Diction

Diction = word choice n 1. Vocabulary -- the kinds of words, cultured diction, colloquial diction, slang, formulaic speech. Is it earthy, abstract, complex, archaic, simple, repetitive, technical? n 2.Analysis of particular word choices –denotations (literal meanings) and connotations (implied meanings) –novelty or unexpectedness –sound within the context

Tennyson n Literal/metaphorical meaning n Metrics n Word choice

Hopkins n How does this poem sound compared to “The Lady of Shallot? n What type of language does he use? n Unusual words? n Form? n Who is the speaker? To whom is he speaking? What’s the occasion?

Blumenthal n What kind of language? n Individual words? Where unusual? n Twists/challenges? n What is his advice?

Liu n What voices do you hear? How do they work with each other/against each other? n What surprises you in the poem?

Wordsworth, 665 n Vocabulary -- boon? Proteus? Triton? Wreathed? n Why world and not earth in line 1? n Why getting and spending instead of buying and selling in line 2? n Why bares instead of exposes in line 5? n Why sleeping and not dozing in line 7? n Why flowers and not posies in line 7? n Why suckled and not nourished in line 10?

Clampitt, 743 n Vocabulary -- trellised, turreted, illusory, homunculi, swigging, burblings, dirges, sere, alluvium. In the first 3 stanzas. What words don’t you know in the last stanzas? Why the shift? n How does the imagery shift? n Where does the strangeness linger? n What’s the rhythm of the piece?

Diction = word choice