In Woodsong by Gary Paulsen, Paulsen uses words with various connotations and denotations to detail an experience that changes his point of view about the wilderness. One example of how Paulsen uses denotative language is when he says, “Gulled by Disney and others, I believe Bambi always got out of the fire. Nothing ever really got hurt. Though I hunted and killed, it was always somehow clean and removed from reality. I killed yet thought that every story had a happy ending.” Paulsen used the denotation gulled because it means tricked. At this time Paulsen’s point of view was that everything got out fine and nothing bad ever happened. An example of connotative language is when Paulsen says, “I was in and of beauty and at that precise moment a doe, a white-tailed deer, exploded out of some willows on the left side of the team, heading down the bank toward the lake.” Paulsen uses the connotative word exploded because that means that something did something with extreme force. …show more content…
Another example of denotative language is when Paulsen says, “In all my time in the woods, in the wondrous dance of it, I have many times seen predators fail. As a matter of fact, they usually fail. I once saw a beaver come out of a hole on the ice near his lodge in the middle of winter and stand off four wolves. He sustained one small bite on his tail and inflicted terrible damage with his teeth on the wolves, killing one and wounding the other three. I have seen rabbits outwit foxes and watched red squirrels tease martens and get away with it, but this time it was not to be.” Paulsen used the denotation fail because it means that something did not get what it wanted. At this time Paulsen is confused because his view of the wilderness is totally different because this time the predator didn’t