I have one of the most exhausting jobs imaginable. Do you
have any idea how difficult it is to portray suggested meanings of a word?
Without my efforts many of the writers that have left their mark in the world
of literature wouldn’t have received as much praise for their works if I hadn’t
played a role. These insinuations that I make about a character or event are
what ultimately engages the reader and has the reader look beyond the
foundation of strict cookie-cutter meanings of words and delve deeper within
the text in order to fiercely grasp a concept and understand the significance
of a writer’s words. Why do you suppose that you associate words with other
ideas such as a rose? The implications readers make would be relating the rose
to love and also romanticism. I play a role in almost every type of
communication, as I add nuance and more subtle meaning. I allow the readers to
infer more meaning than there is explicitly written on the page, making the
readers more active in the interpretive process.
Connotation
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Sworn Enemies
Denotation. I can’t stand him, he is so boring and I don’t know
why he’s even considered to be on the same level as me even though we’re nothing alike. He’s just the plain old
literal meaning of a word whereas I’m the set of ideas that are implied with a
word, how could you possibly get us mixed up? I’m the emotional and imaginative
association surrounding a word and Denotation is the strict dictionary meaning
of a word. If you were to ask any good writer which one of us is more useful I
guarantee they would say that I am because let’s face it, when writing the
emotional weight a word carries is way more beneficial to a writer’s message
then the literal meaning of the word. Let’s look at it this way- the word “Home”
could have different interpretations you could take the most basic and specific
meaning of the word, in this case the denotative or literal meaning would be a
place one lives; a residence. Which is the boring route to go, in contrast to
my abstract view which would be that home suggests a place of security, comfort
and family. I just really can’t fathom how much denotation aggravates me, he’s
pretty useless to insightful readers if you ask me.
Long time friend
As I have mentioned time and time again, I have been
featured in several famous works of writing but today I decided to closely
examine my role in literature, not to come off as conceited or anything but
merely for educational purposes. Charles Dickens, a good friend of mine, has
featured me in nearly all of his brilliantly crafted novels. “The Tales of Two
Cities”, one of his best-known novels, has me in it believe it or not.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the
epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all
going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the
period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest
authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the
superlative degree of comparison only.”- Dickens
At a glance, I am hidden and undecipherable but if you
examine the text close enough you’ll see that I am omnipresent in this excerpt.
These famous lines, which open A Tale of Two Cities, have the
implications and suggestions of possible central tension between love and
family, on one end, and oppression and hatred, on the other. “The season of
Darkness” suggests suffering and “the spring of hope” implied a sense of
security and stability. The ambivalence of this excerpt had only been possible
due to my underlying ideas that I have contributed. I provided the reader with
a more insightful view that leads one to infer that good and evil, wisdom and
folly, and light and darkness stand equally matched in their struggle. I am
more then what meets the eye so you most likely wouldn’t have guessed that I
played such a vital role.
Positive Vs. Negative
I spent the day thinking about the possible reasons why I’m not as “understood” in the literary world as the others such as metaphor or simile when it suddenly dawned on me that I am just too complicated for people to really understand who I am and to really grasp what I’m all about. I have two sides, my positive side and then there’s my negative side, you’re probably wondering what I mean by that so I’ll elaborate. My negative counterpart implies a pessimistic or informal meaning of a word. For instance, the word “cheap” is not only informal but also infers that someone is not generous and is stingy with their money. On the other end of the spectrum, there are words that I provide with a more positive outlook such as the word “economical” which suggests money, time, and effort well spent. To further establish my claim, let’s look at some other examples of my craft: foolhardy/courageous, bossy/assertive, and obsession/avocation. Although all of those words are synonyms they are perceived differently and enable the reader to make implications. I essentially have the power to make you feel differently based on how sentences are worded which is most likely the reason why most readers aren’t very fond of me.
Underrated
Mention a famous writer- whether it’s Edgar Allan Poe, the
undisputed “Father” of the modern detective story, or even Victor Hugo, the
most influential poet of French romanticism, and I guarantee that you will find
me making an appearance in an overwhelming amount of their brilliant works. I
consider myself a vital aspect in literature- I mean, what writer wouldn’t want
to manipulate words in a way that invokes an idea or feeling in addition to its
literal meaning? I essentially take words to a deeper level, for instance, the
word “Home” suggests family, comfort, and security. In another example, “Red”
has an implied meaning that ranges from love, passion, or even danger. These
implied ideas are what make me unique. It gets hard sometimes though, I feel
like I’m not as appreciated as I should be, I mean I’ve been featured in
William Shakespeare’s works several times for crying out loud which is pretty
impressive if you ask me, yet if you ask somebody who I am you’ll be met with a
blank face which is upsetting. I take a lot of pride in one particular
Shakespearian quote; “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” in which a
summer’s day suggests or connotes
beauty. It would makes sense that I would receive a bit more credit, making
these implications in order to deliver a more powerful message across to the
reader is a hard and demanding job.
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