Craft of Writing: Motif, Intertextuality, and Synaesthesia

Hi there! Below you will find three Craft of Writing mini-lessons that support students in practising their writing craft all year-round. You can find a range of other Craft of Writing resources here. The mini-lesson approach involves examining a writing technique in a ten minute segment at the start of each lesson - students are shown how to use the technique, alongside contextual examples, and then asked to put it into practice.

Motif

What is it: An image, sound, action, idea, phrase, word or anything else that repeatedly occurs throughout a text. This is used as a form of symbolism suggestive of a theme or message that the author wants to convey. (See also: symbolism, generic conventions)

Examples:

• The appearance of straight lines and harsh geometric shapes whenever the rabbit characters are seen in the picture book The Rabbits, which is suggestive of their association with artificial human-made structures. (The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan)
• The repeated references to performance and terms associated with it in Prospero's speeches. (The Tempest by William Shakespeare)
• Felix's recurring use of metaphorical language associated with magic. (Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood)

Why use it:

• Reinforces the thematic core of a text and helps a writer convey their thesis.
• Creates another level of communication in the text that can allow some readers to pick up on ideas that they might normally not pick up on.
• Contributes to a sense of mood or atmosphere in the text. Can reinforce setting with motifs associated with specific generic conventions.

Quick Activity: Accepting that a book is a symbol of knowledge, write a paragraph about an intelligent character washed up on an island that uses this symbol as a motif. It can be the literal inclusion of a book, language related to books, and/or both.

Textual Allusion / Intertextuality

What is it: Intertextuality is the use of other texts to build meaning in a new text. This can include the merging of texts, the retelling of an older text, rewriting texts in a modern context, borrowing parts of texts in order to comment on genre and narrative ideas, etc. A textual allusion is just a single reference to another text within the text, usually without affecting the narrative in a significant way. Textual allusions may or may not contribution to intertextuality. (See also: analogy, adaptation, appropriation, pastiche)

Examples:

• INTERTEXTUALITY: Hag-Seed features a production of The Tempest as a way to provide parallels between the original play and its own retelling of the play. (Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood)
• TEXTUAL ALLUSION: 8Handz plays the song Ride the Lightning by Metallica while Sal and Tony are locked into a cell. (Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood)
• "A fever of panic against an unseen evil, as though Perth were Gotham City itself" - Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey.

Why use it:

• Adds layers of meaning to a work of fiction - the use of a familiar reference can change the reader's perspective of either the new text or the older one, or both.
• Can clarify meaning when discussing complicated ideas - provides a frame of reference for the reader to identify.

Quick Activity: Describe something by using a reference to a text you have read in English.

Synaesthesia

What is it: A figure of speech in which one of the five primary senses is used in the place of another. Usually used as part of a metaphor or simile as this allows for a sense to refer to something that is completely unrelated to it, such as describing abstract concepts using colours; or smell, taste or sound-based adjectives and verbs used in unexpected places.

Examples:

• "The smell of misery, lying over everyone within like an enchantment" - Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
• "The words cut the air like a dagger" - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• "Taste the rainbow" - Skittles advertisement

Why use it:

• Demonstrates creativity when communicating ideas and adds layers of meaning to a text.
• Can reinforce a motif through describing a variety of things using vocabulary related to one particular sense.
• Some authors can use it to create humour by surprising and deliberately confusing the reader.

Quick Activity: Use a taste to describe something unrelated to taste. Use a sound to describe something unrelated to sound. Use a colour to describe something that cannot be seen. 

Here are the three writing elements all in one sheet for ease of use:

• Writology Issue 9

Happy writing!

Craft of Writing: Allusion, Tmesis, and Euphemism

It's been a while since I posted some Craft of Writing activities so I thought this rainy Sunday might be a good time to continue. You can find previous, similar Craft of Writing resources here. If you haven't seen them before, the approach involves covering a writing technique in a ten minute segment at the start of the lesson. Students are shown how to use a technique, alongside examples, and then asked to put it into practice. 

There are hundreds of literary techniques that we don't usually touch on in the English classroom. There can be a danger in visiting too many of the more obscure techniques so it's up to teacher discretion on how you want to approach these and with which students (Standard, Advanced, or even Extension). I find that Advanced students, at least, are often genuinely fascinated in hearing about some of these techniques as it can illuminate some things that they might already be doing with their own writing. I always caution students with a reminder that they don't need to memorise all of these - just pick the ones they like!

Allusion

What is it: An 'allusion' is a reference, either implicit or explicit, to something outside of the text. Allusions can be categorised in various ways by adding a qualifying adjective, such as Historical allusion, Literary allusion, Religious allusion, Folkloric allusion, and Mythological allusion, and are mentioned in passing rather than described in great detail. 

Examples: 

• (RELIGIOUS) "Only you can see (...) the glasses of teeth, Thou Shalt Not on the wall" - Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.
• (FOLKLORIC) "Sucking him down deep into the Davy dark" - Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.
• (LITERARY) "Along with your whoreson cigarettes, may the red plague rid them" - Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood.

Why use it:

• Writers may use it as a means to connect with their audience as the allusion usually requires the responder to understand what it is in order for them to grasp the author's meaning.
• Helps to simplify complex ideas through the drawing of a comparison.
• Can add emotional weight to a text when the reader brings their own knowledge of the allusion with them (EG. Religious or mythological allusions). 
• Can direct the reader towards exploring big ideas in other texts or areas of knowledge. 

Quick Activity: Use a mythological allusion to describe a character.

Tmesis

What is it: Meaning 'to cut', tmesis describes the process of breaking a phrase or word apart through inserting a new word into its middle. 

Examples:

• "Milk waking wood", "Captain napping Cat" - Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.
• "Fan-bloody-tastic" - Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw.

Why use it:

• Can be used to create humour by emphasising a particular phrase or word.
• Places stress on a particular part of a text by forcing the reader to re-frame their understanding of a word or phrase - they will see the broken-up phrase first before realising what it would say without the inserted word.
• Can be used to add informality to speech, or to exaggerate.  

Quick Activity: Think of three common two-word phrases and insert another word to break them up BUT consider what this word adds or changes in this phrase and why/how it could be used.

Euphemism

What is it: Using a polite or indirect expression to replace a harsher or more unpleasant truth. It is a form of a figurative language in that the euphemistic phrase does not mean what it literally appears to mean. 

Examples:

• "Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs" - Othello by William Shakespeare.
• "His father Esau (...) undogcollared because of his little weakness" - Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.
• Common ones in English language: 'Passed Away" (meaning to die), "Negative patient outcome" (dying on the operating table), "Downsizing" (to fire people from their jobs), "In the family way" (pregnant). 

Why use it:

• Euphemism is highly reliant on context - some euphemism are constructed for purposes of relaying information that may be considered offensive or inappropriate in certain situations or with certain audiences.
• Allows writers to express ideas that are considered 'taboo' or embarrassing.
• Can be used humorously when broaching difficult subject matter.
• Can be used to political purposes to disguise the true meaning of something.

Quick Activity: Think of one of the many awful things to happen in any of the main texts you've looked at for the HSC and use a euphemism to describe it. 

Here are these three writing elements all in one sheet for ease of use:

• Writology Issue 11

Happy writing!

Elysium - Allegory, Allusion and Satire

This shot illustrates the contrast between the idyllic, verdant world of Elysium and the drab, dirty colours of the 'invading' refugees.

English is such a challenging subject sometimes because we have this focus on looking at how composers construct their text which, inevitably, leads us to look at the techniques they use to create meaning and connect with their audience. I've found that most students are quite responsive to learning about techniques that are new to them, however, what becomes challenging is the idea of quantifying techniques.

What I mean is, students like to be given taxonomies of things. They like to know the relationship between ideas, EG. The text reflects this particular context, and this context has produced this text type, and within this particular text type it's this genre, and this genre involves these particular codes and conventions, and in order to do all this the composers uses these techniques. And to do all this, these techniques are defined as thus.

The problem with this is that it emphasises the quantity of parts that build a text, rather than each part's potential to be a multiplicity of things. Students focus on something being a metaphor and then don't consider that it could also be visceral language (provoking a feeling of repulsion), or that it also ties to a story-wide motif (and therefore supporting larger themes).

In short, elements of a text can be defined in multiple ways. Those who express how challenged they feel by English are those who often struggle with its open-endedness. There's no wrong answer if it's supported by valid and substantiated evidence - we say this to kids all the time - but how do we teach them that there is more than one right answer, and that these correct alternatives don't always fit neatly together either?

I don't have a simple answer to this. The students who understand that meanings can be in flux, hyphenated, or pluralistic, are the ones who often do the best - grappling with ambiguity and ambivalence is something that great authors (IE. Great Englishers, yes, that's a word now!) do throughout the course of their entire careers.

The ongoing presence of drones throughout Elysium has proven to be a rather valid prediction about the enforcing of law and order throughout the world. The shot above is a 'drone's-eye view' of a battle between the film's hero and villain. The villain is blurred, indicating that the camera represents the view of his employers and their corrupt interests in protecting his identity from being recorded.

Elysium isn't a complex text, it's a film that feature multiple layers but it's also a film that was designed for Hollywood's mainstream market, so most students will be able to follow it on at least one level. In comparing it to Animal Farm as a dystopian text that's very much a product of context, students need to be able to illuminate the ways in which it makes use of allegory. This in turn leads to discussion of satire and allusion, and these things are all tied together as interconnected techniques and structural conventions. In the PowerPoint below I've divided my analysis of Elysium into allegory and satire but this is largely an arbitrary distinction as they could be looked at either way. 

Walk your students through the presentation and have them discuss the way the images and ideas link to context. There are numerous examples, including the villain Kruger as a representation of South Africa's dark history of hiring shady mercenaries, the role of the fable that the little girl Matilda tells to Max, and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) references to Max's role as a messiah for this bleak, grimy future.

There is also a sheet that students can work through afterwards, in which they are given pre-identified examples of various allusions and asked to explain them. The pre-loading of ready-made examples (IE. Techniques that have already been linked with textual evidence) forces the students to focus on explaining the significance, which is what we really want our Advanced English students to be able to do. 

Resources

Elysium and Our World - PowerPoint Presentation

Allusions - worksheet