Synopsis of Course Material I: DIDLS and Basic Elements of Literature

There are certain literary elements which may seem insignificant, but greatly affect meaning.  The main five are:

DIDLS=Diction, Imagery, Details, Language, and Syntax

·         Diction: the individual word choice.  Includes elevation vs. colloquialism (formal vs. ordinary speech), regionalisms, dialect, connotation vs. denotation (definition vs. associated meaning).  Diction can set mood and tone.

·         Imagery: details and language create images that appeal vividly to the senses

·         Details: appeal vividly to the senses, tells the reader more about the situation.  Details create imagery.

·         Language: the tone, style, voice of the work, elevation vs. colloquialism.  Sets mood and tone.  Dictions is the indivigual words, language is the whole thing.

·         Syntax: the way the sentences are structured.  For example, words at the end of sentences stick more in the reader’s heads, so if a word is at the end of a sentence, it’s probably important

·         Note: ton reflects the speaker’s attitude, whereas mood is the feeling the reader experiences because of the tone

·         MOST IMPORTANTLY: Why?  How do the DIDLS contribute to the work as a whole?

Poetry:  questions you have to ask before you analyze                                                     

·         Is there a rhyme scheme?

·         Is there a meter?  Does it ever break?

·         Is there a form? Does it break form?

·         Is there any enjambment? How about caesura?

·         How does the poem sound? 

·         MOST IMPORTANTLY, FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE: Why?  And how does that contribute to the work as a whole?

Fiction and Drama: important elements for analysis

·         Plot: what happens in a narrative

·         Conventional narrative: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and finally denouement

·         Modern works don’t usually adhere to the conventional narrative structure.  Greek literature and Shakespeare generally does.

·         Symbol: represent something significant, and can ALWAYS be interpreted in slightly different ways

·         Characters:

o   Steryeotype—you have to ask why was this employed, and whether the character breaks the steryeotype or archetype, and why they did that too

o   Foil--two characters alike in every way except one...and that difference is really, really important

*Consider ALL of the elements during analysis.