Metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or written about as if it were another. This figure of speech invites the reader to make a comparison between the two things. As you read, decide what two things are being compared in the phrase “the sun seems a high fly I’m going to lose.”
Diction. Diction, when applied to writing, refers to word choice. Much of a writer’s style is determined by his or her diction, the types of words that he or she chooses. Diction can be formal or informal, simple or complex, contemporary or archaic, ordinary or unusual, foreign or native, standard or dialectical, euphemistic or blunt.
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“The Slump” was first published in Esquire magazine in 1968. It was one of the few Updike short stories that did not first appear in the New Yorker. In 1972 it was published again in a collection of short stories called Museums and Women and Other Stories. In “The Slump” a nameless baseball player reflects on the extended slump that he is experiencing.
Updike’s diction is characterized by the use of colloquial language. Make a chart of these expressions. On the left, list colloquial expressions. On the right, define them.
Have you ever been in a slump? How did you get out of it?
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