close analysis essay structure

A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis

Use the guidelines below to learn about the practice of close reading.

When your teachers or professors ask you to analyze a literary text, they often look for something frequently called close reading. Close reading is deep analysis of how a literary text works; it is both a reading process and something you include in a literary analysis paper, though in a refined form.

Fiction writers and poets build texts out of many central components, including subject, form, and specific word choices. Literary analysis involves examining these components, which allows us to find in small parts of the text clues to help us understand the whole. For example, if an author writes a novel in the form of a personal journal about a character’s daily life, but that journal reads like a series of lab reports, what do we learn about that character? What is the effect of picking a word like “tome” instead of “book”? In effect, you are putting the author’s choices under a microscope.

The process of close reading should produce a lot of questions. It is when you begin to answer these questions that you are ready to participate thoughtfully in class discussion or write a literary analysis paper that makes the most of your close reading work.

Close reading sometimes feels like over-analyzing, but don’t worry. Close reading is a process of finding as much information as you can in order to form as many questions as you can. When it is time to write your paper and formalize your close reading, you will sort through your work to figure out what is most convincing and helpful to the argument you hope to make and, conversely, what seems like a stretch. This guide imagines you are sitting down to read a text for the first time on your way to developing an argument about a text and writing a paper. To give one example of how to do this, we will read the poem “Design” by famous American poet Robert Frost and attend to four major components of literary texts: subject, form, word choice (diction), and theme.

If you want even more information about approaching poems specifically, take a look at our guide: How to Read a Poem .

As our guide to reading poetry suggests, have a pencil out when you read a text. Make notes in the margins, underline important words, place question marks where you are confused by something. Of course, if you are reading in a library book, you should keep all your notes on a separate piece of paper. If you are not making marks directly on, in, and beside the text, be sure to note line numbers or even quote portions of the text so you have enough context to remember what you found interesting.

Design I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth— Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth— A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?— If design govern in a thing so small.

The subject of a literary text is simply what the text is about. What is its plot? What is its most important topic? What image does it describe? It’s easy to think of novels and stories as having plots, but sometimes it helps to think of poetry as having a kind of plot as well. When you examine the subject of a text, you want to develop some preliminary ideas about the text and make sure you understand its major concerns before you dig deeper.

Observations

In “Design,” the speaker describes a scene: a white spider holding a moth on a white flower. The flower is a heal-all, the blooms of which are usually violet-blue. This heal-all is unusual. The speaker then poses a series of questions, asking why this heal-all is white instead of blue and how the spider and moth found this particular flower. How did this situation arise?

The speaker’s questions seem simple, but they are actually fairly nuanced. We can use them as a guide for our own as we go forward with our close reading.

• Furthering the speaker’s simple “how did this happen,” we might ask, is the scene in this poem a manufactured situation?
• The white moth and white spider each use the atypical white flower as camouflage in search of sanctuary and supper respectively. Did these flora and fauna come together for a purpose?
• Does the speaker have a stance about whether there is a purpose behind the scene? If so, what is it?
• How will other elements of the text relate to the unpleasantness and uncertainty in our first look at the poem’s subject?

After thinking about local questions, we have to zoom out. Ultimately, what is this text about?

Form is how a text is put together. When you look at a text, observe how the author has arranged it. If it is a novel, is it written in the first person? How is the novel divided? If it is a short story, why did the author choose to write short-form fiction instead of a novel or novella? Examining the form of a text can help you develop a starting set of questions in your reading, which then may guide further questions stemming from even closer attention to the specific words the author chooses. A little background research on form and what different forms can mean makes it easier to figure out why and how the author’s choices are important.

Most poems follow rules or principles of form; even free verse poems are marked by the author’s choices in line breaks, rhythm, and rhyme—even if none of these exists, which is a notable choice in itself. Here’s an example of thinking through these elements in “Design.”

In “Design,” Frost chooses an Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet form: fourteen lines in iambic pentameter consisting of an octave (a stanza of eight lines) and a sestet (a stanza of six lines). We will focus on rhyme scheme and stanza structure rather than meter for the purposes of this guide. A typical Italian sonnet has a specific rhyme scheme for the octave:

a b b a a b b a

There’s more variation in the sestet rhymes, but one of the more common schemes is

c d e c d e

Conventionally, the octave introduces a problem or question which the sestet then resolves. The point at which the sonnet goes from the problem/question to the resolution is called the volta, or turn. (Note that we are speaking only in generalities here; there is a great deal of variation.)

Frost uses the usual octave scheme with “-ite”/”-ight” (a) and “oth” (b) sounds: “white,” “moth,” “cloth,” “blight,” “right,” “broth,” “froth,” “kite.” However, his sestet follows an unusual scheme with “-ite”/”-ight” and “all” sounds:

a c a a c c

Now, we have a few questions with which we can start:

• Why use an Italian sonnet?
• Why use an unusual scheme in the sestet?
• What problem/question and resolution (if any) does Frost offer?
• What is the volta in this poem?
• In other words, what is the point?

Italian sonnets have a long tradition; many careful readers recognize the form and know what to expect from his octave, volta, and sestet. Frost seems to do something fairly standard in the octave in presenting a situation; however, the turn Frost makes is not to resolution, but to questions and uncertainty. A white spider sitting on a white flower has killed a white moth.

• How did these elements come together?
• Was the moth’s death random or by design?
• Is one worse than the other?

We can guess right away that Frost’s disruption of the usual purpose of the sestet has something to do with his disruption of its rhyme scheme. Looking even more closely at the text will help us refine our observations and guesses.

Word Choice, or Diction

Looking at the word choice of a text helps us “dig in” ever more deeply. If you are reading something longer, are there certain words that come up again and again? Are there words that stand out? While you are going through this process, it is best for you to assume that every word is important—again, you can decide whether something is really important later.

Even when you read prose, our guide for reading poetry offers good advice: read with a pencil and make notes. Mark the words that stand out, and perhaps write the questions you have in the margins or on a separate piece of paper. If you have ideas that may possibly answer your questions, write those down, too.

Let’s take a look at the first line of “Design”:

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white

The poem starts with something unpleasant: a spider. Then, as we look more closely at the adjectives describing the spider, we may see connotations of something that sounds unhealthy or unnatural. When we imagine spiders, we do not generally picture them dimpled and white; it is an uncommon and decidedly creepy image. There is dissonance between the spider and its descriptors, i.e., what is wrong with this picture? Already we have a question: what is going on with this spider?

We should look for additional clues further on in the text. The next two lines develop the image of the unusual, unpleasant-sounding spider:

On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth—

Now we have a white flower (a heal-all, which usually has a violet-blue flower) and a white moth in addition to our white spider. Heal-alls have medicinal properties, as their name suggests, but this one seems to have a genetic mutation—perhaps like the spider? Does the mutation that changes the heal-all’s color also change its beneficial properties—could it be poisonous rather than curative? A white moth doesn’t seem remarkable, but it is “Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth,” or like manmade fabric that is artificially “rigid” rather than smooth and flowing like we imagine satin to be. We might think for a moment of a shroud or the lining of a coffin, but even that is awry, for neither should be stiff with death.

The first three lines of the poem’s octave introduce unpleasant natural images “of death and blight” (as the speaker puts it in line four). The flower and moth disrupt expectations: the heal-all is white instead of “blue and innocent,” and the moth is reduced to “rigid satin cloth” or “dead wings carried like a paper kite.” We might expect a spider to be unpleasant and deadly; the poem’s spider also has an unusual and unhealthy appearance.

• The focus on whiteness in these lines has more to do with death than purity—can we understand that whiteness as being corpse-like rather than virtuous?

Well before the volta, Frost makes a “turn” away from nature as a retreat and haven; instead, he unearths its inherent dangers, making nature menacing. From three lines alone, we have a number of questions:

• Will whiteness play a role in the rest of the poem?
• How does “design”—an arrangement of these circumstances—fit with a scene of death?
• What other juxtapositions might we encounter?

These disruptions and dissonances recollect Frost’s alteration to the standard Italian sonnet form: finding the ways and places in which form and word choice go together will help us begin to unravel some larger concepts the poem itself addresses.

Put simply, themes are major ideas in a text. Many texts, especially longer forms like novels and plays, have multiple themes. That’s good news when you are close reading because it means there are many different ways you can think through the questions you develop.

So far in our reading of “Design,” our questions revolve around disruption: disruption of form, disruption of expectations in the description of certain images. Discovering a concept or idea that links multiple questions or observations you have made is the beginning of a discovery of theme.

What is happening with disruption in “Design”? What point is Frost making? Observations about other elements in the text help you address the idea of disruption in more depth. Here is where we look back at the work we have already done: What is the text about? What is notable about the form, and how does it support or undermine what the words say? Does the specific language of the text highlight, or redirect, certain ideas?

In this example, we are looking to determine what kind(s) of disruption the poem contains or describes. Rather than “disruption,” we want to see what kind of disruption, or whether indeed Frost uses disruptions in form and language to communicate something opposite: design.

Sample Analysis

After you make notes, formulate questions, and set tentative hypotheses, you must analyze the subject of your close reading. Literary analysis is another process of reading (and writing!) that allows you to make a claim about the text. It is also the point at which you turn a critical eye to your earlier questions and observations to find the most compelling points, discarding the ones that are a “stretch.” By “stretch,” we mean that we must discard points that are fascinating but have no clear connection to the text as a whole. (We recommend a separate document for recording the brilliant ideas that don’t quite fit this time around.)

Here follows an excerpt from a brief analysis of “Design” based on the close reading above. This example focuses on some lines in great detail in order to unpack the meaning and significance of the poem’s language. By commenting on the different elements of close reading we have discussed, it takes the results of our close reading to offer one particular way into the text. (In case you were thinking about using this sample as your own, be warned: it has no thesis and it is easily discoverable on the web. Plus it doesn’t have a title.)

Frost’s speaker brews unlikely associations in the first stanza of the poem. The “Assorted characters of death and blight / Mixed ready to begin the morning right” make of the grotesque scene an equally grotesque mockery of a breakfast cereal (4–5). These lines are almost singsong in meter and it is easy to imagine them set to a radio jingle. A pun on “right”/”rite” slides the “characters of death and blight” into their expected concoction: a “witches’ broth” (6). These juxtapositions—a healthy breakfast that is also a potion for dark magic—are borne out when our “fat and white” spider becomes “a snow-drop”—an early spring flower associated with renewal—and the moth as “dead wings carried like a paper kite” (1, 7, 8). Like the mutant heal-all that hosts the moth’s death, the spider becomes a deadly flower; the harmless moth becomes a child’s toy, but as “dead wings,” more like a puppet made of a skull. The volta offers no resolution for our unsettled expectations. Having observed the scene and detailed its elements in all their unpleasantness, the speaker turns to questions rather than answers. How did “The wayside blue and innocent heal-all” end up white and bleached like a bone (10)? How did its “kindred spider” find the white flower, which was its perfect hiding place (11)? Was the moth, then, also searching for camouflage, only to meet its end? Using another question as a disguise, the speaker offers a hypothesis: “What but design of darkness to appall?” (13). This question sounds rhetorical, as though the only reason for such an unlikely combination of flora and fauna is some “design of darkness.” Some force, the speaker suggests, assembled the white spider, flower, and moth to snuff out the moth’s life. Such a design appalls, or horrifies. We might also consider the speaker asking what other force but dark design could use something as simple as appalling in its other sense (making pale or white) to effect death. However, the poem does not close with a question, but with a statement. The speaker’s “If design govern in a thing so small” establishes a condition for the octave’s questions after the fact (14). There is no point in considering the dark design that brought together “assorted characters of death and blight” if such an event is too minor, too physically small to be the work of some force unknown. Ending on an “if” clause has the effect of rendering the poem still more uncertain in its conclusions: not only are we faced with unanswered questions, we are now not even sure those questions are valid in the first place. Behind the speaker and the disturbing scene, we have Frost and his defiance of our expectations for a Petrarchan sonnet. Like whatever designer may have altered the flower and attracted the spider to kill the moth, the poet built his poem “wrong” with a purpose in mind. Design surely governs in a poem, however small; does Frost also have a dark design? Can we compare a scene in nature to a carefully constructed sonnet?

A Note on Organization

Your goal in a paper about literature is to communicate your best and most interesting ideas to your reader. Depending on the type of paper you have been assigned, your ideas may need to be organized in service of a thesis to which everything should link back. It is best to ask your instructor about the expectations for your paper.

Knowing how to organize these papers can be tricky, in part because there is no single right answer—only more and less effective answers. You may decide to organize your paper thematically, or by tackling each idea sequentially; you may choose to order your ideas by their importance to your argument or to the poem. If you are comparing and contrasting two texts, you might work thematically or by addressing first one text and then the other. One way to approach a text may be to start with the beginning of the novel, story, play, or poem, and work your way toward its end. For example, here is the rough structure of the example above: The author of the sample decided to use the poem itself as an organizational guide, at least for this part of the analysis.

• A paragraph about the octave.
• A paragraph about the volta.
• A paragraph about the penultimate line (13).
• A paragraph about the final line (14).
• A paragraph addressing form that suggests a transition to the next section of the paper.

You will have to decide for yourself the best way to communicate your ideas to your reader. Is it easier to follow your points when you write about each part of the text in detail before moving on? Or is your work clearer when you work through each big idea—the significance of whiteness, the effect of an altered sonnet form, and so on—sequentially?

We suggest you write your paper however is easiest for you then move things around during revision if you need to.

Further Reading

If you really want to master the practice of reading and writing about literature, we recommend Sylvan Barnet and William E. Cain’s wonderful book, A Short Guide to Writing about Literature . Barnet and Cain offer not only definitions and descriptions of processes, but examples of explications and analyses, as well as checklists for you, the author of the paper. The Short Guide is certainly not the only available reference for writing about literature, but it is an excellent guide and reminder for new writers and veterans alike.

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How to Do a Close Reading

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Close Reading Fundamentals

How to choose a passage to close-read, how to approach a close reading, how to annotate a passage, how to improve your close reading, how to practice close reading, how to incorporate close readings into an essay, how to teach close reading, additional resources for advanced students.

Close reading engages with the formal properties of a text—its literary devices, language, structure, and style. Popularized in the mid-twentieth century, this way of reading allows you to interpret a text without outside information such as historical context, author biography, philosophy, or political ideology. It also requires you to put aside your affective (that is, personal and emotional) response to the text, focusing instead on objective study. Why close-read a text? Doing so will increase your understanding of how a piece of writing works, as well as what it means. Perhaps most importantly, close reading can help you develop and support an essay argument. In this guide, you'll learn more about what close reading entails and find strategies for producing precise, creative close readings. We've included a section with resources for teachers, along with a final section with further reading for advanced students.

You might compare close reading to wringing out a wet towel, in which you twist the material repeatedly until you have extracted as much liquid as possible. When you close-read, you'll return to a short passage several times in order to note as many details about its form and content as possible. Use the links below to learn more about close reading's place in literary history and in the classroom.

"Close Reading" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia's relatively short introduction to close reading contains sections on background, examples, and how to teach close reading. You can also click the links on this page to learn more about the literary critics who pioneered the method.

"Close Reading: A Brief Note" (Literariness.org)

This article provides a condensed discussion of what close reading is, how it works, and how it is different from other ways of reading a literary text.

"What Close Reading Actually Means" ( TeachThought )

In this article by an Ed.D., you'll learn what close reading "really means" in the classroom today—a meaning that has shifted significantly from its original place in 20th century literary criticism.

"Close Reading" (Univ. of Washington)

This hand-out from a college writing course defines close reading, suggests  why  we close-read, and offers tips for close reading successfully, including focusing on language, audience, and scope.

"Glossary Entry on New Criticism" (Poetry Foundation)

If you'd like to read a short introduction to the school of thought that gave rise to close reading, this is the place to go. Poetry Foundation's entry on New Criticism is concise and accessible.

"New Criticism" (Washington State Univ.)

This webpage from a college writing course offers another brief explanation of close reading in relation to New Criticism. It provides some key questions to help you think like a New Critic.

When choosing a passage to close-read, you'll want to look for relatively short bits of text that are rich in detail. The resources below offer more tips and tricks for selecting passages, along with links to pre-selected passages you can print for use at home or in the classroom.

"How to Choose the Perfect Passage for Close Reading" ( We Are Teachers )

This post from a former special education teacher describes six characteristics you might look for when selecting a close reading passage from a novel: beginnings, pivotal plot points, character changes, high-density passages, "Q&A" passages, and "aesthetic" passages. 

"Close Reading Passages" (Reading Sage)

Reading Sage provides links to close reading passages you can use as is; alternatively, you could also use them as models for selecting your own passages. The page is divided into sections geared toward elementary, middle school, and early high school students.

"Close Reading" (Univ. of Guelph)

The University of Guelph's guide to close reading contains a short section on how to "Select a Passage." The author suggests that you choose a brief passage. 

"Close Reading Advice" (Prezi)

This Prezi was created by an AP English teacher. The opening section on passage selection suggests choosing "thick paragraphs" filled with "figurative language and rich details or description."

Now that you know how to select a passage to analyze, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the textual qualities you should look for when reading. Whether you're approaching a poem, a novel, or a magazine article, details on the level of language (literary devices) and form (formal features) convey meaning. Understanding  how  a text communicates will help you understand  what  it is communicating. The links in this section will familiarize you with the tools you need to start a close reading.

Literary Devices

"Literary Devices and Terms" (LitCharts)

LitCharts' dedicated page covers 130+ literary devices. Also known as "rhetorical devices," "figures of speech," or "elements of style," these linguistic constructions are the building blocks of literature. Some of the most common include  simile , metaphor , alliteration , and onomatopoeia ; browse the links on LitCharts to learn about many more. 

"Rhetorical Device" (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia's page on rhetorical devices defines the term in relation to the ancient art of "rhetoric" or persuasive speaking. At the bottom of the page, you'll find links to several online handbooks and lists of rhetorical devices.

"15 Must Know Rhetorical Terms for AP English Literature" ( Albert )

The  Albert blog   offers this list of 15 rhetorical devices that high school English students should know how to define and spot in a literary text; though geared toward the Advanced Placement exam, its tips are widely applicable.

"The 55 AP Language and Composition Terms You Must Know" (PrepScholar)

This blog post lists 55 terms high school students should learn how to recognize and define for the Advanced Placement exam in English Literature.

Formal Features

In LitCharts' bank of literary devices and terms, you'll also find resources to describe a text's structure and overall character. Some of the most important of these are  rhyme , meter , and  tone ; browse the page to find more. 

"Rhythm" ( Encyclopedia Britannica )

This encyclopedia entry on rhythm and meter offers an in-depth definition of the two most fundamental aspects of poetry.

"How to Analyze Syntax for AP English Literature" ( Albert)

The Albert blog will help you understand what "syntax" is, making a case for why you should pay attention to sentence structure when analyzing a literary text.

"Grammar Basics: Sentence Parts and Sentence Structures" ( ThoughtCo )

This article provides a meticulous overview of the components of a sentence. It's useful if you need to review your parts of speech or if you need to be able to identify things like prepositional phrases.

"Style, Diction, Tone, and Voice" (Wheaton College)

Wheaton College's Writing Center offers this clear, concise discussion of several important formal features. Although it's designed to help essay writers, it will also help you understand and spot these stylistic features in others' work. 

Now that you know what rhetorical devices, formal features, and other details to look for, you're ready to find them in a text. For this purpose, it is crucial to annotate (write notes) as you read and re-read. Each time you return to the text, you'll likely notice something new; these observations will form the basis of your close reading. The resources in this section offer some concrete strategies for annotating literary texts.

"How to Annotate a Text" (LitCharts)

Begin by consulting our  How to Annotate a Text  guide. This collection of links and resources is helpful for short passages (that is, those for close reading) as well as longer works, like whole novels or poems.

"Annotation Guide" (Covington Catholic High School)

This hand-out from a high school teacher will help you understand why we annotate, and how to annotate a text successfully. You might choose to incorporate some of the interpretive notes and symbols suggested here.

"Annotating Literature" (New Canaan Public Schools)

This one-page, introductory resource provides a list of 10 items you should look for when reading a text, including attitude and theme.

"Purposeful Annotation" (Dave Stuart Jr.)

This article from a high school teacher's blog describes the author's top close reading strategy: purposeful annotation. In fact, this teacher more or less equates close reading with annotation.

Looking for ways to improve your close reading? The articles, guides, and videos in this section will expose you to various methods of close reading, as well as practice exercises. No two people read exactly the same way. Whatever your level of expertise, it can be useful to broaden your skill set by testing the techniques suggested by the resources below.

"How to Do a Close Reading" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, part of Harvard's comprehensive "Strategies for Essay Writing Guide," describes three steps to a successful close reading. You will want to return to this resource when incorporating your close reading into an essay.

"A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis" (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

Working through this guide from another college writing center will help you move through the process of close reading a text. You'll find a sample analysis of Robert Frost's "Design" at the end.

"How to Do a Close Reading of a Text" (YouTube)

This four-minute video from the "Literacy and Math Ideas" channel offers a number of helpful tips for reading a text closely in accordance with Common Core standards.

"Poetry: Close Reading" (Purdue OWL)

Short, dense poems are a natural fit for the close reading approach. This page from the Purdue Online Writing Lab takes you step-by-step through an analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.

"Steps for Close Reading or Explication de Texte" ( The Literary Link )

This page, which mentions close reading's close relationship to the French formalist method of  "explication de texte," shares "12 Steps to Literary Awareness."

You can practice your close reading skills by reading, re-reading and annotating any brief passage of text. The resources below will get you started by offering pre-selected passages and questions to guide your reading. You'll find links to resources that are designed for students of all levels, from elementary school through college.

"Notes on Close Reading" (MIT Open Courseware)

This resource describes steps you can work through when close reading, providing a passage from Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein  for you to test your skills.

"Close Reading Practice Worksheets" (Gillian Duff's English Resources)

Here, you'll find 10 close reading-centered worksheets you can download and print. The "higher-close-reading-formula" link at the bottom of the page provides a chart with even more steps and strategies for close reading.

"Close Reading Activities" (Education World)

The four activities described on this page are best suited to elementary and middle school students. Under each heading is a link to handouts or detailed descriptions of the activity.

"Close Reading Practice Passages: High School" (Varsity Tutors)

This webpage from Varsity Tutors contains over a dozen links to close reading passages and exercises, including several resources that focus on close-reading satire.

"Benjamin Franklin's Satire of Witch Hunting" (America in Class)

This page contains both a "teacher's guide" and "student version" to interpreting Benjamin Franklin's satire of a witch trial. The thirteen close reading questions on the right side of the page will help you analyze the text thoroughly.

Whether you're writing a research paper or an essay, close reading can help you build an argument. Careful analysis of your primary texts allows you to draw out meanings you want to emphasize, thereby supporting your central claim. The resources in this section introduce you to strategies suited to various common writing assignments.

"How to Write a Research Paper" (LitCharts)

The resources in this guide will help you learn to formulate a thesis, organize evidence, write an outline, and draft a research paper, one of the two most common assignments in which you might incorporate close reading.

"How to Write an Essay" (LitCharts)

In this guide, you'll learn how to plan, draft, and revise an essay, whether for the classroom or as a take-home assignment. Close reading goes hand in hand with the brainstorming and drafting processes for essay writing.

"Guide to the Close Reading Essay" (Univ. of Warwick)

This guide was designed for undergraduates, and assumes prior knowledge of formal features and rhetorical devices one might find in a poem. High schoolers will find it useful after addressing the "elements of a close reading" section above.

"Beginning the Academic Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Harvard's guide discusses the broader category of the "academic essay." Here, the author assumes that your essay's close readings will be accompanied by context and evidence from secondary sources. 

A Short Guide to Writing About Literature (Amazon)

Sylvan Barnet and William E. Cain emphasize that writing is a process. In their book, you'll find definitions of important literary terms, examples of successful explications of literary texts, and checklists for essay writers.

Due in part to the Common Core's emphasis on close reading skills, resources for teaching students how to close-read abound. Here, you'll find a wealth of information on how and why we teach students to close-read texts. The first section includes links to activities, exercises, and complete lesson plans. The second section offers background material on the method, along with strategies for implementing close reading in the classroom.

Lesson Plans and Activities

"Four Lessons for Introducing the Fundamental Steps of Close Reading" (Corwin)

Here, Corwin has made the second chapter of Nancy Akhavan's  The Nonfiction Now Lesson Bank, Grades 4 – 8 available online. You'll find four sample lessons to use in the elementary or middle school classroom

"Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading" ( ReadWriteThink )

This lesson plan for high school students includes material for five 50-minute sessions on sonic patterns (including consonance, assonance, and alliteration). The literary text at hand is Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays."

"Close Reading of a Short Text: Complete Lesson" (McGraw Hill via YouTube)

This eight-minute video describes a complete lesson in which a teacher models close reading of a short text and offers guiding questions.

"Close Reading Model Lessons" (Achieve the Core)

These three model lessons on close reading will help you determine what makes a text "appropriately complex" for the grade level you teach.

Close Reading Bundle (Teachers Pay Teachers)

This top-rated bundle of close reading resources was designed for the middle school classroom. It contains over 150 pages of worksheets, complete lesson plans, and literacy center ideas.

"10 Intriguing Photos to Teach Close Reading and Visual Thinking Skills" ( The New York Times )

The New York Times' s Learning Network has gathered 10 photos from the "What's Going on in This Picture" series that teachers can use to help students develop analytical and visual thinking skills.

"The Close Reading Essay" (Brandeis Univ.)

Brandeis University's writing program offers this detailed set of guidelines and goals you might use when assigning a close reading essay.

Close Reading Resources (Varsity Tutors)

Varsity Tutors has compiled a list of over twenty links to lesson plans, strategies, and activities for teaching elementary, middle school, and high school students to close read.

Background Material and Teaching Strategies

Falling in Love with Close Reading (Amazon)

Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts aim to show how close reading can be "rigorous, meaningful, and joyous." It offers a three-step "close reading ritual" and engaging lesson plans.

Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading (Amazon)

Kylene Beers (a former Senior Reading Researcher at Yale) and Robert E. Probst (a Professor Emeritus of English Education) introduce six "signposts" readers can use to detect significant moments in a work of literature.

"How to Do a Close Reading" (YouTube)

TeachLikeThis offers this four-minute video on teaching students to close-read by looking at a text's language, narrative, syntax, and context.

"Strategy Guide: Close Reading of a Literary Text" ( ReadWriteThink )

This guide for middle school and high school teachers will help you choose texts that are appropriately complex for the grade level you teach, and offers strategies for planning engaging lessons.

"Close Reading Steps for Success" (Appletastic Learning)

Shelly Rees, a teacher with over 20 years of experience, introduces six helpful steps you can use to help your students engage with challenging reading passages. The article is geared toward elementary and middle school teachers.

"4 Steps to Boost Students' Close Reading Skills" ( Amplify )

Doug Fisher, a professor of educational leadership, suggests using these four steps to help students at any grade level learn how to close read. 

Like most tools of literary analysis, close reading has a complex history. It's not necessary to understand the theoretical underpinnings of close reading in order to use this tool. For advanced high school students and college students who ask "why close-read," though, the resources below will serve as useful starting points for discussion.

"Discipline and Parse: The Politics of Close Reading" ( Los Angeles Review of Books )

This book review by a well-known English professor at Columbia provides an engaging, anecdotal introduction to close reading's place in literary history. Robbins points to some of the method's shortcomings, but also elegantly defends it.

"Intentional Fallacy" ( Encyclopedia Britannica )

The literary critics who developed close reading cautioned against judging a text based on the author's intention. This encyclopedia entry offers an expanded definition of this way of reading, called the "intentional fallacy."

"Seven Types of Ambiguity" (Wikipedia)

This Wikipedia article will introduce you to William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity  (1930), one of the foundational texts of New Criticism, the school of thought that theorized close reading.

"What is Distant Reading" ( The New York Times)

This article makes it clear that "close reading" isn't the only way to analyze literary texts. It offers a brief introduction to the "distant reading" method of computational criticism pioneered by Franco Moretti in recent years.

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• How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

• An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
• A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
• A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

• Who is telling the story?
• How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

• Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
• Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
• Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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How to do a close reading essay [Updated 2024]

Close reading refers to the process of interpreting a literary work’s meaning by analyzing both its form and content. In this post, we provide you with strategies for close reading that you can apply to your next assignment or analysis.

What is a close reading?

Close reading involves paying attention to a literary work’s language, style, and overall meaning. It includes looking for patterns, repetitions, oddities, and other significant features of a text. Your goal should be to reveal subtleties and complexities beyond an initial reading.

The primary difference between simply reading a work and doing a close reading is that, in the latter, you approach the text as a kind of detective.

When you’re doing a close reading, a literary work becomes a puzzle. And, as a reader, your job is to pull all the pieces together—both what the text says and how it says it.

How do you do a close reading?

Typically, a close reading focuses on a small passage or section of a literary work. Although you should always consider how the selection you’re analyzing fits into the work as a whole, it’s generally not necessary to include lengthy summaries or overviews in a close reading.

There are several aspects of the text to consider in a close reading:

• Literal Content: Even though a close reading should go beyond an analysis of a text’s literal content, every reading should start there. You need to have a firm grasp of the foundational content of a passage before you can analyze it closely. Use the common journalistic questions (Who? What? When? Where? Why?) to establish the basics like plot, character, and setting.
• Tone: What is the tone of the passage you’re examining? How does the tone influence the entire passage? Is it serious, comic, ironic, or something else?
• Characterization: What do you learn about specific characters from the passage? Who is the narrator or speaker? Watch out for language that reveals the motives and feelings of particular characters.
• Structure: What kind of structure does the work utilize? If it’s a poem, is it written in free or blank verse? If you’re working with a novel, does the structure deviate from certain conventions, like straightforward plot or realism? Does the form contribute to the overall meaning?
• Figurative Language: Examine the passage carefully for similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language. Are there repetitions of certain figures or patterns of opposition? Do certain words or phrases stand in for larger issues?
• Diction: Diction means word choice. You should look up any words that you don’t know in a dictionary and pay attention to the meanings and etymology of words. Never assume that you know a word’s meaning at first glance. Why might the author choose certain words over others?
• Style and Sound: Pay attention to the work’s style. Does the text utilize parallelism? Are there any instances of alliteration or other types of poetic sound? How do these stylistic features contribute to the passage’s overall meaning?
• Context: Consider how the passage you’re reading fits into the work as a whole. Also, does the text refer to historical or cultural information from the world outside of the text? Does the text reference other literary works?

Once you’ve considered the above features of the passage, reflect on its relationship to the work’s larger themes, ideas, and actions. In the end, a close reading allows you to expand your understanding of a text.

Close reading example

Let’s take a look at how this technique works by examining two stanzas from Lorine Niedecker’s poem, “ I rose from marsh mud ”:

I rose from marsh mud, algae, equisetum, willows, sweet green, noisy birds and frogs to see her wed in the rich rich silence of the church, the little white slave-girl in her diamond fronds.

First, we need to consider the stanzas’ literal content. In this case, the poem is about attending a wedding. Next, we should take note of the poem’s form: four-line stanzas, written in free verse.

From there, we need to look more closely at individual words and phrases. For instance, the first stanza discusses how the speaker “rose from marsh mud” and then lists items like “algae, equisetum, willows” and “sweet green,” all of which are plants. Could the speaker have been gardening before attending the wedding?

Now, juxtapose the first stanza with the second: the speaker leaves the natural world of mud and greenness for the “rich/ rich silence of the church.” Note the repetition of the word, “rich,” and how the poem goes on to describe the “little white slave-girl/ in her diamond fronds,” the necessarily “rich” jewelry that the bride wears at her wedding.

Niedecker’s description of the diamond jewelry as “fronds” refers back to the natural world of plants that the speaker left behind. Note also the similarities in sound between the “frogs” of the first stanza and the “fronds” of the second.

We might conclude from a comparison of the two stanzas that, while the “marsh mud” might be full of “noisy/ birds and frogs,” it’s a far better place to be than the “rich/rich silence of the church.”

Ultimately, even a short close reading of Niedecker’s poem reveals layers of meaning that enhance our understanding of the work’s overall message.

How to write a close reading essay

Getting started.

Before you can write your close reading essay, you need to read the text that you plan to examine at least twice (but often more than that). Follow the above guidelines to break down your close reading into multiple parts.

Once you’ve read the text closely and made notes, you can then create a short outline for your essay. Determine how you want to approach to structure of your essay and keep in mind any specific requirements that your instructor may have for the assignment.

Structure and organization

Some close reading essays will simply analyze the text’s form and content without making a specific argument about the text. Other times, your instructor might want you to use a close reading to support an argument. In these cases, you’ll need to include a thesis statement in the introduction to your close reading essay.

You’ll organize your essay using the standard essay format. This includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Most of your close reading will be in the body paragraphs.

Formatting and length

The formatting of your close reading essay will depend on what type of citation style that your assignment requires. If you’re writing a close reading for a composition or literature class , you’ll most likely use MLA or Chicago style.

The length of your essay will vary depending on your assignment guidelines and the length and complexity of the text that you’re analyzing. If your close reading is part of a longer paper, then it may only take up a few paragraphs.

Citations and bibliography

Since you will be quoting directly from the text in your close reading essay, you will need to have in-text, parenthetical citations for each quote. You will also need to include a full bibliographic reference for the text you’re analyzing in a bibliography or works cited page.

To save time, use a credible citation generator like BibGuru to create your in-text and bibliographic citations. You can also use our citation guides on MLA and Chicago to determine what you need to include in your citations.

Frequently Asked Questions about how to do a close reading

A successful close reading pays attention to both the form and content of a literary work. This includes: literal content, tone, characterization, structure, figurative language, diction, sound, style, and context.

A close reading essay is a paper that analyzes a text or a portion of a text. It considers both the form and content of the text. The specific format of your close reading essay will depend on your assignment guidelines.

Skimming and close reading are opposite approaches. Skimming involves scanning a text superficially in order to glean the most important points, while close reading means analyzing the details of a text’s language, style, and overall form.

You might begin a close reading by providing some context about the passage’s significance to the work as a whole. You could also briefly summarize the literal content of the section that you’re examining.

The length of your essay will vary depending on your assignment guidelines and the length and complexity of the text that you’re analyzing.

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Close Reading

Close reading as analysis.

Close reading is the technique of carefully analyzing a passage’s language, content, structure, and patterns in order to understand what a passage means, what it suggests, and how it connects to the larger work. A close reading delves into what a passage means beyond a superficial level, then links what that passage suggests outward to its broader context. One goal of close reading is to help readers to see facets of the text that they may not have noticed before. To this end, close reading entails “reading out of” a text rather than “reading into” it. Let the text lead, and listen to it.

The goal of close reading is to notice, describe, and interpret details of the text that are already there, rather than to impose your own point of view. As a general rule of thumb, every claim you make should be directly supported by evidence in the text. As the name suggests this technique is best applied to a specific passage or passages rather than a longer piece, almost like a case study.

Use close reading to learn:  

• what the passage says
• what the passage implies
• how the passage connects to its context

Why Close Reading?

Close reading is a fundamental skill for the analysis of any sort of text or discourse, whether it is literary, political, or commercial. It enables you to analyze how a text functions, and it helps you to understand a text’s explicit and implicit goals. The structure, vocabulary, language, imagery, and metaphors used in a text are all crucial to the way it achieves its purpose, and they are therefore all targets for close reading. Practicing close reading will train you to be an intelligent and critical reader of all kinds of writing, from political speeches to television advertisements and from popular novels to classic works of literature.

Wondering how to do a close reading? Click on our Where to Begin section to find out more!

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• Apr 9, 2023

Close-Reading Strategies: The Ultimate Guide to Close Reading

Close reading helps you not only read a text, but analyze it. The process of close reading teaches you to approach a text actively, considering the text’s purpose, how the author chose to present it, and how these decisions impact the text.

The close reading strategy improves your reading comprehension, your analysis, and your writing. Close reading will help you write essays and perform well on standardized tests like the SAT Reading Section . Any age group can practice close reading, and it works with any text.

This article will outline everything you need to know about close reading, including what it is, why it's important, how to do a close reading, and 5 strategies to improve your close reading abilities.

What is close reading?

Close reading is a reading method that examines not only the text’s content but how the author’s rhetorical, literary, and structural decisions help develop it to achieve a purpose.

No matter the text genre–narrative, informational, argumentative, poetry, or editorial–the author uses language to achieve some purpose: to inform, convince, entertain the audience, or a combination. In every text, the author utilizes a variety of rhetorical and literary strategies, or devices, to achieve these effects on the audience.

Common literary strategies or devices that impact every text:

Diction: Word choice

Syntax: Sentence structure

Tone: Emotion of the words used

Conflict: Problems, issues, or disagreements within or related to the text

Structure: The order of the words, sentences, paragraphs, and ideas

Point of view: The speaker’s perspective on the events or subject matter

Genre: The category or “type” of text–fiction, science-fiction, scientific article, etc.

Imagery: The sensory or visual language the author uses to describe the subject, characters, setting, etc.

Close reading observes how the author uses these strategies to develop the text, create an intended effect upon the reader, and build a central message or main idea.

Why is close reading important?

Close reading is important because it helps you comprehend the text, develop deeper ideas about its meaning, and write and talk about the text with more sophistication. When you consider not just what the text says, but how and why the author constructs it that way, you move beyond surface-level reading into analysis.

Close reading allows you to notice details, language, and connections that you may have previously overlooked. These observations create insights about the text, leading to richer class discussions, better essays, and more joy while reading. Observing an author’s strategies also improves your writing, as you gradually begin to emulate the strategies you notice.

How do you do a close reading?

Do a close reading by selecting a text passage, closely observing the writing style and structure while you read, noticing the author's language choices, underlining and annotating your observations, and asking questions about the text.

General Close-Reading Process:

Select a text passage: Pick a piece of text or passage that you want to analyze. The sweet spot usually lies between roughly one and three paragraphs. Songs and poems also work well for close reading.

Notice the writing style: As you read, ask yourself “What stands out to me about this author’s style? What patterns, words, and choices do I notice?” Pay attention to the emotions you feel as you read, identifying what in the text triggers that response.

Observe the structure: Notice how the author orders words, sentences, lines, and paragraphs. Consider how this order builds an image or idea about the text’s subject. Ask yourself, “How does this structure develop my understanding of the subject?”

Notice language choices: The author selected particular words to build a tone, evoke images in the reader’s mind, create a nuanced argument, or have some other effect on the reader. Note powerful or significant diction–word choice–and consider the purpose it serves, or how it develops any of the devices listed above, such as tone or imagery.

Underline: Have a pencil while you read and–if you’re allowed to mark the paper–underline any observations you make. Underline any of the devices listed above, anything that has an effect on you, or anything you enjoy. There’s no right or wrong way to underline a text, so underline whatever catches your interest.

Annotate: Record your thoughts and observations as you read, by writing in the margins, on a separate sheet of paper, or using an assigned annotation format. Feel free to note questions, individual words, literary devices, or anything you notice.

Ask questions: Along with the annotation ideas listed above, formulate questions and write them down while you read. Generally, the best questions begin with how or why . For example, “Why did the author use this word?” or “How does this detail affect the reader?”

5 Close Reading Strategies to Improve Analysis and Comprehension

Here are my 5 favorite strategies to improve your close reading, analysis, and reading comprehension:

Generate a purpose question (PQ)

Annotate with your PQ in mind

Track the 5 Ws

Notice the conflict

Identify the tone

Generate a Purpose Question

A purpose question (PQ) is a question you pose before reading a text to help you read actively. You can create a PQ for a text of any genre or length–a novel, a short story, a poem, a passage, or an informational text–and there is no right or wrong way to create a PQ.

To create a purpose question, consider any pre-reading context you have:

Text images

School assignment guidelines

Any task you’re expected to complete when you finish reading

Examine the text’s title to guess what the text is about, then formulate an open-ended question that relates to the text, what it might say, and what might be important. As you read, seek and underline information that relates to your PQ and helps you answer it. By the time you finish reading, you should be able to answer your PQ.

Generally, the best open-ended questions begin with how or why .

Your PQ will sometimes simply repurpose the text’s title into a question, like these examples:

Text TitleExample PQ “A Good Man is Hard to Find?” (fiction)Why is a good man hard to find?“The Lady with the Dog” (fiction)What is so important about the lady and her dog?“The Fringe Benefits of Failure” (essay)How can failure be beneficial?“An Epidemic of Fear” (essay)What is causing the epidemic of fear?“New Therapies to Aid Muscle Regeneration” (article)How do these new therapies aid muscle regeneration?

Write down your PQ, either on the text itself or on a separate sheet of paper for note-taking. When you read with a purpose–like answering a question–it becomes easier to identify and annotate what’s important in the text.

Annotate with your PQ in Mind

It’s much easier to take good notes when you have a reading goal–something to answer or accomplish, such as a PQ.

As you read and annotate the text, refer to your purpose question. Search the text for details that relate to and help you answer your PQ. When you find relevant details, underline them and record how the detail relates to your PQ. If you can’t write on the text itself, record your thoughts on a separate paper or word document.

Here’s how and where I annotate a text, and what I usually write in my annotations.

Where and How to Annotate a TextWhat to Write Underline the text Questions –what did you ask or wonder while reading?Write in the margin Thoughts and connections –what did the text make you think about?Use a separate sheet of paper Comments –what made you underline that particular word or detail?On your phone or computer–use a notetaking app or a Google Doc Significance –why is that particular detail important?

As you read the text, constantly ask yourself, How does this information help me answer my PQ? When you’re finished with the text, you should be able to answer your purpose question–and the notes you’ve taken should help you do that.

To monitor your own comprehension while you read, remain aware of the text’s 5 Ws: who, what, where, when, why.

After every sentence or section, reflect to verify the following information:

Who: Who is the text about? Who is narrating, or telling the story?

What: What is the text about?

Where: Where do the text’s events take place?

When: When did the text’s events occur?

Why: Why did this main event occur? Why did the storyteller write this text?

At any given point while you read, you should be able to identify this context. If you realize that you’re disoriented and have lost track of some key Ws, revisit the most recent sentences to see if you missed something critical. Then, continue on with the text, mindfully searching for the information you’re missing.

If you finish reading and still feel uncertain about this core information, revisit the first paragraph. A passage’s first paragraph usually provides fundamental details–such as the characters, setting, main event, and the story’s general context. Revisiting this paragraph sometimes alerts you to basic details you overlooked during your first readthrough.

The 5 Ws also work as an annotation strategy, where you underline all textual information related to the 5 Ws.

Notice the Conflict

Every story or passage centers around at least one conflict. A conflict is the characters’ primary struggle–the issue they’re faced with, the main challenge they try to overcome.

Keep in mind that a conflict can be external or internal. An external conflict takes place outside the character in the physical world–such as a fistfight, an argument with a friend, or committing a bank robbery. An internal conflict takes place inside the narrator–such as struggling to get over a girlfriend, becoming jealous of a friend, or worrying about how peers will perceive a behavior.

As you read, ask yourself “What is the character’s primary issue or challenge?” While there may be more than one, try to identify the most central, prominent conflict. By identifying a story’s conflict, you can observe and annotate how the author emphasizes it through storytelling elements–character development, tone, word choice, and structure. Underline these elements and write a few words describing how they build or relate to the central conflict.

Identify the Tone

A text’s tone is the speaker’s attitude toward the subject matter–actions, characters, or events in the text. Every piece of writing has multiple tones, which develop and change throughout the text according to the writer’s word choice.

Describe the tone using adjectives :

To Kill a Mockingbird began with a lighthearted tone and progressed to a dark , tense tone as the plot continued.

The article about bees used an informative , professional tone.

My writing always has an informal tone, even when I want it to be academic .

Hermann Hesse ends Siddhartha with a serene and beautiful tone.

Each sentence carries a unique tone, causing a story’s tone to change subtly every few lines. As you read, notice how the tone develops as the story continues. Underline the words and phrases that most powerfully create the tone, describing the tone in the margin. If you notice a sudden shift in tone, underline the point where it changed and write a few words about how it changed.

Close Reading Strategies Make You a Better Reader

Close reading is more than just a classroom assignment–it’s a reading method that helps you analyze and comprehend all texts. It will help you in class, on your own, and on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT Reading Sections .

While you may initially practice close reading by underlining and writing notes in the margin, over time it will influence the way you approach all texts: You will find yourself prereading a text, considering the title, generating a purpose question, tracking the 5 Ws while you read, asking questions, observing the text’s conflict, and noticing the tone.

Close reading helps you comprehend difficult texts, and it helps you write essays for class. It’s an all-purpose writing strategy.

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Close reading is a way of carefully analyzing a short passage or poem in order to explain how language and organization is used and/or how an author builds an argument, elicits a response from the reader, and/or creates a particular mood. Attention to specific details allows you to assess and discuss the larger themes or concerns of the text as a whole.

An effective close reading discusses HOW the selected passage communicates meaning (what poetic or rhetorical strategies are used) as well as addresses WHY these strategies are used in this particular way. For example, what is the author trying to communicate to the reader? What decisions has the author made about word choice, tone, etc.?

There are two common kinds of close readings— English literature and Philosophy. However, close reading is a useful technique in any kind of analytical writing and these strategies can be applied to other disciplines.

Close reading can also be a good place to begin if you are having difficulty formulating an argument for a longer paper. Even if the assignment does not explicitly ask you to conduct a close reading, the strategies described above can be useful tools for more involved textual analysis. Keep in mind that longer papers may require close readings of more than one passage of a text; the connections between these close readings often form the basis of a more complicated argument.

The parts of the close reading will depend on the type of assignment. You might be asked to do something like the following:

• Write a formal essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion that closely examines elements from a text or passage and explains their importance or effect.
• Write a paragraph or series of paragraphs examining a passage or excerpt, explaining how it produces effects on the reader and how it contributes to the meaning of the larger text as a whole.
• Write an explication that traces a poem’s development from beginning to end, explaining how it creates certain effects on the reader or develops arguments and themes.

Words associated with a close reading include explication, exegesis, and analysis.

In most close reading assignments, you will want to include these elements:

An introduction or introductory sentence

• Identify the passage and its context (if it is an excerpt, tell us where it fits in the overall text).
• Tell us why it’s important to analyze this particular passage or text (why should we care?).
• For example, “George Eliot’s use of diction and narrative perspective in this passage of Middlemarch complicates the conventional understanding of gender and gender relations by refusing to adhere to a strict separation of gendered traits.”

A clearly stated argument

State your argument about the passage clearly and concisely. Although the length and style of a close reading that focuses on an excerpt may differ from an essay that focuses on a literary work in its entirety, your assignment should still have a clear argumentative thesis.

Your explanation of how you see the text creating effects or making arguments

When you are choosing your evidence, consider the tone of the passage and the specific words used to describe a character or event. Some authors create characters whose views significantly differ from their own. Some literary works feature narrators who are unreliable. When analyzing a passage, consider not only WHAT is said, but HOW it is said:

• No: “The author uses a variety of diction about men’s and women’s positions in society.” 
• Yes: “The author’s use of diction allows her to highlight how gender is associated with specific social and economic positions.”

Specific examples highlighted from the text

Focus in on words, phrases, and short passages that illustrate how you see the text creating its effects and meaning. For example, “Eliot uses the words ‘nature’ and ‘greatness’ in relation to men, suggesting that they are inherently more intelligent, powerful, and capable than women--or are at least considered to be so in the social context of the story."

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DEAN’S BOOK w/ Prof. CONNIE GRIFFIN

Honors291g-cdg’s blog, how to write a close reading essay.

CLOSE READING The purpose of close reading is to suspend personal judgment and examine a text in order to uncover and discover as much information as we can from it. In close reading we ask not just “what does this passage say?” but also “how does it say it?” and even “what does it not say?” Close reading takes us deeper into the passage, below its surface to the deeper structures of its language, syntax and imagery, then out again to its connections with the whole text as well as other texts, events, and ideas. Desired Outcomes: • Identify and reflect on major themes in the book. • Analyze specific details, scenes, actions, and quotations in the text and discuss how they contribute to your interpretation of the meaning of the larger text. • Extract as much information from a chosen passage of writing as possible. • Listen to and understand others’ differing (perhaps) interpretations of the same text. • Generate questions and topics for further inquiry.

Assignment One: A Close Reading Instructions Now that you’ve finished the book, choose a passage from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and compose your own close reading of it. Apply the same techniques to this paper that were applied in in-class close readings and discussions, now taking into account the context of your chosen passage, additional selections from the text, as well as the book as a whole. Following MLA documentation style, correctly cite your chosen passage and any other quotations from the text that support your interpretations and claims. For help with MLA style, go to the Commonwealth College website (www.comcol.umass.edu) and search for “MLA format.” Organizing your close-reading essay In writing your close-reading essay, you may wish to start by introducing the book and describing your chosen passage’s importance within it. You could then offer relevant details to support your thesis. Questions you raise may appear as part of your conclusion, suggesting avenues for further thought and study. Paper length Your paper should be 650-750 words long, maximum. Be detailed but concise. Edit out unnecessary words and redundancies. (Include your selected passage in your paper, but do not count it as part of the total length.) A sample close reading essay is available online. Search the Commonwealth College website (www.comcol.umass.edu) for “close reading essay.” Questions to consider as you prepare to compose your close reading Examine the passage by itself • What does this passage explicitly say? • Is there a meaning beneath or beyond the explicit message? What is it? How is it communicated? • What might the passage suggest about the writer’s motivations? • How do the writer’s style, imagery and choice of language create a tone or intensify a meaning? • What specific examples in the passage (and additional passages) support these observations? Examine the passage in light of surrounding passages and the rest of the book • What themes running through the book are evoked explicitly and implicitly in this passage? • How does this passage fit—or not fit—into its immediate context as well as the book as a whole? What insights into the book does it reveal? • What questions does the passage raise about the story being told? • What conclusions can be drawn from this passage about the author and the text? A note about writing You should consider this paper a final version: pay attention to the quality of your writing and proofread your work. Strive to be concise and clear as well as correct. This means writing in a style that’s both academic and accessible. Always keep your audience in mind. You are writing for your interested peers. Grading This essay will be worth 15% of your final grade. Note: You will submit your paper at next week’s class. You will also be asked to summarize your paper and present its main points orally during class discussion. Therefore, you may want to jot down a few “talking points” in preparation.

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How to Write a Close Reading Essay: Full Guide with Examples

writing Close Reading Essay

There is no doubt that close-reading essays are on the rise these days. And for a good reason — it is a powerful technique that can help you make your mark as a student and showcase your understanding of the text.

In this type of writing, readers will read the literary text carefully and interpret it from various points of view. Read on.

Also Read: Does Turnitin Check Other Students’ Papers to Check Similarity

What is a Close Reading Essay?

A close-reading essay is an in-depth analysis of a literary work. It can be used to support a thesis statement or as a research paper.

A close-reading essay focuses on the tiny themes inherent in a literary passage, story, or poem.

The focus of this type of essay is on critical thinking and analysis. The author will look at the small details that make up the overall meaning of a text.

The author will also consider how these tiny themes relate to each other and how they are presented within the text.

The key areas where a close reading essay focuses include:

• Motivation and setting – This includes why the author wrote the piece and their purpose when they chose to write it. You can explore this through character analysis as well as themes that are common across multiple works.
• Characters:  While characters may or may not have any significance in an overall plot, they can make up many of the elements discussed in this essay. For example, if you were analyzing Hamlet, then you would want to look at how Hamlet’s character affects his motivation for suicide (which is directly related to his madness) and how it relates to his relationship with Ophelia.

Also Read: How to Answer “to what Extent” Question in Research & Examples

How to Write a Close Reading Essay -Step-By-Step Guide

1. read the selected text at least three additional times.

Analyze the text using your critical thinking skills. What are the author’s main points and purposes? How does the author develop these points? What evidence does he or she use to support these points? How do other writers in the field of the study compare with this author’s views?

Compare and contrast this author’s point of view with other writers in your field of study. What is their purpose in writing? What evidence do they use to support their positions?

How do they compare with this writer’s views?

2. Underline Portions of the Text that you Find Significant or Odd

The purpose of this section is to give the reader a sense of the author’s tone and approach to the subject.

A close-reading essay should be read at least twice, preferably three times. Underline or highlight any portions of the text that you find odd or significant.

Ask yourself: What does this mean? How does this affect my view of the work? What questions do I have now that I didn’t have before?

Take notes on what you think might be important. You may want to write down your questions and observations as they occur to you while reading your essay. Make sure they are hierarchical so they can easily guide your next step in writing about them.

3. State the Conclusions for the Paper

A close-reading essay analyzes a text and the author’s meaning. The key to this type of essay is the ability to conclude a text. It requires the student to think critically about what he/she has read and how it relates to other texts.

The most important aspect of writing a close-reading essay is being able to conclude after reading through a piece of work and analyzing it. The reader should always be able to answer questions like:

• What does this author mean?
• How can I apply this message to my life?
• Is this message relevant in today’s society?

4. Write your Introduction

The purpose of your paper is usually stated in the introduction somewhere (it might be buried in an abstract).

In other words, it’s not enough just to tell readers what they need to know; they also need some motivation to read further if they don’t know why they should read.

5. Write your Body Paragraphs.

A body paragraph is the bulk of your essay. It’s the place where you flesh out your ideas and connect them to the overall topic.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the details when writing a close-reading essay, so it’s important to stay focused on the big picture of what you’re trying to say. Here are some tips for developing your body paragraphs:

• Start with a thesis statement: Make sure that each paragraph starts with an idea or question that relates to the main point of your thesis statement. For example, suppose you’re writing about how human beings have been impacted by technology in society; then, in your first paragraph. In that case, you might want to talk about how computers are changing our lives and what this means for us as individuals and as a culture.
• Link ideas together:  Be sure that each paragraph is directly related to the previous one (or else your readers will lose track). Use transition words like “however,” “however,” “in contrast,” and “on the other hand,” or even simply add supporting details from different sources throughout each paragraph.

6. Write your Conclusion

When writing conclusion to your close reading essay, you’ll make a few points about why you think the book is worth reading. You should focus on whether or not the author has succeeded in his or her main objective and whether or not it’s an interesting book.

You should also consider how the author has achieved these goals. Did they succeed because of their writing style? Or did they use an effective structure? Did they make some unique observations that you hadn’t thought of before?

Do you have any specific questions about what was done well in the book? If so, ask them now so that you don’t forget to ask them when it’s time for your argumentative essay!

Also Read: How to Write an Enduring Issues Essay: Guide with Topics and examples

7. Close Reading Essay Examples

Below are three close-reading essay examples on the topic of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The first example is from a student named Brandon:

The main character, Jay Gatsby, is one of the most interesting characters in literature that I have ever read about.

He was a millionaire who married into a family of lower-class people and became friends with their daughter Daisy Buchanan, who had recently graduated from college and moved to New York City, where she met his son Nick Carraway.

Jay Gatsby was so fascinating to me because he had a lot of passion for life; he never gave up on what he wanted, even though he had nothing to back it up.

When I read this book, I learned that some people don’t care about what happens to them or what other people think about them; they just do their own thing and don’t let anything stand in their way of achieving their goals in life (Gatsby).

When I read this book, I also learned about love and hate because there were many different sides to each character’s personality throughout the book (Gatsby).

In conclusion, “The Great Gatsby” is an interesting book.

Example Two

The main character in the novel, Adam Bede, is a strong-willed country boy who looks down upon city folk. He has no interest in being educated and feels that he would rather work on a farm than attend school.

He does not seem to have any particular talent or skill that would make him stand out. However, it is not until he meets the wealthy Miss Lavendar that he can express his talents through writing poetry and music.

The first time Adam meets Miss Lavendar, she sits at a piano playing a piece by Mozart. Adam has never heard music like this before. It is so beautiful that he immediately falls in love with her. The two become friends and eventually marry each other.

However, when Adam becomes famous for his poems about Miss Lavendar, she begins to feel threatened by her new husband’s success. She leaves him for another man named Mr. Thornton. He has money and power but no talent for writing poetry or music like Adam.

 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

The play tells the story of a family during the Great Depression in Mississippi. Brick Pollitt has just returned home from World War I where he has been injured in battle and subsequently discharged with a disability pension.

His wife Maggie is expecting their first child, while his son Paul lives in New Orleans where he works as a pianist for a white man named Big Daddy Pollitt who owns a brothel in which Paul performs sexually explicit acts for the patrons at Big Daddy’s establishment called “The Brick House.”

With over 10 years in academia and academic assistance, Alicia Smart is the epitome of excellence in the writing industry. She is our chief editor and in charge of the writing department at Grade Bees.

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Chapter 2: Close Reading and Textual Analysis

Chapter sections.

2.1 Introduction to Close Reading 2.2 Learning to Read with a Purpose 2.3: A Close Reading Example 2.4 Close Reading Activity 1 2.5: Pause and Reflect: The Observational Paragraph 2.6: Close Reading Activity 2: The Observational Paragraph 2.7: Final Thoughts on Close Reading

Parts of this chapter have been reproduced and adapted from Aaron Tucker and Paul Chafe’s  Write Here, Right Now: An Interactive Introduction to Academic Writing and Research (2018) by Ryerson University and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Putting the Pieces Together Copyright © 2020 by Andrew M. Stracuzzi and André Cormier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Elaine Showalter describes close reading as:

...slow reading, a deliberate attempt to detach ourselves from the magical power of story-telling and pay attention to language, imagery, allusion, intertextuality, syntax and form.

It is, in her words, ‘a form of defamiliarisation we use in order to break through our habitual and casual reading practices’ (Teaching Literature, 98).

As readers, we are accustomed to reading for plot, or allowing the joy of the reading experience to take over and carry us along, without stopping to ask how and why a particular passage, sentence, or word achieves its effects.

Close reading, then, is about pausing, and looking at the precise techniques, dynamics, and content of the text. It’s not reading between the lines, but reading further and further into the lines and seeing the multiple meanings a turn of phrase, a description, or a word can unlock.

It is possible to close read an extended passage, but for essays it is often a good technique to do the close reading first and then to use very short extracts or even single words to demonstrate your insights. So instead of doing a close reading of twenty lines from A Midsummer Night’s Dream *in* your essay, you would do it independently, and then cite and explain three key phrases, relating them clearly to your developing argument. 

Close reading is also sometimes known as Practical Criticism, rooted in the techniques espoused by the Cambridge critic I. A. Richards.

He felt it was essential that students put aside their preconceptions and learn to appreciate the liveliness and multiplicity of language.

With that in mind, he gave students poems without any information about who wrote them or why they were written.

In the hands of subsequent critics, like William Empson, the technique became a way to offer virtuoso accounts of particular poems and literary works, with an emphasis on ambiguity and the multiplication of possible meanings.

In essence, close reading means taking a step back from the larger narrative and examining the constituent parts of a text.

Think of close reading as something that you do with a pencil and book in your hand. Mark up the pages; fill the margins.

“Annotate to appreciate; annotate to understand… It builds reading confidence; it helps us understand how literature is made—because it puts us there among the phrases.” Sometimes the Best Way to Read is to Mark up the Book - on the revelatory power of annotations

And then transcribe the poem, the passage, the quotation.

Accurate transcription of quotations is, for some, the first and last rule of close reading. If your passage isn’t transcribed meticulously, down to the last comma and (with poetry) spacing on the page, you can’t read it closely.

Careful transcription will also help you get inside a passage: you’ll get a feel for its rhythms, its twists and turns, its breathing. Look at the words.

Don’t take your eyes off the words. Work from the actual text in front of you, not from a sort of mental paraphrase of what the text says. As you do so, remember to think carefully about sound, not only when reading poetry but also when analysing prose.

Read the passage aloud, paying close attention to the rhythms of sentences. You might be surprised by what you hear: the eye can often glide over aspects of a text that the ear is keen to pick up. Remember, too, that it’s important not only to detect certain features but also to consider their effects. If you need to pause to catch your breath in the middle of a sentence, ask yourself why. How are form and content working together?

Close, not closed readings

Close reading has been criticised for being divorced from context and for pulling away from the historical and political engagements of the literary text.

Partly for that reason, it is important to think about the purpose behind your close reading – we are looking for close readings, not closed readings. Essentially, the close reading is the starting point for your essay, letting you find what is interesting, intricate, and unexpected about a literary text.

In the essay itself, you need to stitch that revelation about the complexities and ambiguities of particular terms, phrases and passages into a larger argument or context – don’t simply list everything you have found; craft it into an argument, and be prepared to downplay or leave out some of the elements you have spotted if they don’t relate to the larger picture.

For this reason, you might want to follow the “Rule of 2”. Your analysis of your quotation should be twice as long as the quotation itself. It's a nice reminder that we always need to go back and explain the textual evidence that's being cited.

Each piece of textual evidence needs and deserves detailed analysis if it's being used to support the argument's claims. It also helps to remind us to vary the lengths of quoted textual evidence so that an essay doesn't end up with only very brief quotations or long block quotations, but includes a mixture of different lengths that will best suit the claim being developed at any given point in the argument.

Some questions you may like to ask

• Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to? What is the reader assumed to know/not know? (University essays aren't written for an interested aunt or friend on a different course, but for an audience familiar with the themes and readings under discussion. Students are writing for an audience of engaged and interested peers. This means that the writer can assume that their reader knows the text and doesn't need extensive plot summary in the introduction or start of the essay. This frees up space for analysis and the laying out of each section's claims. It also helps to develop an authoritative voice: you are an expert speaking to other experts.)
• What is the point of the details included in the passage (eg if mundane things are mentioned, why is that; if there are elements of description that don’t seem to contribute to the plot what do they do instead)? 
• What generic clues are here (what kinds of writing are hinted at)? 
• Are there words or phrases which are ambiguous (could mean more than one thing)? If so, are we directed to privilege one reading over the other or do we keep both in play? Does one meaning open up an alternative story/history/narrative? What are the connotations of the words that are chosen? Do any of them open up new or different contexts? 
• Are there patterns which emerge in the language (the repetition of words or of certain kinds of words? Repeated phrases? Rhymes or half-rhymes? Metrical patterns?). What effects do they create? 
• Is there any movement in the passage you are reading? Are there any shapes or dominant metaphors? 
• What kind of rhythm does the passage have? What is its cadence?
• Is there anything that troubles you about the passage or that you’re not sure you fully understand? 
• Have you been to the dictionary (remember the full Oxford English Dictionary is available online through the library)?

For more specific advice, you might want to read our Ways of Reading series

• Ways of Reading a Novel
• Ways of Reading a Poem
• Ways of Reading a Film
• Ways of Reading a Play
• Ways of Reading a Translation

Extra Reading (and remember you can close read secondary as well as primary texts)

Thomas A. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines (Harper, 2003). Elizabeth A. Howe, Close Reading: an Introduction to Literature (Prentice Hall, 2009). George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More than Cool Reason: a Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor (Chicago, 1989). Frank Lentricchia and Andrew DuBois (eds), Close Reading: the Reader (Duke, 2002). Christopher Ricks, The Force of Poetry (Oxford, 1995). Elaine Showalter, Teaching Literature (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002).

For more on Practical Criticism, with some useful online exercises, try the Virtual Classroom on Practical Criticism

There’s a neat example by Patricia Kain at Harvard College’s Writing Center .

Trev Broughton , Alexandra Kingston-Reese , Chloe Wigston-Smith , Hannah Roche , Helen Smith , and Matthew Townend April 2018

This article is available to download for free as a PDF for use as a personal learning tool or for use in the classroom as a teaching resource.

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How to Write a Close Reading Essay

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This article was co-authored by Bryce Warwick, JD . Bryce Warwick is currently the President of Warwick Strategies, an organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area offering premium, personalized private tutoring for the GMAT, LSAT and GRE. Bryce has a JD from the George Washington University Law School. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 9,277 times.

With a close-reading essay, you get to take a deep dive into a short passage from a larger text to study how the language, themes, and style create meaning. Writing one of these essays requires you to read the text slowly multiple times while paying attention to both what is being said and how the author is saying it. It’s a great way to hone your reading and analytical skills, and you’ll be surprised at how it can deepen your understanding of a particular book or text.

Reading and Analyzing the Passage

• Think of “close reading" as an opportunity to look underneath the surface. While you may understand a text’s main themes from a single read-through, any given text usually contains multiple complexities in language, character development, and hidden themes that only become clear through close observation.

Tip: Look up words that you aren’t familiar with. Sometimes you might figure out what something means by using context clues, but when in doubt, look it up.

• Alliteration
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia

• What themes are present in the text? Is the passage about, for example, love, or the triumph of good over evil, a character's coming-of-age, or a commentary on social issues?
• What imagery is being used? Which of the 5 senses does the passage involve?
• What is the author’s writing style? Is it descriptive, persuasive, or technical?
• What is the tone of the passage? What emotions do you feel as you read?
• What is the author trying to say? Are they successful?

Tip: Try reading the text out loud. Sometimes hearing the words rather than just seeing them can make a difference in how you understand the language.

• Word choice
• Punctuation

Drafting a Thesis and Outline

• Close-reading essays can get very detailed, and it often is helpful to come back to the “main thing.” This summary can help you focus your thesis in one direction so your essay doesn’t become too broad.

• For example, you could write something like, “The author uses repetition and word choice to create an emotional connection between the reader and the protagonist. This sample from the book exemplifies how the author uses vivid language and atypical syntax throughout the entire text to help put the reader inside of the protagonist’s mind.”

• For example, you may quote a sentence from the passage that uses atypical punctuation to emphasize how the author’s writing style creates a certain cadence.
• Or you may use the repetition of a color or word or theme to explain how the author continually reinforces the overall message.

• There are a lot of different ways to outline an essay. You could use a bullet-pointed list to organize the things you want to write about, or you could plan out, paragraph by paragraph, what you want to say.
• Many people cannot write fast because they do not spend enough time planning what they want to state.
• When you take a couple of extra minutes to plan an essay, it's a lot easier to write because you know how the points should flow together.
• It is also obvious to a reader whether you plan and write the essay or make it up as you write it.

Writing the Essay

• The last thing you want is to write an essay and later on realize that you were required to include an outside source or that your paper was 5 pages longer than it needed to be.

• Some people find it easier to write their introduction once the body of the essay is done.
• The introduction can be a good place to give historical, social, or geographical context.

• Make sure to reference why the proof you’re giving is relevant. It should directly tie back to the main theme of your essay.
• Evidence can be a direct quote from the passage, a summary of that information, or a reference from a secondary source.

• The conclusion isn’t the place to add in new evidence or arguments. Those should all be in the actual body of the essay.

• An impactful close-reading essay will weave together examples, interpretation, and commentary.

• Try reading your essay out loud. You may notice awkward phrases, incorrect grammar, or stilted language that you didn’t before.

Expert Q&A

• Sites like Typely, Grammarly, and ProofreadingTool offer free feedback and edits. Keep in mind that you’ll need to review proposed changes because they may not all be correct for your particular essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about completing school assignments, check out our in-depth interview with Bryce Warwick, JD .

• ↑ https://guides.lib.uoguelph.ca/c.php?g=130967&p=4938496
• ↑ https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-do-close-reading#
• ↑ https://blogs.umass.edu/honors291g-cdg/how-to-write-a-close-reading-essay/
• ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/introduction/
• ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/research-paper/paragraph-structure/
• ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/conclusion/
• ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/category/academic-essay/

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Close Reading and Analysis

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This worksheet treats Upper Sproul as a text for students to read and form arguments about. It is intended to provide a clear example of how one effectively uses observations to support analysis.

Part one: observations.

Please describe Upper Sproul on a busy day (e.g. a weekday at 12:00pm). These observations could include (but are not limited to) type of people, building, plants, and activities. In other words, who is there and what is happening?

Part Two: Analysis

The Prompt: Imagine that I am a potential Cal student. I just got my acceptance letter, but I am not sure whether or not I want to attend. Should I visit Upper Sproul on a busy day to get a feel for the school?

Please argue both sides of the question:

Yes, you should visit because… [list three observations from part one]

No, you should not visit because… [list three observations from part one]

Part Three: The Argument

If the some of the observations that you used in Part Two overlap, that’s fine (and even likely). For example, you might say that people should not visit because there are a lot of students handing out fliers, but you might also say that people should visit for this very reason.

The difference, of course, lies not in the observation but in your argument. Thus, if you say that a potential student should not visit Upper Sproul because of the fliers, then you need to answer the question why not? (Similarly, if you think that a potential student should visit Upper Sproul, then you need to answer the question why?)

So, the next step is to provide the why or why not to your answers in part two. Use a descriptive word or phrase that captures the effect of the three observations you chose. Why do these observations lead you to tell a potential student to visit (or not to visit) Upper Sproul when its busy?

Now, form your argument (you can just pick your favorite—yes or no):

Yes, a potential student should visit Upper Sproul because it _____________________

(descriptive word or phrase). The observations that support this are:

1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ and

3. ________________________.

No, a potential student should not visit Upper Sproul when it is busy because it

__________________________ (descriptive word or phrase). The observations that

support this are: 1. ________________________ 2. ________________________ and

Part Four: Using Evidence in a Paragraph

Your argument could easily be made into a paragraph about Upper Sproul (or even a whole essay). So far you’ve thought about the overall effect of your three observations and made an argument about them (e.g. they make Sproul seem fun; they make Sproul seem crowded). What is the specific effect of each observation? Using your argument as a topic sentence, try to write one or two sentences about each observation afterward.

2. ______________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________

Part Five: Reflection and Questions

Do you have a stronger understanding of close reading and analysis? Why or why not?

What are some of the differences between “reading” Sproul and reading a piece of literature?

How can these tools of close reading, analysis and argumentation be extended to a literary text? When reading a literary text, what sorts of observations can you make about the text? What sorts of details can you observe?

Hana Metzger
Student Learning Center, University of California, Berkeley
©2009 UC Regents

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

How To Approach A Close Passage Analysis Essay

One of the biggest shocks students faces when they begin the study of Literature is the moment when they are first handed three passages from a text and told to write an essay. Faced with a wall of text, and what seems like very vague instructions, this task can often seem daunting, or even overwhelming.

In a passage analysis essay, you will be expected to respond to three passages of writing from your selected text. This might be a passage from act one, two and three of a play, three passages from a novel, three poems from a collection or three passages from different short stories in a collection. Your essay will need to engage in close reading of the selected passages, while also advancing an overall interpretation of the novel, play or poetry collection.

Therefore, you are not only expected to engage in close reading and analysis of each individual passage, but you will also be expected to find links between the passages which reflect either the style of the author, their thematic concerns or their views and values.

These links will become the foundation of your paragraphs, with each paragraph looking at the passages through a different ‘lens’ or thematic concern. However, it is important to remember to draw your interpretation and ideas from the passages themselves, and the implications of the passages selected. Do not attempt to impose an interpretation on a passage because it makes for a neat paragraph.

This is a simple step-by-step guide you can use if you are struggling with getting started on a passage analysis:

• Annotate each individual passage . It is important to always start with close-reading, and stay open-minded about what the passages are telling you about the text. If you move onto thinking about links too early, you might miss crucial details within the passages themselves which might have a created a more complex and sophisticated analysis. At this stage, you are still using the principles of FEAR+C (Features/Elements/Author’s Views and Values/Reader Response + Context) and remaining open to the potential of the passages.
• Identify links between the passages . The links can be stylistic, thematic or views, values, and contexts. So long as you can confidently discuss how the link operates across passages, and what this reveals about the wider text. This can include supporting your analysis of a thematic concern in one passage with evidence from another passage, juxtaposing two passages to show character growth from the beginning to the end of a novel or to complicate an author’s position an issue.
• Think about how you will build your paragraphs . It is important that you discuss at least two out of the three passages in each paragraph. There are several ways you can go about this. Each passage does not need to be weighted equally, and you can refer to passages either as an equal contrast, a supporting passage or as a reference. Remember to include references to the wider text, as in, quoting sections of the text not included in the passages to demonstrate how the passages reflect the whole text.
• Determine your overall interpretation of both the passages and the text . While you are being assessed on your ability to analyse your selected passages, your interpretation must reflect an interpretation of the overall text. It is so important to make wider text references within your essay, as this implies that while your close analysis is situated around these specific three passages, your interpretation remains applicable to the text as a unified object of study. At this stage, you need to decide what this overall interpretation is.

Students often ask how to balance close analysis of the set passages with making wider text references. It is essential that you strike a balance between the two, as your close analysis of the passages illustrates your depth of understanding, while your wider text references underscore your breadth of understanding. This is across all types of texts, from plays to novels to poetry. As a rule of thumb, you should aim for between 80-85% of your essay focusing on a close analysis of the set passages, while around 15-20% of your essay should include wider text references (preferably substantiated by quotes). The wider text references should only be used as references to support your close analysis of the set passages. This means they should not be the star of the show! Avoid falling into the trap where you avoid analysing passages you are struggling with by using wider text references to excessively jump to parts of the text outside of the passages which you feel you can develop a stronger analysis around. Much the same as essay prompts, always go with the implications of the passages, not what you wish they were about!

Now, all you need to do is open your book, select three passages and get to work!

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VCE Literature Close Analysis – stand out from the crowd

April 20, 2016

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To the Lit kids out there, you already know that VCE Literature is a whole different ball game – You’re part of a small cohort, competing against some of the best English students in the state and spots in the 40+ range are fairly limited. So how can you ensure that it’s your essay catches the assessor’s eye? Here are some tips which will hopefully give you an edge.  

• Constantly refer back to the language of the passages

Embed quotes from the passages into both your introduction and conclusion and of course, throughout the essay. Don’t leave any room for doubt that you are writing on the passages right in front of you rather than regurgitating a memorized essay. A good essay evokes the language of the passages so well that the examiner should barely need to refer back to the passages.

Here’s part of a sample conclusion to illustrate what I mean:

  In comparison to Caesar, who sees lands, the “’stablishment of Egypt,” as the epitome of all triumphs, the lovers see such gains, “realms and islands,” as “plates dropp’d from his pocket.” It is dispensable and transient like cheap coins, mere “dungy earth” and “kingdoms of clay.” This grand world of heroic virtue is set in the past tense, where the lover once “bestrid the ocean,” once “crested the world,” but it is the world which will arguably endure in our hearts.

So, you can see that analysis of the language does not stop even in the conclusion and yet it still ties into the overall interpretation of the text that I have presented throughout the essay.

• If appropriate, include quotes from the author of the text

A good way to incorporate views and values of the author in your writing is to quote things they have said themselves. This may work better for some texts than others but if you find a particularly poetic quote that ties in well with the interpretation you are presenting, then make sure to slip it in. It shows that you know your stuff and is an impressive way to show off your knowledge of the author’s views and values.

Here’s a sample from an introduction on Adrienne Rich poetry which includes a quote from her essay, “When We Dead Awaken.”

Adrienne Rich’s poetry is the process of discovering a “new psychic geography” (When We Dead Awaken) with a language that is “refuse[d], ben[t] and torque[d]” not to subjugate but as an instrument for “connection rather than apartheid.”

• Memorise quotes throughout the text

Yes, there are passages right in front of you, but don’t fall into the trap of not memorizing significant quotes from the text as a whole. Dropping a relevant quote in from another section of the text demonstrates that you understand the text as a whole.

The originality of your ideas and the quality of your writing come first and foremost, but these are little ways in which you can add a little extra something to your essay.

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• Focused on Developing Interpretations and Close Analysis , both of which you need for your exam
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• Includes sample A+ essays with EVERY essay annotated and broken down on HOW and WHY past authors achieved A+
• Essays written by multiple authors all scoring 40+ so you can learn different strategies and implement the advice that resonates with you most

If you’ve been studying John Donne’s metaphysical poetry, you’ve probably noticed that his works are riddled with different symbols and motifs. Embedded throughout his poetry, these literary devices may seem slightly abstruse to the reader. You may find yourself asking: What do they mean? And in relation to what? Even Donne’s contemporaries failed to appreciate his poetry. The neoclassical poet John Dryden rejected Donne’s works because it “affects the metaphysics” and “perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love”.

One thing that you should understand about Donne’s romantic poetry, is that while his stark images of compasses and spheres may seem foreign to you, they were also alien to his predecessors too. So, if you’re struggling to comprehend his enigmatic poetry, not to fear! Because John Donne’s poetic peers didn’t initially get it either.

The reason for this is because Donne refused to conform to the poetic conventions of the time. The poet emerged as an idiosyncratic in the Elizabethan era, the Renaissance. Unlike his contemporaries, he didn’t employ elaborate descriptions of symbol natural landscapes, classical myths and female beauty. The reason for this was because Donne did not believe in the one-sided love and emotional frustrations that his contemporaries tried so hard to convey in such imagery.

Donne’s poetry was so different because he rejected and even openly mocked the idea of such a high-minded religious worship in literary romance. In “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” Donne criticises the “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests” of the “dull sublunary lovers.”. In a similar vein, Donne satirises the “sighs” and “tears” (The Canonisation) so prevalent in Petrarchan works.

Instead, Donne advocated for a different kind of love. He espoused a love that comprised of the Body and the Soul, which was a dominant intellectual issue in the literary treatment of love in the 1590s. More specifically, Donne embraced the balance between Platonic love and the Ovidian love.

Platonic: Platonic love is essentially love that surpasses the mere sensual and physical. It is a very spiritual concept and is based on reason, affection, respect, intellect and compatibility.

Ovidian: Ovidian love

The idea of balance derived from discoveries being made about the human body during the Elizabethan era. The Renaissance was fundamentally a time of discovery (particularly in the area of science). Elizabethans believed that elements in the body needed to be balanced,

Top Tip: When you’re analysing John Donne’s poetry and writing essays, be aware of Donne’s overarching message in his romantic poetry. Most explanations about his use transcendent relationship with his lover is thus determined by obtaining a balance between the spiritual and earthly pleasures. Most examination questions will leave room for to discuss the connection between the material and the divine world! Make sure to understand this, because this is a huge component to his poetry.

When it comes to VCE Literature, ‘Literary Perspectives’ is a major component of your learning and exams. If you’re studying any of the Shakespearian texts, the idea of using different ‘lenses’ to interpret 400-year-old plays seems silly and is a difficult task to approach. So today, I’m writing a plan for a Literary Perspectives essay on Shakespeare’s  Othello . The question we are looking at is:

In Shakespeare’s  Othello,  Venetian society is depicted as unwelcoming to the ‘Other’. To what extent do you agree?

Breaking-it-Down

So what does this question mean? Well let’s first look at the keywords, and what each means.

“Venetian Society” -This is the group of people depicted in  Othello . Whilst some characters like Cassio and Othello are from other city-states, they adhere to the norms and traditions of the Venetians, who live in Venice, Italy. 

“Unwelcoming” - In my essay, I consider “unwelcoming” to be active discrimination against people, with the intent of alienating them from society at large, but this is open to interpretation. 

“The Other” -This is a technical term from a few different literary perspectives. On a broad level, the Other is a person or group of people who are viewed as the ‘enemy’ or different from the dominant culture. 

These keywords are essentially what you have to include in terms of knowledge. But, what is the question? Our essay topic says “To what extent do you agree?”. You can choose to agree, or not at all, or be somewhere in the middle. Any of these options consider the  extent  of Venice’s welcomeness, but you have to use evidence, and uniquely, a literary perspective. 

My Approach

Before I even choose my contention, now is the time to decide which perspective to use for my essay. A few apply to the question and  Othello , but I can only have one. Using Feminism you could argue that the women of the play are ‘Othered,’ but because they lack lots of meaningful dialogue I think it would be hard to uncover enough evidence. Marxism would also be good and would argue the working-class is othered. The issue with Marxist interpretations of  Othello , however, is that there are almost no lower-class characters. Marxist theorists also regularly adopt feminist and postcolonial language, meaning I could appear as though I used multiple perspectives. I think Postcolonialism is the ideal perspective. The term “Other” was coined by postcolonial theorists, and Othello’s race and place in Venetian society give me the ability to flex my understanding of postcolonialism. 

So, now that I know I am writing from a postcolonial perspective, I can come up with a contention. First of all, who is the Other, according to postcolonialism? In  Othello,  it is quite clearly Othello himself, who is from North Africa, and is constantly the victim of racism, which begins to answer my second question; is Othello welcomed by Venetian Society? Well, it’s complicated, he’s an army commander and woos a Venetian woman, but he constantly has to prove himself worthy of these things. As a result, my contention will be somewhere in between complete agreement and complete disagreement with the question. 

The othered characters in  Othello  are orientalised by most members of Venetian society, and must constantly prove their material worth to maintain their agency. Despite this, the women of the play act as a foil to the racism and distrust of society.

Postcolonialism

Postcolonial theory has roots in a more modern context than Shakespeare. The colonialism of the 19th century and the decolonisation of the 20th century lead to colonised people reevaluating their lives and the role of the European colonists on a global, social, and psychological scale. When writing from a postcolonial lens, you should try to focus on some key areas. The most significant is the relationship between the colonised and the coloniser. How do they interact? What do they think of each other? The next area is the psychology of colonialism. One useful theorist here is Frantz Fanon, a psychologist living during the French colonisation of Algier. His text  The Wretched of the Earth  stated the ways that colonised Africans were mentally oppressed, viewing themselves as less than human. This is important when discussing the Other because ‘other’ represents the dehumanisation of Native lives which caused such psychological distress. A term I used in my contention should also be explained: orientalism. This term was coined by Edward Said and it explores the way the Other is viewed by the West. To ‘orientalise’ something is to portray it as something wholly different to European cultures, and exaggerate these differences. It results in non-Europeans being viewed as ‘backwards’ or ‘savage’ and justifies racist stereotypes. Other useful Postcolonial terms include: the Subaltern, who are the groups completely outside the margins of society, or people who lack any freedom; and Agency is the ability to act out of free-will and have a degree of power.

With my contention and some useful postcolonial terms, I can now plan each paragraph. I am doing three, but it is possible to do four or more. I follow TEEL (Topic, explanation, evidence, link) structure quite closely, and have given simple but punchy topic sentences for each paragraph. When structuring the essay as a whole, I try to make sure each paragraph builds off of the previous argument, almost like a staircase leading to my conclusion. 

1. Othello is treated as an outsider and is a victim of racism and orientalisation due to his cultural background, constantly reminded that he is not fully Venetian. 

My goal in this paragraph is to agree with the question. My explanation has to show that Othello isn’t welcome in Venetian society, highlighting that his blackness and European views of the Moors fits Edward Said’s theory of orientalism. I will mainly rely on Iago’s perception of Othello, and Iago as a symbol of Venice’s intoleration towards the Other. 

Evidence of his culture being viewed as ‘backwards’ or fundamentally different from Venice will support this point. Iago’s first monologue (1.1.8-33) displays his intolerance to outsiders, specifically referring to Othello as “the Moor”, rather than by his name. Roderigo also displays a racist attitude, calling Othello “the thick-lips” (1.1.71). You should try to choose linguistically significant evidence. For example, Iago’s metaphor of a “black ram is tupping [Brabantio’s] white ewe” (1.1.96-7) provokes imagery of the devil (black ram) defiling a symbol of purity (a white ewe). 

To link this paragraph, refer to the use of orientalism as a method of othering that turns people against Othello, and intends to keep him separate (unwelcome) from society.

2. Despite Iago’s representation of an intolerant Venice, Othello displays a pathway for the Other to prove themselves in Venetian society, although this proof is constantly reevaluated by the dominant culture.

In this argument I’m going against my previous paragraph, saying that Othello is welcome, but on a case-by-case basis. My explanation will include an analysis of how Othello is othered and orientalised, but still displays agency and has a role of authority in Venice. Othello is trusted, but it is a very loose trust that relies on Othello’s continued adherence to society’s rules. To use postcolonial language, Othello is the Other, but he is not a subaltern; he has been given a place at the coloniser’s table. But despite viewing himself as a permanent part of this table, the colonisers are always ready to remove his seat. 

I could use Brabantio as evidence of this, as he had “loved [Othello” (1.3.145) but quickly begins to refer to his “sooty bosom” (1.2.85) and “foul charms” (1.2.88) when he thinks Othello has overstepped his place in Venetian society by marrying a white woman. Even though Othello has proven himself as a General, the senate makes him answer for accusations based on racism and stigma. Once Othello begins to fall for Iago’s trap of jealousy, Lodovico questions the faith placed in Othello, claiming “I am deceived in him” (4.2.310).

Therefore, despite being allowed a place within the Governmental structures of Venice, Othello’s agency is constantly at risk, being welcomed for his proven talents, but distrusted for his ‘Otherness’.

3. Although Venetian society at large is unwelcoming to Othello, either through racism or distrust, Desdemona represents an attitude of acceptance towards the Other.

This argument looks at a different aspect of the question; who is the Other welcomed by? Besides Othello, Othered characters are the women and Cassio, who is from Florence. Despite not fitting into the key areas of postcolonial thought, women still have a place in this analysis, as a subcategory of the native’s relationship with the coloniser. How does a group that is discriminated against in their own society treat someone else who is discriminated against? Well, we see in  Othello  that the women treat him quite well. 

Desdemona is the obvious source of evidence for this. Her adoration of Othello transcends his colour and she accepts him as part of her Venetian world. She is unswayed by the racist commentary on Othello from those around her, such as Emilia, and instead represents the welcoming of the Other on a personal, although not societal level.

Thus, Desdemona in her own Otherness and orderliness acts a foil to Iago’s disorder and discrimination. As a discriminated against woman, she represents the acceptance of the other in Venetian society, and the unbridled trust of Othello that the men of Venice lack.

Your conclusion should include a restatement of your arguments and your contention but also look at them in another way. I usually go through my points and how they relate to each other and my contention in a logical step-by-step way, each point building on the other to reach my contention. Point 1 leads to point 2, which leads to point 3, and combined, makes my contention. 

Hopefully, this brief guide to literary perspectives in  Othello , focusing on postcolonialism, acts as a starting point for your studies. It’s about understanding the beliefs of the lens and then using this to form an argument. It certainly isn’t easy, so I encourage you to read around and practice this writing style as much as possible. 

Recommended Resources

On shakespeare.

How to Approach Shakespeare-Studying Shakespeare for the First time

Post-colonialism in Shakespearean Work by Alina Popa (2013)

On Postcolonialism

Literary Perspectives 101

List of Postcolonial Terms

Definition of Postcolonialism

Benefits of Critical Essays for Literary Perspectives Essays

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (2001), Penguin Modern Classics, Great Britain.

Orientalism by Edward W. Said (2003), Penguin Modern Classics, Great Britain.

“Once upon a time…”

The fairy tale of Cinderella is a well-known, well-loved and well-ingrained story that was always told to me as a bedtime story. Who could forget the mean-spirited stepsisters who punished and ruined Cinderella’s life to no end? According to the dark Brothers Grimm version, the stepsisters mutilated their feet by cutting off their heels and toes to fit into the infamous shoe, and their eyes were pecked away by birds until they were blinded! It’s definitely one way to send a message to children… don’t be bullies or you’ll be punished. Which is exactly what the Brothers Grimm’s views and values were. Their construction of their fairy tale to send a message of what they viewed as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is simplistically shown through the writers’ choice in determining the characters’ fate. The evil stepsisters are punished, while Cinderella receives happiness and riches because she remained kind and pure. A clear and very simple example of how texts reflect the beliefs, world views and ethics of the author, which is essentially the author’s views and values!

What are the views and values of a text?

Writers use literature to criticise or endorse social conditions, expressing their own opinions and viewpoints of the world they live in. It is important to remember that each piece of literature is a deliberate construction. Every decision a writer makes reflects their views and values about their culture, morality, politics, gender, class, history or religion. This is implicit within the style and content of the text, rather than in overt statements. This means that the writer’s views and values are always open to interpretation, and possibly even controversial. This is what you (as an astute literature student) must do – interpret the relationship between your text and the ideas it explores and examines, endorses or challenges in the writer’s society.

How do I start?

Consider the following tips:

• What does the writer question and critique with their own society? What does this say about the writer’s own views and the values that uphold?
• For example,  “Jane Austen in Persuasion recognises the binding social conventions of the 19th century as superficial, where they value wealth and status of the utmost priority. She satirises such frivolous values through the microcosmic analysis of the Elliot family.”
• The writer’s affirming or critical treatment of individual characters can be a significant clue to what values they approve or disapprove of. What fate do the characters have? Who does the writer punish or reward by the end of the text?
• Which characters challenge and critique the social conventions of the day?
• Look at the writer’s use of language:
• Characterisation
• Plot structure
• Description
• In other words …what are the possible meanings generated by the writer’s choices?
• Recognition and use of metalanguage for literary techniques is crucial because you are responding to a work of literature. Within literature ideas, views and values and issues do not exist in a vacuum. They arise out of the writer’s style and create  meaning .
• How do the writer’s choices make meaning?
• How are the writer’s choices intended to affect the reader’s perception of social values?
• Weave views and values throughout your close analysis essays, rather than superficially adding a few lines at the conclusion of the essay to indicate the writer’s concerns.
• Using the writer’s name frequently will also assist in creating a mindset of analysing the writer’s commentary on society.

Below are some examples from an examiner report of successful and  insightful  responses reflecting the views and values of the writer:

(Another tip is to go through examiner’s reports and take note of high quality responses, even if they are not the text you’re studying)

When contrasted with the stark, blunt tone of Caesar throughout the play ‘You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know...’ the richness of Shakespeare’s poetry with regard to his ‘couple so famous’  denotes how the playwright himself ultimately values the heroic age  to which his protagonists belong over the machinations of the rising imperial Rome.

It is the word ‘natural’ here through which Mansfield crafts a sharp irony that invites us to rate Edna’s obsession with her own performance.... It is this satiric impulse that also leaps to the fore through the image of Edna, ‘clasping the black book in her fingers as though it were a missal’...the  poignant economy of Mansfield’s characteristic style explores her views on the fragility of the human condition .   

‘In Cold Blood’ provides a challenging exploration of the value placed on human life. The seemingly pointless murders undermine every concept of morality that reigns in Middle America, the ‘Bible Belt’, as well as the wider community.  Capote insinuates his personal abhorrence of the death penalty and the disregard of mental illness in the justice system .

Why are views and values important in literature, and especially for close analysis?

Every year, the examiner reports emphasise how the best close analysis responses were ones that “showed how the text endorsed and reflected the views and values of the writer and were able to weave an understanding of these through the essay” (2013 VCAA Lit examiner report). By analysing HOW the text critiques, challenges or endorses the accepted values of the society in the text, you are demonstrating an understanding of the social and cultural context of the text, thus acknowledging the multifaceted layers that exist within literature. You are identifying the writer’s commentary of humanity through your own interpretation. Bring some insight into your essays!

1. Don't focus just on ideas and avoid language engagement.

Language engagement is every bit as important as ideas. Sometimes, when you get stuck in philosophical musings, you might find yourself in a place where you're spouting on and on about solipsism or the intrinsic desire for independence in the 19th century Norwegian working class. Literature essays are all about finding balance, and here, that balance means language engagement. Whether you are writing about literary criticism or a passage analysis, you have to be able to support your interpretations with textual evidence.

Often, this requires some creative thinking. You can have a lot of fun with it and the examiners like you to pick up on small details and connect it to a grander scope.

Here's an example from Jane Eyre.

“my eyes seemed as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple.”

“I was not surprised...to feel...the breathing of a fresh and fragrant breeze...The rooks cawed, and blither birds sang; but nothing was so merry or so musical as my own rejoicing heart.”

In this passage, Jane is rejoicing over her marriage proposal, but readers are led to understand that this may be a false, idealistic dream of hers. Note the patterns of alliteration – the fricative 'f' shifting to the plosive 'b' in “fount of fruition” and “borrowed beams” then again from “fresh and fragrant breeze” to “blither birds”. What could it possibly mean?

Fricatives tend to indicate freedom, whereas plosives tend to indicate an abruptness – a harsh change. Perhaps, Jane's wild, free joy is immediately followed by plosive alliteration so as to illustrate how her happiness is cut short and her dream is a false one – she will attempt to achieve freedom through this romance, but she will be abruptly and unceremoniously prevented from attaining it.

Regardless, in any passage, there are always things to talk about and little language quirks to exploit to figure out an interpretation. Start from these little details, and build out and out until you tackle your big ideas. All of these ideas should be rooted in language.

2. Don't prioritise complicated language over ideas.

Often, when you think that expressive, complicated writing takes priority over ideas in Literature, you tend to end up with flowery material that becomes more convoluted than it is effective. If you are one of those people (I know it's hard) but kill your darlings. Focus on coming up with original ideas, and express them clearly. Cut out redundancies. Be expressive in a way that is natural and in a way where you know that first and foremost, your language is accurate. Don't go around using metaphors purely for the sake of sounding intellectual when you can express something equally eloquently and beautifully with simpler, fluent text.

Remember: this is not to say that you shouldn't be expressive in Literature. In fact, writing style and the ability to write well is a fundamental component to doing well in this subject. It is just vital that you strike the right balance. This is a good lesson to learn sooner rather than later - and you'll be steering into prime territory for the exam.

3. Don't treat Literature like an English essay. Be free!

Good Literature essays generally tend to be more lively and expressive than English essays. Why? Because Literature just doesn't operate under the same criteria, and it shouldn't be treated as such. 

Don't feel like putting in an introduction/conclusion? No need! Don't feel like sticking to a TEEL structure? No problem!

Your focus is creating writing that moves along at a natural, expressive pace, moving through textual evidence to broader ideas. You don't have a structure. You don't have a paragraph quota. You have free reign over a lot of how you write your Literature essays – so find out what works for you.

4. Come up with original interpretations and don't stick with popular readings.

Literature is one of very few subjects in the entirety of VCE that rewards original thinking. You don't need to go with the crowd consensus on how to read your text: as long as you have the evidence to support your reading! The examiners will reward complex, creative, and unique ideas. Every passage analysis you write should be approached with a fresh perspective – base your interpretation around the text in front of you, and not a dogmatic set of ideas that you bring with you.

5. Let the text before you provide you with the ideas, don't force your ideas into the text.

By reading literary criticism and expanding the scope of your ideas, you can apply original readings to each set of passages you have. Your essays stand out when they cover new, uncharted territory.

Literature is all about balance. If you can find it in you to balance language engagement, interpretation, and writing style, I'd say you have yourself a pretty good essay.

Remember not to fall into any of the common traps of the subject, and you'll have put yourself on solid footing to become a true literati.

Updated for the new 2023-2027 Study Design!

AoS 1: Adaptations and Transformations

Aos 2: developing interpretations.

• AoS 1: Creative Responses to Texts

AoS 2: Close Analysis

This is your ultimate guide to everything you need to know to get started with VCE Literature. We will be covering all the sections within Units 3 and 4, and have included resources that will help improve your skills and make you stand out from the rest of your cohort!

Scope of Study

Here's what the VCAA study design states...

'The study of VCE Literature fosters students’ enjoyment and appreciation of the artistic and aesthetic merits of stories and storytelling, and enables students to participate more fully in the cultural conversations that take place around them. By reading and exploring a diverse range of established and emerging literary works, students become increasingly empowered to discuss texts. As both readers and writers, students extend their creativity and high-order thinking to express and develop their critical and creative voices.'

'Throughout this study, students deepen their awareness of the historical, social and cultural influences that shape texts and their understanding of themselves as readers. Students expand their frameworks for exploring literature by considering literary forms and features, engaging with language, and refining their insight into authorial choices. Students immerse themselves in challenging fiction and non-fiction texts , discovering and experimenting with a variety of interpretations in order to develop their own responses.'

...but don't worry if the above is vague, we'll take you through exactly what you need to know for Year 12 Literature! Let's get into it! ‍ ‍

In Unit 3, students consider how meaning is created through form, and how different interpretations may be developed out of a singular text. First, students understand how writers adapt and transform texts, and how their interpretation of the text impacts this transformation into a different form. Secondly, students use another text to develop their own interpretations of a text with regard to its context , and views and values . Unit 3 School-Assessed Coursework is worth 25 per cent of your total study score!

This task is designed for you to critically analyse and actively engage with the text, understanding its nuances inside and out in order to decipher its meaning. Be individual in comparing and contrasting the two texts – avoid the obvious similarities/differences everyone in your class will also notice. It is the insightful analysis of the subtleties of how meaning is altered that will help you stand out!

Here are some important aspects to consider and questions to ask yourself while tackling this SAC:

• Identify the unique conventions in the construction of the original text
• Now do Step 1 with the adapted/transformed text
• How do the two text forms differ ? How are they the same ? The most crucial step is what meaning can be derived from the similarities and differences? How does the meaning change? ‍
• Note additions and omissions (and even silences) ‍
• Historical context and setting ‍
• How does the change in form impact you as the reader/viewer ?
• Incorporate pertinent quotations from both forms of text to substantiate and support your ideas and key points.

Most importantly, share your original interpretation of what meaning and significance you can extract from the text, and how you believe it changes once the form alters.

Also ask yourself these questions:

• ‍ What makes the text in its original form interesting or unique?
• Is that quality captured in its adaptation/transformation?

‍ For more detailed explanations on these 7 aspects, you might want to check out Adaptations and Transformations Lit SAC: A How To Guide.

Developing interpretations is an AoS that focuses on investigating the meaning and messages in texts, as evidenced by the text itself, it’s author and their context . As per the study design:

'Students first develop their own interpretations of a set text, analysing how ideas, views and values are presented in a text, and the ways these are endorsed, challenged and/or marginalised through literary forms, features and language. These student interpretations should consider the historical, social and cultural context in which a text is written and set. Students also consider their own views and values as readers.'

Following this, you investigate a supplementary reading which will offer another interpretation of the text, which may enrich or challenge your interpretation by agreeing or disagreeing with your interpretation. Using this supplementary reading, you reconsider your initial interpretation and apply your new understanding of the text to key moments. 

The SAC for Developing Interpretations is a little bit weird. It’s worth 50% of unit 3 (or 25% of your total study score), but is split into two parts:

Part A: An initial interpretation of the text’s views and values within its historical, social and cultural context.

Part B: A written response that compares/interweaves and analyses an initial interpretation with a subsequent interpretation, using a key moment from the text.

Your teacher might do the two parts together, or separately. In any case, Part B will include the use of a passage from the set text that you must engage with. How does the passage help you to interpret the text, and how does that interpretation agree or disagree with the interpretation presented in the supplementary reading? 

The most difficult part of the SAC for this AoS is balancing your interpretation, the textual evidence, and the alternative interpretation of the supplementary reading. It is vital that if you are doing Literature this year, that you know your 3.2 text like the back of your hand, and that you practice writing loads and loads. It is also worth trying to make your interpretation incredibly specific, so that you can go in-depth into one idea, rather than simply skimming over 3 or 4 big ideas. 

For more on Developing Interpretations, you might want to check out VCE Literature Study Design (2023-2027): A Guide to Developing Interpretations which explains in detail what the new AoS is about and what you need to do.

And, if you're studying Alias Grace you'll find our Developing Interpretations SAC Guide on interpreting Alias Grace especially helpful.

‍ Unit 4: Interpreting Texts

Aos 1: creative response & reflective commentary.

The most important part of this task is that you must have a highly convincing connection between the original text and your creative response .

There must be a tangible relationship present, through an in-depth understanding of the original text’s features. These features include characterisation (what motivates these characters), setting, context, narrative structure, tone and writing/film style.

You can establish this relationship by: ‍

• Adopting or resisting the same genre as the original text
• Adopting or resisting the author’s writing/language style
• Adopting or resisting the text’s point of view
• Adopting or resisting the original setting, narrative structure or tone
• Writing through a peripheral character’s perspective
• Developing a prologue, epilogue or another chapter/scene
• Rewriting a key event/scene from another character’s point of view: Does this highlight how important narrative perspective is?
• Recontextualising the original text

For detailed explanations on how to establish these relationships, read "Creative Response To Text" Ideas .

The VCAA Literature Study Design also determines that students must submit a ‘close analysis of a key passage’. This aspect of the assessment counts for 20 of the 60 marks available for the Create Response outcome. The study design elaborates that students must produce:

‘A close analysis of a key passage from the original text, which includes reflections on connections between the creative response and the original text.’

In short, VCAA wants you to not only analyse the original text and use it as the basis for your Creative Response, they want you to be able to closely analyse a section of the original text, and link it to and reflect upon your creative response. This is different from previous years and the same task in English, the Reflective Commentary. You must use the skills of close analysis in this task. To include these things, look to the key knowledge and skills outlined in the study design. 

Key Knowledge:

• Understanding of the point of view, context and form of the original text
• The ways the literary form, features and language convey the ideas of the original text
• Techniques used to create, recreate or adapt a text and how they represent particular views and values

Key Skills:

• Discuss elements of construction, context, point of view and form particular to the text, and apply understanding of these in a creative response
• Analyse closely the literary form, features and language of a text
• Reflect on how language choices and literary features from the original text are used in their adaptation

As you write, ensure you are discussing how the author uses point of view, context, form, elements of construction and stylistic features in their text. It is imperative that you describe how you have similarly used such device in your creative response. Ensure that you also discuss how you are involving the ideas and themes of the text in your creative piece, and how you are discussing them further, or exploring them in greater depth. Obviously only talk about those that are relevant to your creative response!

To read a sample Reflective Commentary, check out Elly's blog post on how to Score 10/10 On The Reflective Commentary ‍

From the VCAA study design:

'In this area of study students focus on a detailed scrutiny of the language, style, concerns and construction of texts. Students attend closely to textual details to examine the ways specific passages in a text contribute to their overall understanding of the whole text. Students consider literary forms, features and language, and the views and values of the text. They write expressively to develop a close analysis, using detailed references to the text.'

In plain words, your teacher (and eventually examiner in the end of year exam) will give you 3 passages from your text. You'll be asked to read each of these passages, identify key ideas or themes present in each of the passages, and write an essay in response.

Writing the Introduction

Introductions are an excellent way to showcase your ability to provide an insight into your personal “reading” of the text, interpret the passages and allow you an avenue through which to begin your discussion of the material.

When constructing introductions, it is important to note that the VCAA Literature Exam Criteria is as follows: ‍

• Understanding of the text demonstrated in a relevant and plausible interpretation
• Ability to write expressively and coherently to present an interpretation
• Understanding of how views and values may be suggested in the text
• Analysis of how key passages and/or moments in the text contribute to an interpretation
• Analysis of the features of a text and how they contribute to an interpretation
• Analysis and close reading of textual details to support a coherent and detailed interpretation of the text
• Considering these points, your introduction should feature these 2 elements: your personal reading of the text and your interpretation of the passages.
• In terms of structure, try to begin with a sentence or two explaining your personal reading of the text. The key to doing so in a manner befitting Close Analysis however, is to utilise quotes from the passages to supplement your assertion.

Head over to Jarrod's blog to read a sample introduction: VCE Literature Close Analysis: Introduction ‍ ‍

Extra Resources

Views and Values

VCE Literature Essay Approaches - Not a Language Analysis

What is Authorial Intent in VCE English and Why Is It Important?

The Importance of Context in Literature ‍

Study Techniques: How To Approach a Text That You Hate

Why Genre Matters in VCE Literature: An Analysis of Dracula

Developing Interpretations SAC Guide: Interpreting Alias Grace

1. What are Literary Perspectives?

2. What are you expected to cover? (Literary Perspectives criteria)

3. Approaching the Task 

4. SACs, Exams, and Allocated Marks

5. How to Prepare/Improve?

What are Literary Perspectives?

This is the task that takes the longest time for all lit students to wrap their heads around. Not only is it difficult to understand what a literary perspective is but also what the essay requires you to do, so hopefully this article can help clear it all up for you!

Put simply, literary perspectives are various different lenses used for looking at all texts. Different lenses reveal, highlight and emphasise different notions in each text. To take a simple example, a Marxist might look at ‘The Great Gatsby’ how our capitalistic system underscores the motivations of Gatsby? A feminist might look towards the role of women in the text; are they only supporting characters, or do they challenge traditional gender roles?  Perhaps an experienced literature student might think this is an oversimplification, but it’s a good way to start thinking about perspectives. We will explore a little more of how to integrate and research different literary perspectives in our ‘Approaching the Task’ section.

In short, literary perspectives wants you to consider:

• How does a text change, to the reader and the writer, when we examine it through different backgrounds/perspectives?
• Can we understand the assumptions and ideas about the views and values of the text?

What are you expected to cover/do? (Literary Perspectives Criteria)

1. Structure and Cohesion

The structure of the essay and the task itself is more familiar than the close analysis essay. You respond to a topic (yes, there is only one) and you have a more “typical” essay structure with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion.

Cohesion comes from how well you can develop your overall argument. The way I like to think about it is: do my paragraphs build/relate to each other or do they have nothing to do with each other? Providing a cohesive argument and interpretation is essential, and not just for literature, this is something that will definitely be enhanced as you continue your literature journey!

2. Develop an overall Interpretation/perspective for each text

This requires a lot of research and critical readings of the wealth of criticism around the text. When you read the text, a few notable themes and ideas should be jumping out at you right away, this will be the springboard into understanding the perspectives around the text. 

For example, in ‘The Great Gatsby’, Gatsby and Buchanan are greedy and money-hungry in a world of excess and economic prosperity. Fitzgerald asks readers to consider the backbone that drives a blind devotion to the accumulation of wealth. This should remind you of Karl Marx and his comments on capitalism and communism which will then open up a large wealth of research on Marxism!

Remember, that whilst VCAA specifies that one must analyse and respond to one underlying literary perspective of the text in Section A of the exam, this isn’t as narrow as you might think. So I lied a little, sunglasses as perspectives might be a bit misleading. Because whilst you can’t wear multiple sunglasses, you can have multiple interpretations that form one perspective. It’s important to remember that what constitutes a perspective is not just one school of thought, it is your understanding, perspective and ideas. Which means that if you want to blend a Marxist and Psychoanalytic perspective, you absolutely can, BUT you need to make sure they are incorporated well together. This is because perspectives and literary ideas don’t exist in a vacuum, they work together, bounce off each other and grow over time. Greed could be something that is perpetuated by a capitalistic, market centered system but it could also be something ingrained in the human psyche. See! You’ve now turned two perspectives into one blended idea, of course it needs a lot of cultivation but you can see how these ideas begin to coexist.  

Furthermore, if you begin to understand how your text through multiple coexisting lenses’, you’ll broaden your horizon so you’ll be ready to approach any topic. In 2017, VCAA gave the topic: “To what extent is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness an indictment of colonialism?”. What happens if you didn’t choose colonialism/post-colonialism as your perspective and chose feminism instead? You would probably be freaking out in the exam. But if you understood that colonialism was motivated by the need for economic dominance (Marxist ideas) or the West’s hunger for power (psychoanalytical notions), the topic isn’t so daunting after all.

In sum, developing an interpretation is a rocky, complex and difficult ride but have patience, it will all pay off in the end. Stick around and we will give you a few tips below on how to interpret and continue to develop your interpretation! PS. Here’s a video that might be helpful if you need the extra advice: What are literary perspectives .

3. Understanding and analysis of the text through textual evidence

This should be self-explanatory at this point; everyone has been taught this since year 7: never say anything if you can’t back it up! It’s easy to get lost in your perspective when your writing, this is just a gentle reminder to never forget to use quotes and actual evidence from the text. Here’s a helpful video on how to incorporate quotes.

4. Control and effectiveness of language

Having control and effective use of language is a criteria present in both sections of Literature (and in English)! I won’t go into too much depth, but this video provides 6 great tips on improving your expression!

Approaching the Task 

So how do you best tackle the exam and the SAC?

Aforementioned, the exam will only give you one topic to respond to and your SACs will do something similar (we’ll get into this later). Here are some tips on handling lit perspectives on the exam and SAC. 

When you first see the topic, there are a few things you can do to help approach the task.

1. Highlight key words!

Again, pretty self-explanatory. It absolutely essential that you respond to the whole topic. It’s so easy to get caught up in the first half of the topic when you see a key word that you like/don’t like. But pay attention to what the topic is actually asking you to do, not just the central theme/idea that is contained within the topic.  

Find all the key close textual examples that you’d like to use. Make sure to choose ones that enhance your overall interpretation. Remember, that just because it isn’t a close analysis essay doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include close textual examples. 

Planning is a very individual task so it’s up to you to find out what works for you, but it is an essential part of the writing process. If you want a coherent interpretation, you need to know where you’re going as you write. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

3. Develop/Establish your interpretation in your introduction

By now, you know the importance of establishing a strong interpretation of your text. This needs to be established in your introduction (and that includes all the buzzwords of your interpretation). 

What I mean is, a lot of perspectives have a lot of jargon that is not always easy to read… Part of your job in your introduction is precisely to clarify some of these key jargons, it does not have to be super detailed, just give a simple definition of some of the key terms you are working with.

SACs, Exams, and Allocated Marks

This SAC comprises 50% of Unit 4 and in my opinion, was the most difficult to wrap my head around. The breakdown is as follows:

To simplify, it’s essentially like the literary perspective essay in the final exam; however, you need to “compare and analyse two pieces of literary criticism reflecting different perspectives”. Remember how I mentioned that one perspective can be a mix and blend of two different perspectives? Well this SAC is trying to teach you just that. You’ll be tasked with finding two different perspectives, but that doesn’t mean they have to be opposing at all.  The example from before: “Greed could be something that is perpetuated by a capitalistic, market centered system but it could also be something ingrained in the human psyche” is just one way in which you can take two different pieces of literary criticism reflecting different ideas and bring them together in this SAC.  

This SAC also asks you to research rigorously the literary discourse around the text, so that will be your first starting point. Find what you want to talk about and then figure out how to talk about it!

This may be classified as ‘Section A’ on the exam, but it does not have to be completed first, this is up to you! Each essay in the exam is worth 20 marks and will be double marked. The score that each examiner gives you will be added together, so both your final essays will be out of 40. 

How to Prepare (and Improve!) for your Close Analysis SAC and Exam

Everyone’s heard the phrase “practice makes perfect”, but nobody really tells you how to practice? What does practicing mean in a Lit Perspectives context? Here are a few recommendations and guidelines about how to ACE your next lit perspectives essay:

1. Read and Re-read your text (or re-watch your film)

You’ll have heard this hundreds of times but it’s absolutely essential, who knows, you might change your mind? Meanwhile you can find good quotes you like and potentially spot techniques or language devices you might have missed on the first or even second read! 

Each time you re-read, go in with fresh ideas and perspectives and search for examples that either contradict or support your interpretation. Critical reading is what us lit kids do!

2. Find buzzwords for your text or your perspective

Aforementioned, jargon and buzzwords populate the modern literature discourse for any text and perspective. It’s important that you have a firm grasp of these words and phrases. Here are some examples of a few:

• Communism/capitalism 
• Superstructure
• Institutions

Psychoanalysis:

• The unconscious
• ID, ego and superego

3. Talk to your friends and teachers, bounce ideas off each other!!!

Two minds are better than one. Not revolutionary, but unequivocally true. Whenever you are stuck in a rut, talk to your friends about what you think and maybe they can help challenge your ideas. Don’t be afraid to argue your point and be open to criticism, challenging your ideas will only help refine and enhance it. It’ll also make you consider some ideas you might not have thought about it. 

4. Write specific examples 

This is the same advice for close analysis (and any other essay for that essays). Practice writing doesn’t mean you have to write a full essay every time, this can be both draining for you and your teacher to mark. Plus, most of the time, you’ll make the same mistakes/the feedback will be same throughout the entire essay. Try little snippets of examples, paragraphs or introductions instead. 

5. Utilise all available resources 

Teachers are a hub of intelligence, ask them for questions, advice and feedback. Have a look at online resources including critical articles on your texts (not just lit charts articles). There are a bunch of different articles linked throughout this article but here are a summary of a few more articles written by some very smart LSG tutors!

Breaking down the VCE Literature Exam Criteria

Common Mistakes in VCE Literature

The Dont's of VCE Literature

So there’s approximately a month to go before the Literature exam. Nervous? Confident? Over it?! You might be thinking that they best way to study up until the exam is to just churn out essays after essays after essays. This is a common misconception, and may even hurt your chances for the exam. You want your essays to be ‘fresh’ with original insight, not stale pieces that sound like you’ve written this a hundred times and you’re getting bored. Here are a few tips on how to study for the exam while still keeping your mind activated about Literature!

Critique critical commentary

Google critical commentary on your text. You might pick up a new insight or perspective that you’ve never thought of. These can help you inform your own original and individual interpretation of the text. It is important to note that while reading critical commentary is incredibly useful in providing ‘clever’ interpretations, examiners are really looking for your own interpretation – not a regurgitated version of other people’s analyses. Rather than passively reading critical commentary, critique it yourself! Acknowledge and file away its good points, but also form your own stance with whether you agree or disagree with that point of view. Ask yourself why that is your perspective. Developing this critical analysis skill is extremely valuable, and will put you in the mindset for the exam to provide your own original interpretation that  pushes the boundaries and the envelop e.

Choose random passages and annotate

Close your eyes and pick a random a couple of passages from your text. Photocopy them, print them, however you like, but the most important thing is to spend time annotating them in as much detail as possible. Focus on analysing the language for how the author constructs the text to create meaning. Note sentences that can link to the wider text. This really forces you to analyse the most random passage in the text in extreme detail, which you might have skipped over in class or in your own reading, because it might not have seemed important at the time. Who knows, the exam could throw in a surprise passage that students might not have thought to study in great detail, and you have because you’ve been analysing passages at random – not just the major key events!

Examiner reports and  word bank

Look through VCAA examiner reports for sample excerpts from high scoring responses. Highlight words and phrases that sound ‘good’ – and adapt them to use yourself! There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration (stealing) from the examiner reports essays… after all they’re there for you to learn from. Key: you’re drawing inspiration from words, not ideas or sentences – otherwise that’s just plagiarism and won’t help at all. Create a word bank of vocabulary that suit your texts, which can be a great prompter when you’re struggling to think of a word that accurately expresses on paper what you want to say in your mind.

Timed conditions

The biggest issue with every literature student in the exam is  timing . There’s always so many things you want to write and include, that it is simply not possible to include everything. Time yourself. Practice writing in timed conditions. Be disciplined with your time – going over time for the first essay to include maybe one more good point, is to sacrifice finishing your second essay.

Exams are without a doubt a stressful period of time for all VCE students, and it can be easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with expectations, wanting to prove yourself and balancing the workload of your other exams. Find time to do small things to benefit yourself for the exam without compromising your mental power (after a very long marathon). Good luck and believe in yourself!

This blog is part of a series of blogs breaking down the 2023-2027 VCE Literature Study design. For in-depth takes on the study design and the new AoS (Developing Interpretations) check out The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature and A Guide to Developing Interpretations . 

Here, we’ll take a deep look into the SAC for Unit 3.2: Developing Interpretations. We’ll be using Margaret Atwood’s 1996 Alias Grace to demonstrate parts A and B of the SAC criteria so you can see the thinking process behind developing interpretations. 

‍ The SAC has two parts: 

Your teacher may decide to do them in two separate SACs, Part A after considering the text, and Part B after considering the supplementary reading. Or they may do them together, having you analyse a passage and answer a question just based on your own understanding of the text, and then continuing that analysis by adding the supplementary reading. 

Understanding Context

Part A of the Developing Interpretations SAC task involves the text’s 'historical, social and cultural context’, so it is imperative we have an understanding of firstly, the author and their world, and the text and its world. 

‍ Alias Grace was published in 1996, close enough to our modern times that we can consider it contemporary literature. On the surface, there is not much to link it directly to the big global events of the 1990s - like the Gulf Wars, the Monica Lewinsky scandal or the uncertainty of the new millennium. Margaret Atwood is Canadian, and the events of Alias Grace also take place in Canada; any criticism of government or cultural issues in the text can then be considered criticisms of Canadian culture, but may also be of Western or Anglo societies at large. It’s also worth keeping in mind Atwood’s track record as a feminist activist who became famous for the feminist intentions in texts like The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Cat’s Eye (1988).

The world of Alias Grace is about 150 years prior to the text’s publication. The murder that put Grace in prison occurred in 1843, and Grace died sometime around 1873. Feminism as a socio-political movement did not exist at this time, so any ‘feminist bent’ that Grace or Mary Whitney display is the result of independent dissatisfaction, not the influence of wider cultural forces. The role of psychology is strong in Alias Grace and in the afterword, Atwood notes the increasing academic interest in the mind and subconscious. Whilst we could venture into the specific who’s who of 1850s new world psychological history, it is most important to recognise that there were disparate ideas of how memory is formed and recalled, and that defiant or mentally ill women were often stigmatised and categorised as 'insane', when we would now acknowledge the range of mental health diagnoses and traumatic backgrounds that would better explain certain behaviours. Note also that mental health institutions were tools of a patriarchal system that viewed the internment of women as a means of control over women, regardless of mental illness, leading to the regular and indiscriminate use of procedures like lobotomy or Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) to keep women 'in check'. 

Part A of the SAC: An Initial Interpretation

When forming an interpretation of the text, it is necessary to first decide two things. Firstly, you need to recognise the author’s intention and what you think are the primary views and values . Then, you need to find aspects of the text that support your understanding of the text’s primary meaning.

Of all the concepts and ideas in Alias Grace , two are particularly pertinent and stick out to me as a reader. One is memory , the other is sexuality . There are of course other ideas, but these two were the big ones I noted reading the text. Thinking about what you find interesting or core to the text will help you to form an initial interpretation. Once you have the initial ideas, try to expand them into full sentences. To use memory as our example:

‍ Atwood explores the fallibility and role of memory in our understandings of ourselves and our actions, in particular, noting how people subconsciously decide which memories to keep or forget.

See how meaty this sentence is? Even if I can’t quite touch on all of these ideas in a full essay, I have so much I can talk about that it basically makes it impossible to fall short. Now, I want some aspects of the text that help provide through-lines. By this, I mean that I want a smaller part of the text that helps to exemplify my interpretation and that, preferably, would be evident in a passage analysis. I’m someone who finds structure really interesting in texts, so I look at things like form, genre and plot very closely. Alias Grace is really interesting for its use of ‘primary source’ quotes at the start of sections, as well as the fact it has basically no quotation marks to delineate dialogue. Moreover, the fact that Grace’s narration is first-person and that Jordan’s narration is third-person provides ripe territory for analysis. I need to link this to memory, and put it in a sentence:

‍ Atwood’s use of Grace’s first-person narration without quoted dialogue, thus structuring the plot around her speech and remembering, provides a long-form case study in how the psychological process of remembering helps provide understandings of the self. 

So, just based on my understanding of the context (1850s psychology and its impact on women) and the world of the text, I am able to determine my initial interpretation: that Alias Grace is about memory and forgetting in the face of trauma and an indeterminate sense of self. This idea is displayed in the structure of the text which relies heavily on displaying thought processes. 

Part B of the SAC: The Supplementary Reading

The supplementary reading can be a number of pieces of writing given to you by your teacher. This could be something written by your teacher, an explainer of a literary theory (like Marxism or feminism), or as I’ll be using here, an academic article. Check out our blog on Developing Interpretations which goes into how to read academic articles. 

The article I’ve chosen is Margaret Rogerson’s ‘Reading the Patchworks in Alias Grace’ (1998). At the core of Rogerson’s argument is that the recurring motif of sewing and patchwork is a significant indicator of Grace’s identity and her self-expression and that Atwood uses the symbolism of various quilting patterns to reflect the ambiguity of Grace’s character and our understanding of her (since quilting symbols are heavily subjective). Just based on this brief summary of Rogerson’s interpretation, we can start to see how it is somewhat at odds with my initial interpretation (from Part A) - Rogerson isn’t as concerned with memory and psychology, nor am I concerned with symbolism because I focus on structures and narrative. 

Rogerson’s article doesn’t necessarily disagree with my interpretation, in fact, both exist alongside each other quite nicely. I would phrase Rogerson’s interpretation as 'running parallel' to my own because they don’t always touch on the same ideas. Recognising where the supplementary reading sits in relation to your own interpretation is important because it helps to break down how to respond to its position and enhance your own interpretation. Try to place it on a scale of ‘total disagreement’ to ‘total agreement’. It will probably be somewhere in the middle. 

Self-Reflection and Reinterpretation

Now that I’ve read my supplementary reading and placed it in relation to my initial interpretation, I need to ask myself a few questions, and be honest with myself:

• What new information have I learnt from the reading?
• What ideas/themes/motifs did I initially ignore?
• How do these new ideas and pieces of information challenge my interpretation?
• How do these new ideas and pieces of information support my interpretation?
• Can I find links between the seemingly challenging aspects of the reading and link them to my initial interpretation? 
• Can I link specific aspects of my initial interpretation to the theories and ideas presented in the supplementary reading?

Rogerson’s article contained a lot of ideas and information that I had previously glossed over. Significantly, I learnt that 'quilt patterns [...] appear with their names as section headings throughout the text' (p. 8), a theme I hadn’t noticed. Moreover, Rogerson explains the literary and political significance of quilting and patchwork symbolism, drawing attention to the role it played in women’s lives and the inaccessibility of this symbolism to men. 

Do these new ideas challenge my interpretation? Not really. Do they fully support my interpretation? Not really, BUT, they do provide a new way of thinking about my initial interpretation. I can link the quilting symbolism to the idea of Grace’s narrative style because Rogerson emphasises that when Grace discusses quilting, she is discussing her own life. In addition, Rogerson notes that 'sections of the novel [are] separate patterns that are to be fitted into a whole quilt' (p. 8) so that 'the reader becomes a quilt maker in the process of interpreting the text' (p.9). The concept of the physical book being a ‘quilt’ supports and extends on my understanding of structure, thus allowing me to further investigate how that structure functions. 

The notion of the reader as a ‘quilt maker’ interpreting the text also allows me to consider something else I have ignored in my initial interpretation: self-presentation. I initially took for granted Grace’s investigation into her own mind, and that her novel-length yarn reflects the burgeoning field of psychology. Rogerson emphasises through the quilting work, however, that Grace’s motivations are entirely ambiguous to Jordan, the reader and others, so we have to try to decide if she is actually remembering events, or simply telling a story. At the end of the text, Grace makes her own quilt using cloth given to her or taken from the women of her past, Rogerson posing the question 'does the quilt represent memory, amnesia, or madness?' (p. 21). The result, therefore, is that my initial interpretation does make sense, but with some important new additions to be made. 

‍ Atwood’s Alias Grace investigates how individuals relate to their memories through the use of Grace Marks’ speech and interactions with medical psychology, which intend to force her to remember (1). This process of remembering, however, is simultaneously hindered and deepened by Grace’s presentation of self, which wonders into utter performativity, amnesia, and potentially disingenuous motivations for her continued speech (2). Rogerson emphasises Grace’s relationship with the language of patchwork and how this relationship influences her narrative style and remembering, and thus the reader’s ability to fit separate patterns 'into a whole quilt' (p. 8) (3).

This interpretation is significantly more chunky, but that’s because I’m trying to make the nuance of the argument incredibly clear. The first sentence (1) is a reworded version of my initial interpretation with slightly less detail. The second sentence (2) is an elaboration of my previous interpretation that includes ideas gleaned from Rogerson’s article. The final sentence (3) is a brief summary of Rogerson’s method that introduces her work as well as some extra details about Grace’s story-telling and the analysis of readers’ responses. 

The key to developing interpretations is self-reflection. Constantly question why you think the things you do, and it will force you to reconsider your interpretation. The supplementary reading is to provide you with a way to self-reflect and another interpretation to respond to. I strongly encourage those looking to do exceptionally in developing interpretations to read widely and around the text you’ve been set. Some of those texts for Alias Grace are in the resources section below.

Further Resources

Rogerson, Margaret. ‘Reading the Patchworks in Alias Grace’ The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 33 (1998): 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/002200949803300102  

The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature

VCE Literature Study Design (2023-2027): A Guide to Developing Interpretations

For Alias Grace 

Margaret Atwood’s other texts including: Cat’s Eye , The Handmaid’s Tale , and Oryx and Crake.

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles . 1916. Available here. ‍ A play cited in Rogerson’s article, featuring an accused murderess and a quilt. Sound familiar?

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams . 1899. Available Via Gutenburg ‍ A very dense text on the psychoanalysis of dreams. Useful for its discussions of symbolism as a signifier of psychology

‍ Atwood cites a number of texts in her acknowledgements (p. 543), the most interesting appear as follows:

Moodie, Susanna. Life in the Clearings . 1853

Crabtree, Adam. From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing . 1993. 

Brandon, Ruth. The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries . 1983. 

Introduction

Arguably one of the greatest modern playwrights of our time, Tennessee Williams produced some of the best post-war 1950’s American plays that have now engrained themselves as classics. After the conclusion of the second world war, America was pervaded with hypermasculinity, deep levels of insecurity and a desperate need to regain the pre-war success of the 1920s. During the 1950s, the United States began to regain its economic success and spirits were high as ever; however, this may only have been ostensible. Beneath the surface of such success lurked unshaken expectations on both men and women and deep-rooted bigotry. 

In this article, we will get to know how these concepts are explored in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and examine why this text is important in the context of Lit Perspectives and Close Analysis. ‍

Characters Analysis

Brick is too numb to feel much of anything any more; he is a drunk and cold shell of what he once was. Since the death of his friend Skipper, Brick has retreated into solitude and emotional aloofness, and the only emotions that he can express are disgust and boredom. The other characters can only coax an emotional response out of him when they mention Skipper

Maggie is a traditional 1950’s beauty, she is lively, gorgeous and has a deeply sexual presence. She spends the majority of the play trying to get Brick to sleep with her- both to satisfy her own needs, and to allow her to conceive a baby. This which would guarantee her share of the Pollitt family wealth. 

Big Daddy, like Brick, gets a lot of undeserved attention and love; this is because he sits upon the Pollitt wealth he built. He worked hard for economic success, and now he wants to enjoy it. He is uninterested in Big Mama and treats her with little affection or respect.

She is an older version of Maggie - more dramatic, needier, having let herself go. She loves her husband unconditionally despite his cruelty and indifference to her. Like Big Daddy, she cannot help but prefer Brick to Gooper because he is so much like Big Daddy. 

Brick’s older brother but has lived in his shadow since the day he was born. While Brick got the attention with looks and football, Gooper married into society and became a successful lawyer. But the unfair attention and focus on Brick has made Gooper vengeful and petty, and so it is out of both greed and spite that he actively campaigns for control of Big Daddy’s estate. 

Gooper’s wife who has all of his greed and sourness, without any of his justifying history. She taunts Maggie’s lack of motherhood by parading her plethora of children around the house. 

Concepts and Concerns 

TIP: Concepts and concerns should form the basis of your analysis whether you are doing a close analysis or a literary perspectives essay! 

MENDACITY VS TRUTH  ‍

The central tension in the play is underscored by mendacity, lying and deception. The repressed truth is constantly on the verge of being unleashed and it is the “inadmissible thing” that pervades the family. The two primary sources of mendacious repression are Brick’s homosexual desires and Big Daddy’s imminent death from cancer. Ironically, it is these two who value integrity and honesty the most. 

When Big Daddy finally finds out the truth about his impending death he exclaims: “By all the goddam lies and liars that I have had to put up with, and all the goddam hypocrisy that I lived with all these forty years that we(big mama) been living together”

In a final moment of existential dread and disgust, Brick resignedly claims that “mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out and death is another”. These are the fates that are destined for Brick and Big Daddy respectively. 

The truth (if there can be such a thing) is that both Brick and Big Daddy are loved so ardently by their partners, but they blinded by their dishonesty to themselves. It is because Brick cannot come to terms with his own sexuality and Big Daddy cannot fathom his inevitable death that lies, and deceit is perpetuated in the text. 

MASCULINITY AND HOMOSEXUALITY

Williams himself was gay and lived in a society that constantly repressed and shamed it as a deeply sinful practice and associated it with failed masculinity. Thus, he explores the deep turmoils of homosexuality in the 1950s and its implications on manliness, bigotry and society.

Whilst not stated explicitly, it is implied that Skipper confessed his love to Brick; whilst Brick felt the same way, he knew this would not be accepted by society. Consequently, he shuts Skipper down and later that night, Skipper commits suicide. Brick cannot admit the truth to himself because in his mind “purity” and “homosexuality” are mutually exclusive, due to his own internalized homophobia and even when Big Daddy makes Brick face his desires and the guilt that pervades him; he cannot escape the bigoted societal norms imbued within him

Williams paints an image of distress, pain and grief caused by the prevailing homophobia of the 1950s. Brick is crippled both by his failure as a man and his failure to be true to himself. 

THE AMERICAN DREAM 

Back in the 1950s, the American Dream was the dream that everyone was expected to aspire for was much more conservative. It included a traditional family with a stay at home mother, hard-working and masculine father, 2-3 children, a home and money, lots of it!

The Pollitt family truly embodied the American Dream. With their self-made fortune, successful sons (though Brick is now a mess) and even grandchildren. In many aspects, Gooper and Mae fulfil the expectations of the American Dream much more than Brick and Maggie do; they have children, success and ambition. They attempt to use this to their advantage in their bid to win over Big Daddy’s estate but even that fails to sway Big Daddy’s favouritism for Brick. 

Brick is as resigned and aloof to the idea of wealth and tradition as he is to his wife Maggie. His repressed homosexuality already divorces him from the ingrained social expectation of the American Dream and it disappoints him to pretend to desire the same things his brother Gooper does. This, ironically, only makes him more favoured by his parents. 

In a world of strict expectations and immovable bigotry, there is no room for homosexuality, and this disappoints no one more than Brick himself. In his world, the very essence of his being contradicts the dream that everyone is taught to value. Williams asks readers to consider the consequences of such restrictive beliefs, he questions the American dream at a fundamental level by asking: so why do we all have to want the same thing?  

MOTHERHOOD AND FEMININITY 

What does it mean to be a woman? For Mae, that means being a loving housewife and being able to bear children. In the petty feud for Big Daddy’s will, she insults Maggie’s childless state, she is less of a woman because of it. Of course, the reason Maggie cannot have children is that Brick is unwilling to sleep with her. Again, even though Mae has provided Big Daddy and Big Mama with a plethora of grandchildren, they still prefer Maggie’s young and sensual energy. 

Williams attempts to undermine the characteristics that were supposed to define women as feminine through Maggie. Moreover, women were supposed to be passive players in the family, to do their husbands bidding and to be polite and proper at all times. Maggie is none of these things. She is unapologetically sexual, unwaveringly ambitious in her pursuit of the Pollitt family wealth and determined to cement herself as Brick’s partner although she knows of his homosexual desires. In a society where women were not supposed to have dreams let alone pursue them, Maggie is a “cat on a hot tin roof”, chasing her dreams with careless disregard of established hetero norms.

Literary Perspectives 

Now we get into the tricky stuff! This is one part of your exam and is the Unit 4 Outcome 1 SAC so it’s important that you get a competent grasp of the task! TIP: Follow this link to get an overview of the literary perspectives task (I’m thinking of linking the ultimate lit perspectives guide here, let me know what you think) 

Some prevalent perspectives should jump out at you immediately just by looking at the Concepts and Concerns. Remember that you don’t have to choose just one perspective, it’s more important that you develop an overall interpretation of the text and incorporate the buzzwords that reflect your perspective. Use your perspective/interpretation as a lens to the concepts and concerns mentioned above as a springboard for your analysis

Now we get into the tricky stuff! This is one part of your exam and is the Unit 4 Outcome 1 SAC so you must get a competent grasp of the task! TIP: Follow this link to get an overview of the literary perspectives task  (I’m thinking of linking the ultimate lit perspectives guide here, let me know what you think) 

Here are some general perspectives that you might want to think about:

Think about the role the women in this text play and how they are portrayed. You have three vastly different women who all reflect the social standards that defined the 1950s in varying degrees. 

Maggie does not seem to care much about what Brick wants as much as she cares about her own needs proven when she attempts to force him to do things he doesn’t care much for (pretending he remembered Big Daddy’s birthday or sleeping with her). She stands in diametric opposition to Big Mama and Mae who are both stereotypical women of their times, always forgoing their own desires for their husbands’. In this sense, our sympathy for Maggie only confirms Williams’ notion that women should be able to freely chase their ambitions and break free of restrictive stereotypes. 

These societal standards that reinforce traditional gender roles, heterosexuality and the pervasive male gaze form what literary critics call  heteronormativity.  This is a key notion in feminism and extends this perspective to more than just an analysis of women in society. It also asks us to question how these hetero norms may influence overarching definitions of masculinity. We can see how these hetero norms have forced Brick into an empty cripple whose only clutch is alcohol and the “click” of peace he drinks for. 

TIP: Heteronormativity can also be linked to Marxism as it forms part of the superstructure (institutions and culture considered to result from and reflect the economic system underlying society) that perpetuates the belief that men must be the breadwinner to support their housewives and children. In other words, if you are not supporting your family financially, you are not considered a true man.

Some might argue that the central conflict in the play comes down to who will inherent Big Daddy’s wealth after his death and is only inflamed by Brick’s repressed sexuality.  The American Dream is literally underscored by the chasing of money! 

Consider how the class impacts the tension in the story. Because of their high social status, Brick’s sexuality is only more scandalous. Funnily enough, despite the fact that Maggie knows he does not love her, she could not care less. As I’ve probably hammered in enough by now, she has more regard for the money than Brick (though she does love him). Furthermore, Gooper’s job as a lawyer, in his mind, only further cements him claim to the Pollitt family throne because it pays well and is highly respected. 

Psychoanalysis

Pain, trauma, guilt, desire, gaze and the unconscious. All these things come into play when thinking about psychoanalysis. Popularised by Sigmund Freud who believed (and I’m simplifying here) that psychological theories and techniques could help people better understand their unconscious thoughts, feelings and desires. This is turn, would help them explain their behaviours. 

The best way to start a psychoanalysis of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is to think about what each character wants, how they are behaving and how their past might influence this. Brick’s homosexuality and the guilt he feels at Skipper’s death is a great place to start. This is also a great way to integrate to touch on other perspectives if you think about the ways in which heteronormativity or social status may have influenced his decisions back then.

Close Analysis 

TIP: Just because it’s close analysis, doesn’t mean you can forego an overall interpretation!! Remember the Concepts and Concerns of the author! Here is a link to help you out with more general close analysis advice (again same idea as previous section, to

Some might argue that the central conflict in the play comes down to who will inherit Big Daddy’s wealth after his death and is only inflamed by Brick’s repressed sexuality. The American Dream is underscored by the chasing of money! 

Consider how the class impacts the tension in the story. Because of their high social status, Brick’s sexuality is only more scandalous. Funnily enough, even though Maggie knows he does not love her, she could not care less. As I’ve probably hammered in enough by now, she has more regard for the money than Brick (though she does love him). Furthermore, Gooper’s job as a lawyer, in his mind, only further cements him claim to the Pollitt family throne because it pays well and is highly respected. 

The best way to start psychoanalysis of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is to think about what each character wants, how they are behaving and how their past might influence this. Brick’s homosexuality and the guilt he feels at Skipper’s death is a great place to start. This is also a great way to integrate to touch on other perspectives if you think about how heteronormativity or social status may have influenced his decisions back then.

TIP: Just because it’s close analysis, doesn’t mean you can forego an overall interpretation!! Remember the Concepts and Concerns of the author! Here is a link to help you out with more general close analysis advice (again same idea as the previous section, to link the ultimate guides) 

The close analysis essentially wants you to analyse the nitty-gritty of your text. Demonstrate to VCAA that you understand how language creates meaning and can support the overarching values of the author. Questions of form, structure, language devices and literary techniques all come in to play when thinking about how Tennessee Williams created meaning in the play. Think of yourself as a detective who must find the most forensic examples in supporting your overall perspective. Here are a few things you might want to consider when closely analysing ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. 

The Form – Play

The Play as a form is one of the most distinct types. It is a show for an audience and does not have as much intimacy as a novel. It has stage directions that the audience does not see and even minute punctuation that must be portrayed by actors. It is important that you can demonstrate you understand this!

Different stage directions will impact the audience in a multitude of ways. For example, Williams had detailed ‘Notes for the Designer’ that closely depicted the setting and atmosphere of the play. In it, he detailed the story of “Jack Straw and Peter Ochello, a pair of old bachelors” who were rumoured to be gay. This instantly establishes homosexuality as a backdrop of the play, it is woven into the setting. 

Or you might want to analyse the stage directions that constantly punctuate Brick’s dialogue; every time he speaks it is “absently”, “dreamily” or “vaguely”, which further emphasises his cool and aloof nature. This is in contrast to when he speaks about Skipper in which he suddenly becomes defensive; his dialogue graduates from resigned one-liners to profuse emotional rants. 

Structure – The Acts, the Setting, characters, timeframe

Whilst the form of a play is unique in itself, there are certain aspects of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ that differentiates it from others. 

For example, the play in its entirety occurs within one day. This emphasises the extent to which the Pollitt family had already been teetering on the edge of unleashing the secrets of the family. The confirmation of Big Daddy’s death only opens this up further and unwinds the atmosphere of secrecy, denial and mendacity in merely a few hours. 

This is only heightened by the fact that the entire play occurs in one room, the “bed-sitting-room” of the plantation home. Therefore, no matter how hard the family tries to escape the truth, the claustrophobia created by having so many of them in one room together acts as a catalyst for the truth to be revealed. 

Also, consider how these characters are established! What has been said explicitly and what has been alluded to. For example, it is never explicitly said that Brick is gay or that Big Daddy will die (to his face at least). In some ways, despite the fact that everyone knows the truth, it is still a truth too difficult to bear and speaking it out loud will only confirm what they have been in denial about for so long. 

How Genre Works

We’re not supposed to judge a book based on its cover, but for some reason, we just can’t help it. Sure, we may not be able to tell if we’re going to enjoy the book, nor can we tell what exactly it’s about, but we can tell the tone, set our expectations, and most importantly, guess at the genre. Look at these three book covers and note how they perfectly show their genres - Sci-Fi, Horror and Life Drama, respectively. 

Genre is a way of categorising media. We split books, film and music into genres in order to better talk about them and because humans have a strange desire to sort and categorise things. Within whatever medium, genres display certain structures, characters and tropes that audiences expect from that genre . Audiences like to be able to tell the genre of a text because it’s comfortable. If I go to see a superhero movie I expect wacky costumes, cliche dialogue and a final battle scene that the heroes win - were these expectations not to be met, I would likely be a little bit peeved off. 

But why should you care about genre in VCE Literature? It’s not on the study design?  

Well, not explicitly. In each AoS of the study design, you must engage with ‘the ways the literary forms, features and language of texts affect the making of meaning’ , and/or ‘the ideas of a text and the ways in which they are presented’ . Genres are a feature of texts and are one of the ways that a text will present its ideas. Horror is the most notable example of a genre that uses its tropes to send a message - It Follows is a horror where the monster stands in for sexually transmitted disease, Carrie uses horror to show the horrors of high school, Frankenstein is a criticism of those who would ‘play god’. In the Literature study design, the horror genre is represented by Bram Stoker’s 1897 masterpiece, Dracula.  

For an overview of the Literature study design, check out The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature . 

Dracula + The Gothic

I invite you to think hard about the horror films you’ve seen and to try to place Dracula into our modern view of horror. It’s hard to put Stoker’s vampire on the same stage as the Babadook , Annabelle or even the ‘70s slasher craze. This gives us an incredible opportunity to consider how audiences engaged and continue to engage with genres. In order to analyse genre, it is essential to recognise what the audience’s expectations were of a genre, and how the author has utilised those expectations for their own ends. Let’s consider Dracula in context .

‍ Dracula is a horror novel. But, we usually don’t think about those uptight Victorians reading texts that were designed expressly to scare. The Victorian era was actually one of the golden ages of horror literature though. But, it is distinctly different from our modern understandings of horror as defined by trailblazers like Stephen King. So, why is it different? It is here we must consider the sub-genre. If you have read anything about Dracula , you’ll note that it is referred to as a ‘gothic horror’ . The gothic genre of literature encapsulates some of the 19th century and certainly the Victorian period’s (1837-1901) best literature. Dracula of course belongs to this group, but it blows up around 1818 with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein . Edgar Allen Poe, with his short stories and poetry, is widely lauded as the ‘Father of American Gothic’, with ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ published in 1839. Note the dates here. Stoker published Dracula in 1897, a good 79 years after Frankenstein began haunting readers. Which means he had an established and large genre to work with. So, how did Stoker use the gothic in Dracula?

Tropes of the Gothic

1) the gothic monster.

The vampire myth used by Stoker is turned into the quintessential gothic monster. Dracula existed in the Victorian mind alongside Frankestein’s monster, Mr. Hyde, and Poe’s mixture of humans made monstrous and surreal monsters like that in ‘The Masque of the Red Death’. The defining feature of the gothic monster is its role in the story as a representation of something wrong with society, whether it’s increasingly amoral medicinal science, human greed or perverted desire. 

2) The Creepy Castle

The creepy castle doesn’t have to be a castle. It can be a mansion, a university or the graveyards of London. The important thing is that the setting of the gothic novel should always be - by default - terrifying and evoke a sense of danger. You can never get comfortable in Dracula’s castle, nor in Seward’s asylum, and neither can the characters. 

3) Damsel/s in Distress

For sure an outdated trope, but a constant in the gothic. It’s a quick and simple way to show that the innocence of young women is threatened by a malignant force. In Dracula , look to Mina, Lucy and Mrs. Westenra. But what happens when the damsel saves herself?

4) Omens, Portents, Visions

Visions in dreams? Random wild animals escaping from ships? Ships docking with a completely dead crew? Random changes in the weather? You might be dealing with a gothic villain, or going mad. In either case, Renfield, Dracula, Mina and Jonothan all deal with portents and visions. 

And This Is Important Because…

Stoker has followed the predominant tropes of the gothic horror genre. Why is this important for our analysis of Dracula ? The ways in which authors use genre and other stylistic elements like form, voice or plot relate directly to their intentions. If we investigate the particular aspects of Stoker’s use of the gothic, we may better understand the views and values that he is promoting. For instance, let’s take Dracula as the gothic monster. Since the gothic monster is always a way to reflect society back onto itself, how is Stoker doing that? A feminist analysis might take Dracula as a reflection of sexual deviancy, which then ties into his constant threat towards women. A post-colonial analysis might question the foreignness of Dracula, and view him as a part of the intrusiveness of foreigners in English society. Either way, you’re touching on a view or value presented by Stoker, and tying it to an aspect of the gothic genre in a way that conveniently also touches on characterisation. 

Let’s complicate things a little more. The ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope is clearly evident in Dracula , but what view or value is Stoker commenting on by its inclusion? The simplest answer is that, by showing that women cannot save themselves, Stoker is saying that women are inherently weak and need to be saved by men. But this answer isn’t sufficient for a number of reasons. Firstly, what are the women weak to? Is it a physical mismatch between the women and Dracula, keeping in mind that Dracula is also stronger than the novel’s men? Or is it a symbolic weakness to some aspect of Dracula’s character, be it sexuality or magic? Secondly, and more importantly, are all the women victimised by Dracula the same? Well, obviously not. 

It could very well be argued that Stoker is subverting the ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope by actually giving us a woman who is able to be her own saviour (which is actually becoming a trope in itself nowadays!). The dichotomy between Lucy and Mina is a crucial aspect of the text, and the way that Mina’s character doesn’t quite fit into the ‘Damsel in Distress’ archetype is a major interpretative dilemma. By considering the genre tropes, Lucy is clearly a ‘Damsel in Distress’ who cannot save herself and is unduly victimised by Dracula. It can be argued that her implicit promiscuousness is punished through her murder, but in whatever case, she is distressed and must be saved. Mina, however, has an entirely different view of her distresses. Not only does Mina take on a caring role towards Jonothan - in which Jonothan becomes a ‘Master in Distress’ - she actively supports the attempts to save her and kill Dracula. By compiling the journals, letters and newspaper clippings into the epistolary that we the audience are reading, and using herself as a window into Dracula’s mind through their psychic connection, Mina proves to be a means by which to save herself from her distress. So, the question of what Stoker actually thinks about women is still quite open: Lucy is seemingly punished for her character flaws, which indicates a misogynist view of women’s sexuality, but Mina is praised for her use of masculine qualities like leadership and stoicism. Is Stoker saying women should be more masculine? Less masculine and more traditionally feminine? This entire discussion revolves around how and why the ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope is being followed or subverted. 

Using Genre in VCE

Whilst a genre-based analysis (or a structural analysis) can be a fantastic way to open up discussion and leads to important questions about views and values , the way I have presented it may appear to be another useless and long-winded thing you have to try to shove into an essay when you already have to balance so much in Literature! Fear not, because there are a couple of really easy ways to fit genre into essays without taking up loads of space.

Option one is to use a genre trope as the basis of a paragraph. If your essay contention is that…

‍ ‘Stoker presents the dangers of foreign immigration to England at the height of its colonial empire’

…then you can easily write a paragraph discussing that…

‍ ‘Stoker employs the gothic trope of a supernatural monster in Dracula, using this vampire as a stand-in for foreigners in England’.

This paragraph would discuss Dracula’s characterisation, and the settings of Transylvania and London, whilst investigating Stoker’s views on England’s colonialism and race. In a Developing Interpretations or Close Analysis essay, you’ve just touched on several key criteria, including the author’s views and values , your own credible interpretation of the text and how the text presents its messaging (through characterisation and setting). You can do all these things without mentioning genre, but by explicitly using the language of genre analysis you are likely separating yourself from the student next to you - who had a similar idea but described it in a less interesting way. This is the utility of understanding genre, it gives you the words and concepts necessary to improve your writing and interpretation. The ‘Gothic monster’ is an easy way to describe an otherwise GIANT concept.

Another way is to add it to other analyses in passing. Instead of saying “ Dracula presents Lucy and Mina as foils to demonstrate the ways in which modern women’s promiscuity is ultimately harmful”, you can say “the presentation of Lucy and Mina as two ‘damsels in distress’ in dichotomy with each other demonstrates the differing ways in which Victorian women could doom or save themselves” . The latter sentence has not significantly changed the content of the first, still referring to the women’s opposition to each other, but by phrasing it with ‘damsels in distress’ I leave open the possibility of discussing not just Lucy’s promiscuity, but also Mina’s conservative womanhood. 

Finally, you need not even mention genre or its tropes in the essay, just use it as a thinking tool. If you go back through the previous section of this blog, you’ll see just how many questions I am asking about the tropes and ideas I am discussing. By using the trope as a jumping-off point for a series of questions, I can develop a nuanced understanding of multiple views and values and the ways in which they interconnect. Take a trope like the ‘creepy castle’ and ask:

“Why would Stoker put Dracula manor in the text?”

“Because it sets up the ‘otherness’ of Dracula.”

“Why do we need to know that Dracula is the other?” 

“Because he represents a supernatural foreignness that we need to be scared of.”

“Okay, but why is it right at the start, why is it from Jonothan’s perspective?” 

All of these questions offer ways of breaking down the text and they will naturally lead to questions about structure, characterisation and views and values. In doing this, you can start to come up with ways to turn those questions, or the order of those questions into an essay structure. Moreso, this type of questioning is what your teacher, tutors and top-tier Literature students are doing. It is a constant process of asking, answering, reconsidering, reasking and synthesising. And genre is an easy way to start the process. 

Good Literature essays generally tend to be more lively and expressive than English essays. Why? Because Literature just doesn't operate under the same criteria, and it shouldn't be treated as such.

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• Published: 10 September 2024

Stepwise de novo establishment of inactive X chromosome architecture in early development

• Zhenhai Du 1 , 2   na1 ,
• Liangjun Hu 1 , 2   na1 ,
• Zhuoning Zou 1 , 2   na1 ,
• Meishuo Liu 2 , 3   na1 ,
• Zihan Li 1 , 2 ,
• Xukun Lu 1 , 2 ,
• Clair Harris 4 ,
• Yunlong Xiang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7481-7174 5 ,
• Fengling Chen 1 , 2 ,
• Guang Yu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1049-2462 1 , 2 ,
• Kai Xu 1 , 2 ,
• Feng Kong 1 , 2 ,
• Qianhua Xu 1 , 2 ,
• Bo Huang 6 ,
• Ling Liu 1 , 2 ,
• Qiang Fan 1 , 2 ,
• Haifeng Wang   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0001-2989-3637 2 , 3 ,
• Sundeep Kalantry   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0763-8050 4 &
• Wei Xie   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2126-3849 1 , 2  

Nature Genetics ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

• Embryogenesis
• Epigenetics
• Epigenomics
• Gene regulation

X chromosome inactivation triggers a dramatic reprogramming of transcription and chromosome architecture. However, how the chromatin organization of inactive X chromosome is established de novo in vivo remains elusive. Here, we identified an Xist -separated megadomain structure (X-megadomains) on the inactive X chromosome in mouse extraembryonic lineages and extraembryonic endoderm (XEN) cell lines, and transiently in the embryonic lineages, before Dxz4 -delineated megadomain formation at later stages in a strain-specific manner. X-megadomain boundary coincides with strong enhancer activities and cohesin binding in an Xist regulatory region required for proper Xist activation in early embryos. Xist regulatory region disruption or cohesin degradation impaired X-megadomains in extraembryonic endoderm cells and caused ectopic activation of regulatory elements and genes near Xist , indicating that cohesin loading at regulatory elements promotes X-megadomains and confines local gene activities. These data reveal stepwise X chromosome folding and transcriptional regulation to achieve both essential gene activation and global silencing during the early stages of X chromosome inactivation.

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Data availability

The raw sequence data reported in this paper have been deposited in the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) with the accession number GEO: GSE206011 . Accession codes of the published data in GEO used in this study are as follows: Hi-C of one-cell, eight-cell, ICM and mESCs, GSE82185 ; RNA-seq of WT NPCs, and Hi-C of WT and Smchd1 − /− NPCs, GSE99991 ; Hi-C of male E6.5 VE, GSE76505 ; H3K27ac CUT&RUN of late two-cell and morula, GSE207222 ; H3K27ac STAR ChIP–seq of E6.5 epiblast and E7.5 ectoderm, GSE125318 ; Hi-C of WT and Xist Δ TTFs, GSE67516 . H3K27me3 STAR-ChIP-seq of MII oocytes, late two-cell and eight-cell, GSE76687 ; RNA-seq and H3K27ac STAR-ChIP-seq of RAD21-AID mESCs, GSE139430 . Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

All data were analyzed using published pipelines with parameters described in Methods . All custom codes are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13234193 (ref. 119 ).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to members of the Xie laboratory for their discussion and comments during the preparation of the manuscript. We thank the Animal Center and Biocomputing Facility at Tsinghua University for their support. We thank X. Shen for sharing plasmids. This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31988101 to W.X.), the National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFA1100102 and 2019YFA0508900 to W.X., 2022YFC3400204 to H.W.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31830047, 31725018 to W.X., 32270573 to H.W.), the Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences (W.X. and H.W.), a United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) NIGMS R01 Award (R01GM124571 to S.K.), an NIH NICHD R01 Award (R01HD095463 to S.K.) and the China Postdoctoral Science Fund-Special Fund (Z.D.). Z.D. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the THU-PKU Center for Life Sciences. H.W. is supported by Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program and the Benyuan Charity Fund. W.X. is a recipient of an HHMI International Research Scholar award and a New Cornerstone Investigator.

Author information

These authors contributed equally: Zhenhai Du, Liangjun Hu, Zhuoning Zou, Meishuo Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Zhenhai Du, Liangjun Hu, Zhuoning Zou, Zihan Li, Xukun Lu, Fengling Chen, Guang Yu, Kai Xu, Feng Kong, Qianhua Xu, Ling Liu, Qiang Fan & Wei Xie

Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China

Zhenhai Du, Liangjun Hu, Zhuoning Zou, Meishuo Liu, Zihan Li, Xukun Lu, Fengling Chen, Guang Yu, Kai Xu, Feng Kong, Qianhua Xu, Ling Liu, Qiang Fan, Haifeng Wang & Wei Xie

Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Meishuo Liu & Haifeng Wang

Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Clair Harris & Sundeep Kalantry

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

Yunlong Xiang

Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

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Contributions

Z.D. and W.X. conceived the project. Z.D., L.H., Z.Z., H.W., S.K. and W.X. designed experiments. Z.D., L.H. and Z.L. conducted the sisHi-C experiments. Z.D., Z.Z. and L.H. performed the CUT&RUN experiments. Z.D. performed the STAR ChIP–seq experiments. Z.Z. and Z.D. conducted the RNA-seq experiments. M.L. performed the RNA and DNA-FISH experiments. X.L., Y.X., Z.D., Q.X., B.H., K.X. and F.K. performed the mouse embryo experiments with the help of L.L. and Q.F. F.K. and K.X. performed the microinjection. L.H., Z.Z. and Z.L. performed dTAG, knock in, and KO experiments in XEN cells. C.H. generated the XEN cells with hybrid genetic background. Z.Z. and L.H. performed MEF immortalization. Z.D. performed bioinformatic analyses with the help of Z.Z., F.C. and G.Y. H.W., S.K. and W.X. supervised the project or related experiments. Z.D. and W.X. wrote the manuscript with input from other authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Haifeng Wang , Sundeep Kalantry or Wei Xie .

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Extended data

Extended data fig. 1 mapping global x chromosome organization during early mouse development..

a , Bar chart showing the reproducibility scores of Xi or Xa+Xi (Epi) chromosomal interaction frequencies (2 replicates for morula, TE, VE and Epi; 3 replicates for 8-cell, ICM and ExE) using GenomeDISCO 110 , 111 (Methods). iXCI, imprinted XCI. rXCI, random XCI. b , Heatmaps showing differential X chromosome interaction matrices (Xp - Xm or Xi - Xa) (250-Kb bin) in mouse embryos and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) 18 . Other Hi-C datasets were from female embryos or cells. c , Contact decay profiles of the Xa and Xi at various stages for female mouse embryos and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) 18 . d , Principal component analysis (PCA) with Hi-C interaction matrices (500-Kb bin) of Xi in mouse embryos with replicates. Green, orange, and grey colors show the early-XCI, late-XCI, and post-XCI stages, respectively. The trajectory of Xi Hi-C interaction dynamics is also shown.

Source data

Extended data fig. 2 dynamics of x chromosomal compartments during mouse embryogenesis..

a , Allelic correlation heatmaps (500-Kb bin) of maternal and paternal chr3 in early mouse embryos and NPCs. Principal component 1 (PC1) values are also shown. b , Boxplots showing the lengths of the compartments on the Xa or Xi of mESCs (n = 42), E3.5 ICM (Xa n = 51; Xi n = 32), TE (Xa n = 51; Xi n = 33), WT (Xa n = 42; Xi n = 17) and Smchd1 − / − (Xi n = 22) XEN cells, and WT (Xa n = 54; Xi n = 18) and Smchd1 − / − NPCs (Xi n = 28). The compartment lengths of chr3 in mESCs (n = 27), E3.5 ICM (maternal n = 27; paternal n = 32) and TE (maternal n = 30; paternal n = 31) are also shown as control. P values, Wilcoxon rank-sum (Wilcox) test (unpaired, one-sided). c , Western blot for SMCHD1 in WT and Smchd1 − / − XEN cells (n = 2 biological replicates). d , Heatmaps showing allelic X chromosomal interaction frequencies (500-Kb bin) in WT and Smchd1 −/− NPCs and XEN cells. The PC1 values are also shown. e , PCA based on compartment values (500-Kb bin) of Xa (red) and Xi (blue) in E3.5 ICM and TE, and compartment values (500-Kb bin) of Xi in WT and Smchd1 −/− XEN cells and NPCs. f , Hierarchical clustering of the Xa and Xi of mESC, E3.5 ICM, E3.5 TE, WT and Smchd1 −/− XEN cells and NPCs based on their PC1 values (500-Kb bin).

Extended Data Fig. 3 X chromosomal TAD dynamics in early mouse development.

a , Top, heatmaps showing the normalized allelic average interaction frequencies (40-Kb bin) for chrX TADs (defined in mESCs 80 ) as well as their nearby regions (±1 TAD length) in mouse embryos and NPCs. Bottom, the average insulation scores at chrX TADs (defined in mESCs 80 ) and nearby regions (±1 TAD length) are shown for each allele in mouse embryos and NPCs. b , Boxplots showing the allele-specific expression (FPKM) ratios (Xp/(Xm+Xp)) of 8-cell silenced genes and ICM silenced genes in individual replicates. c , The UCSC browser views showing the CTCF and SMC3 binding in E6.5 VE and ExE. d , Scatterplots showing the allelic read counts mapped to biallelic (grey), maternal (Xa, red), and paternal (Xi, blue) specific CTCF and SMC3 peaks for chrX in E6.5 VE and ExE. e , Schematic showing the dynamics of allelic chrX TADs in mouse embryos. Globally, the Xi TAD is comparable with Xa in strengths in 8-cell embryos and morulae, and gradually decreases from E3.5 ICM and TE to E6.5 VE and ExE. The TADs including early silenced genes are also attenuated in 8-cell embryos.

Extended Data Fig. 4 X-megadomains in extraembryonic and embryonic tissues.

a , Allelic Hi-C heatmaps (500-Kb bin) of chrX in E6.5 VE (n = 2) and ExE (n = 3) replicates. Black arrows, X-megadomain boundary. b , Allelic Hi-C heatmaps (500-Kb bin) of chrX in E6.5 VE and ExE generated with cross or reciprocal cross. Black arrows, X-megadomain boundary. Green arrows, the insulation at Dxz4 . c , Left, Xi Hi-C heatmaps (250-Kb bin) in XEN cells. Right, Xi insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window). Black arrows, X-megadomain boundary. Green arrows, D-megadomain boundary. Boundary, the boundaries identified with the insulation score analysis. Boundary strength is indicated by the height of the bar. Red bar, the strongest boundary. d , Top, scheme of DNA FISH probes. Bottom left, images of RNA- and DNA- FISH; dashed circles, nuclei. Bottom right, boxplot showing distances of probes e-c and c-d on the Xi and Xa in DNA-FISH. P values, two-tailed t-test. n denotes the number of cells analyzed. Centre lines, medians. e , Boxplots showing distances of probes a-c and b-d (top) or e-c and c-d (bottom) on the Xi and Xa in 3D DNA-FISH with 3 replicates. P values, two-tailed t-test. n denotes the number of cells analyzed. f , Boxplots showing allelic ratio (Xp FPKM/(Xm+Xp FPKM)) of SNP trackable X-linked genes on Xi of WT and Eed mNull E7.5 ExE. g , Comparison of the DM Xi and Xi for E6.5 VE for insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) (left), correlation heatmaps (middle), and average insulation score (50-Kb bin, 1-Mb window) at chrX TADs (defined in mESCs 80 ). h , The average insulation scores (50-Kb bin, 1-Mb window) at chrX TADs (defined in mESC 80 ) for both the DM Xi and male Xa in VE, Epi, Ect, E9.5 and E13.5 fibroblast. fib, fibroblast. i , Allelic Xa and Xi gene expression (left, n = 154), Xi Hi-C heatmap (500-Kb bin) (middle), and insulation score (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) for the entire Xi or a 20-Mb region near Xist (right) in E9.5 yolk sac. Boundary, the boundaries identified with insulation score analysis. Red bar, the strongest boundary. Black arrows, X-megadomain boundary.

Extended Data Fig. 5 X-megadomains coincide with strong H3K27ac and cohesin within Xist -Xi-TAD.

a , Xi insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) of MEFs, VE, and XEN cells with different strains. Boundary, the boundaries identified with the insulation score analysis. Red bar, the strongest boundary. b , The UCSC browser views showing the CTCF signals around the Dxz4 region on the Xi for MEFs from different strains. The assembled genomes of C57BL/6J 53 and PWK/PhJ with the third-generation sequencing (TGS) data are shown. CTCF motifs and the genomic deletions relative to mm9 are also indicated. c , Top, Hi-C heatmaps (25-Kb bin) of the Xi (100.5–101 Mb) of XEN cells and MEFs. Middle, the location of Xist -Xi-TAD (blue) and XRR (green). The H3K27me3 is shown above. Bottom, insulation scores profiles (5-Kb bin, 200-Kb window). d , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27ac signals with all chrX reads in MEFs, E6.5 Epi, E7.5 Ect, XEN cells, E6.5 VE, and ExE. X-megadomain specific H3K27ac peaks are shaded. e , Bar chart showing the peak numbers of H3K27ac, NIPBL, SMC3, and CTCF signals within XRR in E6.5 VE, XEN cells, and MEFs. f , Hi-C heatmaps (25-Kb bin) of the Xi (99.5–102.5 Mb) of E6.5 VE and ExE, XEN cells, and MEFs. Black arrows, interaction insulation between Xist -Xi-TAD and nearby regions. H3K27ac signals and local PC1 values are also shown. g , Xi insulation score profiles (5-Kb bin, 200-Kb window) (100–101.5 Mb) in E6.5 VE, ExE, XEN cells, and MEFs. Dashed lines indicate the Xist -Xi-TADs. h , Bar chart showing the numbers of escapees in E6.5 VE, ExE, XEN cells, and MEFs. i , Schematic showing the distribution of escapees on Xi (98–104 Mb) in E6.5 VE, ExE, XEN cells, and MEFs. Green, Xist . Orange, escapees. The gene numbers are also shown. j , Pile-up heatmaps showing the interactions (5-Kb bin) between escape genes or Xi silenced genes in E6.5 ExE and XEN cells. The gene numbers are also shown. k , Cumulative distribution plots for insulation scores (50-Kb bin) on the Xa (red) and Xi (blue) between escape genes or Xi silenced genes in E6.5 ExE and XEN cells. P values, two-sided Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Knockout of XRR impairs Xi Xist expression, gene silencing and chromatin structure.

a , Schematic of Xi Xist -pA KI (knockin) XEN cells. b , The UCSC browser views showing gene derepression on the Xi of Xist -pA, XRR Δ , and XRRa Δ XEN cells. c , Boxplots showing the gene expression levels of escapee, derepressed, and not derepressed genes on the Xi of WT, Xist -pA, XRR Δ , and XRRa Δ XEN cells. d , The UCSC browser views showing the Xi H3K27me3 dynamics in WT and mutant XEN cells. H3K27me3 on the Xa of WT XEN cells is also shown. Regions showing the loss of H3K27me3 in Xist -pA and XRR Δ cells are shaded in purple. Xic ( X-inactivation center ), where H3K27me3 is absent, is also indicated. e , Probability density plots of H3K27ac signals from the JF1/Ms allele among total reads (%JF1) of chr5 (top) or chrX (bottom) in WT and mutant XEN cells. P values, two-sided KS test. f , Line plot showing the enrichment of H3K9me3 (normalized RPKM) in WT XEN cells at TSSs of escape genes, derepressed genes, and genes not derepressed. g , Cumulative distribution plots for insulation scores (50-Kb bin, 1-Mb window) on the Xa (red) and Xi (blue) in WT, Xist -pA, XRR Δ , and XRRa Δ XEN cells. P values, two-sided KS test. h-i Probability density plots of CTCF (h) or SMC3 (i) binding on the JF1/Ms allele out of total reads (%JF1) of chr5 or chrX in WT and mutant XEN cells. P values, two-sided KS test.

Extended Data Fig. 7 X-megadomains require XRR and the expression of Xist in XEN cells.

a , Xi Hi-C interacting heatmaps (100-Kb bin) between 90–110 Mb and 0–50 Mb in WT and mutant XEN cells. b-c , Xi insulation score profiles (500-Kb bin, 20-Mb window) of 90–110 Mb (b) and 97.5–102 Mb ( c) of WT and mutant XEN cells. PC1 values and CTCF and SMC3 signals are shown below. Red arrows, the minimum values of the insulation score. Dashed lines, the X-megadomain boundary in WT and the shifted boundaries in Xist -pA and XRR Δ XEN cells. d , Xi insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) of a 20-Mb region around Xist in WT and mutant XEN cells with replicates (n = 2). Black dashed line, Xist . e , Top, Xi Hi-C heatmaps (500-Kb bin) of WT and Xist Δ tail-tip fibroblasts (TTFs) (Minajigi et al., 2015). Black arrows, D-megadomain boundaries. Middle, the boundaries identified by insulation score with strengths. Red bar, the strongest boundary. Bottom, differential heatmap between Xist Δ and WT TFFs. Xi insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) in WT (blue) and Xist Δ (red) TTFs are also shown. f , Schematic of XRRb and XRRc knockout in XEN cells. g , Bar chart showing the expression levels of Xist (2 replicates) in Xa Δ XRRb , Xi Δ XRRb , Xa Δ XRRc , and Xi Δ XRRc XEN cells. Independent replicates are indicated as dots. h , Scatter plots comparing the expression of X-linked genes on Xi between Xa Δ XRRb and Xi Δ XRRb XEN cells (top) and between Xa Δ XRRc and Xi Δ XRRc XEN cells (bottom). Blue, Xist . i , The UCSC browser views showing the Xi H3K27me3 distribution in WT and mutant XEN cells. H3K27me3 for Xa of WT XEN cells is also shown. Xic , where H3K27me3 is absent, is also indicated. j , Top, Xi Hi-C heatmaps (500-Kb bin) of Xa Δ XRRb , Xi Δ XRRb , Xa Δ XRRc , and Xi Δ XRRc XEN cells. Boundary, the boundaries identified with the insulation score analysis with strengths. Red bar, the strongest boundary. Bottom, Xi insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) of Xa Δ XRRb (blue), Xi Δ XRRb (red), Xa Δ XRRc (blue), and Xi Δ XRRc (red) XEN cells.

Extended Data Fig. 8 XRRa is required for proper Xist expression and imprinted XCI in mouse morula embryos.

a , The UCSC browser views showing the genomic sequencing signals in control and Xp XRRa Δ female morula embryos. The location of XRRa is shaded in green. b , Bar chart showing the expression levels of Xist in the Xm of female control (n = 3) and Xp XRRa Δ embryos (n = 4) with each replicate from a genotype-verified embryo. Independent replicates are indicated as dots. P values, two-tailed t-test. The error bars denote the standard deviation, and the center values denote the mean. c , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27me3 signals in MII oocytes, late 2-cell and 8-cell embryos. d , Bar chart showing the expression level of Xist in MEF (n = 2), Epi (n = 1), VE (n = 3), ExE (n = 2), and XEN (n = 3). Independent replicates are indicated as dots. The error bars denote the standard deviation, and the center values denote the mean.

Extended Data Fig. 9 Cohesin is essential for X-megadomains and CTCF only partially contributes to X-megadomains.

a , The UCSC browser views showing the CTCF and SMC3 signals with all chrX reads around Xist -Xi-TAD in XEN cells, E6.5 VE, Epi, E9.5 and E13.5 fibroblast, and MEFs. Regions enriching SMC3 binding specifically in cells with X-megadomains are shaded. fib, fibroblast. b , Western blot for RAD21 (left, n = 3) or CTCF (right, n = 2) in WT and RAD21 or CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG. c , The average insulation scores (50-Kb bin, 1-Mb window) at chrX TAD boundaries (defined in mESCs 80 ) are shown for each allele in RAD21 (left) or CTCF (right) -FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG with replicates. d , Correlation heatmaps (500-Kb) of the Xi in RAD21 (left) or CTCF (right) -FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG. The PC1 values are also shown. e , Xi Hi-C heatmaps (250-Kb bin) in CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG for 48 h. The differential heatmaps between dTAG and DMSO treated CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells are also shown (right). Black arrows, X-megadomain boundaries; red arrows, decreased intra-domain interactions; green arrows, increased distal interactions between the X-megadomains. Boundary, the boundaries identified with the insulation score analysis with strengths. Red bar, the strongest boundary. f , Insulation score profiles (1-Mb bin, 20-Mb window) of whole Xi (left) and a 20-Mb region around Xist (right) for the Xi of CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO (blue) or dTAG (red) with replicates. Black dashed lines, Dxz4 and Xist . g , Bar charts showing the expression levels of Xist in RAD21 (n = 4) (left) or CTCF (n = 2) (right) -FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG. Independent replicates are indicated as dots. P value, two-tailed t-test. The error bars denote the standard deviation, and the center values denote the mean.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Cohesin degradation disrupts X-megadomains and leads to ectopic H3K27ac occurrence near Xist.

a , Scatter plots comparing the expression of X-linked genes on the Xa (left) or Xi (right) in DMSO or dTAG treated RAD21-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells. Red, up-regulated genes; blue, down-regulated genes. b , Boxplots showing the gene expression levels of Xi silenced genes and escape genes on the Xa and Xi of RAD21-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG (replicates; n = 4). P values, two-sided Wilcox test. c , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27ac dynamics on the Xi of RAD21-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG in two replicates. The location of XRR is shaded in orange (bottom middle). Regions with ectopic H3K27ac peaks in mutant cells are shaded in green. d , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27ac dynamics on the Xi of CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG (n = 2). The location of XRR is shaded in orange. e , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27ac (n = 2) and RNA signals (n = 2) around Eda2r locus on the Xi of CTCF-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG. f , FACS profiles for DNA content in asynchronized (asyn) and synchronized XEN cells at G0, S, and M phase. g , The UCSC browser views showing the H3K27ac dynamics on the Xi of RAD21-FKBP12 F36V XEN cells treated with DMSO or dTAG and WT XEN cells synchronized at different cell cycle stages. h , Heatmaps of H3K27ac on autosomes from RAD21-AID mESCs treated with H 2 O or Auxin for 6 and 24 h. i , Boxplots showing the expression levels of genes closest to the unaffected (n = 14001), ectopic (n = 6870) and lost (n = 1954) H3K27ac peaks on autosomes in RAD21-AID mESCs treated with H 2 O or Auxin. j , Boxplots showing the distances from super enhancers to randomly selected or ectopic H3K27ac peaks (n = 3205) on autosomes in RAD21-AID mESCs treated with H 2 O or Auxin.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information.

Supplementary Fig. 1.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary tables 1–4.

Table 1. Sequencing information summary; Table 2. Early and late silenced gene lists in early embryos; Table 3. Derepressed gene list in XEN mutants; Table 4. Oligonucleotides used in this study.

Supplementary Table 5

Supplementary Table 5. SNP table for XEN cells used in this study.

Source data—numerical source data

Statistical source data for Figs. 3a,b,d; 4d; 6b,g,i and 7b,i,j and Extended Data Figs. 1a; 2b; 4c–e,g,i; 5a; 7b,c,g; 8b,c; 9f and 10i,j.

Source data—unprocessed blots

Unprocessed blots and gels for Extended Data Figs. 2c and 9b.

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Du, Z., Hu, L., Zou, Z. et al. Stepwise de novo establishment of inactive X chromosome architecture in early development. Nat Genet (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01897-2

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• Published: 09 September 2024

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the SPL gene family and its response to abiotic stress in barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.)

• Ailing He 1 ,
• Hui Zhou 2 ,
• Chao Ma 1 ,
• Qing Bai 1 ,
• Haizhu Yang 1 ,
• Xin Yao 1 ,
• Weijiao Wu 1 ,
• Guoxing Xue 1 &
• Jingjun Ruan 1  

BMC Genomics volume  25 , Article number:  846 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Squamosa promoter-binding protein-like (SPL) is a plant-specific transcription factor that is widely involved in the regulation of plant growth and development, including flower and grain development, stress responses, and secondary metabolite synthesis. However, this gene family has not been comprehensively evaluated in barley, the most adaptable cereal crop with a high nutritional value.

In this study, a total of 15 HvSPL genes were identified based on the Hordeum vulgare genome. These genes were named HvSPL1 to HvSPL15 based on the chromosomal distribution of the HvSPL genes and were divided into seven groups (I, II, III, V, VI, VII, and VIII) based on the phylogenetic tree analysis. Chromosomal localization revealed one pair of tandem duplicated genes and one pair of segmental duplicated genes. The HvSPL genes exhibited the highest collinearity with the monocotyledonous plant, Zea may s (27 pairs), followed by Oryza sativa (18 pairs), Sorghum bicolor (16 pairs), and Arabidopsis thaliana (3 pairs), and the fewest homologous genes with Solanum lycopersicum (1 pair). The distribution of the HvSPL genes in the evolutionary tree was relatively scattered, and HvSPL proteins tended to cluster with SPL proteins from Z. mays and O. sativa , indicating a close relationship between HvSPL and SPL proteins from monocotyledonous plants. Finally, the spatial and temporal expression patterns of the 14 HvSPL genes from different subfamilies were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Based on the results, the HvSPL gene family exhibited tissue-specific expression and played a regulatory role in grain development and abiotic stress. HvSPL genes are highly expressed in various tissues during seed development. The expression levels of HvSPL genes under the six abiotic stress conditions indicated that many genes responded to stress, especially HvSPL8 , which exhibited high expression under multiple stress conditions, thereby warranting further attention.

In this study, 15 SPL gene family members were identified in the genome of Hordeum vulgare , and the phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, replication events, gene expression, and potential roles of these genes in millet development were studied. Our findings lay the foundation for exploring the HvSPL genes and performing molecular breeding of barley.

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Transcription factors exist in all organisms and are the key molecules involved in regulating gene expression. The SQUAMOSA PROMOTER-BINDING PROTEIN-Like (SPL) is a plant-specific transcription factor family [ 1 ]. SPL genes were first discovered in Antirrhinum majus and later found to be conserved in plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana [ 2 ], Oryza sativa [ 3 ], Zea mays [ 4 ], Triticum aestivum [ 5 ], Salvia miltiorrhiza [ 6 ], Capsicum annuum [ 7 ], etc. SPL has a highly conserved SBP domain, and most SPL family genes contain a highly conserved DNA-binding domain consisting of approximately 76 amino acids, two zinc-binding sites (Cys-Cys-Cys-His and Cys-Cys-His-Cys), and a nuclear localization signal (NLS) involved in DNA binding that overlaps with the second Zn finger at the C-terminus of the SBP domain [ 8 ]. The number of SPL genes varies among species. For example, Arabidopsis thaliana has 16 SPL genes [ 2 ], Oryza sativa has 19 SPL genes [ 3 ], Solanum lycopersicum has 15 SPL genes [ 9 ], Fagopyrum tataricum has 24 SPL genes [ 10 ], Setaria italica has 18 SPL genes [ 11 ], and Zea mays [ 4 ] and Populus L [ 12 ]. have 31 and 28 SPL genes, respectively. In previous studies, the SPL gene family was divided into eight groups based on the conserved SBP domain. Plant gene families have become increasingly accessible due to increased genome sequencing for numerous species. Many gene families in barley have been fully identified and analyzed, including bHLH [ 13 ], NAC [ 14 ], GRAS [ 15 ], AP2/ERF [ 16 ], HSP20 [ 17 ], OSCA [ 18 ], PP2C [ 19 ], HMA [ 20 ], etc.

SPL genes play important roles in various aspects of plant growth and development, including the regulation of floral organ development, control of the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth, leaf development, grain ripening, plant hormone and light signal transduction, and response to stress [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. In Arabidopsis , AtSPL2 , AtSPL9 , AtSPL10 , AtSPL11 , AtSPL13 , and AtSPL15 play important roles in plant development and vegetative-to-reproductive transition [ 24 ]; AtSPL10 partially regulates bud development during the vegetative phase [ 29 ]; AtSPL8 influences gibberellin (GA)-mediated pollen sac development and maturation [ 30 ]; AtSPL14 regulates normal plant structure development and plant response to fumonisin B1 toxin [ 31 ]; and AtSPL1 and AtSPL12 redundantly function in heat tolerance during the reproductive stage [ 32 ].

Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is the world’s fourth largest cereal crop, after rice, maize, and wheat, and is widely cultivated for malt production, brewing, and feed production. Barley is known for its good resistance to abiotic stress and is grown extensively worldwide. Barley grains are rich in unique components, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and β-glucans, and have low-fat and antioxidant properties, resulting in their extensive use in the development of health products [ 33 ]. The SPL gene family plays important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, grain ripening, abiotic and biotic stress responses, and the maintenance of copper homeostasis in plants. However, a comprehensive study of the SPL gene family in barley has not been conducted. In this study, we aimed to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the gene structure, motif composition, cis-acting elements, chromosomal location, and duplications of SPL genes in the barley genome. We also compared the evolutionary relationships between barley and A. thaliana , F. tataricum , S. lycopersicum , O. sativa , S. bicolor , and Z. mays . Grouping analysis of the HvSPL genes with that of other plants was performed, including phylogenetic tree, motif composition, and evolutionary relationships between HvSPL genes and the three monocotyledonous and three dicotyledonous plants. We also examined tissue-specific expression, expression during the five stages after flowering, and the expression patterns under six abiotic stresses of the 14 HvSPL genes identified in this study. This study not only provides a theoretical basis for screening the SPL genes involved in barley growth and development and their response to adversity but also lays the foundation for exploring and using these functional genes.

Identification of the HvSPL genes

In the present study, two BLAST methods were used to identify all potential SPL members in the barley genome. After removing redundant genes, 15 HvSPL genes were identified and named HvSPL1-HvSPL15 based on their chromosomal positions (Table S1). The basic characteristics of these genes, such as protein length, molecular weight (MW), isoelectric point (pI), domain information, and subcellular localization, were investigated (Table S1). Among the 15 HvSPL proteins, HvSPL2 had the shortest amino acid sequence length of 192, whereas HvSPL1 had the longest sequence length of 853. The relative molecular weights (MW) of these proteins ranged from 20.12 kDa (HvSPL2) to 93.30 kDa (HvSPL1). The isoelectric points (pI) of these proteins ranged from 5.69 (HvSPL1) to 9.87 (HvSPL2), with a mean value of 8.47. Most pI values were greater than 7, indicating that this gene family is biased toward basic amino acids. Based on the subcellular localization prediction results for the 15 HvSPL proteins, all were localized to the nucleus.

Phylogenetic analysis, classification, and multiple sequence alignment of the HvSPL proteins

Based on the identified amino acid sequences of 15 H. vulgare t and 16 A. thaliana SPL proteins, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using TBtools software with a bootstrap setting of 1,000 (Fig.  1 A). According to the reported classification method for Arabidopsis , these 31 SPL proteins were found to cluster into eight subfamilies (I–VIII), with no HvSPL members in subfamily IV. Consequently, the HvSPL gene family was divided into seven subfamilies. Subfamilies I and VI had only one barley member each, whereas subfamilies III and V had two barley members each. Subfamilies II, VII, and VIII contained three barley members each. Based on the position of the SBP domain, we extracted the SBP domain sequences (approximately 76 amino acids) of the AtSPL and HvSPL proteins for multiple sequence alignment. As shown in Fig.  1 B, the barley SBP domain was generally conserved at specific positions, such as in the CQQC, SCR, and RRR sequences. Almost all HvSPL protein sequences contained two zinc finger-like structures, Zn-1 and Zn-2, and a highly conserved nuclear localization signal (NLS). In subfamily I, the Zn-1 (Cys-Cys-Cys-His) sequence underwent a certain mutation, with the fourth amino acid being mutated to cysteine. This mutation may indicate a conformational change in the zinc-finger binding site 1 of subfamily I, conferring it with unique functionality. However, this phenomenon was not observed in other subfamilies containing the highly conserved Zn-1 (Cys-Cys-Cys-His) and Zn-2 (Cys-Cys-His-Cys) sequences.

( A ) Phylogenetic tree of the relationship between the SPL domains of Hordeum vulgare and Arabidopsis thaliana . ( B ) Multiple sequence alignment of the SPL domains of eight phylogenetic subfamilies of Hordeum vulgare and Arabidopsis thaliana with 76 bp

Gene structures, motif composition, and cis‑acting elements analysis of the HvSPL gene family

To further understand the structural composition of barley SPL genes, we compared the number and positions of exons and introns in barley SPL gene sequences (Fig.  2 A). Ten conserved motifs (Motif 1–10) were detected in the HvSPL genes. By analyzing the intron-exon structure of the barley SPL genes, we explored the evolutionary process of the barley SPL gene family. As shown in Fig.  2 B, the intron-exon structures of the same subfamily were similar but significantly different among different subfamilies. For example, subfamily II ( HvSPL8 , HvSPL12 , and HvSPL13 ) had the highest number of introns, with an average of six. The other subfamilies had fewer introns, with an average of 1.9. The subfamily with the fewest introns was subfamily I. Notably, HvSPL1 had no introns.

To understand the differences in conserved motifs among barley SPL proteins, we used the online MEME website to detect the motif composition of 15 HvSPL gene sequences, including sequences of the SBP domain. Ten different conserved motifs, namely motifs 1–10, were identified in these sequences (Fig.  2 C, Table S2). Motifs 1, 2, and 3 were present in all HvSPL members, whereas motif 7 was unique to subfamily VII ( HvSPL5 , HvSPL7 , and HvSPL15 ). Other subfamilies did not contain this motif. In addition, subfamily VIII ( HvSPL3 and HvSPL4 ) contained a special motif, motif 5. In summary, the arrangement of motifs in the same subfamily was similar, indicating the relative conservation of these protein structures and their tendency to cluster together in the phylogenetic tree. This result is consistent with that of the phylogenetic analysis and supports the reliability of the HvSPL subfamily classification.

In this study, the promoter sequences upstream of the start codons (ATG) of the 15 HvSPL genes were obtained from the barley genome sequence, and a visualization diagram of cis-acting elements was created using the TBtools software (Fig.  3 ). Analysis of the promoter sequences of the 15 HvSPL genes revealed that cis-acting elements in the promoter region could be classified into four main categories: light-responsive elements, stress-responsive elements, hormone-responsive elements, and growth and development-responsive elements. Among these, GA responsiveness and light responsiveness had the highest numbers, with 159 and 154 elements, respectively, and were widely distributed across various promoter sequences. Among the hormone-related response elements, all genes were GA-responsive elements; most HvSPL genes contained abscisic acid responsiveness elements and MeJA-responsiveness elements, and few genes contained auxin-responsive elements and salicylic acid-responsive elements. Among these, the promoter of HvSPL14 contained the highest number of hormone-responsive elements [ 34 ]. Among the environmental stress-related elements, HvSPL5 contained low-temperature responsiveness elements, anoxic-specific inducibility elements, and MYB binding sites involved in drought inducibility; HvSPL13 contained defense and stress responsiveness elements, anoxic-specific inducibility elements, and MYB binding sites involved in drought inducibility. In addition, the promoters of HvSPL6 and HvSPL10 contained one endosperm expression element, indicating that these two genes may directly or indirectly regulate barley endosperm development.

Phylogenetic relationship, gene-structure analysis, and motif distributions of H. vulgare SPL genes. ( A ) The phylogenetic tree was constructed with 1,000 replicates on each node. ( A ) Green rectangles and black lines indicate exons and introns, and the domains are color-coded. (C) Amino acid motifs in H. vulgare SPL (1–10) are represented by colored boxes. The black lines indicate relative protein lengths

The cis-acting element of the promoter sequence (Upstream 2000 bp) of 15 SPL genes in Hordeum vulgare

Chromosomal distribution, gene duplication, and synteny analysis of the HvSPL genes

Based on the latest Hordeum vulgare genome database, a chromosome map was constructed and 15 HvSP L genes were randomly distributed on eight barley chromosomes (Fig.  4 ). Each HvSPL gene was named from top to bottom based on its physical position on the barley chromosome (Chr), 1 H to Un. No HvSPL genes were detected on Chr4H. This absence may be due to fragment loss or chromosomal translocation during evolution. Chr2H, 5 H, 6 H, and 7 H contained three HvSPL genes, whereas Chr1H, Chr3H, and ChrUn contained 1 HvSPL gene each. Gene duplication events are crucial for the evolution of gene families and play important roles in gene amplification and the generation of new functional genes. When two or more identical genomic regions are found within a 200 kb chromosome region, a tandem duplication event occurs [ 35 ]. Therefore, we investigated the duplication events of the HvSPL genes in the barley genome and found one tandem duplication event involving two HvSPL genes on Chr2H (Fig.  4 , Table S3). These two tandem duplicated genes belong to the same subfamily (IV). Using the BLASTP and MCScanX methods, we identified a segmental duplication event involving a pair of genes distributed on chromosomes 6 H and 7 H in the HvSPL gene family (Fig.  5 , Table S4). This pair of segmental duplicated genes belonged to the same subfamily (III).

To further study the phylogenetic mechanisms of the barley SPL family, we constructed six collinearity maps between barley and three dicotyledonous plants ( A. thaliana , F. tataricum , S. lycopersicum ) and three monocotyledonous plants ( O. sativa , S. bicolor , Z. mays ). Based on the results, the HvSPL genes had the highest number of homologous genes with the monocotyledonous plant, Z. mays (27 pairs), followed by O. sativa (18 pairs), S. bicolor (16 pairs), and A. thaliana (three pairs), and the fewest homologous genes with S. lycopersicum (one pair). However, none of the genes were homologous to those in F. tataricum . The collinearity between the HvSPL gene family and monocotyledonous plants was stronger than that between this gene family and dicotyledonous plants. HvSPL5 had homologous genes in all five species (Table S5). Except for F. tataricum and S. lycopersicum , HvSPL6 had homologous genes in the other four plants. This result suggests that HvSPL5 and HvSPL6 may have existed before the differentiation of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants and continue to play important roles in these species. Overall, barley SPL genes had the highest homology with those in Z. mays , indicating that these highly homologous genes evolved from a common ancestor of different plants.

Schematic of the chromosomal distribution of SPL genes in Hordeum vulgare . The gray vertical bars represent the chromosomes of H. vulgare . The chromosome number is indicated to the left of each chromosome. The scale on the left represents chromosome length. The red font represents the tandem gene duplication

Colinear region of SPL genes in Hordeum vulgare . The colored lines represent all the collinear blocks in the genome of H. vulgare and the red lines represent SPL gene pairs. Chromosome numbers are shown on the inside of each chromosome

Synteny analysis of the SPL genes between Hordeum vulgare and six representative plants ( Fagopyrum tataricum , Solanum lycopersicum , Arabidopsis thaliana , Sorghum bicolor , Oryza sativa , Zea mays ). The gray lines between Hordeum vulgare and other plants indicate collinearity in the wide genome of Hordeum vulgare and other plants, while the red lines highlight the collinear SPL gene pairs

Evolutionary analysis of the HvSPL proteins in barley and the HvSPL proteins in different plants

To investigate the evolutionary relationships of SPL genes, we analyzed the phylogenetic trees of the identified HvSPL genes in three dicotyledonous plants ( A. thaliana , F. tataricum , S. lycopersicum ) and three monocotyledonous plants ( O. sativa , S. bicolor , Z. mays ). Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on the sequences of 138 SPL proteins via the MEME network server, which revealed the presence of 10 conserved motifs (Fig.  7 , Table S2). As shown in Fig.  7 , the distribution of HvSPL in the evolutionary tree was relatively scattered, with HvSPL proteins clustering with SPL proteins from Z. mays and O. sativa , indicating a close phylogenetic relationship between HvSPL and monocotyledonous SPL. Furthermore, motifs 3, 2, 1, and 6 were conserved and alternately distributed among all subfamilies. This result suggests that motif composition is crucial for SPL genes and may have important implications for the protein function of SPLs. Similar motifs tended to be distributed in specific subfamilies of SPL . For example, motifs 10, 5, and 8 tended to cluster within subfamily II, indicating that SPL genes within the same subfamily have similar motif compositions, which suggest similar structures and functions. However, significant differences were found among different subfamilies. Subfamily II contained motif 5, whereas the other subfamilies did not contain this motif. Subfamilies V and VIII contained the unique motifs 7 and 9 but lacked motif 4. Subfamily VI exhibited the greatest difference, comprising motifs 3, 2, 1, and 6 but lacking other conserved motifs.

Phylogenetic relationship and conserved motifs of the SPL protein in Hordeum vulgare and six plants ( Fagopyrum tataricum , Solanum lycopersicum , Arabidopsis thaliana , Sorghum bicolor , Oryza sativa , Zea mays ). The outer part of the circle represents the phylogenetic tree of SPL proteins, and the inner part of the circle represents different conserved motifs and protein lengths. Boxes of different colors represent different motifs and their positions in each SPL protein sequence

Expression patterns of HvSPLs in different plant tissues

To investigate the physiological functions of HvSPL genes, we performed qRT-PCR to determine the relative expression levels of 14 HvSPL genes in different tissues (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and grains) (Fig.  8 A). Different genes were found to exhibit distinct expression patterns in different tissues. Certain genes are preferentially expressed in specific barley tissues. Among these, two genes ( HvSPL4 and HvSPL10 ) showed the highest expression levels in stems, while HvSPL12 was highly expressed in leaves. Four genes ( HvSPL3 , HvSPL6 , HvSPL8 , and HvSPL11 ) had the highest expression levels in flowers, whereas seven genes ( HvSPL1 , HvSPL2 , HvSPL5 , HvSPL9 , HvSPL13 , HvSPL14 and HvSPL15 ) had the highest expression levels in grains. Most genes exhibited relatively low expression in the roots. Furthermore, the correlation between HvSPL expression in the five organs was investigated (Fig.  8 B). The expression of different genes in the plant organs was found to be positively correlated, suggesting their potential synergistic roles. The most significant positive correlation was observed between pairs of genes, such as HvSPL3 , HvSPL6 , HvSPL8 , and HvSPL11 , which were highly expressed in the flower and showed a significant positive correlation ( P  < 0.05). HvSPL4 , HvSPL10 , and HvSPL12 were negatively correlated ( P  < 0.05) with HvSPL1 , HvSPL2 , HvSPL5 , HvSPL13 , HvSPL14 , and HvSPL15 , all of which were highly expressed in grain.

Tissue-specific expression of 14 H. vulgare SPL genes and the correlation with the expression patterns of HvSPLs . ( A) The expression patterns of 14 barley SPL genes in the root, stem, leaf, flower, and grain tissues were examined using qPCR. Error bars are based on three measurements. Lowercase letter(s) above the bars indicate significant differences (α = 0.05, LSD) among the treatments. ( B) Positive number: positively correlated; negative number: negatively correlated. The red numbers indicate a significant correlation at 0.05

Expression patterns of the HvSPL genes in barley during grain development

Some HvSPLs may regulate barley grain development, thereby affecting the nutrient content and development rate. To identify the genes that may regulate barley grain development, the expression of 14 HvSPL genes was assessed at 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days post-anthesis (DPA) (Fig.  9 A). Most HvSPL genes were expressed during the five periods after flowering. Eight genes ( HvSPL1 , HvSPL2 , HvSPL4 , HvSPL5 , HvSPL8 , HvSPL13 , HvSPL14 , and HvSPL15 ) showed the highest expression levels at 21 DPA, with HvSPL15 exhibiting the highest expression. Six genes ( HvSPL1 , HvSPL3 , HvSPL4 , HvSPL8 , HvSPL9 , and HvSPL13 ) had increased expression over time during grain development. However, their expression levels significantly decreased during the late stages of grain development. The expression levels of most genes ( HvSPL1 , HvSPL3 , HvSPL4 , HvSPL6 , HvSPL10 , HvSPL11 , HvSPL12 , HvSPL13 , and HvSPL15 ) decreased during grain development, whereas that of HvSPL15 increased. We also analyzed the correlation between the HvSPL gene expression patterns and found that most genes were positively correlated (Fig.  9 B). For example, significant positive correlations were found between HvSPL1 , HvSPL2 , HvSPL5 , HvSPL8 , HvSPL13 , HvSPL14 and HvSPL15 , as well as between HvSPL3 , HvSPL6 , and HvSPL10 ( P  < 0.05). HvSPL11 was found to be negatively correlated with HvSPL2 , HvSPL5 , HvSPL14 , and HvSPL15 ( P  < 0.05).

Gene expression of 14 H. vulgare SPL genes during grain development and the correlation between the gene expression patterns of HvSPLs during grain development. ( A) qRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression patterns of 14 H. vulgare SPL genes in the grain development stage. Error bars are based on three measurements. Lowercase letter(s) above the bars indicate significant differences (α = 0.05, LSD) among the treatments. ( B) Positive number: positively correlated; negative number: negatively correlated. Red numbers indicate a significant correlation at the 0.05 level

Expression patterns of the HvSPL genes in response to different abiotic stresses

To further determine whether the expression of HvSPL genes was influenced by different abiotic stresses, we examined the expression of 14 HvSPL members in the roots, stems, and leaves of barley under six abiotic stress conditions: strong ultraviolet radiation (UV), flooding, polyethylene glycol (PEG), NaCl, heat, and cold treatments (Fig.  10 A). Some HvSPL genes were significantly induced or inhibited under different abiotic stress conditions. The expression of certain HvSPL genes varied at different time points or in different organs, depending on the specific treatment. For example, HvSPL8 exhibited high expression under strong UV radiation, flooding, NaCl, heat, and cold treatments, with the highest expression observed in the roots after 24 h of NaCl, flooding, and heat treatments. Under cold and UV treatments, the highest expression level of HvSPL8 was observed in the leaves at 24 h. Under stress treatments, more genes tended to reach their highest expression levels at 24 h, such as most genes reaching their maximum expression levels at 24 h under flooding stress. Furthermore, a positive correlation ( P  < 0.05) was found between the expression patterns of HvSPL genes under stress conditions (Fig.  10 B). For example, HvSPL1 and HvSPL13 displayed significant positive correlations, indicating their synergistic effects. Significant positive correlations were found between HvSPL3 , HvSPL8 , HvSPL9 , HvSPL10 , HvSPL12 , and HvSPL14.

Expression of 14 H. vulgare SPL genes in plants under different abiotic stresses (strong UV radiation, flooding, PEG, NaCl, heat and cold treatments) at the seedling stage. ( A) qRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression patterns of 14 H. vulgare SPL genes in the roots, stems, and leaves at different times. Error bars are based on three measurements. The lowercase letter above the bar indicates a significant difference (α = 0.05, LSD) among treatments. ( B) Positive number: positively correlated; negative number: negatively correlated. Red numbers indicate a significant correlation at 0.05

Characteristics of the HvSPL genes

In this study, the H. vulgare SPL gene family was systematically analyzed, and 15 HvSPL genes were identified, all of which exhibited significant structural differences in the encoded proteins. The size of the SPL proteins ranged from 192 to 853 amino acids, indicating a high degree of variability, which may be related to gene duplication events or genome sizes. The relative molecular weights of these proteins ranged from 20.12 kDa to 93.30 kDa. Further, the isoelectric points of these proteins ranged from 5.69 to 9.87, with 80% (12/15) of the HvSPL proteins having an isoelectric point greater than 7, indicating that most HvSPL proteins are composed of more basic amino acids, which may be related to the presence of basic amino acid-rich regions at the C-terminus of the SBP domain. Subcellular localization prediction revealed that all 15 HvSPL proteins were located in the nucleus, aligning with the results of the domain information alignment, as a highly conserved nuclear localization signal (NLS) exists in the SBP domain. Analyses of the SPL gene family in other species revealed that most SPL genes were located in the nucleus. Based on the constructed phylogenetic tree (Fig.  1 A), at least one barley SPL gene was identified in each subfamily of Arabidopsis , except subfamily IV, indicating that the differentiation of the SPL family may have occurred earlier than that of monocots and dicots. The SBP domain contains highly conserved sequences, such as CQQC, SCR, RRR, NLS, Zn-1, and Zn-2, which are the same as those in the SPL gene family of other species. In AtSPL7 (subfamily I), the first Zn-finger structure was replaced by a Cys residue, which is consistent with HvSPL1 , indicating that the Zn-finger structure of subfamily I is relatively unique. Unlike in Arabidopsis thaliana [ 2 ], the SPL gene family in barley can be categorized into seven subfamilies that lack group IV, while rice [ 3 ] and maize [ 4 ] lack subfamilies VII and VIII. The subfamilies present in all plants may play a fundamental role, whereas new subfamilies may have unique functions. The AtSPL6 gene in subfamily IV plays an important role in plant immunity. Among the seven subfamilies of the barley SPL gene family, subfamilies II, VII, and VIII had the most members (3, 20%), which is similar to other plants, such as Arabidopsis and buckwheat. Such finding indicates that these SPL gene families may have strong partial differentiation ability during long-term evolution.

Introns are beneficial for species evolution because they can increase gene length, enhance recombination frequency between genes, and exhibit regulatory functions [ 36 ]. According to prior studies, genes that respond quickly to stress do not contain introns. Genes without introns can delay regulatory responses and quickly regulate the entire growth and developmental processes [ 37 , 38 ]. In this study, the exon and intron structures, and the motifs of the identified 15 HvSPL genes, were analyzed (Fig.  2 ). Each gene contained one to five coding sequences (CDSs) (Fig.  2 B). Subfamily II had a rich distribution of introns and CDS regions, with HvSPL13 having nine introns and five CDS regions. Subfamilies I and VIII had fewer introns and CDS regions, whereas HvSPL1 (subfamily I) had no introns. The results of conserved protein motif analysis of the barley SPL family revealed that within the same subfamily, most HvSPL proteins had similar motif distributions. However, the arrangement and distribution of motif patterns varied among different subfamilies (Fig.  3 ). For example, motif 5 was only present in subfamily VIII, and motif 7 was only present in subfamilies I and III. These results highlight the complex functions of barley SPL proteins. In addition, we identified some conserved motifs, such as motifs 1, 2, and 3, that are present in all barley SPL proteins. These motifs may be important components that determine the shared molecular functions of the SBP domains among different subfamily members. Differences in motif patterns among HvSPL genes from different subfamilies provide a structural basis for the functional diversity of these genes.

Promoter analysis elucidates the regulation and response mechanisms of gene expression. Predictive analysis of cis-acting elements in the HvSPL gene promoter region revealed that they could be divided into four main categories: light-responsive elements, stress-responsive elements, hormone-responsive elements, and growth and development-responsive elements (Fig.  5 ). The promoter regions of HvSPL genes contain several light-responsive, hormone-responsive, and stress-related cis-acting elements. All 15 HvSPL genes had GA-responsive elements, further indicating the important role of the SPL family genes in plant growth, development, and response to various stresses. Studies have found that in Arabidopsis , the SOC1-SPL module acts as a molecular link to integrate photoperiod and GA signals, promoting flowering [ 39 ]. In addition, we found that the promoters of HvSPL6 and HvSPL10 contained one endosperm expression element, suggesting that these two genes may directly or indirectly regulate endosperm development in barley.

Evolution of the HvSPL genes

The number of HvSPLs (15) in barley was lower than that in Arabidopsis (16), rice (19), wheat (56), and Tartary buckwheat (24). The extension of gene families and genome evolution mechanisms mainly rely on tandem and segmental duplications [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Generally, gene duplication events can expand new genes with similar or different functions; however, the degree of their roles varies for each species. Further analysis of these gene subfamilies revealed that these genes are linked in their subfamilies. One tandem duplication event involving two genes (12.5%) was identified in the HvSPL gene family; and both genes were located on Chr2H and belonged to subfamily VIII. Wheat had eight tandem duplications, whereas Tartary buckwheat and maize did not have these duplications. In barley SPL , only one segmental duplication event occurred involving HvSPL10 (Chr6H) and HvSPL14 (Chr7H), both of which belong to subfamily III. Wheat had 73 segmental duplications, Tartary buckwheat had six pairs comprising seven genes (29.2%), and maize had 18 pairs involving 24 genes (77.4%). These repeat events in plants suggest that segmental duplication is the main factor in the expansion of the SPL gene family, whereas barley SPL only contains one pair of tandem and segmental duplications. The low number of barley SPL genes may be related to gene duplication. In addition, 15 HvSPL genes were used in this study to analyze inter-species collinearity with three monocots and three dicots (Fig.  6 ). Based on the results, the HvSPL gene family had more collinear genes with monocots, especially Zea mays (27 pairs), less collinear relationships with dicots, and no collinearity with Fagopyrum tataricum , possibly because barley is a monocot. Furthermore, HvSPL5 was found to be collinear with all five species, except Tartary buckwheat, indicating that this gene existed as a homologous gene before the differentiation of monocots and dicots. The clustering of the HvSPL genes with SPL genes in the dicot Z. mays and rice O. sativa was similar (Fig.  7 ), indicating a close relationship between them. In addition, a high conservation of the SPL genes was found among plants in the same family.

Spatio-temporal expression patterns of the HvSPL gene and its response to abiotic stress

The organization of gene expression patterns may be associated with their functional characteristics, and SPL genes exhibit significant differences in expression in different plant tissues. This study explored the spatiotemporal expression patterns of 14 HvSPL genes from different subfamilies, including their expression in different tissues, during grain development, stress, and hormone responses. The expression patterns of 14 representative genes in different tissues and developmental stages were examined using qRT-PCR. Almost all SPL genes were found to exhibit different expression levels in different tissues under various abiotic stress treatments ( P  < 0.05), with most genes showing prominent expression in grain (Fig.  8 A). Analysis of the expression characteristics of HvSPL genes in different barley tissues revealed distinct expression profiles among members of the HvSPL subfamily. For example, the expression levels of HvSPL5 and HvSPL15 from subfamily VII were the highest in the grain. Furthermore, all 14 barley SPL genes were significantly upregulated in response to flooding in the roots, stems, and leaves, and in response to cold treatment in the leaves. This finding suggests that overexpression of these 14 barley SPL genes may enhance plant tolerance to low temperatures and waterlogging. Therefore, further analyses should be conducted to identify the key candidate genes in cold and waterlogging tolerance in barley. Most HvSPLs were significantly upregulated in response to all six abiotic stress treatments. Notably, HvSPL8 exhibited consistently high expression levels under all six abiotic stress conditions, indicating its potential as a candidate gene for breeding barley tolerant to various abiotic stresses.

According to a previous study, AtSPL7 plays a crucial role in the maintenance of copper homeostasis in plants [ 44 ]. The evolutionary conservation of copper response regulation in plants suggests that HvSPL1 , the most likely single representative of the AtSPL7 homolog in subfamily I, may also be an important regulatory factor in barley response. AtSPL8 , a member of subfamily III in Arabidopsis , influences GA-mediated pollen sac development and maturation. Genetic mutants of AtSPL8 markedly affect grain set, trichome production on petals, and root growth, and have been found to regulate GA signaling in flowers and roots positively and negatively, respectively [ 30 , 45 ]. The homologs of AtSPL8 in barley, HvSPL10 , and HvSPL14 , may also have similar functions, thereby warranting further investigations. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that HvSPL14 in barley subfamily III is highly homologous to OsSPL10 in rice, and knocking out or silencing OsSPL10 in rice can induce rapid stomatal closure and prevent water loss, thereby enhancing drought resistance [ 46 ]. In Arabidopsis , AtSPL3 , AtSPL4 , and AtSPL5 play important roles in promoting the transformation of floral meristems [ 24 ], and their homologous genes in barley SPL subfamily VI contain HvSPL2. Analysis of the expression pattern of HvSPL2 revealed its high expression in seeds at the middle stage of grain filling (Fig.  9 A), suggesting its crucial role in plant nutritional growth. In addition, OsSPL13 , a homolog of HvSPL2 , positively regulates spikelet number, grain length, and grain thickness [ 47 ]. However, the functions of this gene require further investigation. Furthermore, we discovered that most genes exhibited high expression during the middle stage of grain filling. This finding further supports the notion that the SPL family actively contributes to barley grain irrigation during development.

Fifteen HvSPL genes were identified for the first time in the barley genome, classified into seven subfamilies, and distributed on eight chromosomes. Chromosomal localization revealed one pair of tandem duplicated genes and one pair of segmental duplicated genes. The HvSPL genes had the highest number of collinear genes with the monocotyledon, Zea mays . This study also analyzed the spatiotemporal and temporal expression patterns of 14 HvSP L genes from different subfamilies, indicating that the HvSPL gene family has regulatory roles in tissue specificity, grain development, and abiotic stress. These findings provide a theoretical basis for studying the functions of different HvSPL gene subfamilies under stress conditions.

Plant materials, Experiment Design, and treatments

The barley used in this study was provided by Prof. Jun Yan of Chengdu University. Barley was planted in pots containing soil and vermiculite (1:1) under growth conditions of 25 \(\:\pm\:\) 1 °C during the day and 20 \(\:\pm\:\) 1 °C at night with 75% relative humidity. Under the same growth conditions, the roots, stems, leaves, flowers and grains of the plants in the middle stage of grain filling, as well as the flowers and grains at 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days post-anthesis (DPA), were collected. All organ samples were collected from three plants under the same growth conditions, rapidly placed in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80 °C until further use. Additionally, the expression patterns of HvSPL genes under different stresses conditions were studied and the expression levels of 14 HvSPL genes were analyzed. Six abiotic stresses were conducted on barley at the seedling stage (21 d): low-temperature(seedlings were placed at 4 °C), water flooding (seedlings were placed in pure water with a water flooding level of approximately 40 cm to completely submerge the seedlings), high-temperature (seedlings were placed at 40 °C), salt (50 mL of 150 mmol·L −1 NaCl solution was poured into each independent seedling tray to fully immerse the root system), drought (50 mL of 30% PEG6000 solution was poured into each independent seedling tray to fully immerse the root system), UV exposure (seedlings were irradiated with ultraviolet light at 70 µW·cm −2 , 220 V, and 30 W). Three replicates were set for each treatment. Root, stem, and leaf tissues were collected and stored in liquid nitrogen at 0, 2, and 24 h. The samples were stored in a -80 °C ultra-low temperature refrigerator [ 48 , 49 ].

Total RNA extraction, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)

Total RNA was extracted from the barley leaf tissues using an E.Z.N.A. Plant RNA Kit (Omega Bio-tek, Inc., USA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The extracted RNA was then reverse transcribed into first-strand cDNA using the HiScript II Q RT SuperMix for qPCR Kit (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd, China) in a reaction volume of 20 µL.

Specific primers for qPCR were designed using Primer Premier (version 5.0; Premier, Canada), with HvActin as the reference gene. The primer sequences are listed in Table S6. qPCR was performed using the ChamQ Universal SYBR qPCR Master Mix Kit (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd., China) and a fluorescence quantification kit on a CFX96 Real-Time System (Bio-Rad, USA). The relative gene expression levels were calculated using the 2-ΔΔCt method [ 50 ].

Genome‑wide identification of HvSPL Genes in Hordeum vulgare

In this study, the whole genome sequence of barley was downloaded from the Ensembl Genomics website ( http://ensemblgenomes.org/ ), along with the SPL amino acid sequences of Arabidopsis ( https://www.Arabidopsis.org/ ) and rice ( http://Rice.plantbiology.msu.edu/ ). First, all possible barley SPL proteins were identified from the Arabidopsis protein sequences using the BLASTp algorithm (score value ≥ 100, e-value ≤ 1e − 10) [ 51 ]. Subsequently, the corresponding hidden Markov model (HMM) files for the SBP domain (PF03110) were downloaded from the Pfam database ( http://pfam.xfam.org/ ). The presence of the SBP domain was determined using HMMER3.0 with a cutoff value of 0.01 ( http://plants.ensembl.org/hmmer/index.html ) and SMART ( http://smart.emblheidelberg.de/ ) [ 52 , 53 ]. The lengths, molecular weights, isoelectric points, and subcellular localization information of 15 barley SPL proteins were obtained using the ExPASy website ( https://web.expasy.org/compute_pi/ ).

SPL gene structure, conserved motifs, cis-acting elements, and protein interactions

Multiple sequence alignments of the SPL protein domain sequences from different subfamilies of barley and Arabidopsis were performed using the MEGA 11 software with default parameters [ 54 ]. The CDSs of the HvSPL genes were compared with their corresponding genomic DNA sequences using TBtools v1.0987663 software to construct the gene structure diagram. The full sequences of the HvSPL protein family were analyzed using the MEME online program ( https://meme-suite.org/meme/tools/meme ), with a maximum conserved motif search value of 10 [ 55 ]. Putative cis-regulatory elements in the 2,000 bp promoter sequences upstream of the HvSPL genes were predicted using the PlantCare website ( http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/plantcare/html/ ).

Chromosomal distribution and gene duplication of the HvSPL genes

Based on the physical location information in the barley genome database, all barley SPL genes were mapped onto sorghum chromosomes using Circos [ 56 ]. Duplication events of barley SPL genes were analyzed using multiple collinearity scan tools (MCScanX) with default parameters [ 57 ]. The homology of SPL genes between barley and six other plant species ( Arabidopsis thaliana , Oryza sativa , Solanum lycopersicum , Zea mays , Fagopyrum tataricum , and Sorghum bicolor ) was analyzed using a Dual Synteny Plotter ( https://github.com/CJ-Chen/TBtools ).

Phylogenetic evolution and classification of the SPL gene family

The amino acid sequences of SPL from six plants ( Arabidopsis thaliana , Oryza sativa , Solanum lycopersicum , Zea mays , Fagopyrum tataricum , and Sorghum bicolor ) and HvSPL were downloaded from the UniProt database ( https://www.uniprot.org/ ) and used to construct a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree with an IQ-tree wrapper (bootstrap number set to 1000). Classification of the barley SPL gene family was based on the classification method of the SPL gene family in the model plant, Arabidopsis .

Statistics and analysis

Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with JMP6.0 software (SAS Institute). The least significant difference (LSD) was used for comparison at 0.05 and 0.01. Bar charts were created using the Origin software (version 8.0; SAS Institute).

Data availability

The entire Setaria italica genome sequence was obtained from the Ensembl Genome website ( http://ensemblgenomes.org/ ). Hordeum vulgare materials used in the experiment were supplied by Prof. Jun Yan of Chengdu University. The datasets supporting the conclusions of this study are included in this article and additional files.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our colleagues for useful discussions and technical assistance. We are grateful to the editor and reviewers for critically evaluating the manuscript and providing constructive comments for its improvement.

This work was supported by the Key Laboratory of Molecular Breeding for Grain and Oil Crops in Guizhou Province (Qiankehezhongyindi (2023) 008), the Key Laboratory of Functional Agriculture of Guizhou Provincial Higher Education Institutions (Qianjiaoji (2023) 007), and the National Science Foundation of China (32161143005, 32160669, 32372051).

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Ailing He, Chao Ma, Qing Bai, Haizhu Yang, Xin Yao, Weijiao Wu, Guoxing Xue & Jingjun Ruan

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Experimental design, A. H. and H. Z.; data analysis, A. H., C. M., and Q. B.; validation, A. H., X. Y., and J. R.; charting, A. H., H. Y., and W. W.; first draft, A. H., H. Y., and G. X.; edited and revised paper, J. R.

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He, A., Zhou, H., Ma, C. et al. Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the SPL gene family and its response to abiotic stress in barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.). BMC Genomics 25 , 846 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10773-6

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