1. Denotation and Connotation
Chapter 3
Denotation and Connotation

2. Key Terms Denotation Connotation Dictionary meaning
Overtones of meaning
Emotional suggestion

3. The words the author uses gives us clues about how the author feels about the subject being written about.
For example, if the author was describing America using words like: honor, cherish, treasuand proud…we can infer (infer means piece the clues together) that the author’s viewpoint about America is…
A good place to live and a great nation to be a part of!

4. If an author used the following words to describe the beach: cold, bitter wind, nauseating smell of fish, shrieking seagulls…we can infer (piece the clues together, remember?) that the author’s view about life at the beach is… An awful, cruddy way to spend vacation!

5. Scrawny Egotistical Proud Underweight Slender Confident
What does each column of words mean?
Which words are negative or positive in connotation?

6. A group of teenagers stood on the corner waiting for the bus
A group of teenagers stood on the corner waiting for the bus. A mob of juveniles lurked at the street corner bus stop. The frowning clerk ripped the receipt from my hand and scribbled his initials on it before handing me my refund. The sullen clerk grabbed the receipt from my hand and wrote his initials on it before handing me my refund.

7. Why important to Poetry?
A fuller use of individual words.
Concentrates, enriches meaning.
Says more in fewer words.

8. More than One Denotation
More than one definition, part of speech
Use of words depends on context
Determine which denotation is used
I.e., “spring”
Poetry plays with multiple meaning
Expects readers to “get” multiple meanings.
Example: “this is the time of the wild spring and the mating of the tigers”

9. Other Poets choose meaningful words, not pretty
Focus on artful use, revelation
Use as much of the word as possible
Level of diction
Sets the tone (formal, informal)
Use of description (abstract, concrete)
Establishes speaker

10. Good Poetry Readers Develop a sense of language
Know the feeling of words
Shape, color, texture, sound
Use a dictionary
Read extensively

11. Using Connotation/Denotation as a technique
The author uses words that connote…
The connotations of the words used imply…
The word choice the author uses gives connotations of …
In the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, she uses words that connote a sense of mischief and irony, to enhance the idea that being cool isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Be careful how you use this as a technique.

12. “There is no frigate like a book”
Poem Annotation
“There is no frigate like a book”
By Emily Dickinson