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Questions tagged [wording-choice]

Questions about a writer's precise selection of words as determined by a number of factors, including denotative and connotative meaning, specificity, level of diction, tone, and audience.

8 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why are pronouns used in this way in Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift"?

I just read the short story "Shift" by Nalo Hopkinson, which is freely available online. It's a modern, Caribbean-themed story inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. One thing which confused me on ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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15 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why are there three different versions of the "solid/sullied/sallied flesh" line in Hamlet?

While looking up about the passage asked about in this previous question, I noticed that there are different versions of the same line in Hamlet, Act I Scene II, line 333: O that this too too solid ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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23 votes
5 answers
4k views

Why are all the schoolchildren referred to as guns in Clint Smith's "The Gun"?

Clint Smith's poem "The Gun" describes a school shooting from the perspective of a child. However, the central character, as well as its fellow classmates, are all referred to as "guns&...
bobble's user avatar
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14 votes
5 answers
15k views

What is the "heap of broken images" in The Waste Land?

In T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land (which you can read online), T. S. Eliot claims that someone (probably either humankind or the reader) only knows "a heap of broken images". What are the roots ...
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9 votes
4 answers
8k views

What does Lady Macbeth mean by "what thou art promised"?

In Macbeth Act I Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says the following: Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human ...
Malted_Wheaties's user avatar