Denotations and Connotations Valentina Widya. S valentinawidya@gmail.com / valentina.widya@dsn.dinus.ac.id
Lesson Objectives For students to understand the significance of connotations by employing a rich, connotative word in a poem of their own making. For students to be able to incorporate the different connotations of words in a close reading of a poem.
Word? The average word has three component parts Sound Denotation connotation
Word? It begins as a combination of tones and noises uttered by the lips, tongue, and throat. But it differs from a musical tone or a noise in that it has a meaning attached to it.
Denotations and Connotations
Denotations and Connotations
Definitions Denotation: dictionary meaning or meanings of the word Connotation: alternative meanings of the word that have been determined by its history of use, the contexts in which it is used, and established associations with the word.
Why? Employing words with various denotations and connotations allows poets to: Omit needless words Build implicit ideas through multiple connotations Be purposefully ambiguous in order to awaken the imagination of the reader
The dictionary meaning Or meaning of the word Denotation The dictionary meaning Or meaning of the word
Connotations Are what it suggests beyond what it expresses. Its overtones of meaning
Childish?
Childish? Denotations : characteristic of a child Connotations : innocence, willfulness
Lion?
Lion? Denotation : wild animal Connotation : wild, powerful great
Chicken?
Chicken? Denotation : animal poultry Connotation : weak, coward
Denotations and Connotations
Denotation in Poetry
This Is Just To Say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast forgive me they were so delicious so sweet and so cold William Carlos William
Connotation In Poetry Is very important, for it is one of the means by which the poet can concentrate or enrich the meaning
Cont… The difference between the writer using language to communicate information and the poet is this: the practical writer will always attempt to confine words to one meaning at a time; the poet will often take advantage of the fact that the word has more than one meaning by using it to mean more than one thing at the same time.
Cont…. A frequent misconception of poetic language is that poets seek always the most beautiful or noble-sounding words. They usually looks for the most meaningful words. Sometimes a poet may import a word from one level or area of language into a poem composed mostly of words from a different area. If it is done clumsily, the result will be a sloopy but if it is done skillfully the result will be shocking
Cross My old man's a white old man And my old mother's black. If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I'm sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack. I wonder where I'm going to die, Being neither white nor black? Langston Hughes
Further Reading Theodore Roethke: My Papa’s Waltz William Shakespeare: When My Love Swears that She is Made of Truth Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s: The Eagle