English
Lesson Notes
Diction
2
LESSON
Teacher Guide
Poetic diction
In this lesson we deal with two levels of meaning – surface meaning and deep meaning. We focus on the diction
used in poetry and develop the skill of working out the poet’s implied meaning.
Lesson Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
•identify and explain the deep and surface
meanings in a poem
• explain the symbolism used in a poem
Curriculum Links
LO 2: Reading and Viewing
• identify and explain the purpose, structure and
language use in texts across the curriculum
Lesson notes
Poets select words very carefully to convey surface and deep meaning. Words are also sometimes chosen
because they have a symbolic meaning.
Example
“Let me not to the
marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.”
- Shakespeare
Surface meaning:
The poet does not want
any obstacles to interfere
with marriage – or love.
“It is a dry, white
season
But seasons come to
pass.”
- Mongane Serote
It is currently not the
rainy season, but this dry
season, like all seasons,
will change.
“Something there is
that doesn’t love a
wall”
- Robert Frost
There is something that
does not like physical
barriers between
properties.
?
Deep meaning:
• In Shakespeare’s time, “marriage” meant a Christian
joining of two people in love. At the time, people
believed that marriage allowed two people’s souls to
become a single unit.
• In the phrase, “true minds”, the word “true” implies that
the lovers are both honest about their feelings and
loyal and faithful in their love for each other.
• This is a South African poem, written in the Apartheid
era by a black poet. In this context “dry” means
loveless, cruel and unfair; “white” refers to the
Apartheid policy which maintained the superiority of
the white race, and “season” refers to a time period.
• By using seasons in a symbolical way, Serote is
suggesting that the time of the white person being in
control will come to pass, just like the seasons change.
• Frost’s poem is about the emotional and mental
barriers people put up between themselves and others.
• So, symbolically, “walls” means much more than
physical brick or stone walls, but refers instead to the
social and personal factors that prevent people from
coming together.
TASK
Below are lines taken from a song by Eminem.
I never meant to make you cry but
tonight I’m cleaning out my closet.
1. What type of diction used in these lines?
2. What surface and deep meanings do these words create?
3. Explain what the “closet” could symbolise in this song. Can you think of other examples where the idea of a closet is used symbolically?
21