CLOSE READING

2.3

What are the strengths and weaknesses of close reading?

Paper & Pencil Task

For literary scholars, close reading is a crucial tool. How does it work and what is it worth?

To answer these questions, consider the excerpt of Helen Vendler’s analysis of Whitman’s poem in the previous chapter. Please, describe what makes this excerpt a close reading and, based on it, comment on what you consider the strengths and weaknesses of this reading strategy.

Lizenz

University of Basel