What does the process of close reading a reader do?

Asap that time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. in this excerpt, what is the best meaning for the word "late"? not on time until recently dead well into the evening

Which line of dialogue best describes mrs. x’s sense of superiority over miss y at the begging of the play? a. “if you wanted to shoot me it wouldn’t be so surprising, because i stood in your way.” b. “home is the best of all, the theatre next and children—well, you wouldn’t undertake that.” c. i embroidered them myself—i can’t bear tulips, but he wants tulips on everything.” d. it’s sinful to sit here and make fun of ones husband this way when he is kind and a good little man.”

Imagine you are reading a story about a character named dray. dray is captain of the basketball team and practices for hours after school in order to achieve his goals of playing in the nba. one day, dray decides that he hates basketball. he quits the team and takes up knitting instead. what is the introduction of this new plot point is an example of a. an anticlimaxb. a conclusionc. a contrivanced. a climax