1. Literary Types Understanding Speaker and Tone
LAP 4: Poetry
Literary Types
Understanding Speaker and Tone

2. Voice & Diction
Voice is the way a writer uses language to reflect his or her unique personality and attitude toward a topic, form, and audience.
Diction, when applied to writing, refers to the author’s or poet’s choice of words and how those word choices express ideas or emotions.
Diction is used in “Beware Do Not Read This Poem”:
“Tonight, thriller was/abt an ol woman, so vain she”
abt= about
ol= old

3. Irony One aspect of voice to consider is irony.
Irony is the difference between appearance and reality.
Types of Irony:
Dramatic Irony: something is known by the reader or audience but unknown to the characters
Verbal Irony: a character says one thing but means another
Situational Irony: an event occurs that violates the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience

7. But this one…is a coincidence. Why?

8. IS it Ironic? Listen to the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette.
As you are listening to the song, write down some of the lyrics that you hear.

9. Assessing Speaker and Tone
Read aloud
Notice words that stand out
Be aware of word choice (word connotation)
The denotation of a word is its dictionary meaning.
The connotation of a word is the set ideas or emotional associations it suggests.
Consider the speaker
Compare and contrast similar poems

10. “Cold as Heaven” The title is an example of _________________.
What does the speaker describe for her grandmother?
“The Caribbean sun winds up the world/like an old alarm clock.” is an example of ______________ and ______________.
“Wrapped like mummies in layers of wool.” _______________________
“We fell through our own footprints” _________________.
“The bottle/dripping minutes through the tube” helps the reader understand that the grandmother is _____________.