DIRECTIONS:
Read the following pages about style. Then, read “Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe and do the Style Analysis Worksheet for Edgar Allen Poe. You may use “The Pit and The Pendulum” instead, if you wish. What is Style?
Style can be defined as any of the characteristic ways that an author uses
language.
Every author uses the elements of style in individual ways to achieve certain
effects. Like a
fingerprint, an author's style identifies his or her writing as unique. It also has
specific effects on
the reader.
Recognizing the Elements of Style
Many different elements go into what makes up an author's "style":
Word choice (also called "diction"): Does the author use words drawn from
everyday language and slang, or from a higher vocabulary level?
Length and complexity of sentences: Are story sentences short and choppy,
or long and complex?
Punctuation: Does the author use punctuation in any distinctive ways that differ
from normal usage?
Use of imagery and symbols: Does the author make use of special images or
symbols to tell the story?
Sound and rhythm: Does the author choose or arrange words for the way they
sound? How does the story sound when you read it aloud?
Format: Does the author use standard prose and paragraphing? Does the
author write in a sequential order, or does she skip around?
The Effects of Style Choices
The elements of an author's style have many effects on how readers respond
to his or her story.
Mood: How do the elements listed above contribute to the story's mood? For
example, is the overall feeling of the story light and easy, or dark and brooding?
Tone: How do the elements listed above affect the author's tone? Is the overall
tone warm and inviting, or distant and reserved?
Defining Style
Style in literature is the literary element that describes the ways that the author
uses words — the author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language,
and sentence arrangement all work together to establish mood, images, and
meaning in the text. Style describes how the author describes events, objects, and
ideas.
One easy way to understand literary style is to think about fashion styles. Clothes
can be formal and dressy, informal and casual, preppy, athletic, and so forth.
Literary style is like the clothes that a text puts on. By analogy, the information
underneath is like the person's body, and the specific words, structures, and
arrangements that are used are like the clothes. Just as we can dress one person in
several different fashions, we can dress a single message in several different
literary styles:
Original
"No sich uh thing!" Tea Cake retorted. (Zora Neale Hurston. Their
Eyes Were Watching God. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1978, p. 205.)
Informal
"Nothing like that ever happened," Tea Cake replied.
Formal
"With great fortune, that happenstance did not become a reality,"
Tea Cake stated.
Journalistic, after Ernest Hemingway
"It did not happen," Tea Cake said.
Archaic, after Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Verily, it was a circumstance, to be noted, that appeared not to so
much have been a reality as to have evolved as a thing that had not
yet come to be," Tea Cake impelled.
MONDAY:
• Write this sentence, “He died.” In the following tones
o Formal
o Slang
o Children’s Vernacular
TUESDAY:
• Write this sentence, “She is beautiful.” In the following tones
o Formal
o Slang
o Children’s Vernacular
WEDNESDAY:
• Re-write this sentence, “I looked down the road as far as I could see,
but no one was coming.” In the following tones:
o Hopeful
o Discouraged
o Excited
THURSDAY:
• Re-write this sentence, “Everyone was gone.” In the following tones.
o Relieved
o Lonely
o Confused
FRIDAY:
• Write a sentence introducing yourself; write it three times, varying the
tone, style, and diction in each of the following ways:
o Appeal to first grade students
o Address a potential employer at an interview
o Greet a senior citizen you are volunteering with