Responding to literature starts with becoming an engaged and active reader. Read the work through once, closely and carefully. Think of it as speaking to you: What is it telling you? Asking you? Trying to make you feel? Then go back and read it a second time. Rereading is a central part of the process of developing an analysis. If the work provides an introduction and footnotes, read them as well. They may provide key information. Use the dictionary to look up words unfamiliar to you or words with connotations that may influence the work’s meaning.

As you read and reread, interact with the work by posing questions and looking for possible answers. The chart at the bottom of 7b suggests some questions about literature that may help you become a more engaged, active reader.

Annotating the work

Annotating the work—in other words, interacting with the text by taking notes—is a way to focus your reading, capture your responses, and prepare for a class discussion. The first time you read the work through, you may want to indicate passages you find especially significant or puzzling—with a pencil or highlighter or by taking notes electronically. On a more careful rereading, pay particular attention to those passages, and jot down your ideas and reactions in a notebook or (if you own the text) on the pages. As you annotate, you can try out ideas and develop your questions and perspectives about the work. (See 4a for an annotated article, or click here.)

Discussing the work

Understanding literature can be a social experience, and class discussions often lead to interesting insights about a literary work, perhaps by calling attention to details that you took little notice of on a first reading. Discussions don’t always occur face-to-face. In many classes, they happen online in discussion forums, chat rooms, blogs, or wikis. See the following blog postings about a character in Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

conversation about a subject