 Mitchell Spring 2015

Tone Word Choice (Diction) Imagery Style Theme Speaker

 Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

 The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, or cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes.  Consider the following examples of tone: “I want to ask the authorities what is the big deal? Why do they not control the epidemic? It is eating up lives like a monster.” “I want to draw the attention of the concerned authorities toward damage caused by an epidemic. If steps were not taken to curb it, it will further injure our community.”

It may be “formal” where formal words are used in formal situations e.g. press conferences, presentations etc. Similarly, we use “informal” diction in informal situations like writing or talking to our friends. Moreover, an everyday diction uses words common in everyday speech. “Slang” is the use of words that are impolite or newly coined. Example: “Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu.” - It is more formal to use “adieu” than to say “goodbye”.

 Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.  Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture.

1. It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images. 2. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. - “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense. 3. He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense. 4. The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. – The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch or tactile sense. 5. The fresh and juicy orange are very cold and sweet. – “ juicy” and “sweet” when associated with oranges have an effect on our sense of taste or gustatory sense.

 The function of imagery in literature is to generate a vibrant and graphic presentation of a scene that appeals to as many of the reader’s senses as possible. It aids the reader’s imagination to envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly.  Apart from the above mentioned function, images, which are drawn by using figures of speech like metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia etc., serve the function of beautifying a piece of literature, thus making it more interesting and relevant to readers.

 Expository = focus of the writer in this type of writing style is to tell the readers about a specific subject or topic. The author leaves out his/her own opinion about that topic.  Persuasive = the writer tries to give reasons and justification to make the readers believe his/her point of view.  Narrative Story = a type of writing where the writer narrates a story. This includes short stories, novels, novellas, biographies and poetry.  Narrative Description = the author focuses on describing an event, a character or a place in detail. Usually the description incorporates sensory details like imagery.

 A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his work, making it the most significant idea in a literary work.  A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly and gives way to another minor theme.

Don’t confuse topic and theme; they’re not the same…  Subject is a topic which acts as a foundation for a literary work  Theme is an opinion expressed on the subject. For example, a writer may choose a subject of war for his story and the theme of a story may be writer’s personal opinion that war is a curse for humanity. Usually, it is up to the readers to explore a theme of a literary work by analyzing characters, plot and other literary devices.

Katie Clean invited Messy Missy to her house to work on their biology project, but Katie Clean had no idea what a visit from Messy Missy entailed. First of all, it was raining and Messy Missy neither bothered to take her boots off nor thoroughly wiped them on the doormat. Then Messy Missy ate a bag of hot chips on Katie Clean’s white bedspread without asking, and Messy Missy is a sloppy eater, so hot chip powder got all over the bedspread. Katie Clean tried to be polite and ignore Messy Missy’s sloppy behavior, but then Messy Missy threw her chip wrapper on the floor. Offended, Katie Clean pretended that she was sick and asked Messy Missy to leave. The next day Katie Clean asked the teacher if she could work by herself. After explaining her situation, the teacher allowed Katie to work alone. Messy Missy would have finished the assignment by herself, but she spilled grape soda all over her assignment.

 The speaker is the voice or "persona" of a poem. One should not assume that the poet is the speaker, because the poet may be writing from a perspective entirely different from his own, even with the voice of another gender, race or species, or even of a material object.  Close reading of a text will help you to determine who, exactly, the speaker is much in the same way you would for characterization.