How do I carry out close analysis of a text?

Close analysis can be a difficult task but it is this difficulty that makes it equally rewarding. It allows the reader to zoom into sections of the text and reveal, through analysis, how the chosen writer has conveyed or constructed a certain meaning. If carried out effectively, close reading allows you to consolidate the argument of your essay with detailed evidence, but it also provides you with a chance to show your individual voice and analysis. There are a few useful steps to follow in order to carry out a successful and relevant close analysis.
Firstly, it's essential to establish an understanding of the wider context of the passage you are analysing. For example, if one was to analyse the significance of Prospero’s infamous declaration about Caliban in The Tempest: ‘ this thing of darkness I/ Acknowledge mine’ (5.1.275). It is essential that one understands exactly what’s happening in this scene and the overall importance of the final act to the text of The Tempest as a whole. Once you have established that you understand, on a more simplistic plain, what is happening within the scene and the overall plot, you can then approach the details of the text. Close analysis cannot just stand alone it has to be useful in terms of its relation to the wider themes of the piece and to the overall contexts. The perfect close analysis is one that is able to go in detail within the linguistic structures of the text and then relate this to wider themes and contexts. Let’s look at a passage from Act 3 of The Tempest when Caliban, one of the natives of the Island, is leading his new found comic ‘masters’, Trinculo and Stefano, to Prospero in order to kill him and take back the island. As they are traversing the island they hear certain strange noises that scare both Trinculo and Stefano however Caliban tells them ‘Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises/ Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not’ (3.2.135). These lines possess a childlike rhyme and the sibilance of the ‘sweet airs’ that he talks of demonstrates that Caliban is so in tune with the island that his language is as dainty and ephemeral as the music (the music that Ariel is playing on ‘a tabor and a pipe’). This brief close analysis can provide us with interesting material when approaching an exam question such as the OCR A level practice paper which asks: ‘Caliban is a savage native, incapable of being civilised.’ How far and in what ways do you agree with this view?’. If one was to argue against the native savagery of Caliban then this close analysis provides one with a perfect way to trouble the very ideas of civilization and savagery that the question sets up. Caliban’s speech, with its dainty and ephemeral language, clearly confuses any notion of him as a savage native and rather positions him as a subject with a power and beauty that is more civilized than the usurping nobles.
One extra tip for close reading is to print out an extensive list of literary terms/ techniques for both prose and poetry, there are some great resources online but it may be easier to ask your teacher for a recommendation. Whilst you consult the text, you can refer back to the list which can help you understand new literary techniques but also consolidate your knowledge of already learnt techniques.