How to Apply Close Reading in Studying Poetry
What is close reading in poetry ? Close reading a poem means reading the poem carefully while sustainably interpreting it to the line by line, stanza by stanza. Steps in close-reading a poem: Read the poem aloud while following all the punctuations Watch out for punctuation marks that tell you where to pause or stop while reading the poem . These are commas, full stops, colons, semi-colons, exclamations, etc. Sometimes a sentence in a poem may extend over several lines. Some require pausing while others require stopping at the end. The reader should read continuously until they encounter punctuation that requires a pause or a stop. Sometimes an entire poem may be made up of a single sentence that is broken down into several lines or stanzas before ending in a question mark, exclamation mark, or a full stop. Observing the punctuation in a poem is important because it helps the reader to determine the tone of the poem. Poems with short sentences tend to have a serious tone, mood and attitude. Ref…
