04/13/2011 Period 1 | Periods 2 & 8
Period 1 Lesson: Imagery, Alliteration, Diction, and Mood
Objective: Students will be able to identify imagery and alliteration in text and understand their meanings.
Students will be able to identify the mood of a text and understanding its meaning.
Students will be able to identify and analyze the author’s purpose by the use of diction in literature.
Aim: Why is imagery and alliteration so important in literature?
How does understanding the author’s choice of words (diction) help me better understand the mood of the text?
Skill/Concept: Imagery, Alliteration, Diction, and Mood
Materials:
Mentor Text – The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe, Paragraphs 9 – 14 and 23 - 30
Do Now: - List some examples of alliteration of team names in sports, for example The Cleveland Cavaliers.
Acquisition – Imagery, Alliteration, Diction, and Mood
Part I: Introduction - Mini Lesson:
Imagery: is a description that appeals to one of the five senses. Using this senses it creates a picture or image for the reader. Imagery is an image, in its basic sense, is something concrete that appeals to any of the five senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, smell - as well as metaphor, simile, and personification.
For example, the following images might be used to describe a stroll on a summer night:
Sight - a full moon in a black sky
Sound - the chirp of crickets
Taste - the tang of a cold glass of lemonade
Touch - a warm breeze
Smell - freshly mowed grass
In Literature:
Alliteration: is the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words or within words. The words can be right next to each other or spaced out, and generally at least two words are needed for alliteration. Good examples of alliteration are tongue twisters. Alliteration is often used in poetry to create unity and a musical or rhythmic effect. Alliteration contributes to mood and tone of a poem or of a story.
Examples: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickles Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of picked peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
Examples:
In Literature: I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street
~Acquainted With the Night, Robert Frost~
Part II: Read the short story, "The Black Cat ", by Edgar Allen Poe, and identify examples of imagery and alliteration.
http://litstudies.org/E2ReaderWorkshop/WEEK9MentorTextday2.html
Read passage provided:
Here is an example of Alliteration: "…even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God".
Here is a Sampler Response: Based on the passage Poe seems to believe that criminals are inclined to give themselves away not because of guilt but from the anticipated pleasure of defying moral authority. The “M” alliteration by Poe is used to emphasize that the narrator is mocking/relishing in the notion that his crime of hanging Pluto is a sin "beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God."
(Even the fear of god couldn’t stop him)
Here is an example of Imagery: " I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire".
Here is a Sampler Response: On the night that the narrator has brutally killed his cat in a drunken rage, he is awakened by the sound/cry of fire. Poe uses the imagery of the “cry of fire” to evoke a visual/audio mental image of fire, crying and destroying the narrator’s “entire worldly wealth” in retribution for what was done to Pluto.
(The fire is crying and destroy everything in its path)
Diction refers to the author’s choice of words.
Words are the writer’s basic tools:
Student should rarely skip words they do not know when studying serious literature. (It’s like wearing earplugs to a symphony.) To understand voice, students must “hear” the words and “feel” their effects. Diction reflects the writer’s vision and steers the reader’s thought. Effective voice is shaped by words that are clear, concrete and exact.
Good writers avoid words like pretty, nice, and bad. Instead, they use words that invoke a specific effect:
Specific diction brings the reader into the scene, enabling full participation in the writer’s world.
When studying diction, students must understand both connotation (the meaning suggested by the word) and denotation (the word’s literal meaning). When a writer calls a character slender, the word evokes a different feeling from calling the character gaunt. A word’s power to produce a strong reaction in the reader lies mainly in its connotative meaning.
The writer’s purpose—whether to convince, entertain, amuse, inform, or plead—partly determines diction. Words chosen to impart a particular effect on the reader reflect and sustain the writer’s purpose. If the author’s purpose is to inform, the reader should expect straightforward diction. Colloquial diction and slang borrow from informal speech and are typically used to create a mood or capture a particular historic or regional dialect.
Mood: The general atmosphere created by the author’s words. It is the feeling the reader gets from reading those words. It may be the same, or it may change from situation to situation.
Authors set a MOOD in literature by conveying an emotion or emotions through words. The way a person feels about an idea, event, or another person can be quickly determined through facial expressions, gestures and in the tone of voice used. Mood is the emotions that you (the reader) feel while you are reading.
Some Literature gives:
Writers use many devices to create mood, including images, dialogue, setting, and plot. Often a writer creates a mood at the beginning of the story and continues it to the end. However, sometimes the mood changes because of the plot or changes in characters.
Examples of MOODS include: suspenseful, joyful, depressing, excited, anxious, angry, sad, tense, lonely, suspicious, frightened, disgusted
Part III: Read the short story, "The Black Cat ", by Edgar Allen Poe, and identify the mood through the author’s choice of words (diction).
Read paragraphs below:
For Example, Mood: "The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. "
Sampler Response: The mood of "The Black Cat" is one of suspense, tension, fright, and apprehension. The suspense is generated when "the solution to the mystery is held back until the very end of the story." Hence, the tension continually builds throughout the plot until the solution to the mystery at the end of the story.
For Example, Diction: “I blush, I burned, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity”
“fiendish malevolence”, “vile haunts” and “apparition”
"monster," the "beast," the "playmate," the "brute" and the "apparition."
Sampler Response: Poe uses diction and detail to place disturbing images into the reader’s head. In "The Black Cat" the narrator declines from sanity to madness. The narrator states that "[his] original soul seemed, at one, to take flight from [his] body,” due to alcoholism; he loses all control and every fiber of his soul is ripped out. This detail creates a scary effect and sets the scene for more to come. One of the most horrifying events in the short story was the hideous attack on the black cat, "I blush, I burned, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity", Poe's skillful use of detail definitely set the dark mood of this story. Dark words such as "fiendish malevolence", "vile haunts" and "apparition: added an eerie effect. Another way Poe uses diction is with synonyms, for the cat. The cat was not only the "black cat," it was also known as the "monster," the "beast," the "playmate," the "brute" and the "apparition." Poe's choice of detail and diction splendidly creates a morbid picture for the readers.
Meaning Making: Read your book for 10 minutes and take notes using the following guiding questions:
Level 1 Question: What visual and auditory imagery has the author created? What are some descriptive words the author uses to create these images? What (special) words (diction) have you noticed the author is using to create a certain mood? Identify two descriptive words used to create the mood. Level 2 Question:What meaning do you infer from the imagery? What is the mood of the book you are reading? How does the author use diction (words with rich connotations-implied meaning) to create the mood? Level 3 Question: What kind of mood/tone is created through imagery (sight and sound)? How has Poe achieved the effect? How does the author use diction to create and shape the mood of the book? Level 4 Question: Has Poe successfully created the dark and scary mood through his use of imagery and alliteration? Explain. Why does the author use: archaic words, colloquialism, jargon, profanity, slang, trite expressions, or vulgarity? If so, what effect do these words have to help the author convey his/her meaning? |
Transfer: What type of imagery would you use to describe diving into a cool, refreshing pool on a hot summer day?
Can you give an example of a time when you had to choose your words very carefully to paint a positive picture of a very bad situation?
HW#19: Read for 30 minutes. Write a paragraph explaining how the author of your book uses the five senses (sound, sight, touch, smell, taste) to create a mood through imagery.
Lesson: How do writers use Literary Techniques to Convey the Central Idea/Theme?
Objective: Students will understand that authors convey theme through a variety of literary techniques.
Aim: How do authors use literary techniques to portray theme in stories/novels?
Skill/Concept: Central Idea/Theme, Imagery, Metaphor, Simile, Alliteration, Symbolism, Diction, Mood
Materials: Graphic Organizer, Mentor Text – The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
Do Now: What message do you think Edgar Allan Poe was trying to convey to the reader?
Mini Lesson:Literary techniques are a major part of writing. A good author will use literary techniques to accomplish his/her intention(s) to convey their message and to have an impact on the reader. Every word or phrase of a story should contribute to the theme.
1. Imagery – sensory words or phrases that create mental pictures.
2. Metaphor – figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things.
3. Simile – figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things using like or as.
4. Alliteration – repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words or within words.
5. Symbolism – when the author uses an object or reference to add deeper meaning to a story
6. Diction – refers to the author’s choice of words
7. Mood – The general atmosphere created by the author’s words.
8. Theme – message about life that author conveys in a literary work
Graphic Organizer Demonstration: Making the connection!
Meaning Making: Read for 10 minutes and take notes using the guiding questions below to complete your graphic organizer:
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Transfer: How can a graphic organizer help me organize my thoughts and figure out how writers use literary techniques to convey the central idea/theme?
HW#22: Read for 30 minutes. Complete your graphic organizer.
Extra Credit: Poster Board Project – Create a poster using a literary device.
The poster will present a literary device used in the short story The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. Design your poster using one literary device (metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism, diction, or mood) as the controlling idea/theme of your poster. The poster you create should provide viewers with a visual of what you (the reader) imagine (in your head) when you read the chosen metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism, diction, or mood sentence from the story.