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3 Ways To Use Syntax in Literature

The document discusses three ways that syntax is used in literature: to produce rhetorical and aesthetic effects, control pace and mood, and create atmosphere. It provides examples from Moby Dick and Anna Karenina to illustrate how famous authors have manipulated syntax to express meaning.

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33 views1 page

3 Ways To Use Syntax in Literature

The document discusses three ways that syntax is used in literature: to produce rhetorical and aesthetic effects, control pace and mood, and create atmosphere. It provides examples from Moby Dick and Anna Karenina to illustrate how famous authors have manipulated syntax to express meaning.

Uploaded by

owaispubg36
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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3 Ways to Use Syntax in Literature

Besides being critical to conveying literal sense, syntax is also one of the key
tools writers use to express meaning in a variety of different ways. Syntax can
help writers:

 Produce rhetorical and aesthetic effects. By varying the syntax of their sentences,
writers are able to produce different rhetorical and aesthetic effects. How a writer
manipulates the syntax of their sentences is an important element of writing style.
 Control pace and mood. Manipulating syntax is one of the ways writers control the pace
and mood of their prose. For example, the writer Ernest Hemingway is known for his
short, declarative sentences, which were well-suited to his terse, clear style of writing.
These give his prose a forceful, direct quality.
 Create atmosphere. By contrast, Hemingway’s fellow story writer and novelist William
Faulkner is famous (or infamous) for his meandering, paragraph-long sentences, which
often mimic the ruminative thinking of his characters. These sentences, which often
ignore the standard rules of punctuation and grammar, help create an atmosphere as much
as they convey information.
That said, all writers vary their sentence structure from time to time. Using a variety of sentences
is one of the key ways writers engage and maintain their readers’ interest.

2 Syntax Examples in Literature


To get a sense of some of the ways writers use syntax to express meaning, it’s worthwhile
examining a few famous examples from literature.

1. 1. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville (1851). Melville begins with this famous line: “Call
me Ishmael.” This first line—one of the most famous in literature—is short and direct.
The sentences that follow, though, are significantly more sophisticated. In the fourth
sentence, Melville uses a number of dependent clauses (“Whenever I find myself
growing grim about the mouth,” “Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul,”
and so on) to create a sense of anticipation.
2. 2. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (1877). Tolstoy’s novel begins: “Happy families are
all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This is actually two simple
sentences joined by a semi-colon. Tolstoy could easily have just written them as separate
sentences, but by joining them into one sentence he shows that these two thoughts are
related and balanced.

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