Style Analysis

1. The first step in analyzing style is identifying the author's purpose and intended
audience. You need an understanding of both of these in order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the piece. This is where you examine the content of the piece.

£ What is the piece about?

£ Why was it written?

£ Who was it written for?

2. The next step is examining the primary elements of style. Some of these elements
include:

Ø The form of the piece. (essay, letter, memoir, biography, poem, etc)

Ø Mood; tone; point of view; irony; sarcasm; satire.

Ø Figurative language/ poetic devices.

Ø Comparisons: simile, metaphor, analogy, allegory, symbol.

Ø Structural devices: repetition, use of rhetorical questions, spatial order, chronological

order, climactic order, logical order, punctuation.

Ø Diction: vivid, technical, specialised, formal, informal, connotation, denotation.

Ø Imagery.

You should discuss these elements in order of importance.

3. After you examine the elements, you need to ask whether or not each device has
effectively been used to support the author's intention. This is the evaluation part of the
analysis.

Simply listing elements of style is not style analysis!