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In this chapter, so far, you have been thinking about and practicing the various ways to read literary texts by looking at the building blocks of storytelling—point of view, characterization, plot and conflict, setting and symbol—that writers use to convey their ideas. Now it’s time to think about even more detailed analysis and begin asking how the building blocks themselves are constructed. Think back to setting, for instance. When we say that a setting creates a “dreary” atmosphere, how exactly does the author create that dreariness? Or, think back to characterization. How exactly does the reader get the impression that the main character is an arrogant jerk? The answer is: with style. Style is the term we use to discuss all of the language decisions authors make as they write.

Notice in this short passage from A Tale of Two Cities how Charles Dickens uses language to build his setting and create a very specific feeling. (We have underlined some words for emphasis.)

There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none. A clammy and intensely cold mist, it made its slow way through the air in ripples that visibly followed and overspread one another, as the waves of an unwholesome sea might do. It was dense enough to shut out everything from the light of the coach-lamps but these its own workings, and a few yards of road; and the reek of the labouring horses steamed into it, as if they had made it all.

The stylistic choices of “reek,” “clammy,” “unwholesome,” and “evil” create a setting so dismal and depressing that it almost seems hopeless.

While style is important in fiction and drama, it is vital to poetry. In poetry, style is often employed for its own sake, to make something that sounds beautiful, or to convey a surprising idea or powerful image. Look, for instance, at this section from a poem called “America” by Claude McKay, and notice how the language choices—the style—bring the ideas to life and fill them with power:

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,

And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate,

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Thinking about how an author’s style affects the meaning of a work of literature is what we call close reading, or close analysis. Close reading is not about labeling stylistic devices with fancy terms. It is about looking closely at the author’s craft and seeing how each small choice contributes to the piece.

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So far, we’ve been talking about style as a broad term to describe an author’s language choices. Next, we’ll look at four specific components that contribute to an author’s style:

Each of these components builds on and supports the others. These small but essential language choices allow writers to create the settings, characters, conflicts, and other literary elements described earlier in this chapter.