Hi Hayley, I read this post after you re-shared it last month and just tried this method on a six-line passage for the first time today. It is such a fantastic process for broadening and deepening understanding. Thank you so much for this step-by-step guide.
Re-reading this as a preparation for Middlemarch 😀I think about my undergrad days (too long ago to remember) when I did classes in English lit. It's going to be a mountain but the trek and the views are worth it
In Vietnam, we have these exercises in final exam. We would be given a short paragraph of an essay we have already learnt (a quote or an excerpt of a literary piece) and required to write 8-9 pages sometimes even 15 pages on it in a very limited time. The thing here is that the length of our essay is rewarded, not what we actually think or feel of that piece (only those who are specialized in literature does so I guess). Most of the stuff we write are memorized and all written out or analyzed beforehand. I was like that before I started reading english literature and diving deeper into this field. I write things with my own emotions and annotations like that. Once I discovered the way to write these things just exactly like you had given out, I started liberating myself from those cliches. I always cried whenever I did the tests. I am currently not in high school anymore so I no longer have a chance to do these things. I find this stack very helpful and will surely add to my todo list!!!
This is such a great piece Haley. Thank you for highlighting it again in your Notes. I wish I'd had information like this to refer to when I was a student of Russian literature in the 90s. Your point about referring the moment in the text to the observation is on point. I was forever getting picked up by my professors for wandering off the reservation and discussion points that weren't relevant to the essay question.
Oh ba gosh, this is good. Thank you. If I may share a bit here to ask a question: I intuitively / heuristically have been doing this sinc sophmore year in hight school but there is new, important nuance in your essay. It seems you most likely have experience in grappling with and organizing ones thoughts about book content that is a river of relateable profundity, where each page creates a simultaneous somatic sensation of familiarity, having been here before and revelation. (Iain McGilchrist's, The Master and His Emissary is an example.) The challenge is weighing out what to hold and read closely and still get through even a single chapter in a practical amount of time to capture the big picture the author is conveying. Do you have organizational advice on how to productively maneuver through such a fortunate connundrum?
Thank you so much for this guide. I will most definitely apply this to my future reading notes.
I love to read that!!! Thanks so much for commenting :) I’m glad it’s useful for you.
Your reading advice is so great. Thanks for resharing. Just started commonplacing so will try this technique out.
Hi Hayley, I read this post after you re-shared it last month and just tried this method on a six-line passage for the first time today. It is such a fantastic process for broadening and deepening understanding. Thank you so much for this step-by-step guide.
I love to read this!! Thank you so much for letting me know it was helpful for you. 🧡
Re-reading this as a preparation for Middlemarch 😀I think about my undergrad days (too long ago to remember) when I did classes in English lit. It's going to be a mountain but the trek and the views are worth it
What a great way to sit with something that draws you into the book!
Question - is there benefit to starting small...like a sentence or two?
Yes there is!! I have a whole other post on that strategy 😄 let me get you a link…
Here you go! https://open.substack.com/pub/haleyalarsen/p/a-close-reading-activity?r=593w1&utm_medium=ios
Thank you. I have a BS in English and no one ever told me this.
Marvelous! Have you seen How to read Novels like a Professor (Foster)?
I have!! I haven’t read it but I have a copy on my shelf!
You will like! Lots of deep analysis 👏👏😁
In Vietnam, we have these exercises in final exam. We would be given a short paragraph of an essay we have already learnt (a quote or an excerpt of a literary piece) and required to write 8-9 pages sometimes even 15 pages on it in a very limited time. The thing here is that the length of our essay is rewarded, not what we actually think or feel of that piece (only those who are specialized in literature does so I guess). Most of the stuff we write are memorized and all written out or analyzed beforehand. I was like that before I started reading english literature and diving deeper into this field. I write things with my own emotions and annotations like that. Once I discovered the way to write these things just exactly like you had given out, I started liberating myself from those cliches. I always cried whenever I did the tests. I am currently not in high school anymore so I no longer have a chance to do these things. I find this stack very helpful and will surely add to my todo list!!!
This is such a great piece Haley. Thank you for highlighting it again in your Notes. I wish I'd had information like this to refer to when I was a student of Russian literature in the 90s. Your point about referring the moment in the text to the observation is on point. I was forever getting picked up by my professors for wandering off the reservation and discussion points that weren't relevant to the essay question.
Also, there's a wee typo you might wish to fix:
"I also now I’ve struck gold:"
THANK YOU!!!!!
Oh ba gosh, this is good. Thank you. If I may share a bit here to ask a question: I intuitively / heuristically have been doing this sinc sophmore year in hight school but there is new, important nuance in your essay. It seems you most likely have experience in grappling with and organizing ones thoughts about book content that is a river of relateable profundity, where each page creates a simultaneous somatic sensation of familiarity, having been here before and revelation. (Iain McGilchrist's, The Master and His Emissary is an example.) The challenge is weighing out what to hold and read closely and still get through even a single chapter in a practical amount of time to capture the big picture the author is conveying. Do you have organizational advice on how to productively maneuver through such a fortunate connundrum?
It’s funny. I’m doing the same with Blood Meridian.
McCarthy is highly underrated while Faulkner vastly overrated.
Pynchon & McCarthy are true heirs to Joyce & Melville. The two greats of the last century.
I've used some of this with my students but not all of it. I really enjoyed learning your process.