Elements of Reading Prose

As we make sense of the grammatical method with Lanham, that'll be our focus. But close reading prose goes beyond grammar, and eventually we'll cover all its aspects. Analysis is not simply a descriptive endeavor; rather, it's a way of explaining how a text creates meaning and how it creates an emotional effect. These are the elements:

• the "music" or rhythm of prose. The different sentence types Lanham discusses - hypotactic, paratactic, asyndetic, and polysyndetic - all create different rhythms. Parataxis creates an insistent rhythm that builds in intensity. An asyndetic style also heightens the intensity, as does the repetition of words. By contrast, a hypotactic style sounds logical and reasoned, because it follows an important assertion with supporting information.
• the use of vocabulary in prose. Prose writers pick words that come from distinct genres and mix them together, or they stick with a single vocabulary. Words in English may be said to come from vocabulary "sets." For instance, words come from philosophy, from slang or colloquial speech, from pop culture, from technical fields, from "bookish" diction, etc. The way words from different sets are mixed is important to the effect and meaning of prose.
• words that have a special meaning in a particular work. Once the themes and language of a work are established, specific words can take on a particular meaning or connotation in the work. Authors repeat certain words and have certain characteristic words. Words can start to take on a sarcastic or ironic feel. Specific words can be associated with a character. They can evoke thematic concerns established in the text. In short, every great work develops its own language.
• ambiguity. We associate ambiguity mainly with poetry. But great prose writers create sentences that often have an open meaning, or one that can be interpreted in more than one way. The sentence structure often makes the writing a bit ambiguous.
• tone. The grammatical issues we're talking about help to establish a tone. Since there are so many ways to say the same thing, authors establish tone by choosing a complex or simple sentence structure.
  
• metaphor and imagery. Good prose is loaded with similes and metaphorical imagery. These techniques help to describe something in a lively way, but they also suggest a bunch of other things that gives the passage another level of meaning.
  

In Lolita, as Humbert Humbert drives down the road with his young charge in tow, he narrates: "I slowed from a blind 70 to a purblind 50." Close reading? It's "verb style," front loaded with action: "I slowed." The honomym (or (musical) similarity of sound) between blind and purblind shows Humbert's playfulness, establishing a detached and humorous tone. The statement also has a metaphorical effect, because the sudden change of speed shows us Humbert's erratic mood. Many of Nabokov's sentences are elaborate, paratactic affairs, but this one is clipped and wastes no words, evoking the speed at which Humbert slows down. We know that he is holding himself back in some way, resisting his impulses.