The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Close reading (explication)

Close reading (explication): The nuanced and thorough analysis of a literary text. Close reading places particular emphasis on the interrelationships among textual elements (such as allusions, diction, images, and sound effects) and provides a means of interpreting the text and illuminating its complexities and ambiguities. Close reading is often associated with explication de texte, a method of exegesis that originated in France, and the New Criticism, a formalist variety of literary criticism that arose in the United States.