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Poetr: Cloe Reading

INTRODUCTION

Once omewhat ignored in cholarl circle, cloe reading of poetr i making

omething of a comeack.  learning how to cloe read a poem ou can
ignificantl increae oth our undertanding and enjoment of the poem. You ma
alo increae our ailit to write convincingl aout the poem.

The following exercie ue one of William hakepeare’ onnet (#116) a an

example. Thi cloe read proce can alo e ued on man di�erent vere form.
Thi reource firt preent the entire onnet and then preent a cloe reading of
the poem elow. Read the onnet a few time to get a feel for it and then move
down to the cloe reading.

CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true mind

Admit impediment. Love i not love

Which alter when it alteration find,

Or end with the remover to remove:

O no! it i an ever-fixed mark

That look on tempet and i never haken;

It i the tar to ever wandering ark,

Whoe worth' unknown, although hi height e taken.

Love' not Time' fool, though ro lip and cheek

Within hi ending ickle' compa come:

Love alter not with hi rief hour and week,

ut ear it out even to the edge of doom.

If thi e error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

PRFORMING TH CLO RAD

CXVI.

The numer indicate the onnet’ place in a ccle or equence of onnet.

Although ou ma examine the poem on it own term, realize that it i connected
to the other poem in the ccle.

Let me not to the marriage of true mind

Admit impediment.

Form i one of the firt thing ou hould note aout a poem. Here it i ea to ee
that the poem i fourteen line long and follow ome ort of rhme cheme (which
ou can ee  looking at how the final word in each line). The rhme of word
make a connection etween them. Our firt rhme comination i “mind/find.”
What do ou make of thi pairing of word?

The firt phrae (in thi cae a full entence) of the poem flow into the next line of
the poem. Thi i called enjamment, and though it i often made necear  the
form of the vere, it alo erve to reak up the reader’ expectation. In thi cae,
the word “impediment” i placed directl efore the leak and confuing phrae
“love i not love,” itelf an enjamment. How doe thi diconnection etween
phrae and line a�ect the reader? How doe it emphaize or change the line
around it?

Love i not love

Which alter when it alteration find,

Or end with the remover to remove:

Notice all of the repetition or ue of imilar word in the lat two and a half line.
When cloe reading a poem, epeciall a fixed vere form like the onnet, rememer
the econom of the poem: there’ onl o much pace at the poet’ dipoal. Thi
make repetition ver important, ecaue it place even more emphai on the
repeated word than doe proe. What doe the repetition in thee line ugget?
Alo, note that we’ve come to the end of our firt quatrain (four-line tanza): uuall
the firt tanza of a onnet propoe the prolem for the poem. What i thi
prolem?

O no! it i an ever-fixed mark

That look on tempet and i never haken;

It i the tar to ever wandering ark,

Whoe worth' unknown, although hi height e taken.

Our next quatrain give a pair of metaphor (click here (../..

/teacher_and_tutor_reource/writing_tutor
/tutoring_creative_writing_tudent/metaphor_in_creative_writing.html) to
read aout metaphor, or click here (../../teacher_and_tutor_reource
/writing_intructor/poetr_in_writing_coure/index.html)) for the “thei”
argued in the firt tanza. Look carefull at thee image a the relate to the
uject of the poem. What actual oject do the decrie? Do the ear an
imilarit to each other? I there a connection etween the ue of “ever-“ in line 5
and “ever” in line even?

The image in line 5-6 i epeciall complex: What i the “mark” hakepeare i
talking aout and how doe it “look?” Anwer to ome of thee quetion ma
require ome reearch into older definition of word in the Oxford nglih
Dictionar.

Love' not Time' fool, though ro lip and cheek

Within hi ending ickle' compa come:

Love alter not with hi rief hour and week,

ut ear it out even to the edge of doom.

Our third and final quatrain ue all of it four line to expand a ingle metaphor.
Conider how thi metaphor relate to the previou one, and wh o much pace in
the poem i devoted to it, epeciall a it relate to the poem’ argument. Alo, look
at imilarit of phraing etween line 9’ “ro lip and cheek” and line 11’ “rief
hour and week.” The certainl rhme, ut how doe the imilar contruction
a�ect the reading?

If thi e error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Thi i our cloing couplet (two-line tanza), meant to “reolve” the prolem
addreed in the poem. Look carefull at the wa the couplet tart. Doe it provide
reolution or not? Note that the firt peron (“me/I”) ha returned (lat een in the
firt line of the poem). Conider alo the negation in the final tatement. Have we
een omething imilar in the poem efore? Where and wh are the connection
made?

FROM RADING TO WRITING

The oervation and quetion in the cloe reading note are  no mean
complete, ut a look over them ugget everal poiilitie for a paper. Among
thee poiilitie are:

The repetition of imilar word and phrae in the poem

The ue and relationhip of the three main metaphor in the poem
The amiguit, which egin (“let” ugget that omething ma or ma not e
allowed to happen) and end (the weight word “if”) the poem
The connection etween the phical and the piritual.

Thee idea need not e excluive, either. The oervation gained from the cloe
reading hould provide ou with example and inight for anone of the propoed
ea lited aove.