Imagery, Details, and Language DIDLS

Imagery Definition: an author’s use of descriptive and figurative language to create a picture in the reader’s mind’s eye. Visual imagery (sight) Auditory imagery (sound) Tactile imagery (touch) Gustatory imagery (taste) Olfactory imagery (smell)

Imagery Visual imagery is the most common Writers experiment with variety of images, and intermingle senses (giving smells a color, etc.) Imagery’s success depends on diction and detail Imagery evokes a vivid experience, conveys specific emotion, suggests particular idea

Imagery Imagery itself is not symbolic, but it may be used symbolically Some images have historic symbolic significance – Bird in flight = hope – River = life – Sunset = death

Imagery Consider the traditional and nontraditional meaning of an image Consider any departures from the traditional meaning What is the effect of both on meaning

Imagery: Techniques A writer must completely involve the reader in order to make the writing enjoyable to read. Strengthen images through alliteration, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia

Imagery: Techniques Strengthen the following sentence by using the following literary terms. Rewrite the sentence in a different way for each term. Sentence: The child got mad at the teacher. Alliteration Simile Onomatopoeia Metaphor

Imagery Writers use language to create sensory impressions and to evoke specific responses to characters, objects, events, or situations in their works. The writer "shows" rather than "tells," thus allowing the reader to participate in the experience more fully. Therefore imagery helps to produce mood and tone. When reading a piece containing imagery, you need to ask yourself two questions What do I hear, taste, smell, or feel? What effect is the author trying to convey with these messages?

Kino awakened in the near dark. The stars still shone and the day had drawn only a pale wash of light in the lower sky to the east. The roosters had been crowing for some time, and the early pigs were already beginning their ceaseless turning of twigs and bits of wood to see whether anything to eat had been overlooked. Outside the brush house in the tuna clump, a covey of little birds chattered and flurried with their wings. Kino's eyes opened, and he looked first at the lightening square which was the door and then he looked at the hanging box where Coyotito slept. And last he turned his head to Juana, his wife, who lay beside him on the mat, her blue shawl over her nose and over her breasts and around the small of her back. Juana's eyes were open too. Kino could never remember seeing them closed when he awakened. Her dark eyes made little reflected stars. She was looking at him as she was always looking at him when he awakened. Kino heard the little splash of morning waves on the beach. It was very good--Kino closed his eyes again to listen to the music. Imagery Practice Take a look at the opening of the novel Pearl. Examine the excerpt for examples of imagery and think about how these images and sensory details contribute to meaning and effect. Why do you think Steinbeck chose to open his novel with these images and details? What kind of information do the images and details provide to the reader about the characters and the society?

Details Facts, observations, and incidents used to develop a subject and impart voice Specific details create a precise mental picture Bring life and color to a description, focus reader’s attention, bring reader into the scene Shapes reader’s attitude by focusing attention Can also state by understatement: for example, lack of details about pain can prevent descent into sentimentality

What details does the author include and exclude in the story? The kinds of details the author puts in or leaves out reflect his/her style? Sometimes piling on details creates and effect. Sometimes not mentioning things that you would expect to be mentioned forces a shift in focus. ex. An author describing a battlefield might include paragraph after paragraph of details about the stench of rotting bodies, but he might just say that soldiers died, or he might not even mention death. Each method creates a specific effect. Look closely at what's there and what's not there. Figure out why.

Details Details: The facts given by the author or speaker as support for the attitude or tone. The speaker's perspective shapes what details are given. Look at the following passage from Tolkien's The Hobbit. Notice that the speaker's attitude toward the hobbits is revealed in whimsical and complimentary details. "I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which allows them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow naturally leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good- natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it). Now you know enough to go on with." J.R.R. Tolkein. The Hobbit. Ballantine Books, New York. Copyright 1937, 1938, 1966, p. 16.

Language The speaker often demonstrates one of his or her richest components of a description through language, which includes any literary device you can find. Similes, metaphors, paradoxes, oxymoron, personification, allusions, analogies, and symbols are all important language devices to look for. Remember, though, when you speak of language devices, you must identify them through blends. However, you must also continue - describe the effect of each language device.

What is the overall impression of the language the author uses? Does it reflect knowledge? A particular profession? Intelligence? Is it plain? Ornate? Simple? Clear? Figurative? Poetic? There is a big difference between the flavor of the language in Huckleberry Finn and the language in The Sound and the Fury. Figure out what the effect of the language is on the meaning of the work.

Syntax

Syntax -- Sentence Structure To Analyze and Describe the sentence structure consider the following: 1. Examine the sentence length. Are the sentences telegraphic (shorter than 5 words in length), medium (approximately 18 words in length), or long and involved (30 words or more in length)? Does the sentence length fit the subject matter? What variety of lengths is present? Why is the sentence length effective? 2. Examine sentence beginnings. Is there a good variety or does a pattern emerge? 3. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a sentence. Are they set out in a special way for a purpose? 4. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a paragraph. Is there evidence of any pattern or structure?

Examine Sentence Patterns A declarative (assertive) sentence makes a statement: e.g., The king is sick. An imperative sentence gives a command: e.g., Stand up. An interrogative sentence asks a question: e.g., Is the king sick? An exclamatory sentence makes an exclamation: e.g., The king is dead!

Examine Sentence Patterns A simple sentence contains one subject and one verb: e.g., The singer bowed to her adoring audience. A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction (and, but, or) or by a semicolon: e.g., The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores. A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses: e.g., You said that you would tell the truth. A compound-complex sentence contains two or more principal clauses and one or more subordinate clauses: e.g., The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no encores.

Examine Sentence Patterns A loose sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending: e.g., We reached Edmonton/that morning/after a turbulent flight/and some exciting experiences. A periodic sentence makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached: e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton. In a balanced sentence, the phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their likeness of structure, meaning or length: e.g., He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Examine Sentence Patterns Natural order of a sentence involves constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the predicate: e.g., Oranges grow in California. Inverted order of a sentence (sentence inversion) Involves constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the subject e.g., In California grow oranges. This is a device in which normal sentence patterns are reversed to create an emphatic or rhythmic effect. Split order of a sentence divides the predicate into tow parts with the subject coming in the middle: e.g., In California oranges grow.

Examine Sentence Patterns. Juxtaposition is a poetic and rhetorical device in which naturally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to each other, creating an effect of surprise and wit: e.g., “The apparition of these faces in the crowd/Petals on the wet, black bough”. Parallel structure (parallelism refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased: e.g., He was walking, running and jumping for joy. Repetition is a device in which words, sound and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis: e.g., …….government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. A rhetorical question is a question that expects no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement: e.g., If Mr. Farchaff is always fair, as you have said, why did he refuse to listen to Mrs. Baldwin’s arguments?

Punctuation Semicolon gives equal weight to two or more independent clauses in a sentence. Reinforces parallel ideas and imparts equal importance to all clauses. Colon directs readers attention to the words that follow. Can be used between independent clauses if the second summarizes or explains the first. A colon sets the expectation that important words will follow, creating emphasis. Dash marks sudden change in thought or tone, sets off brief summary, or sets of parenthetical part of sentence. Conveys casual tone.

Exit Ticket DIDLS Reflection 1. Define diction and give an example of formal and informal. 2. Define denotation and connotation and give an example of each. 3. Create a sentence for each of the 5 types of imagery. 4. Create 1 sentence using unusual word order to emphasize syntax.