How to Write a STYLE ANALYSIS Prompt!

Understand the Text quickly read it and make an interpretation based on the question (which has directed your analysis) the details of the text itself

Understand the Text test your interpretation Inconsistencies? significant keys to understanding the text OR indications that your interpretation is off

“Dream Boogie” Langston Hughes Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred?   Listen closely: You’ll hear their feet Beating out and beating out a--- You think It’s a happy beat? Listen to it closely: Something underneath Like a--- What did I say? Sure, I’m happy! Take it away! Hey, pop! Re-bop! Mop! Y-e-a-h!

“Dream Boogie” Langston Hughes When checking your interpretation, consider metrical changes, imagery and word choice Misinterpretations: Not noticing the metrical changes (dashes and question) Missing the sound imagery - rumble, beat, feet Daddy, boogie-woogie, dream deferred, listen closely, sure, yeah

Answering the Question Let the question be your guide. “Read the following text carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how the use of language in the poem establishes the speaker’s attitude toward his situation.” “Read the following short story excerpt carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss the ways in which the author’s style (diction, imagery, selection of detail) reveals his feeling about what he recalls and cannot remember about his youth.” “Read the following essay carefully. Write an essay in which you discuss how the choice of detail, diction, and syntax are used to reveal the speaker’s attitude to the subject.”

Answering the Question Let the question be your guide. “Read the following text carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how the use of language in the poem establishes the speaker’s attitude toward his situation.” “Read the following short story excerpt carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss the ways in which the author’s style (diction, imagery, selection of detail) reveals his feeling about what he recalls and cannot remember about his youth.” “Read the following essay carefully. Write an essay in which you discuss how the choice of detail, diction, and syntax are used to reveal the speaker’s attitude to the subject.”

In your response you are to… 1. Figure out what the author was trying to do (effectiveness at WHAT?) 2. Then tell the reader HOW he achieves that Think less about literary terms (onomatopoeia, alliteration, etc) and more about the piece itself.

REMINDER! When considering your HOW, think about where the power of the piece comes from. Think about what most struck you as you read.

What are you supposed to do here? “The poems below are concerned with a similar subject. Read each poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, compare and contrast the two texts, analyzing the treatment of a similar subject by two different writers.” 1. Figure out the message of each. 2. Tell the reader how each poet does it. 3. What ELSE?

So let’s attack a new text! 1. What is his argument? That whereas many believe our freedom of expression is a right, in reality it is rooted in necessity to the greater good. 2. HOW did he communicate that argument? Voltaire example Logical appeal Well-chosen diction Analogies Clear expression of claims Organization by definition: what it’s NOT, examples/analogies, what it IS 3. Strategies 4. Thesis

Formulating the Essay Intro 1. Thematic intro 2. Identify the writer, offer a brief, general description of the text 3. Express your interpretation of the text’s meaning or purpose, etc. 4. Thesis must make a connection between style (the “how”) and meaning/purpose (the “what”). “As he disproves several assumptions about the reason freedom of speech exists and plainly states his claims, Lippman successfully argues that its purpose is the development of society’s best beliefs.”

Formulating the Essay Body 1. Explore HOW the writer communicates, develops, or enhances the text's meaning OR purpose OR whatever the prompt asked for. You may do this via organizing the literary device OR “chronologically” through the text. 2. Evidence - Be sure to use DIRECT LINES from the text to prove your point. 3. You make a claim, use a quote, explain it, then connect it to the point of the paragraph. Relate that topic to the total effect of the poem (your thesis).