; anaphora; parallelism; antitheses; irony

  7. Look for Patterns, continued. • Examine the passage: • What is the tone of the passage? • Who is the speaker? Whose point of view is shared? • Who is the speaker addressing, if anyone? • Are there any allusions in the passage? • Literary, biblical, historical, or otherwise • Are there any paradoxes? • Is anything conspicuous by its absence?

  8. Interpret the Text • Ask “Why?” and “So what?” • Why does the writer use this word instead of another similar word? • Why does the author choose this form? This style? This tone? This metaphor? • Why does the writer pair these two ideas? Why does she place these two in antithesis? • So what if x represents y? How is that significant? • What is the big idea of the poem? • Write, scribble, think, rethink! Don’t give up!

  9. Do’s and don’ts when writing the paper • Analyze • don’t summarize • It’s all about the text • don’t guess the “right” answer • don’t assume any and all interpretations will work • Dig deeply • don’t fill with generalizations (i.e., repeating the same idea in different words or citing massive quotes from “experts”) • Your reaction is not the text • don’t evaluate

  10. Questions? • Remember: The Writing Center is here for you! • MWF 1-5 p.m. • T/R 12:30-5 p.m. • M-R 7-11 p.m. • SKYPE for nonresidential students: 7-9 p.m., M-R • One-hour sessions available to all students in LIT 2090, Literary Analysis, and all students writing papers longer than 8 pages for 3000- or 4000-level courses. Just sign up for two 30-minute sessions back-to-back. 

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