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:
Blue = diction
Red =details
Pink =imagery
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.
Ex: Diction such as " ______," " _______," "_______," and "________" offers the connotation of _________, etc. These examples help reinforce the tone because . . .
� Diction: such as dark, soundless, autumn, clouds hung low, dreary alone. These examples help reinforce the tone because it shows the reader that is in a quiet alone setting.
� Details: such as dull, dark, soundless, autumn, oppressively low, alone, horseback, dreary tract, evening near, reined horse, precipitous brink, black and lurid tarn, unruffled luster, vacant and eye-like windows
� Imagery: such as dull, dark, autumn, hung oppressively low, alone, dreary tract, shades of evening drew on, precipitous brink, black and lurid tarn, unruffled luster, vacant and eye-like
� Syntax: such as during, through, or within. Two sentences, long and many commas, a lot of dictation, detail, and imagery.