close reading are the same, regardless of which type of text a student reads. We must teach students all types of texts, and we must do a thorough job of preparing them to handle complex and challenging informational texts, because these are the primary texts they will encounter in postsecondary education and in life.
Passage Length and Purpose
Ideally, the passage should be rich and short. A close reading passage should offer a great deal from a small amount of text. For this reason, teachers must be aware that not everything is a candidate for close reading. Reading through an entire scene of a Shakespearean tragedy or even half a chapter of a grade-level novel is simply too much text for close reading, especially for students in lower secondary grades. It should be possible to provide the entire text for a close reading passage on a single side of an 8.5 × 11 sheet of paper. If the text requires multiple pages, consider shortening it; there is probably too much there to deal with effectively. The aim is for students to delve deeply into the text; the more text, the shallower the dig.
While it is true that different students will notice different things, the shorter the selection (within reason), the more likely there will be commonality among the students’ annotations. So, it is in the teacher’s hands to find that one passage, perhaps just a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs at most, that yields the most in terms of meaning, literary devices, argument development, or the focus of the lesson.
At the same time, it is occasionally necessary to use a passage that is much longer due to the nature of the study in a unit. It may be, for example, an important historical document that demands longer sections for analysis. An example of this appears in appendix B (page 107), which examines an excerpt from Thucydides’s (431–404 BCE/1972) History of the Peloponnesian War, specifically, Pericles’s Funeral Oration. This superb speech does not lend itself to short passages; it is so finely crafted that students must look at a longer-than-usual excerpt to see the way the author linked many elements of argument together. There are times when students should work with longer passages, but teachers must limit those occasions and be sure to provide adequate class time for them to go deeply into the longer passages.
As we attempt to determine a short, specific passage from a larger text as the subject of close reading, there are four general guidelines to follow.
1. Be sure the text is appropriate to the class level. Obviously, we want the reading level and complexity to be appropriate for the current overall abilities of the class.
2. The text should be relevant to the content of the lesson or unit. The lesson or unit may have a focus on a particular theme or literary device. The passage should be rich in this element.
3. Be sure that the length of the text fits its purpose. The purpose of the lesson may dictate how long the passage can be. If we’re looking for only an example or two of a particular device, then the passage can be substantially shorter than if we’re looking to determine the effect of multiple uses of a device.
4. Ensure that the style of the text fits its purpose. Different writing styles present different challenges to students. If the purpose of the lesson or unit is to focus on a specific, challenging style for analysis, then the style should match that purpose. If the purpose of the lesson or unit is to focus on a specific rhetorical device and its use, then the style should support (not challenge) the development of analysis of that skill.
The following is an example of how a teacher might select a short passage. Shakespeare’s (1595/1997b) Romeo and Juliet is standard fare in a ninth-grade English language arts classroom. As stated previously, it is impossible for students to close read an entire play, or even full scenes from a Shakespearean play, at this grade level. Assume a teacher has planned a three-week unit on Romeo and Juliet and will not be asking students to read every word of the play. Some of the less important scenes can be viewed on video in between readings of important scenes. In a three-week unit, the class might close read three or four passages. Which scenes the teacher chooses depends largely on the focus and purpose of the study of the play. First, the teacher identifies a list of potential scenes from which she will choose close reading passages. The four guidelines provided in the preceding list make it easier to identify potential passages. Some vital scenes that might contain close reading passages include the following.
• Act 1, scene 1 (the opening scene with the brawl in the street)
• Act 1, scene 4 (Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech)
• Act 2, scene 2 (the first long exchange between Romeo and Juliet)
• Act 3, scene 1 (the fight that causes Romeo to intervene)
• Act 3, scene 2 (Juliet’s “Gallop apace” speech)
• Act 5, scene 3 (the final scene, which includes the deaths of Romeo and Juliet)
Of course, there are many more scenes that might be added to this list. All or any of these would offer good selections for close reading. However, the teacher decides to look closer at act 1, scene 4, and particularly at Mercutio’s famous Queen Mab speech. In The Riverside Shakespeare (Evans & Tobin, 1997), the Queen Mab speech in act 1, scene 4 is forty-one lines long. Though it is possible to close read the entire speech, it is lengthy, so the teacher decides to select a shorter passage to ask students to analyze deeply. Each reader will bring a different perspective to the table that will color the interpretation of the elements (see the section Teacher Preparation). Considering the subject matter of the passage, the teacher identifies two reasons why the passage appears in the play as justification for having students consider the passage. One reason is that Shakespeare uses this passage to develop the character of Mercutio, a friend of Romeo’s who is easily drawn into excess, spirit, and anger, thus aligning with the meaning of his name as one who is changeable. Another reason for the speech is to comment on the nature of dreams, which both Romeo and Mercutio claim they have experienced recently in the scene. In the speech, Mercutio supports his earlier claim, “Dreamers often lie.” He initially wishes to make fun of Romeo’s intense sadness over the loss of his first love in the play, Rosaline. Over the course of the speech, Mercutio becomes quickly agitated, starting by kidding Romeo about the influence of the fairies in his dream and ending by being filled with anger at the power of dreams to unmask hidden emotions in many people.
To choose one piece of this speech, the teacher starts by considering the academic purpose of asking students to close read the speech. If the purpose is to focus on Shakespeare’s ability to quickly and effectively develop imagery in his poetry, the first section describing how Queen Mab arrives would be a good candidate. If the focus is on the mercurial nature of Mercutio and tracking the changes in his emotions across the speech, the second half (when he begins to work himself into agitation) would be a good candidate. The teacher could also use the checklists later in the chapter (pages 26–27) to help determine the right focus.
Assume the teacher wants to focus on Shakespeare’s abilities to use imagery. She first narrows the long speech into the section that deals specifically with that developing imagery, lines 1–17:
MERCUTIO
O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomi
Over men’s noses as they lie asleep.
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made
