General Notes on
Styles and Stylistics
The subject of stylistics has so
far not been definitely outlined. This is due to a number of reasons.
First of all there is a confusion
between the terms style and stylistics. The first concept is so broad that it
is hardly possible to regard it as a term. We speak of style in architecture,
literature, behaviour, linguistics, dress and other fields of human activity
Even in linguistics the word style
is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who
deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following
fields of investigation.:
1) the aesthetic function of
language;
2) expressive means in language;
3) synonymous ways of rendering one
and the same idea;
4) emotional colouring of language;
5) a system of special devices
called stylistic devices;
6) the splitting of the literary
language into separate subsystems called stylistic devices;
7) the interrelation between
language and thought;
8) the individual manner of an
author in making use of language.
The origin of the term Style and Stylistics.
Lat - stylus - a stick made of material for writing.
Stylistics - from French " Stylistique "
-instrument for Writing.
1. There is a widely held view that
style is the correspondence between thought and expression. The notion is based
on the assumption ; that of the two functions of language, (language
is said to have two functions: it serves as a means of communication and also
as a means of shaping one's thoughts). The first function is called
communicative, the second - expressive, the latter finds its proper
materialization in strings of sentences especially arranged to convey the ideas
and also to get the desired response.
Indeed, every sentence uttered may
be characterized from two sides: whether or not the string of language forms
expressed is something well-known and therefore easily understood and to some
extent predictable; whether or not the string of language forms is built anew;
is, as it were, an innovation made on the part of the listener to get at the
meaning of the utterance and is therefore unpredictable.
Many great minds have made valuable
observations on the interrelation between thought and expression. The main
trend in most of these observations may be summarized as follows the linguistic
form of the idea expressed always reflects the peculiarities of the thought.
And vice versa, the character of the thought will always in a greater or lesser
degree manifest itself in the language forms chosen for the expression of the
idea.
2. Another commonly accepted
connotation of the term style is embellishment of language. This concept is
popular and is upheld in some of the scientific papers on literary criticism.
Language and style are regarded as separate bodies, language can easily
dispense with style, which is likened to the trimming on a dress. Moreover,
style as an embellishment of language is viewed as something that hinders
understanding. In its extreme, style may dress the thought in such fancy attire
that one can hardly get at the idea hidden behind the elaborate design of
tricky stylistic devices.
This notion presupposes the use of
bare language forms deprived of any stylistic devices of any expressive means
deliberately employed. Perhaps it is due to this notion that the word
"style" itself still bears a somewhat derogatory meaning. It is
associated with the idea of something pompous, showy artificial, something that
is set against simplicity, truthfulness, the natural. Shakespeare was a
determined enemy of all kinds of embellishments of language.
3. A very popular notion among practical linguists, teachers of language, is
that style is technique of expression. In this sense style is generally defined
as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to the
interest of the reader. Style in this utilitarian sense should be taught, but
it belongs to the realm of grammar, and not to stylistics. It sets up a number
of rules as to how to speak and write and discards all kinds of deviations as
being violations of the norm. The norm itself becomes rigid, self-sustained and
to a very great extent inflexible.
4. The term style also signifies a
literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the style of classicism;
realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on. On the other hand, the
term is widely used in literature, being applied to the various kinds of
literary work, the fable, novel, ballad, story etc. Thus we speak of a story
being written in the style of a fable or we speak of the characteristic
features of the epistolary style or the essay and so on.
Finally there is one more important
application of the term style. We speak of the different styles of language. A
style of Language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a
definite aim in communication. The peculiar choice of language means is
primarily dependent on the aim of communication.
Thus we may distinguish the
following styles within the English literary language: 1) the belles- letters
style; 2) the publicistic style; 3) the newspaper style; 4} the scientific
prose style; 5) the style of official documents and presumably some others. The
classification presented here is not arbitrary, the work is still in the
observational stage. The classification is not proof against criticism, though
no one will deny that the five groups of styles exist in the English literary
language.
Stylistics and its Subdivisions
1. Galperin: Stylisitics is a
branch of general linguistics, which deals with the following two
interdependent tasks:
a) studies the totality of special
linguistic means ( stylistic devices and expressive means ) which secure the
desirable effect of the utterance;
b) studies certain types of texts
"discourse" which due to the choice and arrangement of the language
are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communication (functional styles).
Depending on the school of thought
there are:
1. Linguo-stylistics;
2. Literary stylistics;
3. Stylistics of decoding;
1.
Linguo - stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistic
orientation. The linguistics is concerned with the language codes themselves
and particular messages of interest and so far as to exemplify how the codes
are constructed.
2. Literary stylistics: is to explicate the message to interprete and evaluate
literary writings as the works of art.
3. Stylistics of decoding can be
presented in the following way:
sender - message - receiver speaker - book - reader.
Process of
reading is decoding.
The subject of stylistics can be
outlined as the study of the nature, functions and structure of stylistic
devices, on the one hand, and, on the other, the study of each style of
language as classified above, i, e, its aim, its structure, its characteristic
features and the effect it produces, as
well as its interrelation with other styles of language. The task we set before
ourselves is to make an attempt to single out such, problems as are typically
stylistic and cannot be treated in any other branch of linguistic science.
Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic
Devices (SD)
In linguistics there are different
terms to denote those particular means by which a writer obtains his effect.
Expressive means, stylistic means, stylistic devices and other terms are all
used indiscriminately For our purposes it is necessary to make a distinction
between expressive means and stylistic devices. All stylistic means of a
language can be divided into expressive means, which are used in some specific
way, and special devices called stylistic devices. The expressive means of a
language are those phonetic means, morphological forms, means of word-building,
and lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms, all of which function in the
language for emotional or logical intensification of the utterance. These
intensifying forms of the language have been fixed in grammars and
dictionaries. Some of them are normalized, and good dictionaries label them as
intensifiers. In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms.
The most powerful expressive means
of any language are phonetic. Pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling,
drawling out certain syllables, whispering, a sing-song manner of speech and
other ways of using the voice are more effective than any other means in
intensifying the utterance emotionally or logically. Among the morphological
expressive means the use of the Present indefinite instead of the Past
Indefinite must be mentioned first. This has already been acknowledged as a
special means and is named the Historical Present. In describing some past
events the author uses the present tense, thus achieving a more vivid
picturisation of what was going on.
The use of "shall" in the
second and third person may also be regarded as an expressive means. Compare
the following synonymous forms and you will not fail to observe the
intensifying element in the sentence with "shall".
He shall do it = (I shall make him
do it)
He has to do it = (It is necessary
for him to do it)
Among word - building means we find
a great many forms which serve to make the utterance more expressive and fresh
or to intensify it. The diminutive
suffixes as - у (ie), - let, e. g. dear, dearie, stream, streamlet, add some
emotional colouring to the words.
Certain affixes have gained such a
power of expressiveness that they begin functioning as separate words,
absorbing all of generalizing meaning they usually attach to different roots,
as for example: -ism and ologies.
At the lexical level there are a
great many words which due to their inner expressiveness, constitute a special
layer There are words with emotive meaning only, like interjections, words
which have both referential and emotive meaning, like some of the qualitative
adjectives, words belonging to special groups of Literary English or of non -
standard English (poetic, archaic, slang, vulgar, etc.) and some other groups.
-The same can be said of the set
expressions of the language. Proverbs and sayings as well as catch - words for
a considerable number of language units which serve to make speech more
emphatic, mainly from the emotional point of view. Their use in everyday speech
can hardly be overestimated. Some of these proverbs and sayings are so well -
known that their use in the process of communication passes almost unobserved.
The expressive means of the
language are studied respectively in manuals of phonetics, grammar, lexicology
and stylistics. Stylistics, however, observes not only the nature of an
expressive means, but also its potential capacity of becoming a stylistic
device.
What then is a stylistic device? It
is a conscious and intentional literary use of some of the facts of the
language including EM in which the most essential features both structural and
semantic of the language forms are
raised to a generalized level and thereby present a generative model. Most
stylistic devices may be regarded as aiming at the further intensification in
the corresponding EM.
This conscious transformation of a
language fact into a stylistic devise has been observed by certain linguists
whose interests in scientific research have gone beyond the boundaries of
grammar.
The birth of a SD is not
accidental. Language means which are used with more or less definite aims of
communication and in one and the same function in various passage of writing,
begin gradually to develop new features, a wider range of functions and become
a relative means of the language. It would perhaps be more correct to say
that/unlike expressive means, stylistic devices are patterns of the language
whereas the expressive means do not form patterns. They are just like words themselves,
they are facts of the language, and as such are, or should be, registered in
dictionaries.
The interrelation between
expressive means and stylistic devices can be worded in terms of the theory of
information. Expressive means have a greater degree of predictability than
stylistic devices. The latter may appear in an environment which may seem alien
and therefore be only slightly or not at all predictable. Expressive means are
commonly used in language, and are therefore easily predictable. Stylistic
devices carry a greater amount of information because if they are at all
predictable they are less predictable than expressive means. It follows that
stylistic devices must be regarded as a special code which has still to be
deciphered.
Not every stylistic use of a
language fact will come under the term SD. There are practically unlimited
possibilities of presenting any language fact in what is vaguely called it's
stylistic use.
Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary
1. General considerations. In order
to get a more or less idea of the word stock of any language, it must be
presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated
and yet independent. The word stock of a language may be represented as a
definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as
interdependent. A special branch of linguistic science-lexicology - has done
much to classify vocabulary. For our purpose, i. e. for linguistic stylistics,
a special type of classification, stylistic classification is the most
important.
An accordance with the division of language into literary and
colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word stock of the English
language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the
neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers
contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all
the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the
different groups of words within the layer may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer
is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less
stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken
character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.
The aspect of the neutral layer is
its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be
employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. The
literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of
the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. The
colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries
is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine to a special
locality where it circulates. The literary vocabulary consists of the following
groups of words: 1) common literary; 2) terms and learned words; 3) poetic
words; 4) archaic words; 5) barbarisms & foreign words; 6) literary
coinages including nonce words.
The colloquial vocabulary falls
into the following groups: 1) common colloquial words; 2) slang; 3) jargonisms;
4) professional words; 5) dialectal words; 6) vulgar words; 7) colloquial
coinages.
The common literary, neutral and
common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary.
Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices
The stylistic approach to the
utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to
be taken into account which in a certain type of communication plays an
important role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The
sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. It
is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic
effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic effect,
but this is a matter of individual perception and feeling and therefore
subjective.
The theory of sense - independence
of separate sounds is based on a subjective interpretation of sound
associations and has nothing to do with objective scientific data. However, the
sound of a word, or more exactly the way words sound in combination, cannot
fail to contribute something to the general effect of the message, particularly
when the sound effect has been deliberately worked out. This can easily be
recognized when analyzing alliterative word combinations or the rhymes in
certain stanzas or from more elaborate analysis of sound arrangement.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a combination of
speech sounds which alms at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea,
thunder, etc.) by things (machines or tools, etc.) by people (singing,
laughter) and animals. Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the
phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy There are two
varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.
Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, burr,
bang, cuckoo. These words have different degrees of imitative quality. Some of
them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others
require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to decipher it.
Onomatopoetic words can be used in a transferred meaning, as for instance, ding
- dong, which represents the sound of bells rung continuously, may mean 1)
noisy, 2) strenuously contested.
Indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound, as rustling of curtains in
the following line. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple
curtain. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is
to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called
"echo writing". An example is: And the silken, sad, uncertain
rustling of each purple curtain" (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the
sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.
Alliteration
Alliteration is a phonetic
stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The
essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular
consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of
successive words: " The possessive instinct never stands still (J.
Galsworthy) or, "Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there
wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream
before" (E. A. Poe).
Alliteration, like most phonetic
expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree
that a sound meaning exists as such. But even so we may not be able to specify
clearly the character of this meaning, and the term will merely suggest that a
certain amount of information is contained in the repetition of sounds, as is
the case with the repetition of lexical units.
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of
identical or similar terminal sound combination of words. Rhyming words are
generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are
usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.
Identity and similarity of sound
combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes
and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound
and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, including the
initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact
or identical rhymes.
Incomplete rhymes present a greater
variety They can be divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes and consonant
rhymes. In vowel-rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are
identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh -press.
Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity
in vowels, as in worth - forth, tale - tool -treble - trouble; flung - long.
Modifications in rhyming sometimes
go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even
three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in "upon her
honour - won her", "bottom –forgot them- shot him". Such rhymes
are called compound or broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that
the combination of words is made to sound like one word - a device which
inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance.
Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye - rhyme, where the letters
and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have -
grave. It follows that compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye -
rhyme can only be perceived in the written verse.
Rhythm
Rhythm exists in all spheres of
human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in
stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical,
mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture. The most general definition of rhythm
may be expressed as follows: "rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc.
characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat,
or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements of features"
(Webster's New World Dictionary).
Rhythm can be perceived only
provided that there is some kind of experience in catching the opposite
elements or features in their correlation, and, what is of paramount
importance, experience in catching regularity of alternating patterns. Rhythm
is a periodicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity.
Inverse rhythm is regular succession of weak and strong stress. A rhythm in
language necessarily demands oppositions that alternate: long, short; stressed,
unstressed; high, low and other contrasting segments of speech.
Academician V.M. Zhirmunsky
suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of a
metre. Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by
the character and number of syllables of which it consists. The metre is a
strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability. Rhythm is flexible and
sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is
perceived at the background of the metre. In accented verse - by the number of
stresses in a line. In prose - by the alternation of similar syntactical
patterns. Rhythm in verse as a S. D. is defined as a combination of the ideal
metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the
standard. There are the following rhythmic patterns of verse:
iambus
dactul
umphibrach
anapaest.
Rhythm is not a mere addition to
verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm. Rhythm intensifies the
emotions. It contributes to the general sense. Much has been said and writhen
about rhythm in prose. Some investigators, in attempting to find rhythmical
patterns of prose, superimpose metrical measures on prose. But the parametres
of the rhythm in verse and in prose are entirely different.
Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices
Words in a context may acquire
additional lexical meanings not fixed in the dictionaries, what we have called
contextual meanings. The latter may sometimes deviate from the dictionary
meaning to such a degree that the new meaning even becomes the opposite of the
primary meaning. What is known in linguistics as transferred meaning is
practically the interrelation between two types of lexical meaning: dictionary
and contextual.
The transferred meaning of a word
may be fixeв in dictionaries as a result of
long and frequent use of the word other than in its primary meaning. In this
case we register a derivative meaning of the word. Hence the term transferred
should be used signifying th£ development of the semantic structure of the
word. In this case we do not perceive two meanings. When we perceive two
meanings of the word simultaneously, we are confronted with a stylistic device
in which the two meanings interact.
Imagery
In philosophy "image"
denotes the result of reflection of the object of reality in man's
consciousness. On the sensible level our senses, ideas might be regarded as
images. On a higher level of thinking images take the form of concepts,
judgements, conclusions. Depending on the level of reflecting the objective
reality ( sensual and conceptual) there are 2 types of images:
1. Art - reflects the objective
reality in human life. While
informing us of a phenomenon of life it simultaneously expresses our attitude
towards it.
2. Literature - deals with a
specific type of artistic images, verbal - is a pen - picture of a thing,
person or idea expressed in a figurative way in their contextual meaning in
music - sounds. The overwhelming majority of Iinguists agree that a word is the
smallest unit being able to create images because it conveys the artistic
reality and image. On this level the creation of images is the result of the
interaction of two meanings: direct (denotation) and indirect (figurative).
Lexical expressive meanings in which a word or word combination is used
figuratively are called tropes. The verbal meaning has the following structure:
1. Tenor (direct thought)
subjective;
2. Vehicle (figurative thought)
objective;
3. Ground is the common feature of
T and V;
4. The relation between T and V;
5. The technique of identification
(The type of trope);
T
G R V
e. g. She is sly like a fox
(simile). Images may be individual, general.
a) deal with concrete thing or idea
e.g. Thirsty wind.
b) embrace the whole book e. g. War
and Peace.
c) visual
e. g. the cloudy lifeage of the sky
d) oral - created by sound
imitations
Classification of Lexical Stylistic
Devices
There are 3 groups.
1. The interaction of different
types of lexical meaning.
a) dictionary and contextual (metaphor, metonymy, irony);
b) primary and derivative (zeugma and pun);
c) logical and emotive (epithet, oxymoron);
d) logical and nominative (autonomasia);
2. Intensification of a feature
(simile, hyperbole, periphrasis).
3. Peculiar use of set expressions (cliches, proverbs,
epigram, quotations).
I. The Interaction of Different Types of
Lexical Meaning
1. Interaction of Dictionary And
Contextual Logical Meaning
The relation between dictionary and
contextual meanings may be maintained along different lines: on the principle
of affinity, on that of proximity, or symbol - referent relations, or on
opposition. Thus the stylistic device based on the first principle is metaphor,
on the second, metonymy and on the third, irony
A metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual
logical meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or
features of the two corresponding concepts. Metaphor can be embodied in all the
meaningful parts of speech, in nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and sometimes
even in the auxiliary parts of speech , as in prepositions. Metaphor as any
stylistic devices can be classified according to their degree of
unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, are quite
unpredictable, are called genuine metaphors. e. g. Through the open window the
dust danced and was golden. Those which are commonly used in speech and are
sometimes fixed in the dictionaries as expressive means of language are trite
metaphors or dead metaphors e. g. a flight of fancy, floods of tears.
Trite metaphors are sometimes
injected with new vigour, their primary meaning is re- established alongside
the new derivative meaning. This is done by supplying the central image created
by the metaphor with additional words bearing some reference to the main word.
e. g. Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down.
The verb " to bottle up "
is explained as " to keep in check", to conceal, to restrain,
repress. So the metaphor can be hardly felt. But it is revived by the direct
meaning of the verb "to cork down". Such metaphors are called
sustained or prolonged. Stylistic function of a metaphor is to make the
description concrete, to express the individual attitude.
Metonymy is based
on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings,
a relation based not on affinity, but on some kind of association connecting
the two concepts which these meanings represent on a proximity
The proximity may be revealed:
1) between the symbol and the thing
it denotes;
2) in the relations between the
instrument and the action performed with this instrument;
e.g. His pen is rather sharp.
3) in the relation between the
container and the thing it contains; e.g. He drank one more cup.
4) the concrete is put for the
abstract;
e. g. It was a representative gathering (science, politics).
5) a part is put for the whole;
e.g. the crown - king, a hand - worker.
Metonymy represents the events of
reality in its subjective attitude. Metonymy in many cases is trite.
e.g.:" to earn one's bread", "to keep one's mouth
shut".
Irony is a
stylistic device also based on the simultaneous realization of two logical
meanings - dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings are in opposition to
each other. The literal meaning is the opposite of the intended meaning. One
thing is said and the other opposite is implied.
e.g. Nice weather, isn't it? (on a rainy day).
2. Interaction of Primary and Derivative
Logical Meanings
There are special SDs which make a
word materialize distinct dictionary meanings. They are zeugma and the pun. Zeugma is the use of a word in the same
grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the
context, the semantic relations being on the one hand literal, and on the
other, transferred. e. g. Dora, plunging at once into privileged intimacy and
into the middle of the room.
Zeugma is a strong and effective
device to maintain the purity of the primary meaning when two meanings clash.
The pun is another S.D. based on the
interaction of two wellknown meanings of a word or a phrase. It is difficult to
draw a hard and fast distinction between zeugma and pun. The only reliable
distinguishing feature is a structural one: zeugma is the realization of two
meanings with the help of a verb which is made to refer to different subjects
or objects ( direct and indirect). The pun is more independent. Like any S.D.
it must depend on a context. But the context may be of a more expanded
character, sometimes even as large as a whole work of emotive prose.
e.g.- Did you miss my lecture ?
- Not at all.
Pun seems to be more varied and
resembles zeugma in its humourous effect only.
3. Interaction of Logical and Emotive
Meaning
Interjections and Eclamatory Words Interjections
are words we use when we express our feelings strongly and which may be said to
exist in language as conventional symbols of human emotions. In traditional
grammars the interjection is regarded as a part of speech. But there is another
view which regards the interjection as a sentence.
However a close investigation
proves that interjection is a word with strong emotive meaning.
e. g. Oh, where are you going to,
all you Big Steamers?
The interjection oh, by itself may
express various feelings such as regret, despair, disappointment, sorrow,
surprise and many others. Interjections can be divided into primary and
derivative. Primary interjections are generally devoid of any logical meaning.
Interjections such as: Heavens! Good gracious! God knows! Bless me! are
exclamatory words generally used as interjections. It must be noted that some
adjectives and adverbs can also take on the function of interjections - such as
terrible! awfully! great! wonderful! splendid! These adjectives acquire strong
emotional colouring and are equal in force to interjections.
The epithet is based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive
word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterize an object and pointing out
to the reader some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of
giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties.
Classification of Epithets
From the point of view of their
compositional structure epithets may be divided into:
1) simple (adjectives, nouns,
participles): e.g. He looked at them in animal panic.
2) compound: e.g. apple - faced
man;
3) sentence and phrase epithets:
e.g. It is his do - it - yourself attitude.
4) reversed epithets - composed of
2 nouns linked by an ofphrase: e.g. "a shadow of a smile";
Semantically according to I.
Galperin.
1)
associated with the noun following it, pointing to a feature which is
essential to the objects they describe: dark forest; careful attention.
2) unassociated with the noun, epithets that add a feature which is
unexpected and which strikes the reader: smiling sun, voiceless sounds.
Oxymoron is a combination
of two words in which the meaning is opposite in sense.
e. g. speaking silence, cold fire, living death.
Close to oxymoron is paradox - a
statement that is absurd on the surface. e.g. War is peace. The worse - the
better.
Trite oxymoron. e.g. Awfully beautiful.
If the primary meaning of
qualifying word changes the stylistic effect of oxymoron is lost. In oxymoron
the logical meaning holds fast because there is no true word combination.
4. Interaction of Logical and Nominative
Meaning
Antonomasia. It is the result of interaction between logical and nominal meaning of a
word.
1) When the proper name of a
person, who is famous for some reasons, is put for a person having the same
feature.
e.g. Her husband is an Othello.
2) A common noun is used instead of
a proper name, e. g. I agree with you Mr. Logic, e.g. My Dear Simplicity.
XI. Intensification of a Feature
Simile. The
intensification of some feature of the concept is realized in a device called
simile. Similes set one object against another regardless of the fact that they
may be completely alien to each other. The simile gives rise to a new
understanding of the object. The properties of an object maybe viewed from
different angles, f. e. its state, its actions, manners Accordingly, similes
may be based on adjective - attributes, adverb - modifiers, verb - predicates
etc.
Similes have formal elements in
their structure: connective words such as like, as, such as, as if, seem.
Periphrasis - is a round - about way of speaking used to name some object or
phenomenon. Longer-phrase is used instead of a shorter one. Some periphrasis
are traditional.
e. g. The fair sex.
My better half.
Periphrasis are divided into:
1. Logical - based on inherent properties of a thing.
e. g. Instrument of destruction, the object of administration.
2. Figurative - based on imagery: metaphor, metonymy
e. g. To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune - bad luck.
Euphemism is used to avoid some unpleasant things, or taboo things.
e. g. To pass away - to die.
Hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is to
intensify one of the features of the object in question to such a degree as to
show its utter absurdity. Like many SDs, hyperbole may lose its quality as a SD
through frequent repetition and become a unit of the language as a system,
reproduced in speech in its unaltered from. Here there are some examples:
e. g. A thousand pardons, scared to death, immensely obliged.
Hyperbole is a device which
sharpens the reader's ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance.
This is achieved, as in case with other devices, by awakening the dichotomy of
thought and feeling where thought takes the upper hand though not to the
detriment of feeling.
III. Peculiar Use of Set Expressions
The Cliche
A cliche is
generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. It has
lost its precise meaning by constant reiteration: in other words it has become
stereotyped. Cliche is a kind of stable word combination which has become
familiar and which has been accepted as a unit of a language
e. g. rosy dreams of youth, growing awareness.
Proverbs are
short, well-known, supposedly wise sayings, usually in simple language.
e.g. Never say never. You can't get blood of a stone.
Proverbs are expressions of culture
that are passed from generation to generation. They are words of wisdom of
culture- lessons that people of that culture want their children to learn and
to live by They are served as some symbols, abstract ideas. Proverbs are
usually dedicated and involve imagery. e.g. Out of sight, out of mind.
Epigram is a short clever amusing
saying or poem. e.g. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Quotation is a phrase or sentence taken from a work of literature or other piece
of writing and repeated in order to prove a point or support an idea. They are
marked graphically: by inverted commas: dashes, italics.
Allusion is an
indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical. literary, mythological
fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The
use of allusion presupposes knowledge of the fact, thing oк person alluded to on the part of the reader or
listener.
Syntactical Stylistic Devices Classification of Syntactical Stylistic Devices
Groups.
I.
Patterns of syntactical
Inversion,
arrangement Detachment.
Parallelism.
Chiasmus.
Repetition.
Enumeration.
Suspense.
Climax.
Antithesis.
II.
Peculiar linkage Asyndeton.
Polysyndeton.
Gap - sentence - link.
III. Colloquial constructions Ellipsis.
Aposiopesis.
Question - in - the narrative.
Represented speech.
IV.
Stylistic use of structural Rhetorical questions,.
meaning Litotes.
I. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on
Peculiar Syntactical Arrangement
They include: stylistic inversion,
detached constructions, parallel constructions , chiasmus, suspense, climax,
antithesis.
Stylistic Inversion. The English word order is fixed. Any change which doesn't influence the
meaning but is only aimed at emphasis is called a stylistic inversion.
Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional
colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific
intonation pattern is the inevitable satellite of inversion.
The following patterns of stylistic
inversion are most frequently met in both English prose and English poetry.
1. The object is placed at the
beginning of the sentence.
2. The attribute is placed after
the word it modifies, e. g. With fingers weary and worn.
3. The predicate is placed before
the subject, e.g. A good generous prayer it was.
4. The adverbial modifier is placed
at the beginning of the sentence.
e.g. My dearest daughter, at your
feet I fall.
5. Both modifier and predicate
stand before the subject, e. g. In went Mr. Pickwick.
Detached constructions. Sometimes one of the secondary members of the sentence is placed so that
it seems formally inderpendent of the word it refers to. Being formally
inderpendent this secondary member acquires a greater degree of significance
and is given prominence by intonation. e.g. She was gone. For good.
Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in
the macro - structures dealt with the syntactical whole and the paragraph. The
necessary condition in parallel construction is identical or similar,
syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of sentence.
Chiasums is based
on repetition of syntactical patterns, but it has a reversed order in one of the
utterances.
e.g. She was a good sport about all
this, but so was he.
Suspense - is a
compositional device which is realized through the separation of the Predicate
from the Subject by deliberate introduction between them of a clause or a
sentence. Thus the reader's interest is held up. This device is typical of
oratoric style.
Climax (gradation) - an ascending
series of words or utterances in which intensity or significance increases step
by step.
e. g. Every racing car, every
racer, every mechanic, every ice - cream van was also plastered with
advertising.
Antithesis is a SD based on the author's desire to stress certain qualities of the
thing by appointing it to another thing possessing antagonistic features. e. g.
They speak like saints and act like devils.
Enumeration is a SD which separates things, properties or actions brought together
and form a chain of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of the
utterance.
e. g. She wasn't sure of anything
and more, of him, herself, their friends, her work, her future.
II. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on
Peculiar Linkage
Asyndeton is a deliberate avoidance of conjunctions in constructions in which they
would normally used.
e.g. He couldn't go abroad alone,
the sea upset his liver, he hated hotels.
Polysyndeton - is an identical repetition of conjunctions: used to emphasize
simultaneousness of described actions, to disclose the authors subjective
attitude towards the characters, to create the rhythmical effect.
e. g. The heaviest rain, and snow,
and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect.
Gap - sentence - link It presents two
utterances the second is brought into the focus of the reader's attention.
e. g. She and that fellow ought to
be the sufferers, and they were in I tally.
III. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar
Use of Colloquial Constructions
Ellipsis, break in the narrative,
represented speech.
Ellipsis - is the
omition of a word necessary for the complete syntactical construction of a
sentence, but not necessary for understanding. The stylistic function of
ellipsis used in author's narration is to change its tempo, to connect its
structure.
e. g. You feel all right? Anything
wrong or what?
Aposiopesis (Break - in - the narrative). Sudden break in the narration has the
function to reveal agitated state of the speaker.
e. g. On the hall table there were
a couple of letters addressed to her. One was the bill. The other...
There are 3 ways of reproducing
character's speech.
1) direct speech;
2) indirect speech (reported
speech)
3) represented speech.
Represented speech There is also a device which coveys to the reader the unuttered or inner
speech of the character, his thoughts and feelings. This device is also termed
represented speech. To distinguish between the two varieties of represented
speech we call the representation of the actual utterance through the author's
language "uttered represented speech", and the representation of the
thoughts and feelings of the character unuttered or inner represented speech.
Question in the narrative. Changes the real nature of a question and turns
it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and answered
by one and the same person, usually the author. It becomes akin to a
parenthetical statement with strong emotional implications. e. g. For what is
left the poet here? For Greeks a blush - for Greece a tear.
As is seen from these examples the
questions asked, unlike rhetorical questions do not contain statements.
Question in the narrative is very
often used in oratory. This is explained by one of the leading features of
oratorical style - to induce the desired reaction to the content of the speech.
IV.
Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning
Rhetorical questions.
Rhetorical question is one that
expects no answer. It is asked in order to make a statement rather than to get
a reply They are frequently used in dramatic situation and in publisistic
style.
e. g. What was the good of
discontented people who fitted in nowhere?
Litotes - is a
device - an affirmation is expressed by denying its contrary
Usually litotes presupposes double
negation. One through a negative particle (no, not) the other - through a word
with negative meanixig. Its function is to convey doubts of the speaker
concerning the exact characteristics of the object or a feeling.
e.g. It's not a bad thing - It's a
good thing.
e.g. He is no coward. He is a brave
man.
e.g. He was not without taste.
Functional Styles of the English Language
According to Galperin: Functional
Style is a system of interrelated language means serving a definite aim in
communication. It is the coordination of the language means and stylistic
devices which shapes the distinctive features of each style and not the
language means or stylistic devices themselves. Each style, however, can be
recoquized by one or more leading features which are especially conspicuous.
For instance the use of special terminology is a lexical characteristics of the
style of scientific prose, and one by which it can easily be recognized.
Classification of Functional Styles of the
English Language
1. The Belles - Lettres Functional Style.
a) poetry;
b) emotive prose;
c) drama;
2. Publicistic Functional Style,
a) oratory;
b) essays;
c) articles in newspapers and
magazines;
5. The Official Documents
Functional Style.
a) diplomatic documents;
b) business letters;
c) military documents;
d) legal documents;
The Problem of Colloquial Style
Galperin denies the existence of
this functional style. He thinks that functional style can be singled out in
the written variety of language. He defines the style as the result of a
deliberate careful selection of language means which in their correlation
constitute this style.
Maltzev thinks that style is a
choice but this choice is very often done unconsciously, spontaneously He
thinks that the main aim of functional style is to facilitate a communication
in a certain sphere of discourse. But the rigid lay outs of business and
official letters practically exclude the possibility of deliberate, careful
selection. One more example the compression in the newspapers headlines where
there is a tendency to abbreviate language.
There's a descrepancy in Galperin's
theory. One of the substyles of the publicistic style is oratory which is its
oral subdivision. Kuznetz and Skrebnev give the definitions of bookish and
colloquial styles. The bookish style is a style of a highly polished nature
that reflects the norm of the national literary language. The bookish style may
be used not only in the written speech but in oral, official talk.
Colloquial style is the type of
speech which is used in situation that allows certain deviations from the rigid
pattern of literary speech used not only in a private conversation, but also in
private correspondence. So the style is applicable both to the written and oral
varieties of the terms "colloquial" and "bookish" don't
exactly correspond to the oral and written forms of speech. Maltzev suggests
terms "formal" and "informal" and states that colloquial
style is the part of informal variety of English which is used orally in
conversation.
The Belles - Lettres Style, its Substyles and
its Peculiarities
The term "Belles -
lettres" is generic for 3 substyles:
- poetry;
- emotive prose;
- drama;
The Belles-lettres style has its
own specific function which is double -phoned. Besides, iriformingthe reader,
itirnpresses the reader aesthetically.
Its function is aesthetico -
cognitive, cognitive on the one hand and receiving pleasure on the other
The means of this functional style
are:
- genuine imaginative means and
SDs;
- the use of words in its
contextual meaning;
- the individual choice of
vocabulary which reflects the author's personal evaluation;
- a peculiar individual selection
of syntax;
- the introduction of elements of
other styles;
Poetry. Peculiarities
- rhythm and rhyme. As a SD rhythm is a combination of the ideal metrical
scheme and its variations governed by the standard.
Emotive prose. Emotive prose is a combination of literary variant of the
language and colloquial, which is presented by the speech of the characters
which is stylized that means it has been made "literature like" and
some elements of conversational English were made use of. Emotive prose allows
the use of elements of other styles but the author changes them and fulfils a
certain function. SDs used: in emotive prose style are represented speech,
detached constructions, gap - sentence link.
Drama - the
language of plays mainly consists of dialogues. The author's speech is in the
form of stage remarks. Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure.
The language of a play has the following peculiarities:
- it is stylized (retains the modus
of literary English);
-
it presents the variety of spoken language;
-
it has redundancy of information caused by necessity to amplify the
utterance;
- monologue is never interrupted;
- character's utterances are much
longer than in ordinary conversation;
The
Pubicistic Style, its Substyles, and their Peculiarities
The Pubicistic Style treats certain
political, social, economic, cultural problems. The aim of this style is to
form public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener.
Substyles: The oratory essays, journalistic articles, radio and TV commentary.
Oratory. It makes
use of a great hummber of expressive means to arouse and keep the public's
interest: repetition, gradation, antithesis, rhetorical questions, emotive
words, elements of colloquial speech.
Radio and TV commentary is less impersonal and more expressive and emotional.
The essay is very subjective and the most colloquial of the all substyles of the
publicistic style. It makes use of expressive means and tropes.
The journalistic articles are impersonal.
The Newspaper FS, its Ssubstyles and their
Peculiarities
To understand the language
peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyse the
following basic newspaper features:
1) brief news items;
2) advertisements and
announcements;
3) headlines;
Brief items: its function is to inform the reader. It states only facts without
giving comments. The vocabulary used is neutral and common literary. Specific
features are:
a) special political and economic
terms;
b) non-term political vocabulary;
c) newspaper clichms;
d) abbreviations;
e) neologisms.
Headlines. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news is to
follow about. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences, interrogative
sentences, nominative sentences, elliptical sentences, sentences with articles
omitted, headlines including direct speech.
Advertisements and announcements. The function of advertisements and announcements is to
inform the reader. There are two types of them: classified and non-classified.
In classified the information is arranged according to the subject matter:
births, marriages, deaths, business offers, personal etc.
The Scientific Prose Style, its Substyles and their Peculiarities
The style of scientific prose has 3
subdivisions:
1) the style of humanitarian
sciences;
2) the style of "exact"
sciences;
3) the style of popular scientific
prose.
Its function is to work out and
ground theoretically objective knowledge about reality
The aim of communication is to
create new concepts, disclose the international laws of existence.
The peculiarities are: objectiveness;
logical coherence, impersonality, unemotional character, exactness.
Vocabulary. The use of terms and
words used to express a specialized concept in a given branch of science. Terms
are not necessarily. They may be borrowed from ordinary language but are given
a new meaning.
The scientific prose style consists
mostly of ordinary words which tend to be used in their primary logical
meaning. Emotiveness depends on the subject of investigation but mostly
scientific prose style is unemotional.
Grammar: The logical presentation
and cohesion of thought manifests itself in a developed feature of scientific
syntax is the use of established patterns.
- postulatory;
- formulative;
- argumentative;
The impersonal and objective
character of scientific prose style is revealed in the frequent use of passive
constructions, impersonal sentences. Personal sentences are more frequently
used in exact sciences. In humanities we may come across constructions but few.
The parallel arrangement of
sentences contributes to emphasizing certain points in the utterance.
Some features of the style in the
text are:
- use of quotations and references;
- use of foot-notes helps to
preserve the logical coherence of ideas.
Humanities in comparison with
"exact" sciences employ more emotionally coloured words, fewer
passive constructions.
Scientific popular style has the
following peculiarities: emotive words, elements of colloquial style
The Style of Official Documents and its
Substyles
1) Language of business letters;
2) Language of legal documents;
3) Language of diplomacy;
4) Language of military documents;
The aim:
1. to reach agreement between two contracting parties;
2. to state the conditions binding
two parties in an understanding. Each of substyles of official documents makes use
of special terms. Legal documents: military documents, diplomatic documents.
The documents use set expressions inherited from early Victorian period. This vocabulary is conservative.
Legal documents contain a large proportion of formal and archaic words used in
their dictionary meaning. In diplomatic and legal documents many words have
Latin and French origin. There are a lot of abbreviations and conventional
symbols.
The most noticable feature of
grammar is the compositional pattern. Every document has its own stereotyped
form. The form itself is informative and tells you with what kind of letter we
deal with.
Business letters contain: heading,
addressing, salutation, the opening, the body, the closing, complimentary
clause, the signature. Syntactical features of business letters are - the
predominance of extended simple and complex sentences, wide use of participial
constructions, homogeneous members.
Morphological peculiarities are
passive constructions, they make the letters impersonal. There is a tendency to
avoid pronoun reference. Its typical feature is to frame equally important
factors and to divide them by members in order to avoid ambiguity of the wrong
interpretation.
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR STYLISTIC ANAIYSIS JOHN GALSWORTHY
THE MAN OF PROPERTY IRENE'S RETURN
The passage deals with Irene's
return home after Bosinney's death.
On reaching home, and entering the
little lighted hall with his latchkey, the first thing that caught his eye was
his wife's gold-mounted umbrella lying on the rug chest. Flinging off his fur
coat, he hurried to the drawing-room.
The curtains were drawn for the
night, a bright fire of cedar logs burned in the grate, and by its light he saw
Irene sitting in her usual corner on the sofa. He shut the door softly, and
went towards her. She did not move, and did not seem to see him.
"So you've come back?" he
said. "Why are you sitting here in the dark?"
Then he caught sight of her face,
so white and motionless that it seemed as though the blood must have stopped
flowing in her veins; and her eyes, that looked enormous, like the great, wide,
startled brown eyes of an owl.
Huddled in her grey fur against the
sofa cushions, she had a strange resemblance to a captive owl, bunched in its
soft feathers against the wires of a cage. The supple erectness of her figure
was gone, as though she had been broken by cruel exercise; as though there were
no longer any reason for being beautiful, and supple, and erect.
"So you've come back," he
repeated.
She never looked up, and never
spoke, the firelight playing over her motionless figure.
Suddenly she tried to rise, but he
prevented her; it was then that he understood.
She had come back like an animal
wounded to death, not knowing where to turn, not knowing what she was doing.
The sight of her figure, huddled in the fur, was enough.
He knew then for certain that
Bosinney had been her lover; knew that she had seen the report of his death —
perhaps, like himself, had bought a paper at the draughty corner of a street,
and read it.
She had come back then of her own
accord, to the cage she had pined to be free of - and taking in all the
tremendous significance of this, he
longed to cry: Take your hated
body, that I love, out of my house! Take away that pitiful white face, so cruel
and soft- before I crush it. Get out of my sight; never let me see you
again!"
And, at those unspoken words, he
seemed to see her rise and move away, like a woman in a terrible dream, from
which she was fighting to awake - rise and go out into the lark and cold,
without a thought of him, without so much as the knowledge of his presence.
Then he cried, contradicting what
he had not yet spoken, "No; stay there!" And turning away from her,
he sat down in his accustomed chair on the other side of the hearth.
They sat in silence.
And Soames thought: "Why is
all this? Why should I suffer so? What have I done? It is not my fault!"
Again he looked at her, huddled
like a bird that is shot and dying, whose poor breast you see panting as the
air is taken from it, whose poor eyes look at you who have shot it, with a
slow, soft, unseeing look, taking farewell of all that is good — of the sun,
and the air, and its mate.
So they sat, by the firelight, in
the silence, one on each side of the hearth.
And the fume of the burning cedar
logs, that he loved so well, seemed to grip Soames by the throat till he could
bear it no longer. And going out into the hall he flung the door wide, to gulp
down the cold air that came in; then without hat or overcoat went out into the
Square.
Along the garden rails a half-starved
cat came rubbing her way towards him, and Soames thought: "Suffering! when
will it cease, my suffering?"
At a front door across the way was
a man of his acquaintance named Rutter, scraping his boots, with en air of
"I am master here". And Soames walked on.
From far in the clear air the bells
of the church where he and Irene had been married were pealing in
"practice" for the advent of Christ, the chimes ringing out above the
sound of traffic. He felt a craving for strong drink, to lull him to indifference,
or rouse him to fury. If only he could burst out of himself, out of this web
that for the first time in his life he felt around him. If only he could
surrender to the thought: "Divorce her - turn her out! She has forgotten
you. Forget her!"
If only he could surrender to the
thought: "Let her go - she has suffered enough!"
If only he could surrender to the
desire: "Make a slave of her- she is in your power!"
If only even he could surrender to
the sudden vision: "What does it all matter?" Forget himself for a
minute, forget that it mattered what he did, forget that whatever he did he
must sacrifice something.
If only he could ad on an impulse!
He could forget nothing; surrender
to no thought, vision, or desire; it was all too serious; too close around him,
an unbreakable cage.
On the far side of the Square
newspaper boys were calling their evening wares, and the ghoulish cries mingled
and jangled with the sound of those church bells.
Soames covered his ears. The
thought flashed across him that but for a chance, he himself, and not Bosinney,
might be lying dead, and she, instead of crouching there like a shot bird with
those dying eyes -
1. Speak on the way Irene is
presented in the passage:
a) in the author's description and
b) in represented speech.
2. Pick out metaphors and similes
and analyse them.
3.
Discuss epithets in the author's speech and in represented speech.
4.
Analyse represented speech used in the passage and its peculiarities.
5.
Pick out cases of the combination of represented speech with direct
speech and speak on the effect achieved.
6. Speak on the function of
repetition.
7.
Discuss the images the author repeatedly resorts to describe Irene.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
THE GREAT GATSBY
The passage deals with the
description of the major character of the novel and American society after
World War I.
He did extraordinarily well in the
war. He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne
bat ties he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns.
After the Armistice he tried frantically to get home, but some complication or
misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead. He was worried now -there was a
quality of nervous despair in Daisy's letters. She didn't see why he couldn't
come. She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see
him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the
right thing after all.
For Daisy was young and her
artificial world vas redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras
which set the rhythm of theyear, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of
life in newtunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the
"Beale Street Blues" while a hundred pairs of golden and silver
slippers shuffled the shining dust. At the gray tea hour there were always
rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces
drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the
floor.
Through this twilight universe
Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half
a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the
beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor
beside her bed. And all the time something within her was crying for a
decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be
made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality - that
was close at hand.
That force took shape in the middle
of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness
about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. Doubtless there was
a certain struggle and a certain relief. The letter reached Gatsby while he was
still at Oxford.
1. Speak on the subject-matter of
the passage.
2. What SDs are used in the first
paragraph to show the mood of the characters after World War I?
3. Analyse the stylistic
peculiarities (syntactical and phonetic) in the sentence "She was feeling
the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his
presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after
all."
4.
What EMs and SDs stress the contradictory character of bourgeois
society? (Pick out epithets, contextual antonyms, oxymoronic combinations,
etc.)
5.
Analyse the SDs of zeugma in the sentence "There was a wholesome
bulkiness about his person and his position", and say how it reveals the
author's attitude to Tom Buchanan.
6. Analyse the last two paragraphs
of the passage. Comment on the implication suggested by a kind of antithesis
"Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief, and the
unpredictability of the clinching sentence.
7. Summing up the analysis discuss
the SDs used to describe Daisy's "artificial world".
OSCAR
WILDE
AN IDEAL HUSBAND
Act I
Mrs. Chiveley, a cunning
adventuress, comes to sir Robert Chiltem - a prominent public figure with the
purpose of backmailing him. Mrs.Cheveley: Sir Robert, I will be quite frank
with you. I want you to withdraw the report that you had intended to lay before
the House, on the ground that you have reasons to believe that the
Commissioners have been prejudiced or misinformed, or something. Then I want
you to say a few words to the effect that the Government is going to reconsider
the question, and that you have reason to believe that the Canal, if completed,
will be of great international value. You know the sort of things ministers say
in cases of this kind. A few ordinary platitudes will do. In modern life nothing
produces such an effect as a good platitude. It makes the whole world kin. Will
you dc that for me?
Sir. RobertChiltern: Mrs. Cheveley
you cannot be serious in making me such a proposition!
Mrs.Cheveley: I am quite serious.
Sir Robert Chiltern (coldly): Fray allow me to believe that
you are not.
Mrs. Chevel ey (speaking with great deliberation and emphasis): Ah! but I am. And
if you do what I askyou, I... will pay you very handsomely!
Sir RobertChiltern: Pay me!
Mrs.Cheveley: Yes.
Sir RobertChiltern:! am afraid I
don't quite understand what you mean.
Mrs.Cheveley (leaning back on the sofa and looking at him): How very
disappointing! And I have come all the way from Vienna in order that you should
thoroughly understand me.
Sir Robert Chiltern: I fear I don't.
Mrs. Chevel e у (in. her most
nonchalant manner): My dear Sir Robert, you are a man of the world, and you
have your price, I suppose. Everybody has nowadays. The drawback is that most
people are so dreadfully expensive. I know I am. I hope you will be more
reasonable in your terms.
Sir Robert Chiltern (rises Indignantly): If you will allow me, I
will call your carriage for you. You have lived so long abroad, Mrs. Cheveley,
that you seem to be unable to realize that you are talking to an English
gentleman.
Mrs.Cheveley (detains him by touching his arm with her fan, and keeping it there
while she is talking): I realize that I am talking to a man who laid the
foundation of his fortune by selling to a Stock Exchange speculator a Cabinet
secret.
Sir Robert Chiltern (biting his lip): What do you mean?
Mrs. Cheveley (rising andfacing him): I mean that I know the real origin of your
wealth and your career, and I have got your letter, too.
Sir Robert С h i 11 e r n: What letter?
Mrs. Cheveley (contemptuously): The letter you wrote to Baron Amheim, when you
were Lord Radley's secretary, telling the Baron to buy Suez Canal shares — a
letter written three lays before the Government announced its own purchase.
Sir Robert Chiltern (hoarsely): It is not true.
Mrs. Cheveley: You thought that
letter had been destroyed. How foolish of you! It is in my possession.
Sir Robert Chiltern: The affair to
which you allude was no more than a speculation. The House of Commons had not
yet passed the bill; it might have been rejected.
Mrs.Cheveley: It was a swindle. Sir
Robert. Let us call things by their proper names. It makes everything simpler.
And now I am going to sell you that letter, and the price I ask for it is your
public support of the Argentine scheme. You made your own fortune out of one
canal. You must help me and my friends to make our fortunes out of another!
Sir Robert Chiltern: It is
infamous, what you propose — infamous!
Mrs. Cheve ley: Oh, no! This is the
game of life as we all have to play it. Sir Robert, sooner or later!
Sir Robert Chiltern: I cannot do
what you ask me.
Mrs.Cheveley: You mean you cannot
help doing it. "You knowyou are standing on the edge of a precipice. And
it is not for you to make terms. It is for you to accept them. Supposing you
refuse -
Sir Robert Chiltern: Whatthen?
Mrs. Cheveley: Mydear Sir Robert,
whatthen? You are ruined, that is all! Remember to what a point your Puritanism
in England has brought you. In oil days nobody pretended to be a bit better
than his neighbors. In fact, to be a bit better than one's neighbour was
considered excessively vulgar and middle-class. Nowadays, with our modem mania
for morality, every one has to pose a' a paragon of purity, incorruptibility,
and all the other seven deadly virtues - and what is the result? You all go
over like ninepins - one after the other. Not a year passes in England without
somebody disappearing. Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a
man - now they crush hem. And yours is a very nasty scandal. You couldn't
survive it. If it were known that as a young man, secretary to a great and
important minister, you sold a Cabinet secret for a large sum of money, and
that was the origin of your wealth and career, you would be hounded out of
public life, you would disappear completely And after all, Sir Robert, why
should you sacrifice your entire future rather than deal diplomatically with
your enemy? For the moment I am your enemy I admit it! And I am much stronger
than you are. Tie big battalions are on my side. You have a splendid position,
but it is your splendid position that makes you so vulnerable. You can't defend
it! And I am in attack. Of course I have not talked morality to you. You must
admit h fairness that I have spared you that. Years ago you did a clever,
unscrupulous thing; it turned out a great success. You owe to it your fortune
and position. And now you hive got to pay for it. Sooner or later we have all
to pay for what we do. You have to pay now: Before I leave you to-right, you
have got to promise me to suppress your report, aid to speak in the House in
favour of this scheme.
Sir Robert Chilter: What you ask is
impossible.
Mrs.Cheveley: You must make it
possible. You are going to make it possible. Sir Robert, you know whatyour
English newspapers are like. Suppose that when I leave this house I drive down
to some newspaper office, and give them this scandal and the proofs of it!
Think of their loathsome joy, of the delight they would have in dragging you
down, of the mud and mire they would plunge you in. Think of the hypocrite with
his greasy smile penning his leading article, and arranging the foulness of the
public placard.
Sir Robert Chiltern: Stop! You want
me to withdraw the report and to make a short speech stating that I believe
there are possibilities in the scheme?
Mrs. Cheveley (sifting down on the sofa): Those are my terms.
Sir Robert Chiltern (in a low voice): I will give you any
sum of money you want.
Mrs.Cheveley: Even you are not rich
enough. Sir Robert, to buy back your past. No man is.
1. Note the structure of the
excerpt, the role and the character of the author's remarks.
2. Note the blending of colloquial
and literary variants of language in the speech of the characters.
3. Pick out sentences of
epigrammatic character in Mrs. Cheveley's speech and dwell on the typical
features of bourgeois society revealed in them.
4.
Comment on the connotation of the word "gentleman" in Sir
Chiltern's indignant speech: "You seem to be unable to realize that you
ere talking to an English gentleman".
5. Note the peculiar use of the
verbs: "to buy", "to sell", "to pay" in the
speech of the characters. What insight into bourgeois society is given through
manipulations with these words.
6.
Discuss the EMs and SDs used by Mrs. Cheveley in her monologues. Whit
insight into Mrs. Cheveley's character is given through the EMs and SDs she
uses.
7.
Speak on the SDs used by Mrs. Cheveley to characterise the English
press.
8. Comment on the language used by
Sir Robert Chiltern and Mrs. Cheveley and say how the author shows their characters
through their speech.
9.
Summing up the discussion of the scene speak on Wilde's exposure of the
evils of bourgeois society.
ROBERT FROST
THE KITCHEN CHIMNEY
1 .Builder, in building the little house,
In every way you may please yourself;
But please please me in the kitchen chimney:
Don't build me a chimney upon a shelf.
2.However far you must go for bricks.
Whatever they cost a-piece or a pound,
Buy me enough for a full-length chimney
And build the chimney clear from the ground.
3.1t's not that 1 am greatly afraid of fire,
But I never heard of a house that throve
(And I know of one that didn't thrive)
Where the chimney started above the stove.
4.And I dread the ominous stain of tar
That there always is on the papered walls,
And the smell of fire drowned in rain
That there always is when the chimney's false.
5. A shelf s for a clock or vase or picture.
But I don't see why it should have to bear
A chimney that only would serve to remind me
Of castles I used to build in air.
1.
Pick out cases in which Frost gives concrete descriptions of building
the kitchen chimney.
2. Comment on the poet's address to
the builder that opens the first stanza and speak on the peculiar use of the
words "please" in this stanza.
3.
Say why it is important to "build the chimney clear from the
ground". Note the implication in the third stanza "But I never heard
of a house that throve (and I know of one that didn't thrive) where the chimney
started above the stove".
4. Comment on the poet's dread of
"the ominous stain of tar" (the fourth stanza) and say what may be
implied in the lines: 'And the smell of fire drowned in rain that there always
is when the chimney's false".
5. Speak on the meaning of the
expression "to build castles in the air" and say why the poet alludes
to this expression in the conclusion of his poem.
6. Comment on the conversational
tone Frost builds into his verse. Speak on the EMs and SDs that show,
"Frost's poems are people talking" as one of his critics maintained.
7. Discuss the form of the poem,
its rhythm and rhyme.
8. Summing up the analysis speak
about the message of the poem and the main SDs employed by the poet.
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
SONNET 116
1. Let me not to the marriage of
true minds.
2. Admit impediments. Love is not
love.
3. Which alters when it alteration
finds.
4. Or bends with the remover to
remove.
5. O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark.
6. That looks on tempests, and is
never shaken.
7. It is the star to every
wandering bark.
8. Whose worth's unknown, although
his height be taken.
9. Love's not Time's fool, though
rosy lips and cheeks.
10. Within his bending sickle's
compass come.
11. Love alters not with his brief
hours and weeks.
12.
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
13.
If this be error and upon me proved.
14.
I never writ, nor man ever loved.
1. Be ready to paraphrase and
interpret any part of the sonnet.
2. Speak on the idea of the sonnet.
3. Discuss the structure of the
sonnet.
4.
Find the modifiers of rhythm that are used in the sonnet and comment on
them.
5. Speak on the rhymes of the
sonnet: a) cases of imperfect rhyme; b) the rhyme of the epigrammatic lines.
6. Discuss the idea of the
epigrammatic lines.
7. Find cases of metaphors and
metaphoric periphrases employed in the sonnet and comment on them.
8. Discuss the SD used by the poet
in the description of Time.
9. Find cases of alliteration (and
other sound repetition) that help to bring out the idea of the sonnet (lines
3,4).
10.
State the stylistic function of the interjections: "O, no!"
(lines 5).
11.
Summing up the analysis of the sonnet speak on the poet's conception of
love and the various SDs used to bring the poet's idea home. Express your own
attitude to the subject.
WILLIAM
WORDSWORTH
THE DAFFODILS
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
1. Analyse the rhythmical
arrangement and rhymes of the poem.
2. Comment on the contextual
meanings of the metaphor "dance" (and "dancing") in the
poem and its stylistic function.
3. Speak on the epithets and
metaphors used to describe flowers in the poem.
4. Speak on the SDs employed to
characterize the state of mind of the poet.
5.
Summing up the analysis say what SDs are used to describe nature and
what is the poet's attitude to it.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
SONNET73
1. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
2. When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
3. Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
4. Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
5. In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
6. As after sunset fadeth in the west,
7. Which by and by black night doth take away,
8. Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
9. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
10. That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
11. As the death-bed whereon it must expire
12. Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
13. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong
14. To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
1. Read the sonnet and be ready to
translate and paraphrase any part of it.
2. Speak on the structure of the
sonnet.
3. Speak on the idea of the sonnet
and on the images the poet resorts to in describing his decline.
4. Comment on the implication in
the phrase "consumed with that which it was nourish'd by". Note the
contrast between the words "to consume" and "to nourish",
which are contextual antonyms here.
5. Discuss the thought expressed in
the epigrammatic lines of the sonnet.
6.
Comment on the following assertion made by a critic that
"Shakespeare thought in terms of metaphors".
7. Discuss the use of metaphors in
the sonnet. Use the following questions as a guide: a) What kinds of metaphors
are used in the sonnet? b) From where does the poet draw his metaphors? c) What
idea is revealed through the metaphors employed in the sonnet?
8. Иск out the cases where periphrasis is used, and comment on them.
9. State what SDs are used in the
poet's description of night (lines 7,8) and comment on them.
10. Pick out the archaic words and
forms which occur in the sonnet and explair use there.
11. State what syntactical SD is
used in the first line of the sonnet, find similar cases (lines 5, 9, 13) and
comment on them.
12. Pick out cases of parallelism
and discuss the function of this SD in the sonnet.
13. Note deviations from the
conventional rhythmical pattern (in line 8) and comment on them.
14. Discuss the possible use of a
modifier of rhythm (spondee) in line 14: 'To love that well which thou must
leave ere long".
15.
Summing up the analysis of the sonnet speak on its message and the main
SDs used by the poet to achieve the desired effect.
CONTENTS
General Notes on Styles and
Stylistics................................... 1
Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices....................7
Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices .................... 10
Syntactical Stylistic Devices
............................................... 18
Functional Styles of the English Language........................... 21
Assignments for stylistic
analysis........................................ 27
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