Diction Lesson #5

Diction Lesson #5

Consider the following quote:

A rowan* like a lipsticked girl.
- Seamus Heaney, "Song," Field Work

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* a small deciduous tree native to Europe, having white flowers clusters and orange berries

Then, answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper in the Voice Lessons section of your binder:

1. Other than color, what comes to mind when you think of lipsticked girl?
2. How would it change the meaning and feeling of the line if, instead of lipsticked girl, the author wrote girl with the lipstick on?
3. Write a simile comparing a tree with a domesticated animal. In your simile, use a word that is normally used as a noun (like lipstick) as an adjective (like lipsticked).


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from Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone. Maupin House. Gainesville FL, 2000.

Diction Lesson #4

And now, a return to Voice Lessons.

Consider the following quote:

The man sighed hugely.
- E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News

1. What does it mean to sigh hugely?

2. How would the meaning of the sentence change is we rewrote it as

The man sighed loudly.

3. Fill in the blank below with an adverb:

The man coughed _____________________.

Your adverb should make the cough express an attitude. For example, the cough could express contempt, desperation, or propriety*. Do not state the attitude. Instead, let the adverb imply it.

propriety - the state of conforming to acceptable rules of behavior.


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from Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone. Maupin House. Gainesville FL, 2000.