SHORT PASSAGES FOR DISCUSSION

Begin practicing the analysis of tone by using short passages that use a specific device such as Diction, Images, Details, Language or Sentence Structure to convey tone. Suggest what tone words you would use to describe the speaker's attitude.

1.      In his "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allan Poe has created clear tone. Identify the tone, then examine and provide examples of diction, details, imagery, and syntax that create the tone

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher...I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling...(with) vacant and eye-like windows.

Edgar Allan Poe From "The Fall of the House of Usher."

1. Color code the literary devices in the paragraph by using the following key:

red = diction

blue =details

purple =imagery

dark green =syntax

2. Choose three to five examples of each literary device listed above and explain connotation, and the effect of the literary device on the tone.

Diction such as " dreary," " melancholy," " dull," and " dark " offers the connotation of overclouded, dark, alone, scary, and boring. These examples help reinforce the tone because it gives the reader a feeling of what the atmosphere is like outside in the environment.

 

Details such as " soundless day," " tract of country," " vacant," and " eye-like windows " offers the connotation of nature, alone, and being scared. These examples help reinforce the tone because it gives the reader a feeling of what the atmosphere is like outside in the environment of nature.

 

Imagery such as " hung oppressively low in the heavens," " shades of the evening drew on," and " precipitous brink of a black " offers the connotation of depression, saddening, gloominess, and dark. These examples help reinforce the tone because it gives the reader a feeling of what the environment is like and what it feels like to be in nature alone by ones self.

 

Syntax such as " During the….," " I…," and " with… " offers the connotation of description, informative, and explanatory. These examples help reinforce the tone because the sentences are now filled with long and involved sentences that allow the reader to get an in depth view on passage and what image the writer is trying to create.