Mrs. Hall
English III
Analysis Unit
Essential Questions
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How does an author create meaning in a fictional text?
How do individual elements of a text support and develop the overall theme?
How does a reader analyze literary elements – diction, imagery, details, language and
syntax – to discern and validate themes in a text?
Why is it important to carefully analyze what we read?
How does literature shape our ideas, values, beliefs, and, or behaviors?
How is literature a reflection of life?
Topics
DIDLS: Diction – Imagery – Details – Language – Syntax
Terms/Devices
Diction:
o High, Formal,
o Neutral: No elaborate words.
o Informal, Low
o Slang
o Colloquial
o Jargon
o Dialect
o Concrete/Abstract
o Denotative/Connotative
o Euphonious/Cacophonous
Tone
Mood
Figurative Language:
o Simile
o Metaphor
o Personification
o Symbol
o Metonymy
o Synecdoche
o Alliteration
o Hyperbole
o Oxymoron
o Onomatopoeia
o Pun
o Assonance
o Consonance
Language:
o Rhetorical Question
o Repetition
o Irony
o Verbal
o Dramatic
o Situational
o Paradox
o Satire
Syntax:
o Declarative
o Imperative
o Interrogative
o Exclamatory
o Simple Sentence
o Compound Sentence
o Complex Sentence
o Compound-Complex Sentence
o Juxtaposition
o Parallel Structure
1
Mrs. Hall – English
Breaking it Down – Unlocking the Process of Analysis
Student Name __________________
We look at it, we listen to it, we watch it and somehow we understand what it all means. How? We are going to unlock the
process our minds go through when we analyze and synthesize the world around us.
Photo
Art
Song
Movie
Details - What are
the details? What is
concrete or factual?
Why? - Ask yourself
questions about the
details/evidence.
Analysis: Based on
your evidence, or
details, what are
the answers to the
“why” questions?
What comments or
conclusions can you
draw about the
meaning of the
details?
2
D-I-D-L-S Literature Analysis
DICTION
The author’s choice of words and their connotations
What words appear to have been chosen specifically for their effects?
What effect do these words have on your mood as the reader?
What do they seem to indicate about the author’s tone?
IMAGERY
The use of descriptions that appeal to sensory experience
What images are especially vivid? To what sense do these appeal?
What effect do these images have on your mood as a reader?
What do they seem to indicate about the author’s tone?
DETAILS
Facts included or those omitted
What details has the author specifically included?
What details has the author apparently left out? (NOTE: This is only for analysis. Do not
write about these omitted details in an essay unless it is determined as part of the author’s
purpose.)
What effect do these included and excluded details have on your mood as a reader?
What do these included and excluded details seem to indicate about the author’s tone?
LANGUAGE
Characteristics of the body of words use (slang, jargon, scholarly language, etc.)
How could the language be described?
How does the language affect your mood as a reader?
What does the language seem to indicate about the author’s tone?
SYNTAX
The way the sentences are constructed
Are the sentences simple, compound, declarative, varied, etc.?
How do these structures affect your mood as a reader?
What do these structures seem to indicate about the author’s tone?
Adapted from AP Language & Composition course handout
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D
L
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4
Mrs. Hall
English III
Diction
Name ________________
Please read the following article.
Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces yet another suspension by the NBA for his
dangerous tirade in Saturday night's game at Chicago. Rodman was ejected with 1:31 left in the
first quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman then proceeded to head-butt
referee Ted Bernhardt, catching him just above the left eye. In typical fashion, Rodman then
ripped off his shirt and stormed around the court, pausing briefly to knock over a water cooler
in front of a group of stunned young boys before finally leaving.
This article paints Dennis Rodman as what type of person?
Please go through and underline the key words or phrases that led to your decision of
Rodman’s character.
Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman faces a suspension by the NBA for his wild and theatrical
behavior in Saturday night's game at New Jersey. Rodman was given his notice of leave with
1:31 left in the first quarter of Saturday's game after receiving his second technical foul. Rodman
appeared to have bumped an official during a heated discussion over the foul. Consistent with
past heroics, and to the delight of the Chicago faithful, Rodman then removed his shirt as he
paraded around the court before finally exiting stage left into his team's locker room.
This article paints Dennis Rodman as what type of person?
Please go through and underline the key words or phrases that led to your decision of
Rodman’s character.
5
Tone and Mood
Watch out! Tone and mood are similar!!
Tone is the author’s attitude toward the writing (his characters, the situation) and the readers. A work of writing can
have more than one tone. An example of tone could be both serious and humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice
of vocabulary and other details.
Mood is the general atmosphere created by the author’s words. It is the feeling the reader gets from reading those
words. It may be the same, or it may change from situation to situation.
Words That Describe Tone
Amused
Angry
Cheerful
Horror
Clear
Formal
Gloomy
Humorous
Informal
Ironic
Light
Matter-of-fact
Resigned
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Playful
Pompous
Sad
Serious
Suspicious
Witty
Words That Describe Mood
Fanciful
Frightening
Frustrating
Gloomy
Happy
Joyful
Melancholy
Mysterious
Romantic
Sentimental
Sorrowful
Suspenseful
Read more about it!
Authors set a TONE or MOOD in literature by conveying an emotion or emotions through words. The way a person feels
about an idea, event, or another person can be quickly determined through facial expressions, gestures and in the tone
of voice used.
MOOD: (sometimes called atmosphere) the overall feeling of the work
Mood is the emotions that you (the reader) feel while you are reading. Some literature makes you feel sad, others joyful,
still others, angry. The main purpose for some poems is to set a mood.
Writers use many devices to create mood, including images, dialogue, setting, and plot. Often a writer creates a mood
at the beginning of the story and continues it to the end. However, sometimes the mood changes because of the plot or
changes in characters.
Examples of MOODS include: suspenseful, joyful, depressing, excited, anxious, angry, sad, tense, lonely, suspicious,
frightened, disgusted
TONE: the way feelings are expressed
Tone is the attitude that an author takes toward the audience, the subject, or the character. Tone is conveyed through
the author's words and details. Use context clues to help determine the tone.
In literature an author sets the tone through words. The possible tones are as boundless as the number of possible
emotions a human being can have. Has anyone ever said to you, "Don't use that tone of voice with me?" Your tone can
change the meaning of what you say. Tone can turn a statement like, " You're a big help!" into a genuine compliment or
a cruel sarcastic remark. It depends on the context of the story.
6
Mrs. Hall
English
Tone Words
Tone/Attitude Words: The author or speaker’s attitude toward the subject, toward himself/herself, or toward the audience.
1.
accusatory-charging of wrong doing
2.
apathetic-indifferent due to lack of energy or concern
3.
awe-solemn wonder
4.
bitter-exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief
5.
cynical-questions the basic sincerity and goodness of people
6.
condescension; condescending-a feeling of superiority
7.
callous-unfeeling, insensitive to feelings of others
8.
contemplative-studying, thinking, reflecting on an issue
9.
critical-finding fault
10.
choleric-hot-tempered, easily angered
11.
contemptuous-showing or feeling that something is worthless or lacks respect
12.
caustic-intense use of sarcasm; stinging, biting
13.
conventional-lacking spontaneity, originality, and individuality
14.
disdainful-scornful
15.
didactic-author attempts to educate or instruct the reader
16.
derisive-ridiculing, mocking
17.
earnest-intense, a sincere state of mind
18.
erudite-learned, polished, scholarly
19.
fanciful-using the imagination
20.
forthright-directly frank without hesitation
21.
gloomy-darkness, sadness, rejection
22.
haughty-proud and vain to the point of arrogance
23.
indignant-marked by anger aroused by injustice
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24.
intimate-very familiar
25.
judgmental-authoritative and often having critical opinions
26.
jovial-happy
27.
lyrical-expressing a poet’s inner feelings; emotional; full of images; song-like
28.
matter-of-fact--accepting of conditions; not fanciful or emotional
29.
mocking-treating with contempt or ridicule
30.
morose-gloomy, sullen, surly, despondent
31.
malicious-purposely hurtful
32.
objective-an unbiased view-able to leave personal judgments aside
33.
optimistic-hopeful, cheerful
34.
obsequious-polite and obedient in order to gain something
35.
patronizing-air of condescension
36.
pessimistic-seeing the worst side of things; no hope
37.
quizzical-odd, eccentric, amusing
38.
ribald-offensive in speech or gesture
39.
reverent-treating a subject with honor and respect
40.
ridiculing-slightly contemptuous banter; making fun of
41.
reflective-illustrating innermost thoughts and emotions
42.
sarcastic-sneering, caustic
43.
sardonic-scornfully and bitterly sarcastic
44.
satiric-ridiculing to show weakness in order to make a point, teach
45.
sincere-without deceit or pretense; genuine
46.
solemn-deeply earnest, tending toward sad reflection
47.
sanguineous -optimistic, cheerful
48.
whimsical-odd, strange, fantastic; fun
8
Mrs. Hall
English III
Diction Practice
Name __________________
Directions – Below is a passage taken from “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. Please circle important
diction, in the margin label the category of diction (i.e. formal, connotative, euphonious, etc.) and what effect
the word creates in the passage (analyze the word for meaning).
Passage -
It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that the
ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was strained with rotting brown magnolia
petals and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The five o'clocks by the chimney still
marked time, but the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an
empty cradle. The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the
cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead.
Diction Reminder –
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Repetition
Colloquial (Slang)
Old-Fashioned
Informal (Conversational)
Formal (Literary)
Connotative (Suggestive meaning)
Denotative (Exact meaning)
Concrete (Specific)
Abstract (General or Conceptual)
Euphonious (Pleasant Sounding)
Cacophonous (Harsh sounding)
Monosyllabic (One syllable)
Polysyllabic (More than one syllable)
9
Mrs. Hall
English III
Analysis Practice
Name _____________________
Below is a passage taken from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
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Mrs. Hall
Diction/Figurative Language Practice
Name ____________________________
While listening to the following songs, mark examples of diction and figurative language.
Simon and Garfunkel “Sound of Silence”
Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
"Fools," said I, "You do not know –
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you.
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence.
Bob Marley “Concrete Jungle”
No sun will shine in my day today (no sun will shine)
The high yellow moon won't come out to play (that high yellow moon won't come out to play)
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I said (darkness) darkness (has come and covered my light) has covered my light,
(And has changed)
And has changed (my day into night) my day into night, yeah.
Where is the love to be found? (ooh-ooh-ooh)
Won't someone tell me 'cause
Life (sweet life) must be (got to be) somewhere to be found (out there somewhere out there for me)
Instead of concrete jungle (Jungle, jungle, jungle!),
I said where the living is hardest (concrete jungle!).
Concrete jungle (jungle, jungle, jungle)
Man, you got to do your best (concrete jungle!)
Wo-ooh
No chains around my feet
But I'm not free
I know I am bounded in captivity; oh now
(Never known) Never known (what happiness is) what happiness is;
(Never known) I've never known (what sweet caress is) what sweet caress is yeah
Still, I'll be always laughing like a clown; (oooh-oooh-oooh)
Oh someone help me 'cause I (sweet life) I've got to pick myself from off the ground (got to be, out there somewhere out there for me)
In this ya concrete jungle (Jungle, jungle, jungle!):
I said, what do you got for me (concrete jungle!) now?
Concrete jungle (jungle, jungle, jungle!), why won't you let me be (concrete jungle!) now?
Ohhh yeah
[Guitar solo]
I said that life (sweet life) must be (got to be) somewhere to be found (out there somewhere for me)
Oh, instead: concrete jungle (jungle!) - collusion (concrete jungle!) Confusion (confusion). Eh!
Concrete jungle (jungle!): we've made it, We've got it.
In Concrete jungle (concrete jungle!), now. Eh!
Concrete jungle (jungle, jungle, jungle!).
What, what do you got for me (jungle, jungle!) now? [fadeout]
Jay Z “Empire State of Mind”
[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
Yea I'm out that Brooklyn, now I'm down in TriBeCa
right next to Deniro, but I'll be hood forever
I'm the new Sinatra, and... since I made it here
I can make it anywhere, yea, they love me everywhere
I used to cop in Harlem, all of my Dominicano's
right there up on Broadway, pull me back to that McDonald's
Took it to my stashbox, 560 State St.
catch me in the kitchen like a Simmons with them Pastry's
Cruisin' down 8th St., off white Lexus
drivin' so slow, but BK is from Texas
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Me, I'm out that Bed-Stuy, home of that boy Biggie
now I live on Billboard and I brought my boys with me
Say what's up to Ty-Ty, still sippin' mai tai's
sittin' courtside, Knicks & Nets give me high five
I be Spike'd out, I could trip a referee
Tell by my attitude that I'm most definitely from....
[Chorus: Alicia Keys]
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York, New York,
New York
[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game
Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous then a Yankee can
You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip though
but I got a gang walkin' with my clique though
Welcome to the melting pot, corners where we sellin' rock
Afrika Bambataa shit, home of the hip-hop
Yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back
for foreigners it ain't for, they act like they forgot how to act
8 million stories, out there in it naked
City, it's a pity, half of y'all won't make it
Me, I got a plug, Special Ed "I Got It Made"
If Jeezy's payin' LeBron, I'm payin' Dwyane Wade
Three dice cee-lo, three Card Monty
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World Trade
Long live the King yo, I'm from the Empire State that's
[Chorus:]
[Verse 3: Jay-Z]
Lights is blinding, girls need blinders
so they can step out of bounds quick, the sidelines is
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lined with casualties, who sip to life casually
then gradually become worse, don't bite the apple Eve
Caught up in the in-crowd, now you're in style
Anna Wintour gets cold, in Vogue with your skin out
City of sin, it's a pity on the wind
Good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them
Mami took a bus trip, now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her, just like a bus route
Hail Mary to the city, you're a virgin
And Jesus can't save you, life starts when the church end
Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feelin' like a champion
The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien
[Chorus:]
[Bridge: Alicia Keys]
One hand in the air for the big city
Street lights, big dreams, all lookin' pretty
No place in the world that could compare
Put your lighters in the air
Everybody say "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"
Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/jay-z/empire-state-of-mind-lyrics/#KpeDZ6rZMJWsY7h5.99
14
Death Be Not Proud
Mrs. Hall
English II
Tone, Mood and Theme
Name_______________
Directions: Please underline and label figurative language. Please circle important diction. Annotate for
meaning in the margins. Determine the mood, theme and tone for the piece.
Blackberry Picking
By Seamus Heaney
Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.
Mood –
Tone –
Theme –
16
Mrs. Hall
English III
Romanticism/Dark Romanticism
Name _______________________
Directions – Please read the following poems and annotate for diction and imagery. Determine the tone and
mood of the poems.
Because I could not stop for Death (712)
by Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –
Tone?
Mood?
17
I heard a Fly buzz (465)
by Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –
I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –
With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –
Tone?
Mood?
Compare the mood and tone of the two poems. How do they differ?
18
Mrs. Hall
English III
Analysis Unit
Definitions of Irony
Verbal irony: A trope in which the meaning ostensibly expressed “differs sharply from” what the speaker really
means. A common type of verbal irony is sarcasm, which Abrams defines as “the crude and taunting use of
apparent praise for dispraise: ‘Oh, you’re God’s great gift to women, you are!’” Verbal irony has been
subdivided by Wayne Booth into stable irony (where the author’s real meaning is clearly implied) and unstable
irony (in which we have difficulty determining the author’s real views or even determining whether he is being
ironic or not).
Define in your own words:
Dramatic irony: The quality exhibited in words spoken by a character in a play or narrative who, because of his
ignorance of present or future circumstances that the audience is aware of, does not realize how the words
apply to his situation. (Oedipus: “Why, I’d sooner marry my own mother than . . . “)
Define in your own words:
Situational irony: A plot device in which events turn out contrary to expectation yet are perversely
appropriate. Example 1: In a school lottery, the “pocket rocket” motorcycle is won by a shy, demure
nun. Example 2: After successfully going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, the stunt man goes home, takes a
shower, slips on the soap, and breaks his leg. (Situational irony is the most commonly applied sense of the
word irony, but it is often over-applied. Strictly speaking, to be ironic, an outcome must be not only contrary to
expectation, but perversely and strangely appropriate.)
Define in your own words:
Quoted phrases are from M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2005.
19
Mrs. Hall
English III
DIDLS Language
Name ________________
Language: words that describe the entire body of words in a text – not isolated bits of diction. The below
examples are excerpts from texts read last year. Identify what type of language they are employing, ask
questions and draw a conclusion (analysis). Begin by asking yourself if this is an example of irony, satire
or paradox? Once you have identified the type of language, consider the following questions to help you
draw a conclusion: what is the purpose of this language? How does the language affect the mood of the
reader? What does the language indicate about the author’s tone?
1. The following are examples of what type of language? _________________________
Choose one example to analyze for meaning:
Macbeth
“Lesser than Macbeth and greater” (Shakespeare I.iii.65)
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Shakespeare I.i.12).
Analysis -
2. The following is an example of what type of language? _________________________
Analyze for meaning:
Canterbury Tales – excerpt from “The Pardoner’s Tale”
“For I can all by rotè that I tell.
know all by heart
My theme is always one, and ever was:
Radix malorum est cupiditas (the root of all evil is greed)” (Chaucer 30-34).
Analysis -
3. The following is an example of what type of language? _________________________
Analyze for meaning:
“A Modest Proposal”
“I am assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London; that a young healthy
child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food; whether
stewed, roasted, baked or boiled, and I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or
ragout” (Swift 4).
Analysis -
20
Mrs. Hall
English III
Clauses, Phrases, Sentence Types, Prepositions
Clause: A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb that complement each
other.
Phrase: A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject or a verb that complement
each other.
1. Independent Clause - A complete sentence has two components, a subject and a verb.
The subject and verb must form a complete thought to be considered an independent clause.
2. Dependent Clause - A dependent clause contains a subject and verb, but the clause cannot stand
independently.
3. Simple Sentence – A sentence that contains one independent clause.
4. Compound Sentence - A sentence that contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating
conjunction is called a compound sentence.
5. Complex Sentence – A sentence that contains an independent clause joined by one or more
dependent clauses.
6. Preposition – A preposition is a part of speech that shows a relationship between two things:
location, time and direction.
7. Prepositional Phrase – A prepositional phrase contains a preposition, its object and any modifiers.
Coordinating Conjunctions
FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
Dependent Clause Markers
because, since, when, while, until, if, as, though, although, unless, after, before, once, whether
Common Prepositions
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside(s)
between
beyond
but
by
concerning
despite
down
during
except
excepting
for
from
in
in front of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
outside
over
past
regarding
since
through
throughout
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without
with regard to
with respect to
21
Mrs. Hall
Clauses, Phrases, Sentence Types, Prepositions
Name ________________
For each sentence, underline the verb(s), circle the subject(s), and put a box around coordinating conjunctions
and dependent clause marker. Add any necessary commas or place an “X” over any unnecessary commas.
Indicate on the blank whether each sentence is Simple (S) Compound (C) or Complex (CX).
_____1. Dark, threatening clouds rolled overhead yet there was no rain.
_____2. In the morning, the bus arrives at nine o’clock.
_____3. Will you listen carefully, so the instructions will be clear?
_____4. Your mother called, and the letter carrier brought you a package.
_____5. Although our team was clearly superior they did not play well.
_____6. Texas is a huge state, and is also populous.
_____7. Band members must remember both the music, and their positions
in formations.
_____8. Alicia baked the birthday cake, before Susanna iced and decorated it.
_____9. Today’s topic is the Civil War; however, we’ll talk about your
research papers first.
_____10. At this airport, a plane departs or lands every minute.
_____11. If you want to do well on your midterm you need to study diligently.
_____12. The map is old, but it will serve as a general guide.
_____13. The hubcap fell off, and clattered down the street.
_____14. When Debra applied for the job, they asked for letters of recommendation.
_____15. Blair House is located across the street from the White House.
_____16. Batman and Robin have amazed children for years.
_____17. This beanbag chair is comfortable; I fell asleep in it.
_____18. This restaurant is always open and always full.
_____19. Ernie is on vacation, because he needs a break from his job.
_____20. The World Series is over, and the football season has begun.
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Mrs. Hall
English III
DIDLS Syntax
Name _________________
William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway are two iconic American writers. Please review the passages
below and note the differences in their writing styles. Annotate the passages and draw a conclusion about
the differences of their style due to syntax. Consider the following questions as you analyze the syntax in
the following passages.
1. Examine the sentence length. Are the sentences telegraphic (shorter than 5 words in length),
medium (approximately 18 words in length), or long and involved (30 words or more in length)?
Does the sentence length fit the subject matter? What variety of lengths is present? Why is the
sentence length effective?
2. Examine sentence beginnings and sentence structures. Is there a good variety or does a pattern
emerge?
3. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a sentence. Are they set out in a special way for a purpose?
4. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a paragraph. Is there evidence of any pattern or structure?
Excerpt from Absalom, Absalom!
"We have a few old mouth-to-mouth tales, we exhume from old trunks and boxes and drawers letters
without salutation or signature, in which men and women who once lived and breathed are now merely
initials or nicknames out of some now incomprehensible affection which sound to us like Sanskrit or
Chocktaw; we see dimly people, the people in whose living blood and seed we ourselves lay dormant and
waiting, in this shadowy attenuation of time possessing now heroic proportions, performing their acts of
simple passion and simple violence, impervious to time and inexplicable..." (Faulkner).
Excerpt from A Farewell To Arms
“She won't die [in childbirth]. She's just having a bad time. The initial labor is usually protracted.
She's only having a bad time. Afterward we'd say what a bad time and Catherine would say it wasn't
really so bad. But what if she should die? She can't die. Yes, but what if she should die. She can't, I tell
you. Don't be a fool. It's just a bad time. It's just nature giving her hell. It's only the first labor, which
is almost always protracted. Yes, but what if she should die? She can't die. Why would she die? What
reason is there for her to die? There's a just a child that has to be born, the by-product of good nights
in Milan. It makes trouble and is born and then you look after it and get fond of it maybe. But what if
she should die? She won't. She's all right. But what if she should die? Hey, what about that? What if
she should die?” (Hemingway).
Conclusions about these differing styles due to syntax:
23
Mrs. Hall
English III
“The Flowers” DIDLS
Name ____________________
Directions – Please read and annotate for diction, imagery, details language and syntax. After reading the
piece, determine the mood, tone and theme. Provide evidence for your findings.
It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen to smokehouse that
the days had never been as beautiful as these. The air held a keenness that made her nose
twitch. The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash, made each day a golden
surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws.
Myop carried a short, knobby stick. She struck out at random at chickens she liked, and
worked out the beat of a song on the fence around the pigpen. She felt light and good in the
warm sun. She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark
brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.
Turning her back on the rusty boards of her family's sharecropper cabin, Myop walked
along the fence till it ran into the stream made by the spring. Around the spring, where the
family got drinking water, silver ferns and wildflowers grew. Along the shallow banks pigs
rooted. Myop watched the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil and the water
that silently rose and slid away down the stream.
She had explored the woods behind the house many times. Often, in late autumn, her
mother took her to gather nuts among the fallen leaves. Today she made her own path,
bouncing this way and that way, vaguely keeping an eye out for snakes. She found, in addition
to various common but pretty ferns and leaves, an armful of strange blue flowers with velvety
ridges and a sweet suds bush full of the brown, fragrant buds.
By twelve o'clock, her arms laden with sprigs of her findings, she was a mile or more
from home. She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as
pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself.
The air was damp, the silence close and deep.
Myop began to circle back to the house, back to the peacefulness of the morning. It was
then she stepped smack into his eyes. Her heel became lodged in the broken ridge between
brow and nose, and she reached down quickly, unafraid, to free herself. It was only when she
saw his naked grin that she gave a little yelp of surprise.
He had been a tall man. From feet to neck covered a long space. His head lay beside him.
When she pushed back the leaves and layers of earth and debris Myop saw that he'd had large
white teeth, all of them cracked or broken, long fingers, and very big bones. All his clothes had
rotted away except some threads of blue denim from his overalls. The buckles of the overall
had turned green.
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Myop gazed around the spot with interest. Very near where she'd stepped into the head
was a wild pink rose. As she picked it to add to her bundle she noticed a raised mound, a ring,
around the rose's root. It was the rotted remains of a noose, a bit of shredding plowline, now
blending benignly into the soil. Around an overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung
another piece. Frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled--barely there--but spinning restlessly in
the breeze. Myop laid down her flowers.
And the summer was over.
Walker, Alice. Reading and Writing about Short Fiction. Ed. Edward Proffitt. NY: Harcourt,1988. 404-05.
Mood –
Evidence -
Tone –
Evidence -
Theme –
Evidence -
25
Mrs. Hall
English III
DIDLS Analysis
Directions – Please read and annotate for diction, imagery, details, language and syntax.
Hills Like White Elephants
By Ernest Hemingway
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and
the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm
shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the
bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was
very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two
minutes and went to Madrid.
‘What should we drink?’ the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
‘It’s pretty hot,’ the man said.
‘Let’s drink beer.’
‘Dos cervezas,’ the man said into the curtain.
‘Big ones?’ a woman asked from the doorway.
‘Yes. Two big ones.’
The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glass on the table
and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and
the country was brown and dry.
‘They look like white elephants,’ she said.
‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer.
‘No, you wouldn’t have.’
‘I might have,’ the man said. ‘Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.’
The girl looked at the bead curtain. ‘They’ve painted something on it,’ she said. ‘What does it say?’
‘Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.’
‘Could we try it?’
The man called ‘Listen’ through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
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‘Four reales.’ ‘We want two Anis del Toro.’
‘With water?’
‘Do you want it with water?’
‘I don’t know,’ the girl said. ‘Is it good with water?’
‘It’s all right.’
‘You want them with water?’ asked the woman.
‘Yes, with water.’
‘It tastes like liquorice,’ the girl said and put the glass down.
‘That’s the way with everything.’
‘Yes,’ said the girl. ‘Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like
absinthe.’
‘Oh, cut it out.’
‘You started it,’ the girl said. ‘I was being amused. I was having a fine time.’
‘Well, let’s try and have a fine time.’
‘All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?’
‘That was bright.’
‘I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all we do, isn’t it – look at things and try new drinks?’
‘I guess so.’
The girl looked across at the hills.
‘They’re lovely hills,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin
through the trees.’
‘Should we have another drink?’
‘All right.’
The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
‘The beer’s nice and cool,’ the man said.
‘It’s lovely,’ the girl said.
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‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,’ the man said. ‘It’s not really an operation at all.’
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
‘I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’
The girl did not say anything.
‘I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural.’
‘Then what will we do afterwards?’
‘We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before.’
‘What makes you think so?’
‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’
The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.
‘And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.’
‘I know we will. Yon don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.’
‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterwards they were all so happy.’
‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But
I know it’s perfectly simple.’
‘And you really want to?’
‘I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.’
‘And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?’
‘I love you now. You know I love you.’
‘I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?’
‘I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think about it. You know how I get when I worry.’
‘If I do it you won’t ever worry?’
‘I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.’
‘Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t care about me.’
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‘Well, I care about you.’
‘Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.’
‘I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.’
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees
along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across
the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.
‘And we could have all this,’ she said. ‘And we could have everything and every day we make it more
impossible.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I said we could have everything.’
‘We can have everything.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can have the whole world.’
‘No, we can’t.’
‘We can go everywhere.’
‘No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more.’
‘It’s ours.’
‘No, it isn’t. And once they take it away, you never get it back.’
‘But they haven’t taken it away.’
‘We’ll wait and see.’
‘Come on back in the shade,’ he said. ‘You mustn’t feel that way.’
‘I don’t feel any way,’ the girl said. ‘I just know things.’
‘I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t want to do -’
‘Nor that isn’t good for me,’ she said. ‘I know. Could we have another beer?’
‘All right. But you’ve got to realize – ‘
‘I realize,’ the girl said. ‘Can’t we maybe stop talking?’
29
They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man
looked at her and at the table.
‘You’ve got to realize,’ he said, ‘ that I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly willing to go
through with it if it means anything to you.’
‘Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along.’
‘Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly
simple.’
‘Yes, you know it’s perfectly simple.’
‘It’s all right for you to say that, but I do know it.’
‘Would you do something for me now?’
‘I’d do anything for you.’
‘Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?’
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from
all the hotels where they had spent nights.
‘But I don’t want you to,’ he said, ‘I don’t care anything about it.’
‘I’ll scream,’ the girl said.
The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads.
‘The train comes in five minutes,’ she said.
‘What did she say?’ asked the girl.
‘That the train is coming in five minutes.’
The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to thank her.
‘I’d better take the bags over to the other side of the station,’ the man said. She smiled at him.
‘All right. Then come back and we’ll finish the beer.’
He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the
tracks but could not see the train. Coming back, he walked through the bar-room, where people waiting for the
train were drinking. He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for
the train. He went out through the bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
‘Do you feel better?’ he asked.
‘I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’
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