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Feelings, moods and
attitudes in the way
a work is written.
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A way the content is
expressed.
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Writing Techniques
Vocabulary
Syntax
Imagery
Figurative language
Handling of dialogue
POV
Austere
 Boring
 Concise
 Dreamlike
 Epigrammatical
 Flamboyant
 Gimmicky
 Hysterical
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Ironic
Juvenile
Lyrical
Monotonous
Nostalgic
Objective
Parody
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Romantic
Symbolic
Trite
Urbane
Venomous
Witty
A WITTY, SARDONIC
TONE CAN BE
ESTABLISHED
STYLISTICALLY BY
IRONY,SATIRE &
WORDPLAY
VARIOUS LITERARY
DEVICES TO
ESTABLISH THE RIGHT
TONE
A DREARY TONE CAN
BE ESTABLISHED
STYLISTICALLY BY
IMAGERY, A PATTERN
OF WORD CHOICE &
REPETITION
AN OBJECTIVE,
SERIOUS TONE CAN
BE ESTABLISHED
STYLISTICALLY BY
ANALYTICAL
APPROACH
Irony : ironically, ‘the jungle is safer than
the city’.
 Word Choice : Witty and informal, ‘nasty
old food chain; onomatopoetical, ‘flick,
crunch and wriggle’; sharp and critical,
‘terminated, anonymity and cosmetic
debris.
 Word Play : ‘croak’ and ‘severance’
 Satire : his reference to marriage in
sardonic expression, “some stranger who
calls herself my wife”
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BACK
Imagery, metaphors and similes :
a) The winos are like ragged apes.
b) The city is like a jungle.
c) His office is a permanent grave.
 Word choice : furtively, hunched, burnt,
boarded, dull, sticky, dog dung, grave.
 Repetition : he repeats the word fear five
times and he repeats grave in an
effective comparison.
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BACK
Analysis : broad statement such as ‘ New
York is a city that has failed’, followed by
a series of statement that describe it
specifically.
 E.g: High rents.
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BACK
NEXT
“We were small and thought we knew nothing
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled
the wires.”
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Tone : nostalgic, wistful, with a childish
innocence and a sense of awe and
adventure.
“We were eye-level with the white cups
Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.”
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Style : lyrical with a narrative element.
Selective, sharp, suggestive word choice as
in “sizzling wires.”
“ Grave men, near death, who see with
blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be
gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
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Tone : sad and affectionate, a powerful,
plaintive exhortation.
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Style : traditional form and villanelle.
“I never asked for anything myself;
giving is more blessed and leaves you free.
There was a man, married and fond of whiskey.
Given the limitations of men, he loved me.
Lord, we laid concern upon our bodies
but then he left. Everything has its time.
We used to dance. He made me feel the way
a human wants to feel and fears to.”
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Tone : earthy, colloquial, wistful, philosophical.
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Style : though Ruby speaks in a confessional
and autobiographical way, the poem cannot
be called “confession”. There is no end-line
pattern and it is very narrative.
“Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.”
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Tone : confessional, angry, hostile, violent,
desperate and a little hysterical and paranoid.
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Style : melodic, magnificent and sometimes
shocking imagery and word choice.
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Tone and style is designed to give you
some insight into an aspect of writing
that is all too often treated with a good
deal and vagueness.