Analyzing a Writer's Style
What is a Writer's Style?
An Explanation of Style (Source unknown)
Style, is the habitual, repeated patterns that differentiate one writer from another. Hemingway is noted for his sparse, objective style indicative of the isolation of people in the twentieth century; Hawthorne for his flamboyant exaggerated word pictures that create a mood of horror or fearful introspection. It is also about the deviation from the expected pattern. This is called Expectation (the pattern) and Surprise (deviation from the pattern). A discussion of style also is a discussion of the well-chosen word or phrase.
The most important thing about discussing style is to show its relationship to the theme or main idea of the passage. You must interpret the link between theme and language. For example if the theme is about fertility and success, does the author use images of spring, blossoming, growth, or fruition? Does the word choice have connotations of positive, safe, or loving feelings?
Colloquial word choice is not standard grammatical usage and employs slang expressions; this word usage develops a casual tone. Scientific, Latinate (words with Latin roots or origins), or scholarly language would be formal and employ standard rules of usage. Concrete words form vivid images in the reader’s mind, while abstract language is more appropriate for discussion of philosophy. Allusive style uses many references to history, literature, or other shared cultural knowledge to provoke or enlighten the reader. Appeals to the senses make the writing more concrete and vivid. Since prose does not have a natural rhythm, an obvious metrical pattern in a passage signals an important idea.
Any time an author uses similes or metaphors, or any other poetic devices, it is because the author wants to draw attention to that particular characteristic and perhaps suggest a more complex relationship to the implied or stated theme.
If the author suddenly or obviously varies sentence structure or length of a sentence, this signals important ideas. Most certainly, a detail or action will appear in these sentences that the author considers crucial.
Most sentences in English are loose sentences (subject, predicate, modifiers – He went to the store.). Any time an author wishes to call attention to an important idea a different sentence structure can be used. These different structures are called emphatic because they emphasize the ideas contained in them.
In analyzing an author’s style, then, seek out patterns, and spot variations from the norm. Suppose an author employs many lengthy, balanced sentences with the frequent use of parallelism and anaphora, and the word choice is formal and Latinate. You can say that his style is formal and balanced. If this same author then includes one or two short sentences, a metaphor, and an inverted word order, you can point out these constructions and discuss the importance of the ideas contained in and signaled by these constructions. In addition, you should be on the lookout for the well-chosen word, and/or the compelling turn of phrase. Don’t forget: all discussion of style should show the relation to the tone or theme of the selection.