EH4022: The aim of close reading or critical commentary exercise is to look closely at what and HOW a poem communicates: English Literature Assignment, UOL, Ireland

The aim of close reading or critical commentary exercise is to look closely at
what and HOW a poem communicates, and at the ways in which it uses
literary and linguistic techniques to achieve its aims. You should closely read
the substance, style, and language of a passage, examining the wider
significance of verbal detail. You must present your argument succinctly, and
coherently.

Some of the issues that might be considered are:

• What can be said about the point of view in the poem? Whose is the narrative voice and who is the implied addressee?
• What is the nature of the speaker’s voice?
• What is the literary interest of the passage?
• What kind of figurative language or conceit is used in the poem?
• How does the poet use language to convey a position?
• Is there a particular tone in the poem? Does that tone change or shift as the poem develops?
• Do individual words or phrases in the passage have a particular significance? If so make these part of your argument.
• What does the poem contribute to the presentation of character or the adoption of an argument or position?
• Does the poem contain reported speech and/or thought or an imagined other voice, how is it presented, and to what effect?
• Does the poem contain allusions to other texts or legends or topical allusions to historical events or persons, and if so what are they and how are they working?
• Are there historical or social contexts to the work as a whole that shed light on the poem, or vice versa?