1. Close Reading The SOAPStone Method Jennifer Bennett
Sanderson High School

2. Why do I need to read closely?
To gain the bigger picture
To recognize and appreciate the craft and specific techniques/tools of the craft
To understand that which sets art apart from “books”
What is “highly acclaimed”?
Why distinctions between “fiction” and “literature”? (See any major bookstore’s aisle categories.)

3. How? SOAPStone Speaker Subject Tone Occasion Organization Audience
Narrative style
Evidence
Subject
Occasion
Audience
Purpose

4. Subject What is the literal topic of this piece of literature?
What’s it all about?
The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text
Summarize
What is the story?
Whether an essay, poem, play, novel, etc., it has a story.

5. Occasion Where and when does it take place?
What is the rhetorical occasion of the text? Is it a/an—
Memory?
Description?
Observation?
Diatribe?
Elegy?
Critique?

6. Occasion, pt. 2 Note the immediate occasion Note the larger occasion
The issue that—
catches the writer’s attention and
triggers a response
Note the larger occasion
The broad issue
The center of ideas and emotions in the work
Example: “Left at the Light”
Program for helping the homeless
Occasion:
Immediate—leaving (driving past) someone who was begging for money in the medium of a left-hand turn lane without helping
Larger—how to help the homeless without enabling any destructive behaviors/addictions a homeless person may have

7. Audience Level of general knowledge Level of diction
What do they already know?
Ex. Literary analyses; Process analyses
Level of diction
Slang
Informal
Formal
Ceremonial
What assumptions can I make about the intended audience? Does the author identify them?

8. Purpose What does the writer accomplish with his or her literary work?
What appears to be the writer’s intent?
In what ways does the writer convey the message of the purpose?
How does the writer try to spark a reaction from the audience?

9. Speaker The voice telling the story Not necessarily the writer!
What assumptions can you make about the speaker?
Age?
Gender?
Social class?
Emotional state? (etc.)

10. Speaker, pt. 2 Assess the speaker’s character
Supply evidence for your conclusions from the text.
Let the facts lead you to the speaker.
What does the speaker believe?
What biases may the speaker have?
What approach/appeal does the speaker make for his or her argument?
How do you know? Produce the EVIDENCE!

11. Tone What is the author’s attitude toward the subject?
What emotional sense does the writer present?
How do the following tools/vehicles for meaning present tone?
Diction—word choice
Syntax—sentence construction & order
Imagery—concrete representations to connect the reader with the writer’s subject/pov/tone
From what source/s do the images come, primarily?

12. Organization How does the writer organize/structure the text?
How does the writer arrange his or her content?
So? What effect does the organization have on the overall meaning of the work?

13. Narrative Style
How does the writer tell the “story”/unravel the subject?
What does the writer reveal? conceal? invert? subvert?
Is the writing dramatic (play) in nature, poetic, episodic, objective?
What point of view does the writer use?
SO WHAT?? What effects does the writer’s narrative style have on the work as a whole?

14. Evidence The burden of proof is on you!
Pull specific examples from the text, using
direct quotations,
paraphrases, and
summaries
to support your analyses/arguments.
Use specific
Literary devices
Grammatical devices
Rhetorical devices