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Reading

Historical Analysis – Reading

Active Reading
The most important step toward crafting the most effective historical literary analysis is to become as familiar as possible with the text in which you intend to analyze. Reading a text for analysis purposes requires a bit more work than simply reading for pleasure. This is called active reading and often involves note taking, annotating, and really immersing yourself into the text in order to be familiar with the content. 

A few tips for active reading are:

  • Read the text more than once. After becoming initially familiar with it, a second or third reading will give you the chance to pay closer attention to details and ask yourself questions along the way. 
  • Mark up the text and take notes. While reading, be sure to mark or take note of anything that you have questions about or feel would be useful for your analysis. These passages can include anything from a word you need to look up to a point in the plot that seems significant. However, for historical analyses, there are some additional components you’ll need to look out for as well. 
  • Ask Questions. As you reread your text, write down questions you have about the text. See my Reading and Asking Questions example here.
The Historical Lens
There are certain elements you should look for and make note of as your read the text. This is referred to as reading through a historical lens. While reading, ask yourself these questions and mark passages or take notes accordingly:

  • Does the text address any political or social concerns, historical events or controversies, political figures, historical documents, or other literary texts?
  • What types of language, characterization, or events are portrayed?
  • Does the text seem to be critical of or in favor of any certain belief system?
  • What does the theme seem to be?
  • Are there any situations or references you are unfamiliar with?

6 Important Questions You Should Always Ask Yourself When Making Historical Connections to Literature
Paying attention to these few questions will help you form a starting point for your research. Reading literature from a different time period can be difficult. Comprehending it can be even worse. However, that’s what makes the historical literary analysis so important. By taking into consideration the time period of the text and weaving historical information into what you’re reading, you’ll be able to see the text in a whole new light. If you pay attention to the questions above, you’ll find it much easier to gather all the information you need in order to make connections between the text and the time period. 

For my essay, I studied “The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is the copy I used for my analysis. Note the markings, notes, and highlights I made. You can see how, as I read and reread the poem, I teased out different elements of the text until I was able to form and answer my own questions.