Literary Techniques in Poetry Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone

Word Choice Diction (4) – an author’s choice of words Poetic Diction – use of elevated language instead of ordinary language Formal Diction – dignified impersonal, and elevated use of language. In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity And the Pride of Life that planned her, still couches she

Word Choice Middle Diction - words spoken by most educated people In this sample, Poet Richard Wilbur is telling his lover what she might be doing instead of being with him (“A Late Aubade”) You could be sitting now in a carrel Turning some liver-spotted page, Or Rising in an elevator-cage Towards Ladies’ Apparel

Word Choice Informal Diction – words used are very informal. May contain colloquialism, dialect, or jargon Colloquialism – words or phrases used in every day speech, unconstrained by formal conventions Dialect – words spoken by a definable group or people from a particular geographic region, economic group, or social class Jargon – words and language defined by a trade or profession Example: Philip Larkin “Study of Reading Habits”

Word Choice Denotation(14) – literal meanings of a word Connotation(14) – associations and implications that go beyond a word’s literal meaning. Denotation Connotation Colored Cloth Freedom US Flag Cross Evergreen Platypus Soybean Two Pieces of Wood Sacrifice Nature Holiday Semi Aquatic Mammal Secret Agent Healthy Bean Death Nugget

Death of a Ball Turret Gunner Death of a Ball Turret Gunner – Randall Jarrell From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. "A ball turret was a plexiglass sphere set into the belly of a B-17 or B-24, and inhabited by two .50 caliber machine guns and one man, a short small man. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below, he revolved with the turret; hunched upside down in his little sphere. The fighters which attacked him were armed with cannon firing explosive shells. The hose was a steam hose."

Word Choice Persona – the speaker created by the poet “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” “A Study of Reading Habits” Syntax – ordering of words (and grammar) into meaningful verbal patterns “Hazel tells LaVern” “l(a”

Word Choice, Order, and Tone Tone – the writer’s attitude towards the subject, the mood created by all of the elements of the poem “A Study of Reading Habits” Dramatic Monologue – a type of poem where a character – the speaker – addresses a silent audience in a way as to unintentionally reveal some aspect of his or her temperament or personality “Hazel Tells LaVern”

Latin Night at the Pawnshop ~ Martín Espada Chelsea, Massachusetts Christmas, 1987 The apparition of a salsa band Gleaming in the Liberty Loan Pawnshop window: Golden trumpet Silver trombone Congas, maracas, tambourine, All with price tags dangling Like the city morgue ticket On a dead man’s toe.