| Patterns
and Rules
Sentence
about patterns and rules.
Semantic
Structure
Semantic structure is a fairly easy term to understand. It's
only fancy term for an organization that represents meaning.
For example, an English sentence is a semantic structure.
Consider the following sentence structure:
subject
- verb - object
Symbol
A symbol is something that is literally itself (a shiny,
patent leather shoe, for example) at the same time that it
represents or suggests something else (childish innocence
or purity). In other words, a symbol is a literal object or
thing that suggests another level of meaning; a symbol may
suggest a person, an abstraction, or an idea. A symbol in
a story may, in fact, harbor multiple levels of meaning. The
meaning of any symbol is determined by its story/environment,
and it is important to distinguish between those symbols that
characters within the work are aware of (these may be said
to "belong" to the character, according to Burroway)
and those of which only the author and the reader are aware,
which "belong" to the story. Characters' and readers'
relationships to a symbol may shift over the course of a narrative.
Understanding
The Language of Story
When we speak of literary "language" we mean the
imaginative, meaningful, and carefully chosen language in
which a story is told. The length, variety, and rhythms of
the sentences, the choice of vocabulary (known as diction),
the inclusion (or lack) of sensory details and concrete images,
and the use (or absence) of poetic figures such as metaphor
all help to create and evoke the world of the story for the
reader. Ernest Hemingway is noted for a spare, direct style
which employs few figures of speech and a lot of repetition;
Henry James, on the other hand, writes complex, lengthy sentences
and makes judicious use of descriptive details, including
adjectives and adverbs. The language of the story is highly
significant, because the meaning of the story cannot be separated
from how the story is told.
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