# An Example ## expand\_more Here is an example of a close reading that **focuses on the juxtapositioning of verbs, and how this structure conveys meaning.** This is an excerpt from a paper that examines how a transgressive action in myth—abduction of the bride—became regularized and integrated into human life and behavior through ritual, primarily by focusing on the Hades/ Persephone myth. The first textual analysis, or close reading, looks at the *Homeric Hymn to Demeter.* The author then makes a connection of the patterning of verbs and applies it to another example, the *Theogony*. In this close reading, the author focuses on the concept of **structure** and **patterns** in the close reading: how do two verbs contrast with eachother, how does this relate to a larger character or thematic contrast, and how the contrast is repeated over a single work as well as in multiple works. This analysis **"reads out"** from the text, because it starts with an initial observation of something that is evident in the primary source, and moves from there. It does not impose an unsupported claim onto the text without having the evidence to back the claim. This analysis also combines scholarly ideas from secondary sources, noted by the footnote citations, and applies these ideas to the patterns noticed in the passages; from this, the author answers the "so what?" question related to the thesis, and ultimately adds something new(ish) to the scholarly discussion. ### Example 1 In the hymn, Hades is said to snatch away (*harpazein)* Persephone, a verb which is used to indicate the violent and forced removal of people or goods. The verb later comes to have sexual connotations, but throughout the hymn, the word contains a strong allusion to violence. The verb *harpazein* stands in stark contrast to the verb *dokein,* which is used to describe Zeus’ actions*.* Zeus, as Persephone’s father, is the one who gives her away; it is his consent that makes the union ‘legitimate,’ and not Hades’ abduction. A girl’s father or legal guardian (her *kyrios*) is the only one who could legally and acceptably arrange a marriage and ‘give a girl away.’[\[1\]](#_ftn1) It is only Zeus who can resolve the problem of Persephone’s abduction, and even he struggles to mediate the uncomfortable situation between an abducted girl, her captor, and a lamenting mother.[\[2\]](#_ftn2) Hades and Zeus are thematically contrasted, indicating that the former is transgressive while the other is upright. (Hom. Hymn. Dem. 1-3): Δήμητρ᾽ ἠύκομον, σεμνὴν θεόν, ἄρχομ᾽ ἀείδειν, αὐτὴν ἠδὲ θύγατρα τανύσφυρον, ἣν Ἀιδωνεὺς **ἥρπαξεν, δῶκεν δὲ** βαρύκτυπος εὐρύοπα Ζεύς I begin to praise-with-song the lovely haired Demeter, the holy goddess, and her delicate-ankled daughter, whom **Hades snatched away, but** deep-thundering and far seeing **Zeus gave-away-in-marriage** In this passage, the two verbs are placed side by side, and yet are conceptually separated by the particle δὲ which emphasizes the opposing actions. The juxtapositioning of the verbs delineates the two characeters of Hades and Zeus. Only a few lines later in the same hymn, the actions of the two gods are once again contrasted, and the repetition of the verb related to Hades reminds the reader or listener of his defining actions, while Persephone's invocation of Zeus, particulary in the role as her father, alludes to his legitimizing force. (Hom. Hymn. Dem. 19-21): **ἁρπάξας** δ᾽ ἀέκουσαν ἐπὶ χρυσέοισιν ὄχοισιν ἦγ᾽ ὀλοφυρομένην: ἰάχησε δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὄρθια φωνῇ, κεκλομένη **πατέρα Κρονίδην** ὕπατον καὶ ἄριστον. He **snatched her up** onto his golden chariot and went away, her unwilling and weeping. She shouted out with a piercing voice, crying out to her **father, the son of Cronos** highest and best. These two actions—Hades’ snatching, Zeus’ giving—are also juxtaposed in Hesiod’s *Theogony*: (Hes. Theog. 912-914): αὐτὰρ ὁ Δήμητρος πολυφόρβης ἐς λέχος ἦλθεν, ἣ τέκε Περσεφόνην λευκώλενον, ἣν Ἀιδωνεὺς **ἥρπασε** ἧς παρὰ μητρός: **ἔδωκε δὲ** μητίετα Ζεύς. But he (Zeus) came to the bed of much-nourishing Demeter, where she bore white-armed Persephone, whom Hades **snatched away** from her mother. But Zeus, wise-in-counsel, **gave her away.** Clay raises the important question, “if Zeus gives his daughter in marriage in accordance with his paternal prerogatives, why must Hades carry her off?”[\[3\]](#_ftn3) I think the choice of specific verbs and their blatant contrast in both instances is meant to emphasize that Hades did not act in accordance with social custom and expectations, and it was only when Zeus steps in and fulfills his predetermined social role as father is the abduction of Persephone somewhat justified. --- [\[1\]](#_ftnref1) James Redfield, “Notes on the Greek Wedding,” *Arethusa* 15, no. 1 (Spring 1982): 184; Bruce Lincoln, “The Rape of Persephone: A Greek Scenario of Women’s Initiation,” *The Harvard Theological Review* 72, no. 3/4 (1979): 227. [\[2\]](#_ftnref2) Ada Cohen, “Portrayals of Abduction in Greek Art: Rape or Metaphor?,” in *Sexuality in Ancient Art : Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy* (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 130. [\[3\]](#_ftnref3) Jenny Strauss Clay, *The Politics of Olympus: Form and Meaning in the Major Homeric Hymns* (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989), 209.