Close Reading Terms

Question 1

AMBIGUOUS

Answer 1

susceptible to multiple interpretations

Question 2

APOSTROPHE

Answer 2

impassioned address

Question 3

CLAIM

Answer 3

proposition not yet proven by evidence (theory, hypothesis)

Question 4

CLOSE READING

Answer 4

scrutiny of text itself for detailed evidence

Question 5

COHERENCE

Answer 5

recognizable relation between elements or properties

Question 6

CONCLUSION

Answer 6

proposition proven by evidence

Question 7

CRITICISM

Answer 7

discussion of specific examples

Question 8

DICTION

Answer 8

word-choice; vocabulary

Question 9

DISCOURSE

Answer 9

specific telling (narrative) of a story; language deployed, especially in a
particular manner, as in legal discourse; linguistic example longer than a sentence

Question 10

ELEMENT

Answer 10

small unit or detail

Question 11

FICTION

Answer 11

narrative not considered potentially verifiable

Question 12

FIGURE

Answer 12

deviation from everyday use of language (trope)

Question 13

FORM, FORMULATION

Answer 13

actual example of text; specific manifestation of thought

Question 14

GENRE

Answer 14

conventional name classifying type of written work

Question 15

IMAGE

Answer 15

visual detail; also can refer to other four senses

Question 16

LATENT

Answer 16

implicit, underlying, hidden

Question 17

LITERARY THEORY

Answer 17

philosophy of literature; attempt to explain what literature is in
general and how it should or may be interpreted; called poetics until the 1930s or since New Criticism; poetics that continuously questions its own assumptions and methods

Question 18

LITERARY

Answer 18

dimension of text where forms and themes are viewed as ultimately inseparable (poetic); not susceptible to being paraphrased or replicated in a different form

Question 19

METAPHOR

Answer 19

implicit comparison – without like or as

Question 20

METONYMY

Answer 20

metaphor based on known connection, as in Crown for King

Question 21

OVERDETERMINATION

Answer 21

occurs when one explicit element is linked to multiple implicit
elements at the same time; symptom having multiple causes; form as manifestation of
multiple thoughts at once

Question 22

OVERINTERPRETATION

Answer 22

holding multiple interpretations at the same time, potential

consequence of ambiguity

Question 23

POETIC

Answer 23

dimension of text where forms and themes are seen interacting (literary); not
susceptible to being paraphrased or replicated in a different form

Question 24

POETRY

Answer 24

language used figuratively and indirectly; normally has a visibly strict
arrangement

Question 25

PROPERTY or FEATURE

Answer 25

specific and describable use of language, may involve a

combination of elements

Question 26

RHETORIC

Answer 26

means of describing formal and thematic properties; art of persuasion

Question 27

SPEECH ACT

Answer 27

use of language that performs an action

Question 28

STORY

Answer 28

sequence of events presumed to underlie narrative discourse

Question 29

STRAIGHTFORWARD READING

Answer 29

linear approach seeking uniform answers

Question 30

TEXT

Answer 30

piece, passage, selection, work of writing

Question 31

THEME

Answer 31

abstract topic

Question 32

THESIS

Answer 32

main claim or conclusion; direction of themes

Question 33

TROPE

Answer 33

figure; deviation from everyday use of language

Question 34

VERSE

Answer 34

language fixed in a conventional scheme or pattern, not necessarily poetry