Style: Defining and Exploring an Author’s Stylistic Choices

Student Objectives

Session One

Session Two

Extensions

Student Assessment/Reflections

 

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

• define style and explore the ways the literary element is used.
  
  
• explore examples of different literary styles in given excerpts.
  
  
• analyze the purpose of the chosen style in the pieces explored.

back to top

 

Session One

1. Hand out copies of the Defining Style handout and the Elements of Literary Style checklist.
   
   
2. Explain that in their groups students will look for examples of stylistic devices in a sample passage and discuss the possible reasons that the author uses these literary devices.
   
   
3. Demonstrate how to find and hypothesize the purpose of the stylistic devices using the passage and explanation on the Demonstrating a Way to Analyze Style sheet.
   
   
4. Hand out copies of the passage to analyze and the Style Analysis worksheet, and explain the activity. Students will read a passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God (or another passage that you have selected) and outline the stylistic choices that the author has made. They look at the context and meaning of the section to determine the significance of the use of the stylistic devices.
   
   
5. Answer any questions pertaining to the example or the assignment.
   
   
6. Divide students into small groups and give them the remainder of the class to work on their analysis. Circulate among students as they work, offering support and feedback.

back to top

 

Session Two

1. Review the activity with students and answer any questions. Give students another 20 to 30 minutes to complete their exploration of the passage.
   
   
2. Once students have worked through the paragraph on the handout, ask them to search through the novel or short story to find additional examples and note the details on their worksheets. You may point students to pivotal points or significant passages in the text to help them focus their exploration. In addition to recording stylistic devices, students should think how the author's stylistic choices affect the work.
   
   
3. Circulate among students as they work, offering support and feedback.
   
   
4. After you're satisfied that students have had a chance to explore the author's stylistic devices, assemble as a class and share observations about the activity. The following questions can generate discussion:
   
   
   • What stood out the most about the kinds of words that the author used?
     
     
   • What kind of sentence patterns did the author use?
     
     
   • How did the words and sentence patterns relate to the characters involved in the passage?
     
     
   • Overall, how would you describe the author's style?
     
5. After discussing the specific author, encourage students to draw conclusions about style in general.

back to top

 

EXTENSIONS

• Follow this lesson with the ReadWriteThink lesson Style: Translating Stylistic Choices from Hawthorne to Hemingway and Back Again.
  
  
• Have your students complete a Zora Neale Hurston author study using Thomson-Gale's Zora Neale Hurston article and the Library of Congress Today in History page.
  
  
• You can extend this lesson by asking students to consider this checklist and draw conclusions about the style of the author whom they have examined.

back to top

 

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

Informal assessment works well for this activity. As students analyze the passage, circulate among groups, observing students' identification of the various techniques employed in the passage. Provide support and feedback as you move from group to group.

After the class discussion about the author's style, ask them to reflect on their exploration of the passage in their journals or in a freewrite. To help them get started, ask students to write on the following questions: What did you notice about the way that an author can use language and the reasons for the author's choices? What surprised you the most about the author's language choices, and why?

Read the pieces and comment on the self-reflections, noting important observations that students make and asking provoking questions where they need to think more deeply.

back to top