close, close reading

about the close reading

A close reading is where the specifics of a short bit of text is thoroughly analyzed. Word choice, formatting decisions, and images created are defined in a close reading and then “unpacked.” By unpacked, I mean that the impact of all these little choices are discussed and then used to better understand the larger work. The idea here is not so much that you make a list of these things but that you explain the why of the piece using them.

guidelines for the close reading

1. Choose a short piece of text. Short is the operative word here. That means, six or fewer lines of poetry or a few sentences of prose. They should be a section that you feel is important to the larger text. Place this text at the top of your paper.

2. Spend time thinking about the text—noting syntax, vocabulary and imagery choices. Consider how these specific choices either fit into the larger point the author is making in the complete text OR how these choices uncover some sort of cultural leaning. You will be using the text itself to add to these ideas, NOT giving an overview of the point or the culture.

3. Write a focusing, thesis-like statement.

4. Support this statement with 2-4 paragraphs that show us how the elements of the text do what you say they do.

5. You will have a chance to revise one of these responses.

example close reading

If I throw away my shot, is this how you’ll remember me?

What if this bullet is my legacy?

Legacy. What is a legacy?

It’s planting seeds in a garden that you never get to see

—Lin Manual Miranda, “The World Was Wide Enough” Hamilton

Focusing statement: The emphasis on questioning legacy at the end of the play shifts Hamilton’s continued ambition to the broader, historical question of who controls narrative.

The word “legacy” is repeated here three times in a very short period to ask the listener/viewer to think deeply about the term. This use hearkens back to earlier moments in the musical, such as when Eliza accuses Alexander of ruining his family because of his “obsession with his legacy.” There, Hamilton’s political writing and creation of the economic system are closely linked to his legacy but here, that idea of legacy is clearly challenged. On a literal level, the passage includes three quotation marks, three question about how Hamilton will be remembered and what his legacy will be. More subtly, the questioning links Hamilton to what his actual remembrance has been. He has been remembered for dying in a duel. It is “this bullet” that has, in many ways, shaped how people remember him. But, Miranda asks, is that really his legacy? The suggestion here is that a legacy is about more than what one’s name is attached to but how one’s actions affect history. The ability to know that answer is impossible for Hamilton but exactly what the audience is entreated to consider as they watch. Hamilton asks what his legacy is; the audience is meant to answer.

At the same time, Miranda leads us with a metaphorical answer. As the final line here notes, legacy is a “planting of seeds” in a garden that the planter does not harvest or even “get to see.” Indeed, it is the garden that isn’t seen, not just the plants. The metaphor thus suggests that the one building the legacy doesn’t even know what he is building or where. In this way, the control that both Hamilton and Burr have hoped to exert over their names and legacy is revealed to be an illusion. With all the variables in the new nation and just in general, you get to “plant seeds” and make a difference—Hamilton has been instrumental in setting up the country’s government and finances—but he has no control over this thing that he has planted—he will not get to see, or tend I would add, to the garden of his work. Instead, he must let go.

This moment of letting go thus also asks us to look to Hamilton’s character and how much he tried to control his surroundings. Oddly, then, his character lies in the flexibility in meaning of the line “throw away my shot.” It simultaneously means “lose an opportunity” and “refuse to fire at one’s dueler.” Hamilton has made so much out of his life, using “his shot” to help build a country. In this meaning, Hamilton believes he has control over what he can do in the world and can actively pursue his goals (much as Burr does, who claims, “I am the only thing I can control…is myself). In this situation, he wonders if he is giving up an opportunity. On the other hand, to refuse to shoot is a passive state, allowing another person control. Hamilton, hardly one to make himself vulnerable or passive in most of his life, is asking if this passive state will be how he is remembered. It is up to the audience to decide in this moment, as it is Hamilton’s last. The rest of the play will discuss how Hamilton is remembered and “who tells your story.” At this moment, the audience is able to contemplate Hamilton as man and legacy together for the last time.