Reading isn’t always easy. Sometimes, it can feel like a downright struggle to get through a book–especially if every other word seems foreign. When reading is so frustrating, it’s easy to see why many people might not see the joys that go along with it. However, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. Even people who love to read and do it often struggle every now and then. It’s a learned skill, and today, I will give you seven easy tips to understand literature better. Let’s get started!
Tip #1: The First Time Around, Read for Understanding
Advice that you probably won’t like, but I’ll get to later: if you want to succeed, you need to reread. You’d be surprised how much you miss if you only read something once.
With that being said, take some pressure off of yourself during the first readthrough. Your only goal is to understand the text at a literal level. I always say that if you want to understand literature better, you just need to identify the what (what is the author saying?) and the how (how are they showing this?). Once you do that, you’re solid.
So your objective during the first readthrough is just to figure out what’s happening–the basic plot points. Don’t worry too much about unfamiliar words at this point. If it’s getting between you and understanding the text, then look it up and make a note. Otherwise, you can use context for the meantime or look it up later.
Now, in this next tip, I’ll tell you what to do with those plot points.
Tip #2: Summarize as You Go
This is part of many annotation protocols, but it deserves its own mention. One of the best ways for you to keep track of what’s happening, reflect, and refresh your brain when you return to it is to keep a neat summary. I recommend keeping this summary at the end of the chapter/section, or, if it’s a long chapter, at the bottom of the page.
Why? There are two reasons. First, everything is in one place. When you return to the chapter to study for a test or prepare for an essay, you’ll basically have your own little SparkNotes. Second, it forces you to crystallize the ideas of the text and flip back through the pages to refresh yourself.
This is an extremely useful method to understand literature better, and it’s also one of my best tips when it comes to reading in another language. It keeps you from getting too lost or overwhelmed.
Tip #3: Reread
Once you’ve gotten your overall understanding of the chapter/assigned reading and summarized it, it’s time to reread. If your mind feels cluttered or you’re overwhelmed, take a short break before doing this. There’s no point in trying to overwork your brain; it’s counterproductive. You’ll understand literature better with a fresh pair of eyes anyway.
During this second round, you’re going to focus more on what’s going on underneath the words. You now know what happened. Now is the time to look at the how and the why. With your summary in hand, you’re going to annotate (see below), and go through the text asking yourself the following questions:
- Are there any details or plot points I missed the first time?
- What literary devices do I see here?
- What quotes feel important?
- How is the author trying to get their message across? Why?
- How does this connect to anything discussed before (characterization, themes, etc.)?
Tip #4: Annotate as You Read
This is one of several active reading strategies. The main point is to make you engage with the reading, not just skim through it without processing anything. Personally, I like to do a relaxed version of annotation during my first read and a more intense version during my second. This helps me to focus better as I reread, and it also gives me a clear idea of the deeper levels of the text.
We already have a list of questions to ask during the reread to help us understand literature better, and these are the foundation of the annotation process. Annotation is essentially our way to pull out the most important aspects from the text. It doesn’t just make reading easier; it also makes returning to the work (think: finding evidence for an essay) much, much less painful.
Now, how do we annotate? Well, it depends on the person and the teacher. In general, you will want to do the following things:
- Take notes in the margins–what are your ideas? What seems meaningful? What questions do you have?
- Put a question mark wherever you don’t understand something
- Underline unfamiliar words
- Identify literary devices: symbolism, themes, plot, characterization, figurative language, etc.
- Highlight/underline important quotes
One note on the highlighting: it can be tempting to highlight everything, especially if you’re just starting out. Unfortunately, this is a working-harder-not-smarter situation. Only highlight the things that you really feel, in your gut, the author wanted to you pick out. A shortcut for this: does it relate to the what and the how? If yes, you’re probably on the right track.
Tip #5: Figure Out the Method That Works Best for You
Everyone learns differently, and there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. To understand literature better, you also need to understand yourself better.
Learning Styles
First, we have learning styles. In the basic understanding of how we learn, we have three types: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Consider how you general try to study or what is most productive for you. Are you usually listening to someone? Studying notes on the board? Moving around to get it into your memory? If you’d like, you can also try a quiz like this one to figure out what your learning style is. Take that and figure out what your best approach to reading might be: listening to the audiobook as you read, using a highlighter strip to focus, reading/listening to the book on a treadmill, etc.
Multiple Intelligences
Another approach is Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Here, we have an expanded version of different approaches to learning, including methods like musical and intra/interpersonal intelligence. While these aren’t strictly learning styles, I have found them helpful with my students because everyone has a slightly different inclination toward something. For example, some people learn great in study groups because it’s a social activity. For me, it’s much easier when I study on my own or teach it to someone else. Find your “intelligence” and work that into your reading regimen.
Environment
Finally, there’s your environment. You might be surprised how much this actually affects your reading comprehension. Some people do great studying in the silence of a library, others need the background noise of a cafe, and others still don’t engage until they’re sitting in their own desk. When you think back to your most productive reading sessions in which you felt the most engaged, connected, and on your game, where were you?
Now we have the matter of you in your environment. When I was working with homeschooling families, this might have been what made the biggest difference. What are you doing while reading? Are you laying down in your bed? Watching something in the background? Playing a game on your phone at the same time? Constantly checking notifications so that your brain can never really focus?
Unfortunately, this was something that I often saw get between students and their ability to understand literature better. There may have been problems with them being to understand the literature, yes, but the lack of focus exacerbated this to an incredible degree. With that being said, I encourage you to take a look at your environment, distractions, and roadblocks and see if there is anything that you can adjust to improve your concentration while reading.
Tip #6: Utilize the Context for Reading
While preparing lesson plans, this is one of my favorite things to do. Most teachers will do a quick presentation at the beginning of a new unit where they give context to the literature you’re about to read. This could be about the author, the time period, the setting, important historical patterns, or anything else important regarding the world in which the piece was written. Students sometimes think that this is just because the teacher loves authors and/or history. Wrong! It’s because it is incredibly important for your understanding.
Let’s take The Great Gatsby as an example. Pretend you know nothing about the story (which you might not, for all I know!). When you read it, you might have some confusion about various historical references, the significance of the setting, a few of the characters, and why the Jazz Age is so important–beyond the fabulous parties on the page.
Now pretend that your teacher has given you context, or you’ve looked it up on your own. When you read it, you’ll understand that the novel is written after World War I and during the Prohibition Era, where alcohol was illegal and bootleggers found opportunities. That automatically clarifies a lot of things. Add in the fact that Fitzgerald was part of the Lost Generation, which rejected traditional values, focused on loss and a sense of being lost, and was critical of society–and that several characters were derived from his own life! And then the fact that the Great Depression arrived less than a decade later, essentially proving one of the main messages Fitzgerald wants us to take away? You get my point.
Tip #7: If You’re Really Struggling, Read a Summary After You’ve Already Read
This is a piece of advice that I don’t want taken out of context. Learning to understand literature better means growing that muscle, which inherently means a bit of struggle. Again, you’re definitely not the only one facing a bit of difficulty. All of us go through it, and we get better each time.
However, sometimes we need a bit of support. SparkNotes has a legendary reputation amongst students and a not-so-legendary one amongst teachers because of how many students use it to cheat (and by cheat, I mean literally copy quotes from SparkNotes into their homework…we’re going to notice). Let me be clear: if SparkNotes is your version of reading a book, you’re never going to understand literature better.
If you’re reading this, however, you probably aren’t doing that, so I’m here to tell you the right way to use SparkNotes. When you look at SparkNotes as more of a resource than a crutch, and you use it to check your understanding, it can be very helpful! I always recommend that my students read the assigned passage on their own at least once or twice. They can write their summaries, do their annotations, and figure out what they think it’s saying and how. Then, if they’re still struggling, or they’d like to fill in some gaps, they can go to something like SparkNotes or Cliffsnotes to compare notes.
Although imperfect, this is a good way to see how much you’re understanding. It also helps to train you and familiarize you with the test. Usually, you’ll be surprised how much you actually understood.
Exception
In the case of Shakespeare, which is incredibly frustrating at first, I actually recommend that my students use the No Fear Shakespeare version of the text. To understand literature better, you do sometimes need help to get a handle on what the literal words mean. This puts the original and “modern day language” versions of Shakespeare’s works side by side. As you get through the various plays, it does get easier to understand. However, in order to keep you from losing your mind the first time you read Shakespeare, this is a very useful tool.
A Final Word
While this isn’t an exhaustive list of tips to understand literature better, I hope that it helps you in your reading journey like it has for many other students. I know it can be frustrating when reading. Just remember that you’re not alone, and that you’re building a muscle that will help you forever. Do you have any other tips that work well for you? Let me know in the comments!
