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Word Choice and Word Order

Check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

Question 1.700

1. What is poetic diction?

a poem written in a specific rhyme scheme

mostly metaphor and simile

the use of elevated language over ordinary language

mostly slang

Question 1.701

2. What is the denotation of a word?

a comparison using “like” or “as”

the way a word sounds

the literal, dictionary meaning of that word

associations and implications that go beyond a word’s literal meaning

Question 1.702

3. Consider the following lines from Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”: “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State / And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.” The word State is an example of

jargon.

ambiguity.

formal diction.

denotation.

Question 1.703

4. What is syntax?

the literal, dictionary meaning of a word

the ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns

associations and implications that go beyond a word’s literal meaning

a speaker created by the poet

Question 1.704

4. What do the following words have in common: fragility, vulnerability, altitude, the sky, freedom?

They are all examples of poetic diction.

They are all denotations of the word bird.

They are ordered into a surprising syntax.

They are all connotations of the word bird.