WHAT ARE DIDLS AND SOAPSTONE??
American Literature: Tucker
DIDLES
Diction--the connotation of word choice
Images--vivid appeals to understanding through the senses
Details--facts that are included or those omitted
Language--the overall characteristics of the body of words used:
formal, clinical
Syntax and Structure--how structure affects the reader's attitude
(e.g., short sentences are often emotional or assertive and longer
sentences move toward more reasonable or scholarly intent); how the
piece is structured: Chronological order; flashback; memory;
conversation/dialogue; plot; setting
WHAT IS DICTION?
Diction is word choice. What words do authors choose to convey the meaning that they want
to convey? How does word choice help create mood/tone?
Words can be concrete (specific) or abstract (general or conceptual).
Words can be mainly denotative (containing an exact meaning, e.g., dress)
or connotative (containing a suggested meaning, e.g., gown)
Words can be euphonious (pleasant sounding, e.g., languid, murmur) or
cacophonous (harsh sounding, e.g., raucous, croak).
WHAT IS IMAGERY??
Imagery is when words create a picture in the reader’s mind. It includes:
Figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, etc.
When reading a piece containing imagery, you need to ask yourself two
questions:
1. What do I hear, taste, smell, or feel?
2. What effect is the author trying to convey with these messages?
WHAT ARE 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."
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
Formal Language (polysyllabic words)
Neutral language (simple words)
Low, Informal Language (slang, everyday language)
Types include:
oSlang: informal, recently formed words/phrases (“Yo, dawg! What up?”)
oColloquialisms: Figures of speech, expressions (“Reading Into the Wild was worth
ruining my eyes”)
oJargon: Characteristic of a trade, profession, pursuit (
oDialect: language characteristic of a region, place (“I love soda pop”; “Ain’t never
seen that”)
SYNTAX AND STRUCTURE
Syntax is Sentence Structure! Long, flowing sentences give the reader a different feeling than
short, choppy sentences. Think about the following:
Sentence length (How many long sentences? How many short sentences?)
Kinds of Sentences (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, simple, compound,
complex, compound-complex)
Order of the Sentence (ex: inverted: “happy you are”)
Also consider:
 Juxtaposition: a poetic and rhetorical device in which naturally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed
next to each other
 Parallel structure: a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence
 Repetition: key words and phrases are repeated for effect.
WHAT IS SOAPSTONE?
Subject: What is the text about?
Occasion: Where and when did the story/poem take place?
Audience: Toward whom is the text directed?
Purpose: What is the reason the text was written?
Speaker: The voice in the story. Is it male, female? Old/young? Educated,
uneducated?
Tone: What is the author’s attitude toward the subject? What emotions are evoked?
SOAPSTONE EXAMPLE:
From “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from the past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide
Welling and swelling I bear the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
I am the dream and the hope of the slave
I rise
I rise
I rise.