Transcript Textual Analysis - Saint Roch's Secondary School

Textual Analysis
CONTENTS
1.
Introduction to Textual Analysis (slides 1 – 8)
2.
Exploring Imagery – Metaphor, Simile & Personification (slides 9 – 24)
3.
Exploring Figures of speech which involve Sound – Onomatopoeia &
Alliteration (slides 25 – 31)
4.
Exploring Word Choice (slides 32 – 34)
5.
Exploring Structural techniques - Sentence structure, Punctuation &
Repetition (slides 35 – 48)
6.
Exploring Contrast (slides 49 – 51)
7.
Exploring Attitudes (slides 52 – 54)
8.
Exploring Endings (slides 55 – 56)
Introduction….
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The Textual Analysis NAB is based
on an extract from a short story, novel
or play, or perhaps on a whole short
poem.
You have to read the text carefully,
and then answer questions on how it
is written — the techniques the writer
uses and the effects he or she creates.
Continued….
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Your Textual Analysis skills will also be useful in the
Close Reading NAB and final Close Reading exam,
where some questions will be marked with an A to
show they are testing these skills.
The Textual Analysis NAB also overlaps with your
study of literature. When you study a literature text
you are really analysing it, and whenever you use
the ITQEE structure (which you can learn about later
in this powerpoint) to write about a text, you are
being analytical.
So what will the focus be?
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Writers choose every single word very
carefully. They use a number of
language techniques.
These techniques are also sometimes
called the features of the text, or
aspects of the text.
Continued…
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In this chapter you will learn to look carefully at the writer’s:
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word choice: the words the writer deliberately uses
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structure: the way the writer builds up sentences, or
paragraphs, or the whole text
imagery: for example simile, metaphor and
personification, in which the writer describes something by
comparing it to something else, giving you a vivid image or
picture in your mind
and a number of other techniques.
FOCUS OF TASK…
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Just to remind you what these mean, we’ll
examine them by using examples from the
poem ‘In the Snack Bar’ by Edwin Morgan.
This poem tells a story, and you should be
able to understand it fairly easily at first
reading.
WARNING
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We will just use this poem to illustrate
some techniques.
This is not the same thing as studying
the poem, and it doesn’t necessarily
mean that you will end up knowing it
well enough to be able to write about
it in your exam.
A) IMAGERY
1.
2.
3.
Similies
Metaphors
Personification.
Imagery
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Imagery is the term we use whenever a
writer creates a picture in language.
If the words a writer uses immediately create
a picture in your mind, then you’ve just
encountered an image.
Some imagery techniques have particular
names. Three of these are simile,
metaphor and personification.
Similes
Simile
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A simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is
compared to another using like or as.
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This gives a more vivid picture because of the
similarity between the two things compared.
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For example:

‘We go together like Chinese food and chocolate pudding.’

‘That rock on your finger is like a tumour.’
Will Ferrell.
Beyonce and Jay
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Z
‘Life is like a pipe and I’m a tiny penny, rolling up the walls
inside.’
Amy Winehouse.
Now try this….

Look at ‘In the Snack Bar’ by Edwin Morgan

Look at the simile below taken from the poem.
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‘Like a monstrous animal caught in a tent in
some story.’
What does the simile
suggest?
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This suggests the size of the man, and shows
how badly deformed he is as his disability has
made him seem animal rather than human.
Comparing his gaberdine coat to a tent shows
that it seems ill-fitting and looks wrong on him.
Another example…
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Later in the poem, still describing the
old man, Morgan notes his:
‘hands like wet leaves’
Now try this…
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What image does this suggest in your
mind about the man’s hands?
Write your own sentence(s) starting
with these words:
The simile ‘hands like wet leaves’
suggests….
Now try this…
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There is another simile near the start of the
second verse.
Find it, and write your own explanation of it
as before.
The simile ‘A few yards of floor are like a
landscape to be negotiated…’ suggests….
Metaphor
Metaphor
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A metaphor is a comparison in which one
thing is said to be another thing. Although
this isn’t true, it makes a strong comparison.
For example:
That child is a pain.
Her room is a rubbish dump.
Metaphors vs Similes
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You won’t find any metaphors in this poem, but
you can find examples of metaphors in almost
every poem you have studied.
Similes are easy to spot but metaphors are
much more difficult. They do not always use
the word is.
Sometimes we have to ask ourselves if what
the writer is saying can be literally true.
Now try this…
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Pair up with someone you know quite well.
Create five metaphors to describe your
partner.
Swap metaphors and see if you agree with
each other’s descriptions.
Then choose one of the metaphors you
created for your partner and try to explain
the picture or image suggested by it. Write
your own sentence(s) starting:
‘The metaphor (quote it) suggests…’
Personification
Personification
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In this figure of speech, an inanimate, nonliving, object is written about as if it was a
person or a living creature. For example:
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The wind whistled through the sails.
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The sun treads a path through the woods.
Now try this…
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‘The dismal hump
looming over him forces his head down.’
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Can the hump on his back be pushing and forcing
him? Of course not — it is not a living creature.
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So what is Morgan suggesting by making the lump
‘seem’ alive?
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Morgan is suggesting the hump seems alive because it
looks as though it has deliberately pushed the man
out of shape.
B) Figures of speech
which involve SOUND
1. Onomatopoeia
2. Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia
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When a word sounds like what it is
describing, we call this onomatopoeia.
Words like thud, bang, splash, yawn and howl
are all examples of this technique.
Most onomatopoeic words are to do with either
sound or movement.
Onomatopoeia is used to make the writing
sound more vivid.
Now try this…
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An example of onomatopoeia in the poem is:
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‘slithering with a dull clatter’
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Look at the quotation above.
Which is the onomatopoeic word?
In what way does that word’s sound suggest its
meaning?
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Write your own sentence(s) starting:
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‘The word (quote it) suggests…’
Alliteration
Alliteration
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When letters or sounds are repeated at the
beginnings of words we call this alliteration
For example:
Steve seldom smiled on Sundays.
Silently the spider spun its silken strands.
Alliteration makes you notice the words more
and draws your attention to what the writer
is saying.
Now try this
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Look at the line below from the poem.
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A cup capsizes along the formica
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What effect does the alliteration in this
line have?
Why do you think the writer began his
poem this way?
C) WORD CHOICE
Word Choice
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Of course all words that a writer uses are
chosen in some way.
But when we talk about word choice as a
technique we mean that certain words are very
carefully and deliberately chosen to obtain
particular effects.
Now try this….
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Answer the following questions about some of the word choice
in the poem.
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1 What can we tell about the snack bar from the fact that the
old man’s stool is ‘fixed to the floor’? (Line 5)
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2 What effect is created by the writer’s use of ‘dismal’ in line 7?
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3 What effect is created by the writer’s description of the man’s
gaberdine coat as ‘stained, beltless’ in line 9?
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4 What effect is created by the writer’s use of the word
‘fumbling’ in line 20?
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5 Why does the writer use the word ‘contraption’ to describe
the hand drier in line 56?
D) Structural
techniques
1. Sentence structure
2. Punctuation
3. Repetition
Sentence structure
Sentence structure
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Often Textual Analysis or Close Reading
questions ask you to examine sentence
structure.
You may be wondering where to start.
First, you will only be asked about the structure
of a sentence if the examiners think there is
something noticeable or unusual about it, so
you can start by asking yourself these
questions:
What do I notice….?
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Length:
• Is the sentence noticeably short or long?
• What effect does this length have?
Sentence type:
• Does the sentence make a statement?
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She’s a good girl.
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• Is the sentence in the form of a question?
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Is she a good girl?
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• Is it an exclamation?
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Good girl!
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• Does it give a command or instruction?
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Be a good girl for your granny.
Is the sentence in the form of a list?
• What effect does the sentence type have?
Continued….
Word order:
 • Have the words been placed in an unusual order?
 • What effect does this have?
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Grammar:
• Would the sentence make sense on its own, out of context?
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• Is it a minor sentence, one without a verb?
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She was a really good girl. Sometimes. Not always.
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(Minor sentences, while not grammatically perfect, can often make a big
impact. Writers can use them to add drama or emphasis.)
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• What effect does the grammar of the sentence have?
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Finally, ask yourself:
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• Is there anything else unusual about the way the sentence is written?
Punctuation
Punctuation
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Punctuation is part of sentence
structure since it is used to shape
sentences and to organise the words
within them.
To be able to answer punctuation
questions, you need to know what
common punctuation marks are used
for:
Punctuation…
When do we use
commas ?
,
When do we use
dashes ?
When do we use
Inverted commas ?
“”
1.
2.
3.
4.
to separate items in a list.
to introduce a quote.
to introduce direct speech.
to make the reader pause at certain
times in a sentence.
1. to give extra information in a
sentence.
2. to make the reader take a pause.
3. to mark out a word or phrase from the
rest of the sentence (Maths is great –
not.)
1. to show the words actually spoken
2. to show that we are talking about the
title of a book or film or poem, etc.
3. to show that we are quoting someone
else and these are not the writer’s own
words.
More Punctuation…
When do we use
semi colons ?
;
When do we use
colons ?
:
When do we use
ellipsis ?
….
When do we use capital letters ?
1. to join two (or more) related ideas.
2. to separate items in a list when there are
commas in the sentence already.
3. to join several sentences into one very
long one.
1.
2.
3.
4.
to introduce a list.
to introduce a quote.
to give more information about an idea
.to punctuate a play.
1. Dots used to tail of a sentence.
2. To show gaps in a piece of writing.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
at the beginning of a sentence.
for names.
for initials.
for the beginning of a section of direct speech.
for titles of books, newspapers, films, etc.for
acronyms (like BBC or STV or CSI)
Now try this…
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Look again at the poem and find:
A) At least three examples of dashes being
used to create pauses. Quote each one, and
explain why the writer wanted pauses there.
B) At least two examples of commas being
used to create lists. Quote each one, and
then explain why the writer used a list at that
point.
Repetition
Repetition
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Repetition is another structural technique:
when a writer deliberately uses a word or
phrase more often than you would normally
expect.
One example of repetition in this poem is:
‘And slowly we go down. And slowly we go
down.’
What effect does this
have…?
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This also slows down the reader, making us pay
more attention to the repeated words.
What does this example of repetition suggest?
Here, the repetition suggests the difficulty of
the journey down the stairs.
Now try this…
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Read lines 57 to 65 of the snack bar
poem.
Find two more examples of repetition.
In each case, quote them, and
explain what effect Morgan gets by
using that technique here.
E) Contrast
Contrast
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A contrast is a form of opposite.
Whenever you get a question about contrast, to get
full marks you need to look at both sides.
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It’s not a contrast to say:
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Jane is short and middle aged
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but it is a contrast if you say:
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While Jane is short and middle aged, Kenny is tall and
young.
Now try this…
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Read lines 63 to 65 of the poem. The writer
twice uses contrasting, opposite pairs of
words.
• How can the old man’s steps be at once
‘faltering’ and ‘unfaltering’?
• How can their journey across the floor be at
once ‘endless’ and ‘not endless’?
• What overall effect does Morgan create by
using contrasts in this way?
F) Attitude
Attitude
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Our attitude is how we feel about something,
our opinion of it or reaction to it.
A writer’s attitude is often shown through other
techniques, and you may need to read quite a
large chunk of text before you can work out
what the attitude is.
Now try this…
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Re-read the poem. Then write a mini essay
to explain the writer’s attitude to the man
he helps. Use the opening below to help
you, and back up the attitude identified with
quotations from the poem.
The writer’s attitude towards the older man
is that he feels sorry for him, yet in a way
also admires him…
G) Endings
Endings
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You will often be asked why the ending of a text is suitable.
This might involve looking at the last line(s) of a poem, or the
last sentence or paragraph of a prose text. Endings can be
suitable in a number of ways. For example:
• the ending
• the ending
• the ending
• the ending
• the ending
in the text.
may
may
may
may
may
sum up what the writer has been saying
emphasis a point made in the text
be humorous
give the reader something to think about
refer neatly back to something found earlier
Now try this…
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We are going to look at the ending of the
poem in two ways.
1 Read the whole of the last verse. In what
ways is this a suitable ending to the poem?
You answer should be a paragraph and you
should use some quotations from that verse
to justify what you say.
2 Focus on the final line. In what way is this
a suitable ending to the poem?