1. Unit 3: Interpretations of Prose and Poetry
Analysis Skills:
Diction/ Vocabulary – why this word rather than that?
Miss McClue

2. Starter: ‘The Eagle’ – Alfred Tennyson What is your first response?
He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Then consider:
How the words combine to create meanings
How they create pictures in your mind
How they work upon your feelings
How they are organised to give the poem shape

3. Learning Objective
To explore the impact and significance of diction within a poem.
Key Words:
Rhythms
Consonance
Assonance
Connotation
Denote

4. Words and the wonderfully illustrious and illuminating imagination
WORDS CAN:
[Literal]
[Figurative]
Vs.
DENOTE
CONNOTE

5. These words denote similar things/ideas, but what do they Connote?
Town / City
Clever / Wise
Jester / Clown
Light / Glow
blue
pink

6. DICTION and CONNOTATION
THE WORDS CHOSEN
BY THE AUTHOR FOR
SPECIFIC EFFECT
THE FEELINGS, EMOTIONS
AND CULTURAL IDEAS
ASSOCIATED WITH WORDS
LET’S APPLY THIS TO A QUICK STUDY OF TWO POEMS:

7. i am so glad and very
merely my fourth will cure
the laziest self of weary
the hugest sea of shore
so far your nearness reaches
a lucky fifth of you
turns people into eachs
and cowards into grow
our can'ts were born to happen
our mosts have died in more
our twentieth will open
wide a wide open door
we are so both and oneful
night cannot be so sky
sky cannot be so sunful
i am through you so i
ee cummings

8. W. B. Yeats
When you are old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

9. When you are old
W. B. Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
i am so glad and very
ee cummings
merely my fourth will cure
the laziest self of weary
the hugest sea of shore
so far your nearness reaches
a lucky fifth of you
turns people into eachs
and cowards into grow
our can'ts were born to happen
our mosts have died in more
our twentieth will open
wide a wide open door
we are so both and oneful
night cannot be so sky
sky cannot be so sunful
i am through you so i

10. How do you feel about words?
Associations 1
Snarl
 negative
Vicious; Angry; fangs; wolf; dark thoughts 2
Clap 3
Hearth 4
Pillow 5
Omen 6
Slimy 7
Feather 8
Glue 9
Pub 10
Brothel 11
Divine 12
Owl 13
Flamingo 14
Illuminate 15
Descend
How important is
the CONTEXT
of words?
Find your own
words from the poems

11. What are we learning here?
DICTION (word choice) is a poet’s most obvious yet most subtle form of expression.
The CONNOTATIONS of words (diction) are partly from the Culture around us, and partly from your experiences and imagination.
HOWEVER:
Can we decide upon the TONE/MOOD based upon the DICTION a poet uses?
What other evidence is there but the words!!?

12. Activity
Write a short analysis of the way in which either poet creates meaning in their respective poem. Include comments on how the connotations and the sounds of the words help to convey the poem’s theme.

13. Plenary
Reflect on the ‘sound of words’, the reason, perhaps, why we have some word associations. SHARP sounds and soft SOUNDS of phonetics, letter combinations and the importance of tone. REMEMBER that TONE is linked to the DICTION.