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Please use--Diction: An Experience.

Tone/Mood Final Blog

            For many centuries playwrighters and actors alike have both struggled to disccover the true tones and moods that Shakeaspeare and other artists like him intended. Hamlet is a perfect example of how opposing interpretations of a single soliloquoy, line or word can result in a variety of different plays each driven by different perceptions. Take for instance Hamlet's first interaction with his ghostly father in Act 1. Some have this interaction driven by ghastly grief and shock coupled with uncontrollable anger. Others believe this to be a sincere father-son moment. Personally I believe the latter. Therefore I would employ a very sincere tone on behalf of King Hamlet, while Hamlet will take on the persona of a troubled son. Such interpretaions in tones and moods create numerous different ways of going about things. However, there are also many pieces of work where the tone and mood is exceedingly clear and permeates through every word in the play. Woodchucks is a prime example of how one learly knows that this author is going about his actions vehemently and coldly. No compassion is displayed for the woodchucks and instead violently charged words are consistently employed.  Thus the reader is directly involved in the poem and feels all the emotions the author is feeling. Tone gives the author a face and an opinion.

Diction: An Experience

           A poem's diction conveys the underlying emotions and persuasions of the author. It gives the reader a direct insight into the type of person the author is and  into what the author is experiencing, along with how the author is experiencing it. A cold and monotonous diction speaks to the same emotions of the author likewise a jovial and upbeat form of diction speaks to the happiness of said author. Moreover when one considers the poem Traveling through the Dark by William Stafford, one can clearly experience everything the author is going through simply by understanding the diction. Traveling through the Dark is about a man who while driving encounters a dead doe on the street. This doe was about to give birth but regrettably died in the middle of the road and in order to avoid more deaths the man is forced to push the deer off the cliff. Even from the title one can immediately tell the mood of this poem is somber and downcast. This is further exemplified by the slow and, at times, painful description of the narrators experience. He takes great lengths to describe the initial thought process he goes through; the fact that he must remove this dead doe from the street in order to avoid more deaths. Then the initial coldness he felt when he touched the dear and the lifelessness that seemed to permeate from the doe, "she was stiffened already, almost cold, I dragged her off, she was large in belly". From this the fragmented thought process of the narrator is made quite clear, especially through the prevalent use of commas to divide his thoughts. Further, from this form of diction, one can understand the immense emotional sorrow and regret the narrator must be experiencing. The next stanza delves even deeper to both the narrators actions and thoughts, "My fingers touching her side brought me the reason." This line reveals the out-of-body experience of the narrator as he personifies his fingers. And yet again the the prevalent commas are still evidently revealing his emotional instability, "her fawn lay there waiting, alive, still, never to be born". The author is clearly experiencing each moment separately and is attempting to absorb the magnitude of what he is going through. The diction of Traveling through the Dark puts the reader in the mind of author and lets us experience this death with him. Thus, a primary use of diction is the creation of an experience for the readers.

IMAGERY

When one does not have the luxury of preparing grandiose sets and using cutting-edge effects one must seek a more affordable means of conveying to the audience or readers the image that one is trying to make known. Moreover, out of necessity play-writers such as Shakespeare had to use figurative and descriptive speech at times in order to create an image for the audience that is not apart of the actual setting. therefore in this case language supplants setting. Take for instance Queen Gertrude's description of how Ophelia dies in Act 4 of Shakespeare's Hamlet. This is an excellent example of how an actual setting had been supplanted by descriptive and figurative language that created the image for reader/audience in the mind's eye. Ophelia uses a variety of different poetic tools to describe the horrific scene, ranging from personification to simple description. "There is a willow grows askant the brook/ That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream"(4.165-166). Here willow is personified for it represents the forsaken love that Ophelia is experiencing. The second line describes the scene of Ophelia's death through figurative phrases such as the "glassy stream". Gertrude also makes use of a variety of metaphors such as "mermaid-like" to further develop the image for the reader. Another example of imagery and figurative language being used to create a setting can be found in King Hamlets description of how he died. For though Shakespeare did not ever have an actual scene in a garden, the father's death by poison in the garden is in fact on of the most memorable settings in the entire play and is often referred to throughout the play.

POETIC SOUNDS

 As opposed to merely letting one's words sit plainly on a paper many poets have the ability to use the reader's hearing to add another level of depth and understanding. From this newly added depth the reader is allowed to explore the meaning of the poem through numerous avenues and draw conclusions that may have not otherwise been found. A prime example of this can be found in Shakespeare's Hamlet. When one initially goes through the first scene and reads over the dialogue and discourse of Hamlet and his dead father, one may simply believe that their is no further connection between the two than father and son. But as previously stated, the use of poetic sounds within any piece of writing adds a new layer of depth to every character involved. For if one were to read Hamlet's lines aloud along with those of his father, one can easily come to the conclusion that there is in fact a commonality between the two of them is deeper than the plot. The speech of the Hamlets' is revealed when one considers Shakespeare's masterful employment of poetic sounds. The numerous exclamations, flamboyant tones, and exaggerated expressions speaks directly to this idea of a separate speech that is distinctly of the Hamlets. Moreover, it is the careful understanding of poetic sounds that will allow one to realize the bond that goes beyond the words on the page.