The Big Three of Literary

Analysis
Diction, Syntax and
Imagery
By Carol A. Tebbs, MA

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 INTRODUCTION
 Students must learn some basic
“analysis” vocabulary and how to
apply it to what they read, so they may
generate meaningful commentary.
 The “Big Three” of analysis:
diction, syntax and imagery.
 Rhetorical terms (vocabulary) is
necessary to accurately convey style
(The Big Three).

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 DICTION
 Diction Defines Style / Character:
 Diction is an author’s choice of words
modified by his own unique style also
called the author’s “voice”.
 Like a good closet of clothes, a skillful
author selects the appropriate “verbal
wardrobe”:
 to fit the occasion or situation
 to reach his audience
 to achieve his purpose. 3
 DICTION
 Some writers, like John Steinbeck in The
Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row, use a
very wide range of diction to make their
characters distinctive.
 For instance, the used car salesman speaks in
repeated clichés and slang such as, “It’s a
real bargain”, or “The deal’s a steal”;
 Some characters speak in more formal
language when they are repeating the edict
from the bank, “You must vacate the
premises immediately”.
 Other characters speak in colloquial
language showing their lack of “proper”
education. “Shucks”, pa, “Ain’t no use
fightin’ ‘em…”. Many authors use various
sorts of diction to distinguish their characters
one from the other. 4
 DICTION
Type of Audience Purpose Example
Diction
Sophisticated Highly To impress The meal was
educated or exquisite
refined
Formal Strangers, To show My stomach is
notables; good full
professional manners
Informal Friends and To share My belly is
Colleagues feelings stuffed with food
Colloquial Family and To share That there finger
close friends feelings lickin’ grub
without stuffed my gut.
pretense
Slang Close friends To be cool That belly-
5
and “in” buster filled me
up.
 DICTION
 Denotation and Connotation are
Cultural Nuances of Diction:
 In analysis, the dictionary definition of the word
“birthday” is simply the day one is born, or the
annual celebration of the date of birth. We call
the dictionary definition, “denotation”.
 Authors, and especially poets, use “loaded
words” we call “connotation” that are packed
with extra meaning from their cultural
experience.
 For instance, what American 16 year-old
doesn’t know that “birthday” means driver’s
license, and if he is lucky, maybe even a car.
 But those definitions are NOT to be found in
the denotation of the word, “birthday”. 6
 DICTION
 People of any culture know additional
meanings or “connotations” that are
implied or “come with” many words.
 In American culture, the word,
“birthday” has other connotations, such
as: cake, ice-cream, party, friends, and
presents, but they may not be universal
in other cultures that have their own
associations for “birthday”.
 When analyzing poetry or prose
passages, you will notice many “loaded
words” where the author is counting on
your cultural understanding of
connotation to fill in the details from
your own experience. 7
 DICTION
Word Denotation (dictionary Connotation (cultural
definition) definition)

Birthday The date of one’s birth, or Party, presents, friends,

the annual celebration of cake, candles, ice-cream,
the event of one’s birth relatives

Wedding The ceremony where Friends, presents,

vows of marriage are reception, bachelor party,
exchanged between two showers, tuxedo, wedding
people dress, photos, cake,
relatives

War Armed combat between Guns, bullets, killing,

adversaries on a large blood, tears, fear, hatred,
scale
loneliness, tanks, mortars,
violence,
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bombs, devastation
 SYNTAX
 Syntax Defines Style Through
Variety of Sentence Structure:
 Syntax refers to sentence structure
and the variation of phrases and
clauses within, which the author
manipulates:
 to fit the occasion or situation
 to reach his audience
 to achieve his purpose.
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SYNTAX

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 SYNTAX
 A Sentence is a Clause:
 All clauses have a subject (S), a verb
(V), and sometimes a direct object (DO)
and an indirect object (IO).
 A sentence with only one subject (S) +
verb (V) combination is called a simple
sentence. Adding phrases to a simple
sentence can make it very long, but it is
still simple.
 Sometimes a sentence has two or more
clauses (S+V) + (S+V), joined by a
coordinating conjunction such as: and,
but, or, and the result is a compound
sentence. 11
 SYNTAX
 Sometimes, long sentences are
complex, with two or more subject-
verb-object combinations (S+V) + (S+V)
joined by a subordinating conjunction
such as: however, although, which, that,
nonetheless, and many of the personal
pronouns that can sometimes be used
as subordinating conjunctions.
 So the terms, simple, compound and
complex refer to the type of sentence
structure used by the author.
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 SYNTAX
 Another way to distinguish sentences is
by their function: declarative,
interrogatory, exclamatory or imperative.
Their end punctuation provides the biggest
clue to the sentence type.
 The declarative sentence makes a
statement and ends with a period (.). The
interrogative sentence ends with a question
mark (?), and the exclamatory sentence
ends with and exclamation point (!).
 The imperative sentence ends with a period
(.), but it is distinguished because it starts
with a verb and the subject is understood.
 The imperative is easiest to remember by
associating it with authority figures giving 13
orders: “Clean up”, “Be quiet”, “Sit down”.
 SYNTAX
 Beginning students, without sophisticated
vocabulary, can spot long sentences or short
sentences. To notice and comment on such
simple observations is helpful in discussing the
author’s style.
 Upper level students, should expand their
vocabulary to properly name the long and
short sentences and also noting the
placement of the main clause or subject and
verb (S+V) of important sentences.
 The subject and verb (S+V) at the beginning
of the sentence is called a loose or
cumulative sentence.
 If the sentence starts with subordinate clauses
and a chain of descriptive phrases with the
main subject-verb (S+V) combination at the
end, it is called a periodic sentence. 14
 SYNTAX
 Periodic sentences are usually very long.
 Example: Periodic sentence:
Down the hill near the old swimming hole
by the railroad tracks, not far from the
schoolhouse and near the old watermill,
the children (S) raced (V) to the barn.
 The more common Cumulative
sentences vary in length and tend to be
shorter.
 Example: Cumulative sentence:
The children (S) raced (V) to the barn by
way of the old schoolhouse next to the
swimming hole down by the railroad tracks
and near the old watermill. 15
 SYNTAX
 Phrases do NOT have a Subject and a Verb:
 Phrases are important to enrich the detail of the
sentence. Their function is to describe or modify
either the subject or the verb, or to replace a
noun.
 Prepositional phrases add description and
work like adjectives modifying nouns or adverbs
modifying verbs. For instance, the prepositional
phrase can be used as an adjective as in, “The
road (to school) ended.” or as an adverb, “The
road ended (beyond the bridge).”
 Appositive phrases are set off by commas
and simply restate the noun such as: Bob, my
friend, lives next door.
 The Verbal phrases are actually verb words
with the “en” “ing” or “ed” ending working as
nouns, adjectives or adverbs. They are: 16
participles, gerunds and infinitives.
 SYNTAX
 Participles do the work of adjectives (to modify
nouns or pronouns) or adverbs (to modify
verbs). For example the participle phrase can be
used as an adjective as in, “The speeding car
crashed.”, or as an adverb in, “The car crashed
speedily.”
 Gerunds are verb forms that replace nouns or
pronouns as in, “Running is my best sport.”
 Infinitives always start with the word, “to” and
end with a verb, as in “to work”. They replace
nouns or pronouns as either the subject or
object of a sentence; as adverbs that modify
verbs, or as adjectives that modify nouns.
Infinitives are easy to spot because “to” followed
by a noun in the prepositional phase (to +
noun) is very different than the “to” followed by
a verb of the infinitive phrase (to + verb).
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 SYNTAX
 Students won’t often need to identify
or distinguish between verbal
phrases, but it is helpful to
understand the clear distinction
between phrases and clauses and
the different jobs they perform in the
sentence.
 The major syntax features of any
literary work distinguishes the
author’s style, much like a finger
print identifies a person. 18
Syntax
Sentences = Subject + Verb + Direct Object Indirect
Clauses: + Object
Must have, Must have Optional Must first have a
unless sentence direct object
is a command

Sentence Types Simple = Compound = Complex = One Compound/

One S+V Two equal S+V’s main S+V and Complex = Two
joined by and, one or more equal S+V’s, +
but or yet subordinate S+V one or more
subordinate SV
Sentence Declarative = Interrogative = Exclamatory = Imperative = a
Patterns makes a asks a question makes a strong command with
statement or sudden a verb and “you”
statement understood

Sentence Length Periodic – less Cumulative –

common with more common
S+V last with S+V first

Phrases: No Subject No Verb

Phrase Types Prepositions – Appositives – Verbals – verb

work as work as a repeat words that work
adjectives or or clarification of as nouns, adjects
adverbs a noun or adverbs
Types of Verbal Participles – Infinitives – verb Gerunds – verb
Phrases verb words words with “to” in words ending in
ending in “en”, front that work as “ed” or “ing” that
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“ed” or “ing” that nouns adjectives work as nouns
work as adverbs or adverbs
 SYNTAX
 Syntax also includes the author’s
variations of sentence components as an
element of style used to emphasize his
message.
 Some common variations of emphasis
are:
 word order (inversion)
 juxtaposition of opposites (oxymoron)
 repetition of words, phrases or clauses
 rhetorical questions to explore ideas
(not expecting and answer)
 variations of punctuation
 The careful reader will spot them easily.
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 SYNTAX
 For example, when poet Stephen
Crane says:
“Do not weep, maiden for war is kind”,
we should immediately recognize the
extreme disparity between the words,
“war” and “kind”.
 The denotation of the two words is
opposite in meaning, and
 The connotation of the two words is
opposite in meaning, which should
signal the reader that something is very
wrong, and the author is using
juxtaposition to show it. 21
 SYNTAX
Syntax variations Examples of syntax variations for emphasis
Inversion Carried (V), she (S) was, by others in her study group.
The verb of the sentence is placed before the subject.

Juxtaposition Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind. The italicized

words are opposite in meaning giving a sudden
contrast of ideas that signals something is wrong.
Repetition I have a dream that all men are equal; I have a dream
that my sons can aspire to the highest positions; I have
a dream… is a clause that is repeated 17 times in the
famous Martin Luther King speech for dramatic effect.
Rhetorical Shall we not rise up and be counted, make our cause
Question be known? If we do not, we are fool-hardy in that
choice. A question posed, and then answered. The
function is to prod the listener to thought.
Parallel Structure Marlene enjoyed the outdoor sports of skiing, hiking
and riding horses, but much preferred the indoor sport
of ice-skating. Items or ideas in a series must appear in
the same grammatical form.

Punctuation I heard a fly buzz when I died – He landed – Where I

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could not see to see. Here, the dash is used to signal
an extended pause for dramatic effect.
 IMAGERY
 Imagery refers to words that
appeal to the five senses:
sight, sound, taste, feel, smell;
or create a mental picture for
the reader.
 The figurative language of
imagery also includes simile
(“like” or “as” comparisons) and
metaphor (direct comparisons
with “is”). 23
 IMAGERY
 Imagery is Description and a Function of
Style:
 All great writers paint “word pictures” with
their descriptive imagery. They show us
about settings and characters rather than
tell us.
 Many authors are especially notable for their
skill at complex and detailed imagery such
as the non-fiction essay writer, Annie
Dillard, author of A Pilgrim at Tinker
Creek, and fiction writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Dillard describes the gory detail of a praying
mantis chewing the innards out of a live
wasp at the same time that he (the wasp)
was squeezing a honey bee to death to lick
her disgorged honey. 24
 IMAGERY
 “He [J. Henry Fabre] describes a bee-eating
wasp, the Philanthus, who has killed a honey-
bee.
 If the bee is heavy with honey, the wasp
squeezes its crop ‘so as to make her disgorge
the delicious syrup, which she drinks by licking
the tongue which her unfortunate victim, in her
death agony, sticks out of her mouth at full
length….(visual) (gustatory) (tactile)
 At the moment of some such horrible banquet, I
have seen the Wasp, with her prey, seized by
the Mantis: the bandit was rifled by another
bandit.
 And here is an awful detail: while the Mantis
held her transfixed under the points of the
double saw and was already munching her
belly, the Wasp continued to lick the honey of
her Bee, unable to relinquish the delicious food
even amid the terrors of death. 25

 Let us hasten to cast a veil over these horrors.’”

 IMAGERY
Imagery Figurative language
Visual words: red, blue, all colors, Simile: She is nothing like the
shapely, ugly, pretty, handsome, tall, Sun…
short, barren, wooded

Auditory words: (onomatopoeia) Her eyes were as big as saucers

cracked, clang, snap, loud, whisper, when she saw the horror movie.
discordant, harmonious, cacophony,
blare, trumpet, melodious, raspy,
croaking

Gustatory words: delicious, sweet, Metaphor: The window darkened

sour, tart, tangy, scrumptious, hot, upon my soul and none could
cold, spicy, creamy, warm, crunchy discern me hiding within.

Tactile words: soft, scratchy, silky, There are many, many variations
rough, hard, dented, knobby, satiny, of metaphors, but all function as
weathered, pliable, flexible direct comparisons.
Olfactory words: stinky, perfumed,
odorous, reeking, stench, putrid, 26
steamy, sweaty, pungent
 IMAGERY
 Students who can recognize the
nuances of diction, syntax and
imagery in what they read are
well along the way toward using
those same tools to write an
effective analysis of prose or
poetry; fiction or non-fiction.
 Argumentation is a more
advanced skill for later mastery.
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