How to do a Close Reading Take a pencil/pen.
Underline the words that catch your attention (repetitions, different uses of words etc.)
On a separate piece of paper, write down the words you underlined as a list. In your list, look for patterns (similarity, contrasts, metaphors, similes).
Based on your list, generate why/how questions.
Go back to the text for more evidence/answers to your questions.
Generate a "thesis" (an argument about the patterns you found).
Structure evidence, organize your thoughts.
Write essay.
Write a closed reading for the below content From The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2 Caliban. I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, Thou stroke'st me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in't, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee And show'd thee all the qualities [1] o' th' isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms[2] Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own king: and here you sty[3] me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o' th' island.
Prospero. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes[4] may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honor of my child.
Caliban. O ho, O ho! Would't had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else[5] This isle with Calibans.