1. Literary Elements for tonight: SETTING and STYLE
Monday, February 25, 2008
Literary Elements for tonight:
SETTING and STYLE
11/17/2018

2. Literary Elements Setting
is the time and place of a story’s action.
Setting refers not only to time of day or season but also to the historical period and circumstances, weather conditions, and circumstances of place. 2
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3. Elements of Setting
Holman’s A Handbook to Literature divides setting into four main elements:
Actual geographical location
Occupations and “daily manner of living” of characters
Time or period in which the action takes place
The general environment of the characters – religious, mental, moral, social, emotional 3
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4. Thinking about setting
I like to think of setting in a story as the combination of all the elements which go into the making of a scene – elements that give the story a visual impact and a sense of being real.
Such elements might include not only the large circumstances but also the “props.” 4 4
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5. Props
When I consider setting, I think of the staging of the story, not only of time, place, and weather, for example, but also of “props” or “stage set”– furniture, accessories important to the story, floor plans.
Imagining that I am a stage manager, I ask myself what parts of the set are crucial to the story or if there are parts which can be omitted without vast change to the story. 5 5
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6. Setting and Symbolism
Writers often use setting in a symbolic way: a desert may convey sterility, for example, or a thunderous downpour may show new life or growth.
Example: In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” the stairs indicate up and down, or rise and fall – Mrs. Mallard’s rise to freedom and victory or her descent to death and defeat. (See textbook, pp ) What do the doors in the story seem to represent?
When a setting seems to be particularly symbolic, we might consider its examination important to discovery of ideas about the story’s theme. 6
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7. Atmosphere
A word often associated with setting is atmosphere, the “emotional aura that helps to establish the reader’s expectations and attitudes” (“Atmosphere”).
A master of atmosphere is Edgar Allan Poe, whose tales evoke a sense of foreboding or impending catastrophe. Poe takes great care in creating and describing his scenes in order to influence the reader’s response to a particular setting or situation.
Consider the atmosphere of the following places you might go in your everyday life: a church, a tavern, a greenhouse. 7
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8. Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Longman,
“Setting.” A Handbook to Literature. Holman, C. Hugh and William Harmon, eds. New York: MacMillan, 1986. 8
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9. CREDITS Developed and prepared by Dr. Linda Lovell
NorthWest Arkansas Community College 9
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10. Now on to the next literary element for this evening!
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11. Yet Another Literary Element
Style
Yet Another Literary Element
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12. What Is Style in Writing?
Style is the way language is used to create a text. To be able to discuss the style of a text and, subsequently, be able to compare, contrast or evaluate its effectiveness, it is essential to understand what is meant by the term.
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13. Language Resources particular words
In constructing text, writers and speakers draw on the language resources of our culture. Our language resources consist of:
particular words
structured patterns, or grammatical systems
sounds
symbols
art or visual text.
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14. The features of a text’s style
word choice (nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns)
sentence structure: long (compound or complex), short (simple or fragmented), short, medium or long paragraphs
types of sentences: questions, commands, etc.
punctuation
types of words (emotive, technical, objective, imaginative, descriptive)
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15. Features continued (2)
imagery (similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, symbolism, repetition, alliteration)
use of dialogue or direct speech
level of language, whether formal, informal or slang
tone (happy, detached, oppressive, etc.)
graphics (charts, diagrams, still or moving images, layout, font, etc.)
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16. Features continued (3)
sound (intonation, rhythm, pace, pause, volume, accent, etc.)
body language (facial expression, eye contact, proximity, posture)
point of view: who is the speaker?
force of opening and closing sentences
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17. References “The short story”
This unit was prepared by Lynne Searle, Chifley College, Whalan campus.
Baillie, Allan: Train game, in Baines, Richard (ed.): Splinters, Oxford, pp
Robins, Elaine and Peter: The inside story, Oxford University Press:
Interview transcript, p 144
Review, p 146
Robins, Elaine and Peter: The story within, Oxford University Press:
Feature article, p 154
Letter to the editor, p 168
Newspaper story, p 161
Opinionative essay, p 158
Personal letter, p 163
Report, p 166
Speech, p165
Television script, p 169.
Schill, Janne, On target, creating a text for a purpose, Heinnemann, pp10- 11, pp
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18. Verbal directions for the in-class small group activity for tonight
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