Discussion Forum. Exploring Diction and Tone - Book Report/Review Example

Diction and Tone in ‘Guys Like That’ Diction Diction is an essential element in poetry as it conveys attitude, felling or attitude in a poem. Poetry uses an art of literature that gives every word the ability to convey ideas and feelings to the readers (Eagleton, 144). The choice of words in ‘Guys Like That’ portrays Sutphen’s mood and message to the readers. She use the phrase ‘Dented last century version’ instead of ‘nice modern car’ to emphasize on wealth and riches displayed by people whom she refers to as ‘Guys like that’ (stanza 1).

She says ‘Dark-suited’ instead of tinted to express the difference between the modern cars and the old version vehicles (stanza 2, line 1). Sutphen uses the phrase, ‘Thinks wine and marble floors’ instead of ‘thinking of wealth and fancy lifestyles’ to emphasize on the cruel intensions of many people in the rich society who are admired by most women. She uses the “C” sound to demonstrate the innocence in guilt. For instance ‘clean and cool’ demonstrate the innocence while ‘cooking books’ refers to the guilty intension behind the innocent display (stanza 4, line 3).

Sutphen also uses the “P” sound in the second last and last stanzas to demonstrate the manipulation of the poor by the rich.Levels of dictionSutphen uses different levels of dictions in ‘Guys Like That’ to achieve a perfect rhythm and tonation. Slang words such as dark-suited have been used in the phase one of the second stanza to create a “d” sound so as to blend with the “t” sound in phase two of the stanza. Sutphen uses Jargon words such as TiVo and ESPN to maintain the rhythm and the intended message (stanza 2&3, line 4&1).

Writing the words in full would retain the message but distort the poem’s rhythm. She uses informal language all through the poem. Words such as ‘Guys’ instead of ‘people’ has been used all through the poem as it begins from the heading ‘Guys Like That’. In this case, the standard level of diction is utilized in this poem. Tone ‘Guys Like That’ is written in acerbic and pragmatic tones. The persona uses acerbic words such as worse, slaughter, death and divide to express his bitterness with the rich and influential society.

She also portrays her pragmatic mood with the use of words like ‘ordinary’ to display reality in events. Therefore, diction and tone are important elements in poetry as they help in creating the structure of a poem (Eagleton, 144). Work CitedEagleton Terry. How to Read a Poem: New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons. 2011. Print