8/8!

Tone and mood are the method by which the author lets a reader know how to react to a scene or piece of information. Both tone and mood consist of more specific devices such as poetry sounds and diction. Diction enhances tone by choosing the appropriately sounding words. For example in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock the author T.S. Eliot uses diction that implies anxiety such as "QUOTE." This type of using diction to determine mood is contrasted by a poem such as "Out Out" by Robert Frost where the same type of mood is in the poem but using poem sounds instead of diction. When read out loud, the excessive sibilance in the beginning of the poem implies to the reader that there is a sinister quality to this seemingly perfect afternoon. Tone and mood operate in a way that communicates much more than the way a character is acting or the emotion invoked in the reader when reading a passage. Tone and mood can give more detail and significance to symbols and iconic scenes. Such scenes can be found in almost all great works of literature and make tone and mood integral to the significance of great works.

7/8

Diction is the most important device in crafting poetry sounds and connotation. The diction that an author uses is always intended to convey the tone and mood of a passage. The type of diction used by a character or used by the narrator can give the reader clues about that character's personality and whether or not that narrator is biased and/or reliable. For instance, Hamlet's diction when talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about his feigned craziness is altered to accommodate the change in personality. This is only one example of Hamlet's consistently changing diction throughout the play. In moments of anger, sadness, madness, and wrath, Hamlet employs the appropriate diction to convey those emotions. Diction also controls every secondary element of literature. Without the words the sound of poetry, vivid imagery, character, etc. So all of literature can be either ruined or made paramount based on its appropriate use of diction.

6/8

Imagery and figurative language can often work in conjunction to illustrate themes in literature. The author will insert figurative language and allegories into the work and use imagery to describe the characteristics of whatever the subject of the allegory or metaphor is. For instance Macbeth is constantly referring to disease. Hamlet refers to disease so often, that it becomes a leitmotif. Disease is a metaphor for the corrosion of Hamlet's sanity as the play progresses. Every time that disease is described in Hamlet, the same description can be attributed to the decay of Hamlet's sanity.

5/8

As we've said in class numerous times, in poetry how something is said enhances the meaning of what is being said. For instance when a poet needs to convey a sinister tone or a sinister mood, he would use sibilance to enhance that feeling for the reader. Poems have a large arsenal of devices that affect the sound of the poem. For example a poet will use caesura to emphasize a separation between two ideas or characters by writing them consecutively, but placing a caesura between them. The way a line is said and the way that it sounds will dramatically affect its connotation. There is a sound for every type of emotion and poems take advantage of those different sounds in order to convey those tones and moods more effectively.

4/8

Symbols are closely connected with allegories and metaphors. In literature symbols have an infamous reputation amongst high school students as the objects, colors, and ideas that repeat themselves subtly and refer (somehow) to other ideas and connect larger themes in the story. The greatest example from Hamlet that I can think of is Hamlet's constant dwelling over the topic of death. Death as a symbol connects Hamlet's extremely complex character to the extremely simplistic plot of a revenge tragedy. Death is the ultimate force that ends the play, it is the force that sets the events of the play in motion, and it is enough of a mystery to give pause to Hamlet and to allow him to hesitate and procrastinate further into the play. Death and Hamlet have a close relationship that is shadily played out on stage for the audience to interpret as revealing of Hamlet's character. Symbols require another level of interpretation, which is what makes it so infamous amongst the rank and file of high school students.

3/8

The setting of a work of literature can refer to several things: the timer period; the geographic area; the weather; the surroundings; the furniture; etc. Everything that pertains to WHERE the drama happens is considered part of the setting. Obviously the setting performs one of the biggest roles in the importance and the impact of a work of literature. If Hamlet were set in pre-historical times where swords and poisons didn't exist, the work wouldn't have a great effect on society to this day but because the setting made the drama possible, Hamlet is referred to in every day language. The setting isn't usually the main operative in a work, but allows it to exist. For example if Pride and Prejudice took place in Victorian Era Russia then the novel would not have unfolded in the way that it did. Historical fiction is a genre where setting is the most important aspect  of the novel, but our works this year have been set in the time where they were written, so they fall into the categories of drama or satire, not historical fiction.

2/8

The personality traits of protagonists and antagonists are crucial to plot and literary meaning of a piece of literature. Whether it be a poem, a play, or a novel, any work will be fundamentally altered along with alterations made to its main characters' personalities. The characters' complexity is at the heart of the meaning of Hamlet, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and Pride and Prejudice. Apprehension is a personality trait that is present in all three works. Hamlet's apprehension is what drives the plot of Shakespeare's play, Elizabeth's lack of apprehension in assigning value to Mr. Darcy's character is the focus of Elizabeth's entire character arc, and the apprehension and anxiety of Prufrock doom him to a life of anonymity. All together, the characters of any work of literature compose its content and meaning equally.