A lesson in poetry. Diction, connotation and denotation. This is a basic introduction.

1. A Lesson in Poetry

2. “What I like to do is treat words as a
craftsman does his wood or stone or
what-have-you, to hew, carve, mold,
coil, polish, and plane them into
patterns, sequences, sculptures, fugues
of sound expressing some lyrical
impulse, some spiritual doubt or
conviction, some dimly-realized truth I
must try to reach and realize.”
Photo credit from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas

3. Now that we’ve discussed
Imagery and Symbolism it’s
time to move onto another
important area of poetry:
Diction!

4. Simply put, diction refers to the
word choice an author makes.
 Although you are looking at it in the
poetry section of this course, you could
easily apply these concepts to any area
of literature, including the essay
writing.
 While the definition is pretty
straightforward, the ideas behind it are
more complex:
First of all, we have to consider two
words with which you are probably
already familiar:
connotation and denotation.

5.  Let’s start by reviewing the
simplest one first. Denotation
is the dictionary definition of a
word.
 For example, if you look up the
word “home” in The Concise
Oxford English Dictionary,
here is the first part of the
definition:
“Dwelling-place; fixed residence
of family or household”.

6.  Connotation is a bit more complex. If
we take the meaning of the word
“house” from the same dictionary you
find this: “Building for human
habitation”.
 Now, when you compare the
definition of “house” with the
definition of “home”, you may think
there is very little difference between
them, so, if you’re a writer and you
have to use one or the other as a
noun, how do you decide which one
to use? Does it matter?
 That’s where connotation comes in
because connotation is the
association we put on words.
HOUSE
or
HOME???

7. This is difficult to think about perhaps
because connotations are often linked to
personal experiences or cultural
background.
If someone from a different cultural
background is reading a poem, play,
novel or essay, the effect may be quite
different from what the author had in
mind.

8. Consider this:
Here are two sentences that have the same denotative
meaning:
Sentence #1. I am going to my house.
Sentence #2. I am going to my home.
 They have the same intent. They express the idea that
I am going to get up from where I am right now and go
to the place where I live. But do they have the same
connotative meaning? Does “house” have the same
associations that “home” has?

9. I can’t answer that for you because it
depends on your personal experience and
cultural background which may differ
from mine.

10. House Home
For me, house refers to the physical building only; whereas, home conjures up
images of the people (and animals) who make up the family unit and the feelings I
have when we are all together either for meals or for special occasions.

11. Sometimes the connotative meaning can be quite unconscious!
Here’s a test, read the following sentence, close your eyes and be conscious of the
image that pops into your head:
Sentence #1: Home is where the heart is.
Now try it again with the next sentence:
Sentence #2: House is where the heart is?
What do those two sentences mean to you? What images pop into your head?
Which one sounds better? And why?
If you’re anything like
me you’re probably
associating home with
love and people you love
rather than a physical
place.

12. I hope denotation and connotation are
clear for you because they are really at the
heart of what we’re thinking about when
we consider diction. When I’m writing,
whether it’s an essay, a review, or a piece of
description, I can shape how my reader
reacts to what I’ve said through the choice
of words I use. This is at the heart of what
we’re talking about in literature when we
talk about mood. If my writing is too
“flowery”, by that I mean using descriptive
language that may be excessive
considering my topic, it may seem as if I
am making fun of the topic rather than
taking it seriously.

13. Bye for now!