2. Meaning What is the work about? What is its theme? What effect or impression does the reader have ? What is the argument or summary of the work? What is the writer’s intent or purpose?

3. Form How is the work organized to achieve effect or express meaning? How is the work structured or planned? (Prose or poetry? Topics or Scenes? Long narratives or episodes?) Into what genre could the work be placed?

5. Voice and Tone ▫ Who is telling the story? ▫ How is the speaker or narrator characterized (revealed)? By action or description? Expressed or implied? ▫ From what perspective is the story told? ▫ Is the speaker and the author of the work the same person? ▫ What is the author’s attitude toward the theme or subject? ▫ What is the tone of the work? Serious, angry, formal, pleading, joyful? ▫ What is the atmosphere of the work (the way in which the mood, setting, and feeling blend together to convey the prevailing tone)? ▫ Is the narrator reliable?

8. Characterization ▫ Who are the people in the work? Physical description? Emotional description? ▫ How do dialogue and action reveal a character’s personality traits? ▫ Is there a principal character? ▫ Does the character have agency? ▫ What is the character’s motivation? ▫ Is the character’s personality revealed directly by the speaker telling the reader or indirectly by the character’s own words and deeds (requiring the reader to come to conclusions about the character based on dialogue and action)?

10. Language (uses and meanings) ▫ Does the selection include any imagery? ▫ What literary devices does the author use, and what effect do they have on the meaning of the selection? ▫ How does the writer use diction (word choice) to convey meaning? ▫ What is the meaning of the words, phrases, and lines as they are used in the selection? ▫ Are words used literally (denotation) or figuratively (connotation)?

12. These are only 12 of 44 you should know and be able to identify.