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English · Grade 11

Close Reading across Genres

Learners practice close reading in three genres: poetry by Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman; fiction in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”; and argumentative prose in Henry David Thoreau's “Civil Disobedience.” They analyze diction, imagery, sound, syntax and narration, and compare how genre shapes these moves. The quiz turns to Macbeth's “To-morrow” speech and an essay sentence by Emerson. An optional Going further lesson weighs two invented critics' readings of Gilman's story.

  • 5 lessons
  • About 140 minutes
  • Close reading across genres check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, highlight a text, match pairs, sort into groups, arrange tiles and true or false
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What learners will discover

  • Close-read poetry by analyzing diction, imagery, line and sound, and how they create meaning.
  • Close-read fiction by analyzing narration, voice and detail, including what a narrator reveals without intending to.
  • Close-read argumentative nonfiction by analyzing syntax, figurative language and structure in persuasive prose.
  • Compare how genre shapes the same close-reading moves and write a close reading of a short passage.

Lessons

  1. Close reading poetry 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  2. Close reading fiction 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  3. Close reading persuasive prose 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  4. How genre shapes close reading 4 steps2 practiceabout 33 min
  5. Going further: two critics on “The Yellow Wallpaper” 4 steps2 practiceabout 25 min
  6. Close reading across genres check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

More 11th grade reading

Guide for grown-ups