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What Is Style? Figures of Speech Irony Imagery Dialect Practice Elements of Style: Literary Devices Feature Menu

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Page 1: Authors' Style

What Is Style?

Figures of Speech

Irony

Imagery

Dialect

Practice

Elements of Style: Literary Devices

Feature Menu

Page 2: Authors' Style

Style is the way a writer uses language.

In fashion, style comes from the choices people make when they get dressed.

What Is Style?

In writing, style comes from the choices writers make when they put words on a page.

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Many writers have a style that is easy to recognize.

What Is Style?

Because of the way these writers use language—

the words they choose,

the length and shape of their sentences,

the images they create,

the tone they use—

people read their words and know who they are.

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from Green Eggs and Ham

I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam-I-am. . . .

What Is Style?

Can you tell which poem was written by Dr. Seuss? By E. E. Cummings?

who are you,little i

who are you,little I

(five or six years old) peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling that if day has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

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What Is Style?

If you’ve read anything by Dr. Seuss, you will know that this poem was written by him.

from Green Eggs and Ham

I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

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What Is Style?

If you’ve ever read anything E. E. Cummings, you will probably recognize his unique style in this poem.

who are you,little i

who are you,little I

(five or six years old) peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling that if day has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

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How did you know which writer wrote each poem?

What Is Style?

You probably recognized the regular rhythm and rhyme pattern in the poem by Dr. Seuss—as well as the silly sounding, made-up word Sam-I-am.

Dr. Seuss has a style that most readers learn to love early in life.

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How did you know which writer wrote each poem?

What Is Style?

You may have recognized the lowercase letters and unusual punctuation in the poem by E. E. Cummings . . .

a poet who isn’t afraid to break the rules.

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Every writer has a style, and many elements come together to create that style.

What Is Style?

[End of Section]

In this collection, you will learn about four of those elements:

Figures

of

Speech

Irony

Dialect

Imagery

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but taking a test without studying is like shooting in the dark—

Figures of speech are expressions that are not literally true

Figures of Speech

but that suggest similarities between usually unrelated things.

It was a shot in the dark . . .

I had forgotten to study for the test, so every answer was a shot in the dark.

you’re not likely to get it right.

No one is actually shooting into the darkness. . .

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There are four main types of figures of speech:

Figures of Speech

The car’s tire was as flat as a pancake.

Similes compare two unlike things using a word of comparison such as like, than, as, or resembles.

similes

metaphors

personification

symbols

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Figures of Speech

Sunlight poured down onto the fields.

Metaphors compare two unlike things directly, without using a specific word of comparison.

Sometimes metaphors go on for more than a sentence. These are called extended metaphors.

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Figures of Speech

A falling leaf danced on the breeze.

Personification speaks of a nonhuman or inanimate thing as if it had human or lifelike qualities.

The ocean’s whisper grew louder as the tide came in.

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Figures of Speech

A dove with an olive branch is a symbol for peace.

Symbols are people, places, or events that have meaning in themselves but that also stand for something beyond themselves.

A skull and crossbones is a symbol for poison.

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We use figures of speech in everyday language without even realizing it.

Figures of speech that we use everyday are clichés; they are not particularly interesting anymore.

Figures of Speech

Sorry I’m late. I was tied up in traffic.

Her hands were as cold as ice.

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Writers try to create fresh figures of speech to help us see things in a new way.

Figures of Speech

The traffic snaked along for miles, squeezing us tight in its coils.

The handshake was as cold and clammy as a cave wall.

The new and original comparisons a writer makes are part of that writer’s style.

[End of Section]

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When reality contradicts what we expect, it’s called irony. There are three kinds of irony.

Irony

Verbal Irony

We say one thing and mean something else.

“That’s just great,” your friend says in a disgusted tone.

Situational Irony

The situation turns out to be just the opposite of what we’d expect.

The firehouse burns to the ground.

Dramatic Irony

We know something that a character doesn’t know.

We know what’s at the end of the dark hallway, but the character doesn’t.

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How a writer uses irony and the type of irony he or she tends to use—both are aspects of a writer’s style.

Irony

On the first day of practice, Coach told us the position he had played in college: mascot.

“Everywhere we went, I always took care of my little brother, Jake—just like Mama told me to.”

verbal irony situational irony

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How a writer uses irony and the type of irony he or she tends to use—both are aspects of a writer’s style.

Irony

It would be the last time Grandpa would fly the plane, though he didn’t know that.

Not one of the children thought to look up; therefore, none of them saw the new flag over the school that day.

dramatic irony

dramatic irony

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Which of these statements contains more irony?

[End of Section]

Irony

That morning at breakfast, Tom ate a second helping of bacon while planning Curly’s escape.

That morning at breakfast, Tom refused his mother’s offer to cook him a bacon omelet and thought about his new pet, Curly, instead.

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Imagery is language that creates word pictures and appeals to the senses.

Imagery

bright green water parted by the knobby head of a crocodile

the smooth silky texture of pie on your thumb

the lazy creak of the tire swing

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Imagery that describes the same subject can vary significantly in style and tone.

Imagery

The sun that bleak December dayRose cheerless over hills of gray.

We’d one December morning moreto face the grim—and grimy—chore of tire chain application.

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The way a writer presents imagery has a strong impact on his or her style.

Imagery

Notice how slowly and gradually author Edgar Allan Poe creates the image of lantern light falling upon an old man’s glass eye.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little—a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it—you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily—until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye.

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The way a writer presents imagery has a strong impact on his or her style.

Imagery

Now compare Poe’s use of imagery to this version of the scene.

I waited for what seemed hours. Then, when I could stand it no longer, I opened the lantern’s cover just slightly, and a small amount of light—a very soft glow—entered the room. I saw his eye.

With good reason—Poe’s version is much more memorable. People who read Poe will recognize it.

[End of Section]

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Dialect is a way of speaking that’s characteristic of a particular place or group of people.

Dialect

Listen to these two examples of dialect.

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A writer’s choice to use dialect can be a very noticeable part of his or her style—since dialect is conveyed using unconventional spelling and punctuation.

Some writers use dialect to convey information about a story’s setting or its characters.

Dialect

[End of Section]

Other writers avoid using dialect and rely on other techniques instead.

The woman who met my father and me for lunch was the sort my mother would call a “gentlewoman.” She spoke with a Southern drawl and seemed unnervingly pleased to see us.

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Practice

2. Which line in the second stanza contains personification?

1. What metaphor is used in the first stanza?

Let’s Try Itfrom My Mother Pieced Quilts

they were just meant as coversin wintersas weaponsagainst pounding january winds

but it was just that every morning I awoke to these

october ripened canvasespassed my hand across their cloth facesand began to wonder how you piecedall these togetherthese strips of gentle communion cotton

and flannel nightgownswedding organdiesdime store velvets

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Practice

3. To what sense does the imagery in this stanza appeal?

Let’s Try It

how you shaped patterns square and oblong and round

positionedbalancedthen cemented themwith your threada steel needlea thimble

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PracticeLet’s Try It

how the thread darted in and outgalloping along the frayed edges, tucking

them inas you did us at nightoh how you stretched and turned and

rearrangedyour michigan spring faded curtain piecesmy father’s santa fe work shirtthe summer denims, the tweeds of fall

4. What simile appears in this stanza?

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Practice

5. What do the different kinds of fabric symbolize?

Let’s Try Itin the evening you sat at your canvas—our cracked linoleum floor the drawing

boardme lounging on your armand you staking out the plan:whether to put the lilac purple of easter

against the red plaid of winter-going-into-springwhether to mix a yellow with blue and

white and paint thecorpus christi noon when my father held

your handwhether to shape a five-point star from thesomber black silk you wore to

grandmother’s funeral

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PracticeLet’s Try It

from Brer Rabbit and Brer Lionretold by Julius Lester

Brer Rabbit was in the woods one afternoon when a great wind came up. It blew on the ground and it blew in the tops of the trees. It blew so hard that Brer Rabbit was afraid a tree might fall on him, and he started running.

He was trucking through the woods when he ran smack into Brer Lion. . . .

“What’s your hurry, Brer Rabbit?“Run, Brer Lion! There’s a hurricane

coming!”

6. Which words and phrases on this page are examples of dialect?

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PracticeLet’s Try It

Brer Lion got scared. “I’m too heavy to run, Brer Rabbit. What am I going to do?”

“Lay down, Brer Lion, lay down! Get close to the ground!”

Brer Lion shook his head. “The wind might pick me up and blow me away.”

“Hug a tree, Brer Lion! Hug a tree!”“But what if the wind blows all day and

into the night?”“Let me tie you to the tree, Brer Lion.

Let me tie you to the tree.”Brer Lion liked that idea. Brer Rabbit

tied him to the tree and sat down next to it. After a while, Brer Lion got tired of hugging the tree.

7. How does the writer show Brer Rabbit’s excitement?

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PracticeLet’s Try It

After a while, Brer Lion got tired of hugging the tree.

“Brer Rabbit? I don’t hear no hurricane.”Brer Rabbit listened. “Neither do I.”“Brer Rabbit? I don’t hear no wind.”Brer Rabbit listened. “Neither do I.”“Brer Rabbit? Ain’t a leaf moving in the

trees.”Brer Rabbit looked up. “Sho’ ain’t.”“So untie me.”“I’m afraid to, Brer Lion.”Brer Lion began to roar. He roared so

loud and so long, the foundations of the Earth started shaking. Least that’s what it seemed like . . .

8. Which words and phrases (besides “Brer”) on this page are part of the story’s dialect?

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Let’s Try It

Brer Lion began to roar. He roared so loud and so long, the foundations of the Earth started shaking. Least that’s what it seemed like, and the other animals came from all over to see what was going on.

When they got close, Brer Rabbit jumped up and began strutting around the tied-up Brer Lion. When the animals saw what Brer Rabbit had done to Brer Lion, you’d better believe it was the forty-eleventh of Octorerarry before they messed with him again.

9. What is ironic about the story?

Practice

10. What kind of irony is it?

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On Your Own

Prepare a “literary devices” wall display for your classroom. Get seven poster boards, and give them the following labels:

Practice

• Symbols• Images• Irony• Dialect

• Similes• Metaphors• Personification

Under each term, write its definition. Then, under each definition, write in examples that you think are interesting. You can find your examples in newspapers and magazines, as well as in stories, poems, and novels. Be sure to cite the author and title of any direct quote that you use in your display.

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The End

Elements of Style: Literary Devices