Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone
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Diction (4) – an author’s choice of words
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Poetic Diction – use of elevated language instead of
ordinary language
Formal Diction – dignified impersonal, and
elevated use of language.
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity
And the Pride of Life that planned her, still couches she
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Middle Diction - words spoken by most
educated people

In this sample, Poet Richard Wilbur is telling his
lover what she might be doing instead of being with
him (“A Late Aubade”)
You could be sitting now in a carrel
Turning some liver-spotted page,
Or Rising in an elevator-cage
Towards Ladies’ Apparel
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Informal Diction – words used are very informal.
May contain colloquialism, dialect, or jargon
Colloquialism – words or phrases used in every day
speech, unconstrained by formal conventions
 Dialect – words spoken by a definable group or people
from a particular geographic region, economic group,
or social class
 Jargon – words and language defined by a trade or
profession

Example: Philip Larkin “Study of Reading Habits”
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Denotation(14) – literal meanings of a word
Connotation(14) – associations and
implications that go beyond a word’s literal
meaning.
US Flag
Cross
Evergreen
Platypus
Soybean
Denotation
Connotation
Colored Cloth
Two Pieces of Wood
Nature
Semi Aquatic Mammal
Healthy Bean
Freedom
Sacrifice
Holiday
Secret Agent
Death Nugget
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Death of a Ball Turret Gunner – Randall Jarrell
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
"A ball turret was a plexiglass sphere set into the belly of a
B-17 or B-24, and inhabited by two .50 caliber machine guns
and one man, a short small man. When this gunner tracked
with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from
below, he revolved with the turret; hunched upside down in
his little sphere. The fighters which attacked him were
armed with cannon firing explosive shells. The hose was a
steam hose."
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Persona – the speaker created by the poet

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“Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
“A Study of Reading Habits”
Syntax – ordering of words (and grammar) into
meaningful verbal patterns

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“Hazel tells LaVern”
“l(a”

Tone – the writer’s attitude towards the subject,
the mood created by all of the elements of the
poem

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“A Study of Reading Habits”
Dramatic Monologue – a type of poem where a
character – the speaker – addresses a silent
audience in a way as to unintentionally reveal
some aspect of his or her temperament or
personality

“Hazel Tells LaVern”
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Christmas, 1987
The apparition of a salsa band
Gleaming in the Liberty Loan
Pawnshop window:
Golden trumpet
Silver trombone
Congas, maracas, tambourine,
All with price tags dangling
Like the city morgue ticket
On a dead man’s toe.