How do analyse diction in an unseen text?

Firstly, you have to ask yourself what diction exactly is and define it. Diction is the choice and use of words in speech or writing, which basically means in general you are looking to analyse the pattern in which words are used. You focus on the pattern in which words are being used so that you can build a solid point based on a lot of evidence. You may choose to focus on words that are 'interesting' - particularly adjectives or adverbs, words that describe nouns and verbs. Or any words that are used repeatedly throughout the text - repetition shows that the author is likely trying to emphasize a certain point. After you have initially noted down some repeating patterns or trends in word patterns, you will likely have to choose an example to outline this phenomena. This example tends to be a phrase or a word when analysing diction. Before you analyse, you are looking to differentiate between two things - denotation and connotation. Denotation is the literal, dictionary defition of a word, while connotation - the part where the analysis comes in - is the implied or suggested meaning of the word. For instance, the word "savage" in "savage laugh", denotes somethings violent and uncontrolled, while it connotates that the laugh or the person laughing is uncivilized or other worldly.