Intro Activity To Conno Deno

Connotation/ Denotation Introduction
Connotation is the emotional and

Denotation is the strict
imaginative association surrounding a
dictionary meaning of a word.
word.
“You may live in a house, but we live in a home.”
If you were to look up the words house and home in a dictionary, you would find that both
words have approximately the same meaning- "a dwelling place." However, the speaker in
the sentence above suggests that home has an additional meaning. Aside from the strict
dictionary definition, or denotation, many people associate such things as comfort, love,
security, or privacy with a home but do not necessarily make the same associations with a
house. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a home? of a
house? Why do you think that real-estate advertisers use the word home more frequently
than house? The various feelings, images, and memories that surround a word make up its
connotation.
Although both house and home have the same denotation, or dictionary meaning, home
also has many connotations.
1. Which word in each pair below has the more favorable (positive) connotation to you?
o Thrifty vs penny-pinching
o Pushy vs aggressive
o Politician vs statesman
o Chef vs cook
o Nag vs remind
2. Since everyone reacts emotionally to certain words, writers often deliberately select
words that they think will influence your reactions and appeal to your emotions.
Read the dictionary definition below.
cockroach (kok' roch'), n. any of an order of nocturnal insects, usually

brown with flattened oval bodies, some species of which are
household pests inhabiting kitchens, areas around water pipes, etc.
[Spanish cucaracha]
3. What thoughts come to mind with the word cockroach?
4. Read the following passages to help you evaluate whether a cockroach is merely an
innocent insect, or is it a disgusting creature?
See what meanings poets Wild and Morley find in roaches in the following
poems.
Roaches
Last night when I got up

to let the dog out I spied
a cockroach in the bathroom
crouched flat on the cool
porcelain,
delicate
antennae probing the toothpaste cap
and feasting himself on a gob
of it in the bowl:
I killed him with one unprofessional
blow,
scattering arms and legs
and half his body in the sink...
I would have no truck with roaches,

crouched like lions in the ledges of sewers
their black eyes in the darkness
alert for tasty slime,
breeding quickly and without design,
laboring up drainpipes through filth
to the light;
I read once they are among

the most antediluvian of creatures,
surviving everything, and in more primitive times
thrived to the size of your hand...
Yet when sinking asleep

or craning at the stars,
I can feel their light feet
probing in my veins,
their whiskers nibbling
the insides of my;
and neck arched,
feel their patient scrambling
up the dark tubes of my throat.
-- Peter Wild
From Nursery Rhymes for the Tender-hearted
Scuttle, scuttle, little roach-

How you run when I approach:
Up above the pantry shelf
Hastening to secrete yourself.
Most adventurous of vermin,

How I wish I could determine
How you spend your hours of ease,
Perhaps reclining on the cheese.
Cook has gone, and all is dark-

Then the kitchen is your park;
In the garbage heap that she leaves
Do you browse among the tea leaves?
How delightful to suspect

All the places you have trekked:
Does your long antenna whisk its
Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Do you linger, little soul,

Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
Or, abandonment most utter,
Shake a shimmy on the butter?
Do you chant your simple tunes

Swimming in the baby's prunes?
Then, when dawn comes, do you slink
Homeward to the kitchen sink?
Timid roach, why be so shy?

We are brothers, thou and I,
In the midnight, like yourself,
I explore the pantry shelf!
--Christopher Morley
~ Reread the dictionary definition, and use the poems to help you answer the
following questions.
5. Which of the denotative characteristics of a cockroach both poets include in their

poems?
6. What characteristics does Wild give his roaches that are not in the dictionary
definition?
7. What additional characteristics does Morley give to roaches?
8. Which poet succeeds in giving roaches favorable connotations?
9. Which poet comes closer to expressing your own feelings about roaches?
10. Complete the chart below to show how the author’s diction and use of connotation
created the different tones of each poem. You need to have words and phrases from
both poems in the chart-be sure to label the words’ connotations as P/+ or N/-
Peter Wild’s Words Christopher Morley’s Words

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.

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Connotation/ Denotation Introduction

Connotation is the emotional and

“You may live in a house, but we live in a home.”

cockroach (kok' roch'), n. any of an order of nocturnal insects, usually

Last night when I got up

I would have no truck with roaches,

I read once they are among

Yet when sinking asleep

Scuttle, scuttle, little roach-

Most adventurous of vermin,

Cook has gone, and all is dark-

How delightful to suspect

Do you linger, little soul,

Do you chant your simple tunes

Timid roach, why be so shy?

5. Which of the denotative characteristics of a cockroach both poets include in their

7. What additional characteristics does Morley give to roaches?

8. Which poet succeeds in giving roaches favorable connotations?

Peter Wild’s Words Christopher Morley’s Words

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