Feelings

Attend to and precisely identify feelings while you read.  Whose feelings matter in literature?  Always consider the feelings of Characters, Readers, and Authors.  Many students know how something feels; far fewer students can give that feeling its correct name.

Imagery

Imagery is language that communicates sensory information, words that makes us feel and see the world that a text represents.  Commonly we think of imagery as being entirely visual, but there are other senses described as well.  For example, the senses of taste (gustatory), touch (tactual), space/distance (spatial), motion (kinesthetic), smell (olfaction), sound (auditory), time (temporal), and temperature (thermal) are often described in literature.   A good reader attends to all these details and enters a vivid, mental world.

Vocabulary

When we don't know the words, we don't comprehend the meanings.  Readers commonly define words by examining the context in which they are found.  When that strategy is inadequate, we look up the denotative definition in a dictionary.  Of course, sometimes we may have to choose from many definitions, and sometimes, we don't know the words found within a definition.  

There is a also a vocabulary problem of defining the connotation or connotative definition of a word.  Connotations are "suggestions" or "implications" of a word beyond or apart from the "thing it explicitly names or describes" (Webster).  For example, to "bear a cross" does not just mean to carry a cross, but rather to experience great suffering, perhaps extending into martyrdom, for a cause or ideal that which one is committed. In contrast, in the phrase "the right to bear arms," the connotation of bear might be to imply a sense of pride, self-determination, self-reliance, and political independence.

Ideas

In expository writing, ideas are stated explicitly by the author.  Moreover, ideas typically flow from one to another, as in an argument, and the writer provides supporting evidence in an effort to persuade.  

In fiction, however, ideas are not always explicitly stated.  Grasping an author's ideas is a key comprehension goal, but it is usually accomplished by careful attention to all the other elements of FIVIPAQ.  Central or dominant ideas in a work of fiction are called themes.  Often, literature students are asked to write and explain their ideas about a theme in the work of literature.  Writers and business people will refer to the central idea in an essay or investment strategy as a thesis.  A thesis is another name for an idea.

Patterns

Literary Patterns are structures that repeat.  Patterns typically serve four purposes: to convey significance, clarify meaning, facilitate comprehension and aesthetics through form, and develop style.  See Mr. Stone's Rule of Repetition.

Allusions

An allusion is when an author briefly refers to something outside the literary text that she expects the reader to know.  Because writer's assume that their readers will know this information, they do not always explain it.  For example, a writer in a computer magazine would use the abbreviation CPU instead of central processing unit, because they assume that their reader already knows that.  Similarly, writers may mention a politician's name, a Greek myth, or a character from the bible and not explain what they are referring to.  As readers, allusions sometimes confuse readers.  The first step is to notice that something unknown was alluded to, and then the reader must seek out an explanation from a reference book, another reader, or an Internet search.

Questions

Effective reading is grounded in an active, inquisitive mentality.  As an engaged reader, the mind records the flow of meaning, reacting to the text by asking questions about feelings, imagery, vocabulary, ideas, patterns, and allusions.  These questions may be answered so quickly that one is unaware it is happening.  For example, easily recognized vocabulary and ideas do not register overtly because the answers are immediately clear.    However, as soon as we are struck by unusual words, challenging ideas, unfamiliar feelings and/or unexpected images and patterns, a reader will typically experience confusion and discomfort.  To protect our ego, we may conclude the text is boring to instead of addressing the confusion systematically and strategically. A better response is to reread and analyze the material, start to ask the questions and begin the process of resolving difficulties and replacing confusion with understanding.