DIRECTIONS:
Read the following pages about style. Then, read “Masque of the Red
Death” by Edgar Allen Poe and do the Style Analysis Worksheet for Edgar
Allen Poe. You may use “The Pit and The Pendulum” instead, if you wish.
What is Style?
Style can be defined as any of the characteristic ways that an author uses
language.
Every author uses the elements of style in individual ways to achieve certain
effects. Like a
fingerprint, an author's style identifies his or her writing as unique. It also has
specific effects on
the reader.
Recognizing the Elements of Style
Many different elements go into what makes up an author's "style":
Word choice (also called "diction"): Does the author use words drawn from
everyday language and slang, or from a higher vocabulary level?
Length and complexity of sentences: Are story sentences short and choppy,
or long and complex?
Punctuation: Does the author use punctuation in any distinctive ways that differ
from normal usage?
Use of imagery and symbols: Does the author make use of special images or
symbols to tell the story?
Sound and rhythm: Does the author choose or arrange words for the way they
sound? How does the story sound when you read it aloud?
Format: Does the author use standard prose and paragraphing? Does the
author write in a sequential order, or does she skip around?
The Effects of Style Choices
The elements of an author's style have many effects on how readers respond
to his or her story.
Mood: How do the elements listed above contribute to the story's mood? For
example, is the overall feeling of the story light and easy, or dark and brooding?
Tone: How do the elements listed above affect the author's tone? Is the overall
tone warm and inviting, or distant and reserved?
Defining Style
Style in literature is the literary element that describes the ways that the author
uses words — the author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language,
and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood, images, and
meaning in the text. Style describes how the author describes events, objects, and
ideas.
One easy way to understand literary style is to think about fashion styles. Clothes
can be formal and dressy, informal and casual, preppy, athletic, and so forth.
Literary style is like the clothes that a text puts on. By analogy, the information
underneath is like the person's body, and the specific words, structures, and
arrangements that are used are like the clothes. Just as we can dress one person in
several different fashions, we can dress a single message in several different
literary styles:
Original
"No sich uh thing!" Tea Cake retorted. (Zora Neale Hurston. Their
Eyes Were Watching God. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1978, p. 205.)
Informal
"Nothing like that ever happened," Tea Cake replied.
Formal
"With great fortune, that happenstance did not become a reality,"
Tea Cake stated.
Journalistic, after Ernest Hemingway
"It did not happen," Tea Cake said.
Archaic, after Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Verily, it was a circumstance, to be noted, that appeared not to so
much have been a reality as to have evolved as a thing that had not
yet come to be," Tea Cake impelled.
The style that an author uses influences how we interpret the facts that are
presented. Wording and phrasing can tell us about emotions in the scene, the
setting, and characters. If you're still not convinced, consider the differences
between the following sentences:
He's passed away.
He's sleeping with the fishes.
He died.
He's gone to meet his Maker.
He kicked the bucket.
The version of that sentence that a writer chooses tells us a lot about the situation,
the speaker, and the person being spoken to (the audience).
Style Analysis Worksheet
Name_________________________________Date____________Class_______
Title of Short Story/Novel: ________________________________________
Author: ______________________________________
1. Tone – Describe the author’s tone (his or her attitude toward the subject) with
examples from the selection.
2. Diction – Describe diction by considering the following:
A. Are the words mainly slang, informal (colloquial), or formal (scholarly)?
What impact does this have? Give examples.
B. Are the words mainly denotative (containing an exact meaning), e.g. dress, or
connotative (containing a suggested meaning), e.g. gown? Give examples.
What impact does this have?
C. Are the words may be euphonious (pleasant sounding) or cacophonous (harsh
sounding) What impact does this have? Give examples.
3. Sentence Structure – Describe the author’s sentence structure by considering the
following:
A. Are the sentences short (fewer than 5 words), medium (about 18 words), or long
(more than 30 words)? Does the sentence length fit the subject matter? What
variety of lengths is present? Why is the sentence length effective?
B. Does the author use simple, complex, compound, or compound-complex
sentences? What impact does this have?
Simple:
Everything was beautiful.
Compound:
Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.
Complex: Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.
Compound-Complex: I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of
evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival.
C. Does a pattern emerge among sentence beginnings? (varied? Something the
author uses frequently?)
4. Figurative Language – Describe the author’s figurative language by considering
the following (find at least 3 of these):
A.
Did the author use simile (comparison using like or as)? Give examples and
explain the impact that these had.
B.
Did the author use metaphor (comparison of two unlike things)? Give examples
and explain the impact that these had.
C.
Did the author use personification (giving an inanimate object human qualities)?
Give examples and explain the impact that these had.
D.
Did the author use hyperbole (overstatement/exaggeration)? Give examples and
explain the impact that these had.
E.
Did the author use oxymoron (two seemingly opposite terms used together) or
paradox (a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality
expresses a possible truth.)? Give examples and explain the impact that these had.
F.
Did the author use irony (the use of words to convey a meaning that is the
opposite of its literal meaning)? Give examples and explain the impact that this had.
G.
Did the author use allusions (makes a reference to, or representation of, a place,
event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication.)? Give
examples and explain the impact that these had.