1) Diction = word choice

 

• The diction is the basic building block of any work of literature, be it a poem, story, novel, play, dialogue, etc.  Every word is chosen for a reason

 

• Words might be chosen for the way they sound, especially in poetry.

 

• Dental = d,t,l, etc.
• Labial = p,b,m,f, etc.
• Guttural = g,k, etc.
• Vowel Sounds = a,e,i,o,u,y, and h
• Serpentine S’s
• Remember onomatopoeia (whisper, buzz, etc.)

                                           

• Words might be chosen for the connotative value of the word. (That car is totally bad; in this case BAD means GOOD)

 

• Words might be chosen for their ambiguity; words with double meanings like MIGHT, SUBJECT, RIGHT, etc. and abstract or vague terms like JUSTICE, HONOR, LOVE, etc.

 

• Words might be chosen for their conciseness; words like OAK instead of tree or SALMON instead of fish.

 

2) Syntax = word order and grammatical structures

 

• This includes front-loaded vs. back-loaded sentences

 

• This includes simple sentences vs. complex sentences

 

The diction and syntax of a given text work together to create the overall mood of a piece and give clues to the various tones throughout the text, including the tone of the speaker or narrator, and/or the tones of different characters.

 

3) Mood = pre-dominant emotion

 

• This includes fear, loneliness, hate, love, confusion, anger, melancholy, frustration, delight, happiness.

 

• Also referred to as the atmosphere, the general feeling in the text.

 

• Often you can ask, “How would I feel in this situation?” and the answer is the mood.

 

• The mood in the final scene of Romeo and Juliet is a combination of many emotions stemming from the overall emotion of feeling doomed, as if the events were inevitable.

 

4) Tone = the attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme.

 

• This can sometimes include many of the emotion words for mood, but also includes things like sarcastic, reverent, irreverent, indifferent, matter-of-fact or observational, etc.

 

• The tone in “My Last Duchess” is observational because the speaker simply records a conversation between the duke and an agent.  However, the Duke’s tone is one of irreverence for the value of life and the reader is moved to dislike him.  This is a more effective use of different tones than if Browning just came out and attacked the Duke.  Tone is an essential element in all poetry.