Who is the speaker of the piece? What do we know about him or her? Does the speaker reflect on the experience with a particular attitude (tone)? Is there an identified auditor, a you in the poem to whom the language is being directed?

Read Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers” and answer the following questions.

Questions of the Close Reading
1. Does the piece have a title? What does the title suggest about the language?

2. Who is the speaker of the piece? What do we know about him or her? Does the speaker reflect on the experience with a particular attitude (tone)? Is there an identified auditor, a you in the poem to whom the language is being directed?

What is the occasion which leads to the uttering of the language?

Does the language relate a sequence of events (narrative)? Is the narrative central to the meaning of the language or to the experience being shared?

5. Does the language play with sound in any way? Does this sound-play point your attention to specific words or phrases central to the meaning? Does this sound-play indicate mood or attitude.

6. What images does the poem employ? Is the image central to the readers experience of the poem? Be specific.

Does the language suggest an idea or theme? Is the idea central to the readers experience of the poem? Be specific.

8. Does the language inspire any emotional response? Is the emotion central? Specifically, what words or phrases in language evoke these feelings?

9. Does the language play with words by twisting meaning? What is the effect of
these twists, tropes or figures? (metaphor)

10. Does the language use representation? Are these symbols central to the
idea of the poem?

11. Does the language play with the readers expectations or sense of reality? Are
these points of irony and paradox central to the idea of the poem?

12. Does the language have an overall structure or pattern? What key words or
phrases echo in the language? Is the language structured into parts (stanzas)? Does the language employ a traditional form? Is the readers apprehension of the experience enhanced by the poetic structure?

Questions #13 & #14 move this New Critical inquiry from analysis to criticism. New Critics are not inclined to remain in analysis. They explicate for the world the differences between the trite and the sublime, between the prosaic and the artistic, and ultimately between the impotent and the powerful.

13. Overall, what is artful about the language? In what imaginative, intellectual,
sensual or emotional way(s) does the language represent the complexity of human experience?

14. Finally, is the language valuable? Is it worth reading?

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