Close Reading

The SOAPStone Method

Jennifer Bennett

Sanderson High School

Why do I need to read closely?

To gain the bigger pictureTo recognize and appreciate the craft and

specific techniques/tools of the craftTo understand that which sets art apart

from “books”What is “highly acclaimed”?Why distinctions between “fiction” and “literature”?

(See any major bookstore’s aisle categories.)

How? SOAPStone

SubjectOccasionAudiencePurpose

SpeakerToneOrganizationNarrative styleEvidence

Subject

What is the literal topic of this piece of literature?What’s it all about?

The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text

Summarize What is the story?

Whether an essay, poem, play, novel, etc., it has a story.

Occasion

Where and when does it take place?What is the rhetorical occasion of the

text? Is it a/an—Memory?Description?Observation?Diatribe?Elegy?Critique?

Occasion, pt. 2 Note the immediate occasion

The issue that— catches the writer’s attention and triggers a response

Note the larger occasion The broad issue The center of ideas and emotions in the work

Example: “Left at the Light” Program for helping the homeless Occasion:

Immediate—leaving (driving past) someone who was begging for money in the medium of a left-hand turn lane without helping

Larger—how to help the homeless without enabling any destructive behaviors/addictions a homeless person may have

Audience

Level of general knowledge What do they already know? Ex. Literary analyses; Process analyses

Level of diction Slang Informal Formal Ceremonial

What assumptions can I make about the intended audience? Does the author identify them?

Purpose

What does the writer accomplish with his or her literary work?

What appears to be the writer’s intent?In what ways does the writer convey the

message of the purpose?How does the writer try to spark a

reaction from the audience?

Speaker

The voice telling the storyNot necessarily the writer!What assumptions can you make about

the speaker?Age?Gender?Social class?Emotional state? (etc.)

Speaker, pt. 2

Assess the speaker’s characterSupply evidence for your conclusions from

the text.Let the facts lead you to the speaker.

What does the speaker believe?What biases may the speaker have?What approach/appeal does the speaker make

for his or her argument?How do you know? Produce the EVIDENCE!

Tone

What is the author’s attitude toward the subject?

What emotional sense does the writer present?

How do the following tools/vehicles for meaning present tone? Diction—word choice Syntax—sentence construction & order Imagery—concrete representations to connect the

reader with the writer’s subject/pov/tone From what source/s do the images come, primarily?

Organization

How does the writer organize/structure the text?

How does the writer arrange his or her content?

So? What effect does the organization have on the overall meaning of the work?

Narrative Style

How does the writer tell the “story”/unravel the subject?

What does the writer reveal? conceal? invert? subvert?

Is the writing dramatic (play) in nature, poetic, episodic, objective?

What point of view does the writer use? SO WHAT?? What effects does the writer’s

narrative style have on the work as a whole?

Evidence

The burden of proof is on you! Pull specific examples from the text, using

direct quotations, paraphrases, and summaries

to support your analyses/arguments. Use specific

Literary devices Grammatical devices Rhetorical devices