Voice Lesson – Romanticism

Diction An aged man is but a paltry thing A tattered coat upon a stick …. – W.B. Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium”

An aged man is but a paltry thing Diction: An aged man is but a paltry thing A tattered coat upon a stick …. – W.B. Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium” Write three different sentences describing the same pair of shoes in different ways. For example: My tan platform shoes make me feel powerful. My worn out platforms sometimes make my feet stink. My newly repaired platforms give me a sense of comfort.

Detail To those who saw him often he seemed almost like two men: one the merry monarch of the hunt and banquet and procession, the friend of children, the patron of every kind of sport; the other the cold, acute observer of the audience chamber or the Council, watching vigilantly, weighing arguments, refusing except under the stress of great events to speak his own mind. – Winston Churchill, “King Henry VIII,” Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples

Detail:To those who saw him often he seemed almost like two men: one the merry monarch of the hunt and banquet and procession, the friend of children, the patron of every kind of sport; the other the cold, acute observer of the audience chamber or the Council, watching vigilantly, weighing arguments, refusing except under the stress of great events to speak his own mind. – Winston Churchill, “King Henry VIII,” Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples Think of someone you know who has two strong sides to his/her personality. Using Churchill’s sentence as a model, write a sentence which captures – through detail – these two sides. Make sure you have the intro followed by a colon then describe one side of their personality, followed by a semi-colon, and describe the other side of their personality. Highlight the details of one side of the personality description in one color, then highlight the details of the opposite side of the personality in another color.

Imagery Imagery: The rainy night had ushered in a misty morning – half frost, half drizzle – and temporary brooks crossed our path, gurgling from the uplands. – Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Imagery: The rainy night had ushered in a misty morning – half frost, half drizzle – and temporary brooks crossed our path, gurgling from the uplands. – Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights Write two sentences that create a mood of terror. Use visual and auditory imagery to describe the weather, thereby setting and reinforcing the mood. Highlight visual images one color and the auditory images another color. Create a key to label the type of image.

Syntax There is another and curious class of cases in which close external resemblance does not depend on adaptation to similar habits of life, but has been gained for the sake of protection. I allude to the wonderful manner in which certain butterflies imitate…other and quite distinct species…. The mockers and mocked always inhabit the same region; we never find an imitator living remote from the form which it imitates. The mockers are almost invariable rare insects; the mocked in almost every case abound in swarms. – Charles Darwin, “Analogical Resemblances,” The Origin of Species

Syntax: There is another and curious class of cases in which close external resemblance does not depend on adaptation to similar habits of life, but has been gained for the sake of protection. I allude to the wonderful manner in which certain butterflies imitate…other and quite distinct species…. The mockers and mocked always inhabit the same region; we never find an imitator living remote from the form which it imitates. The mockers are almost invariable rare insects; the mocked in almost every case abound in swarms. – Charles Darwin, “Analogical Resemblances,” The Origin of Species Write a sentence with two independent clauses describing two schools in your area. Join the two clauses with a semicolon. The two clauses should emphasize the differences between the two schools. Remember not to use a conjunction to join the two clauses. Circle the way you join the two sentences.

Tone But that is Cooper’s way; frequently he will explain and justify little things that do not need it and then make up for this by as frequently failing to explain important ones that do need it. For instance he allowed that astute and cautious person, Deerslayer-Hawkeye, to throw his rifle heedlessly down and leave it lying on the ground where some hostile Indians would presently be sure to find it - a rifle prized by that person above all things else in the earth - and the reader gets no word of explanation of that strange act. There was a reason, but it wouldn’t bear exposure. Cooper meant to get a fine dramatic effect out of the finding of the rifle by the Indians, and he accomplishes this at the happy time; but all the same, Hawkeye could have hidden the rifle in a quarter of a minute where the Indians could not have found it. Cooper couldn’t think of any way to explain why Hawkeye didn’t do that, so he just shirked the difficulty and did not explain at all. -Mark Twain, “Cooper’s Prose Style,” Letters from the Earth

Tone But that is Cooper’s way; frequently he will explain and justify little things that do not need it and then make up for this by as frequently failing to explain important ones that do need it. For instance he allowed that astute and cautious person, Deerslayer-Hawkeye, to throw his rifle heedlessly down and leave it lying on the ground where some hostile Indians would presently be sure to find it - a rifle prized by that person above all things else in the earth - and the reader gets no word of explanation of that strange act. There was a reason, but it wouldn’t bear exposure. Cooper meant to get a fine dramatic effect out of the finding of the rifle by the Indians, and he accomplishes this at the happy time; but all the same, Hawkeye could have hidden the rifle in a quarter of a minute where the Indians could not have found it. Cooper couldn’t think of any way to explain why Hawkeye didn’t do that, so he just shirked the difficulty and did not explain at all. -Mark Twain, “Cooper’s Prose Style,” Letters from the Earth Write a paragraph about a movie you have recently seen. Create a critical, disparaging tone through your choice of details. Use Twain’s paragraph as a model.