Similarities Between Audubon And Dillard

It is known that when a particular event occurs, people each have a different point of view on the occurrence. For example, when two authors, John James Audubon and Annie Dillard, observed flocks of birds, their writings on the phenomenon differed based on their personal expertise. Although the event of bird watching caused similarities in their writing, the overall use of diction, imagery, and tone help Audubon and Dillard’s writings to contrast.

While both authors used a strong academic diction in their depiction of a flock of birds, Audubon’s personal diction was distinct and scientific whereas Dillard chose words with a more personal and emotional appeal. In Audubon’s piece, Ornithological Biographies, he chose to use words such as “inclination,”

However, how these images are created is considerably different. Audubon used scholarly language to fabricate images of the exactness of birds in flight. He used pedantic sentences such as “In a short time finding the task which I had undertaken impracticable, as the birds poured in in countless multitudes, I rose, and counting the dots then put down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes” (Audubon), to establish an identical copy of his views into his writing. On the contrary, Dillard created images through an artistic and poetic lens. She chose to use sentences such as “They gathered deep in the distance, flock sifting into flock, and strayed towards me, transparent and whirling, like smoke” (Dillard), which contribute to her artistic imagery that is established in this piece of writing. Although both authors used vivid imagery in their writing, the styles of each author differed in that Audubon wrote to create precise images and Dillard created more artistic

However, along with diction and imagery, the tone of each particular passage contrasted. Audubon maintained a detached and factual tone throughout his piece. It was clear in his writing that Audubon was writing to inform, rather than to entertain his audience, therefore, a factual tone was desirable for the style of writing that Audubon chose. His factual tone was evident in this statement, “They consequently flew so high, that different trials to reach them with a capital rifle proved ineffectual; nor did the reports disturb them in the least” (Audubon). On the contrary, Dillard used a light-hearted and peaceful tone with her writing. In her piece she used very descriptive images and personification to convey her meaning and because of this her tone was well fitting. Dillards peaceful tone was exhibited in this statement “Each individual bird bobbed and knitted up and down in the flight at apparent random, for no known reason except that’s how starlings fly, yet all remained perfectly shaped” (Dillard). It is evident that both of these authors both used unmistakeable tones in their writing, but their tones were distinctively different due to the personal styles and experiences of each individual