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unit Signatures 8 author’s style and voice • In 19th-Century Writing • In 20th-Century Writing 847 VA_L10PE-u08_uo.indd 847 3/29/11 10:47:23 AM unit Share What You Know 8 Who’s got STYLE? People in the public eye often cultivate an image that sets them apart from others. Some do it with the way they dress, others through the way they speak or act, and some with what they design or create. You recognize these people or their work by their style—that special blend of appearance, expression, and attitude that makes each person unique. ACTIVITY Choose an individual whose personal or professional style you admire. This person could be someone you know, or a public figure such as a performer, a politician, or a businessperson. Draw a sketch or create a collage or illustration like the one shown to represent the elements of that person’s style. Find It Online! Go to thinkcentral.com for the interactive version of this unit. 848 VA_L10PE-u08_uo.indd 848 3/29/11 10:47:08 AM Virginia Standards of Learning Preview Unit Goals text • Identify elements of style, including diction, tone, analysis and imagery • Recognize style of specific authors, including Poe, Whitman, Frost, and Cisneros reading • Make inferences about speaker • Identify author’s purpose • Paraphrase; distinguish between a summary and a critique writing and • Write an online feature article language • Incorporate quotations • Incorporate links to external sources • Use a variety of phrases vocabulary • Determine or clarify the precise meaning of foreign words used in English • Use a dictionary to determine or clarify a word’s etymology academic • clarify • style vocabulary • feature • transmit • precise media • Update on online feature article literacy 849 VA_L10PE-u08_uo.indd 849 3/29/11 10:46:45 AM unit 8 Text Author’s Style and Voice Analysis Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, and Maya Angelou—why do works by authors such Workshop as these continue to captivate generations of readers? Not only have these authors crafted compelling stories reflecting the societies in which they lived, but they have expressed themselves in such individual, memorable ways. Austen’s witty observa- tions of society, Poe’s dark tales of terror, and Angelou’s deeply personal anecdotes all leave lasting impressions largely because of each author’s distinctive style. Virginia Standards of Learning Included in this workshop: Part 1: Style in Literature 10.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze literary texts of different Style refers to the way a work of literature is written—not what is said, but cultures and eras. 10.4d Analyze the cultural or social function of how it is said. The “how” depends on many elements, including a writer’s tone, literature. 10.4g Explain the influence sentence structures, and language. In the first example shown, notice how of historical context on the form, style, and point of view of a literary Ernest Hemingway’s direct, journalistic style results from his use of simple text. 10.4h Evaluate how an author’s words and sentences, among other elements. specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support Distinctive styles extend beyond individual writers, however. Sometimes the author’s purpose. 10.4i Compare writing produced during a particular time period, such as 19th-century England, and contrast literature from different cultures and eras. has a recognizable style, as you’ll notice in the second example. style of an individual style of a time period Ernest Hemingway Victorian England Hemingway, who wrote during the Much of the writing produced 20th century, is known for his in 19th-century England has simple style. He avoided flowery an elaborate, formal style. language in favor of no-frills Sentences are complex, and storytelling and short sentences. the vocabulary is sophisticated. Example Example “Don’t talk about the war,” I said. The war was a Anyone who had looked at him as the red light long way away. Maybe there wasn’t any war. There shone upon his pale face, strange straining eyes, and was no war here. Then I realized it was over for me. meager form, would perhaps have understood the But I did not have the feeling that it was really over. mixture of contemptuous pity, dread, and suspicion —from A Farewell to Arms with which he was regarded by his neighbors. —from Silas Marner by George Eliot Characteristics of Hemingway’s Style Characteristics of Victorian Style • everyday words and sparse details • elevated language and vivid imagery • simple sentence structures • complex sentence structures • informal tone • formal tone • matter-of-fact descriptions of characters’ feelings • involved focus on the narrator’s and characters’ observations and thoughts 850 unit 8: author’s style and voice VA_L10PE-u08-lw.indd 850 3/29/11 11:35:10 AM model 1: style of an individual Now that you have learned the characteristics of Hemingway’s style and have read a passage from A Farewell to Arms, examine this excerpt from one of his short stories. from Big Two-Hearted River Short story by Ernest Hemingway Close Read Nick was hungry. He did not believe he had ever been hungrier. He opened 1. Identify two and emptied a can of pork and beans and a can of spaghetti into the frying pan. characteristics of “I’ve got a right to eat this kind of stuff, if I’m willing to carry it,” Nick said. Hemingway’s style His voice sounded strange in the darkening woods. He did not speak again. that are evident in the 5 He started a fire with some chunks of pine he got with the ax from a boxed text. stump. Over the fire he stuck a wire grill, pushing the four legs down into the 2. Compare the excerpt ground with his boot. Nick put the frying pan on the grill over the flames. He from A Farewell to Arms was hungrier. The beans and spaghetti warmed. Nick stirred them and mixed with this one. What is them together. the most striking stylistic similarity between them? Explain. model 2: style of a time period Like George Eliot, Emily Brontë wrote in the sophisticated, ornate style that characterizes 19th-century English literature. In this excerpt from one of Brontë’s novels, the narrator visits the estate of his landlord, Heathcliff. from Wuthering Heights Novel by Emily Brontë Yesterday afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it Close Read by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering 1. In what ways do 1 Heights. On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. —I dine between twelve Brontë’s sentences— and one o’clock; the housekeeper, a matronly lady, taken as a fixture along with especially the one in 5 the house, could not, or would not, comprehend my request that I might be the box —differ from served at five)—on mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping Hemingway’s? into the room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes and 2. Identify two stylistic coal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the flames with similarities between heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back immediately; I took my hat, Brontë’s writing here 10 and, after a four-miles’ walk, arrived at Heathcliff’s garden-gate just in time to and Eliot’s writing in the escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower. excerpt from Silas Marner on the preceding page. 1. N.B.: an abbreviation of the Latin nota bene, “take notice.” text analysis workshop 851 VA_L10PE-u08-lw.indd 851 3/29/11 11:35:52 AM Part 2: Style and Voice You’ve started to consider how elements such as sentence structure and word choice help to create style. A closer look at the unique blend of three other key elements—diction, tone, and imagery—will help you to compare writing styles. You will also grasp how these elements contribute to a writer’s or narrator’s voice —the personality that comes across on the page. Here, notice how diction, tone, and imagery help to distinguish Nathaniel Hawthorne’s formal, ornate style from Gloria Naylor’s playfully informal one. comparing styles She had dark and abundant She loaded that baby down hair, so glossy that it threw with every name in the off the sunshine with a book: Charles Somebody gleam, and a face which, Harrison Somebody- besides being beautiful Else Duvall. We called from regularity of feature him Chick. That’s what and richness of complexion, he looked like, toddling had the impressiveness around: little pecan head belonging to a marked sitting on a scrawny neck, brow and deep black eyes. two bright buttons for eyes, and a feathery mess of hair she couldn’t keep slicked down —from The Scarlet Letter for nothing. by Nathaniel Hawthorne —from Mama Day by Gloria Naylor diction Diction includes both a writer’s choice of words and his or her syntax, or arrange ment of words into sentences. Hawthorne’s formal style comes from his use of elevated vocabulary (“abundant hair”), complex phrases (“richness of complexion” rather than “great skin”), and long sentences. In contrast, Naylor’s use of informal language, such as “slicked down for nothing,” creates a conversational style. tone Tone is a writer’s attitude toward a subject, as expressed through choice of words and details. Naylor establishes a playful tone in her description of Chick’s real name: “Charles Somebody Harrison Somebody-Else Duvall.” Naylor’s tone also helps readers to “hear” the no-nonsense voice of the narrator.