Clive, Maryann—
Thanks for your recommendations. Fortunately for my wallet, I already own most of the books mentioned. I suppose I ought to get off my proverbial and start reading. Understanding Poetry looks like a good place to begin; it seems geared toward teaching rather than simply demonstrating. (Not that I think you can't learn from a good demonstration.)
Jill—
Here is an excerpt from Burton Raffel's book—the beginning of a close reading of Robert Frost's The Pasture:
"This is a lovely poem; it plainly means something, and it is plainly both earnest and emotional about whatever that something is. But since the poem is neither completely literal nor completely nonliteral, its meaning is inseparable both from what is literally conveyed and from what is nonliterally conveyed. Its meaning is an interwoven composite of both the literal and the nonliteral components of the poem. It works subtly but not mysteriously; untangling what the poet has so delicately put together is neither injurious to nor a betrayal of the poem."
And from Frost himself (quoting from memory):
"I never want to be too thorough with anything as delicate as a poem. Don't press it. Let it do it to you."
Like a lot of other activities, close reading can be a life-affirming pursuit, as long as you know where to draw the line.
Mary—
I enjoyed your readings. You know your stuff. Where did you learn to close read? Has it all been simply a matter of practice, practice, practice? Or have you had some help from books?
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