Diction, denotation & connotation
- 2. Denotation To say, not to suggest To be, not to seem
- 3. Literally the ordinary matter-of-fact sense to be found in the DICTIONary
- 4. This is Just to say and which you were probably saving for breakfast I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold Poem by William Carlos Williams
- 5. Connotation an association or additional meaning that a word, image or phrase may carry apart from its literal denotation or dictionary definition. A word may pick up connotations from the uses to which it has been put in the past.
- 6. Silence by Marianne Moore My father used to say, "Superior people never make long visits, have to be shown Longfellow's grave nor the glass flowers at Harvard. Self reliant like the cat -- that takes its prey to privacy, the mouse's limp tail hanging like a shoelace from its mouth -- they sometimes enjoy solitude, and can be robbed of speech by speech which has delighted them. The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence; not in silence, but restraint." Nor was he insincere in saying, "`Make my house your inn'." Inns are not residences.
- 7. saying &suggesting Poets aren’t the only ones who care about language connotation. Advertisers know that connotations make money. In Imaginative writing, connotations are as crucial as they are in advertising.
- 8. TERMS for review DICTION: word choice or vocabulary Concrete Diction: specific names or details we can immediately perceive abstract diction: express general concepts or ideas poetic diction: elevated language intended for verse or poetry allusion: brief, indirect reference that rely on implication
- 9. TERMS for review vulgate: lowest level of diction, everyday speech colloquial english: casual, informal, conversational general english: ordinary speech of native speakers formal english: heightened speech for dignified occasions dialect: variety of language used by regional group or class