Literature and Literary Terms

Denotation – the exact, literal meaning of a word.

Connotation – the associations and emotional overtones attached to a word beyond its literal definition or denotation. A connotation may be positive, negative or neutral.

Diction – the writer’s choice of words.

*Mood (Review) – the emotion that a piece of writing evokes; the atmosphere or general feeling in a literary work. Name: ______Date: ______Mrs. DeMella: English 2H

CONNOTATION and DENOTATION: The Creation of MOOD through DICTION Place this in the ‘Literature and Literary Terms’ section of your binder.

Authors often use descriptive passages to develop a specific mood. They may carefully choose language that evokes the feelings they wish to implant in the reader’s mind, and use words with specific and carefully chosen connotations.

Example:

As he watched her play the piano, he could easily imagine her pale bony hands and claw like fingers clutching at toads for use in a witches’ brew.

He watched her play the piano. Her slender milk white hands passed gracefully over the piano keys. The delicate fingers appeared to create music effortlessly.

Here is another example from the classic 20th century novel Lord of the Flies. We will read it later this year! In this passage (from the first chapter), the 12 year old protagonist has just awoken after a horrific plane crash. He has discovered that he is on an unpopulated tropical island. The boy in the passage is happy and unworried, but the mood that the reader senses is NOT happy. In fact, the mood is creepy and sinister and scary. We can understand this from the author’s diction (word choices). Listen as I read aloud the passage, in which he author, Golding, describes the young boy’s behavior:

He jumped down from the terrace. The sand was thick over his black shoes and the heat hit him. He became conscious of the weight of his clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely and ripped off each stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement. Then, he leapt back on the terrace, pulled off his shirt, and stood there among the skull-like coconuts with green shadows from the palms and the forest sliding over his skin. He undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked … (10).

Now, underline all the words in the passage above that create a spooky, eerie, sinister, ominous mood. Note that this kind of mood development often occurs in movies through the use of music.

Over … PRACTICE:

Now You TRY: Change the following sentence to create a different, darker mood. Imagine this girl is evil or that you hate her. Change the language to reflect this, but do not change any of the concrete facts (hair color, etc.). Also, don’t use the word ‘evil’ or do any direct telling. You also may not curse.

Her long blond hair flowed half way down her back, and her blue eyes sparkled with intelligence as she walked into the room. She looked around, and then sat down. ______