ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

SOME SELECTED POEMS IN ENGLISH

BY ETHIOPIAN POETS: A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

BY

ABEBA AMARE

AUGUST, 2002
 SOME SELECTED POEMS IN ENGLISH
BY ETHIOPIAN POETS: A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement

for The Degree of Master of Arts in Literature
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

By

ABEBA AMARE

AUGUST, 2002
 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

SOME SELECTED POEMS IN ENGLISH

BY ETHIOPIAN POETS: A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

BY

ABABA AMARE

Approved by:

_____________________ _______________

Advisor Signature

_____________________ ______________

Examiner Signature

_____________________ ______________

Examiner Signature
 ACNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost my thanks go to the Almighty God for providing me everything that I
needed for this research.

I am deeply grateful to my advisor Dr. Akalu Getaneh for his consultation, kind
encouragement and understanding. I could not have been able to come out with this study if he
did not patiently and seriously read my thesis and provided me with valuable comments to
improve it.

I am greatly indebted to Dr. Abiye Daniel for his kind cooperation in lending me his Ph.D
thesis. My gratitude also goes to my only and beloved sister Yibralem Amare for her financial
and moral support.

I would like to express my great appreciation for Geta Mekonnen for providing me with
Solomon Deressa's poems, which were hardly possible to find. W/o Fana Workneh deserves a
lot of thanks for supporting me in typing my thesis.

I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation and thanks to Meskerem Abebe for the kind moral,
and financial support during my education and in the process of writing this thesis.

I also thank and express my gratitude to my friends Misrak Tarekegn, Girma Mengeste, Dereje
Seyum and Zerihun Taddesse for their kind encouragement.

- 1 -
It is impossible to list all people who have contributed in one way or another in the process of
undertaking this thesis. Indeed, some have requested anonymity. I am most appreciative of their
cooperation and courtesy.

- 2 -
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……. ........................................................................ i
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study.....................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................3
1.3 Objective of the Study.........................................................................3
1.4 Significance of the Study ....................................................................4
1.5 Scope of the Study...............................................................................4
1.6 Methodology of the Study...................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ..........................7
CHAPTER THREE: THE CONCEPTS IN FOCUS ......................................16
3.1 Style ...................................................................................................16
3.2 Stylistics ............................................................................................21
3.3 A Framework of Stylistic Analysis ...................................................34
3.3.1 Foregrounding.........................................................................37
3.3.2 Deviation .................................................................................40
3.3.3 Parallelism...............................................................................48
CHAPTER FOUR:............................................................................................55
4.1 A Stylistic Analysis of the Poems of Tsegaye G/Medhen................55
4.2 Solomon Deressa and his Style of Versification ..............................87
4.3 Eyasu Gorfu and Samples of his Poems in View... ........................105
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...........................................123
APPENDEX I Selected Poems of Tsegaye G/Medhen ..............................129
APPENDEX II Selected Poems of Solomon Deressa.................................132
APPENDEX III Selected Poems of Eyasu Gorfu ........................................138
BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................144
 ABSTRACT

This study is concerned with a stylistic analysis of some selected English poems of three
poets; namely Tsegaye G/Medhen, Solomon Deressa and Eyasu Gorfu. This research
focuses on how these poets communicate their ideas through language choices. Therefore,
the central purpose of this thesis is to explore the language use of the poets and find out how
the language conveys meanings in each given poem and bring out the recurrent themes in
each poet's work. The method adopted in this study is a stylistic approach. Thus, noting and
examining unique features of the poems and their relationships as central too stylistic
approach, the analysis of the poems has been systematically carried out.

The other aim of this study is to reveal the effectiveness of the stylistic analysis approach in
bringing out meaning of the poems and arriving at valid interpretation of literary texts.

This thesis has four chapters. The first chapter is a general introduction of the research
work. The second chapter surveys different critical reviews and theses related to this
research. The third chapter offers an overview of the concepts in focus i.e. it discusses the
concepts of style, stylistics and the basic framework of stylistic analysis, which are the
analytical tools in the stylistic analysis of the selected poems.

The last chapter, which is chapter four deals with the actual analysis of the selected poems.
Thus, in section one the poems of Tsegaye G/Medehen are examined with the framework of
stylistic analysis. In the second section Solomon Deressa's poems are analysed through the
same method and in the third section the poetry of Eyasu Gorfu are scrutinized.

In the final section, which is the conclusion part, the findings of the researcher are briefly
presented.

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 CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As a student of literature in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, the

researcher has been offered with different courses in literary theory and criticism. These

courses expose students of literature to different views and recent approaches in literary

criticism. For instance, in one of the courses the researcher has been introduced to an

approach that shows how poems are analysed. This approach is known as a stylistic

analysis that focuses on close attention to the language of the text. The initial idea for

conducting this research was first conceived when the writer of this paper was introduced

with this approach. In this school of thought literary texts are analysed in terms of their

linguistic features and contextual factors noticeable in the texts. Hence, the researcher

furthered her reading in relation to the subject and discovered that developments in the

analysis of a literary work have shifted their focus of attention from traditional criticism to

the new age of stylistic analysis which is ".... the study of literary discourse from a

linguistics orientation" (Widdowson: 1975: 3).

From the above explanation we can infer the usefulness of the stylistic approach for an in-

depth and detailed analysis of poems. As a matter of fact, the researcher thinks that literary

criticism should be improved by a close study of the language of the text. The researcher

decides to apply the approach to the critical examination of Ethiopian poems in English.

Poetry is commonly associated with highly stylistic expressions. Leech (1969: 2) suggests

that these basic stylistic expressions “… can not be explained without recourse to linguistic
studies. As a meeting ground of linguistic and literary studies, stylistics is the field within

which these basic questions lie". As a result, the conception of the researcher towards this

study was inspired by the desire to match the theory with analysis, following the mainstream

of language-oriented literary criticism.

The research focuses on the poems of three poets, namely Tsegaye G/Medhen, Solomon

Deressa and Eyasu Gorfu. Eyasu Gorfu's two poetic works are entitled Wild Oats (1974) and

Poems of Thoughts and Solitude (1974), which are found in book form. Tsegaye's poems are

taken from the magazine Ethiopia Observer (1965, Vol.9. No.1), while Solomon's poems

are taken from the Journal of African Arts (1969, Vol.2. No.1). The researcher is inspired to

do her research on these three poets for a number of reasons. The first is that the two poets

(Tsegaye and Solomon) are well known for their poems written in Amharic and as a result

they established a good reputation in the trend of Ethiopian literature. Secondly, although

they are well known for their Amharic poems the researcher believes that their English

poems are not adequately studied. Thirdly, since the three poets are contemporaries, (the

poems are published almost in the same decade) and the issues reflected in their poems have

some thematic connection, therefore, the works of these poets are chosen. Eyasu Gorfu,

although he is not known in the literary circle like the other two poets, has contributed two

poetry books and most of his poems seem to reflect similar themes with those of the two

poets' works. Hence, in the course of exploration regarding the poems of these three poets,

the fact that they are not broadly and adequately analysed with the stylistic approach further

strengthen the decision of the researcher to adhere to the subject matter.

2
1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The researcher feels that not enough attention has been given to the systematic approach i.e.

to the language-oriented or text-centred approach in analysing and understanding literary

texts. Hence, the researcher decides to apply a stylistic approach in analysing and

interpreting some of the English poems written by Ethiopian authors. In this regard she sets

out to analyse and interpret the poems of Tsegaye G/Medehen, Solomon Deressa and Eyasu

Gorfu with this language- based approach so as to explicate the meanings of the given

poems and to show that stylistics is one of the useful approaches in analysing and

appreciating literary works. This is so because the approach is considerably descriptive to

understand the language, objective and focuses mainly on the literary text under study. By

adopting the stylistic approach, the language of the poems can be analysed to find out the

meanings they hold.

1.3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The study is conducted with the aim of examining the language of the selected poems by

way of providing a better understanding and appreciation of the artistry. As Leech & Short

(1981:2) assert, "the poet ... does 'interesting things' with language ... in poetry, aesthetic

effect cannot be separated from the creative manipulation of the linguistic code ... inherent

in the language." This is so because whatever the writer 'does' can be revealed through a

stylistic analysis of the language. This study, hence, sets out to interpret some selected

poems of Tsegaye G/Medehen, Solomon Deressa and Eyasu Gorfu, with the framework of

stylistic analysis. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to perform a stylistic

analysis of the selected poems in order to discover how language is used in conveying the

3
meanings in each given poem. As it has been mentioned in the preceding part of this

chapter, there is a need to improve the method of literary analysis in order to make a

warranted interpretation and appreciation of literary texts. The study also explores the

effectiveness of applying the stylistic approach in analysis of literary works. In doing so,

this research endeavours to carry out analysis of the selected poems with the help of the

analytical tools drawn from linguistics. This is to substantiate how the devices of stylistic

analysis help to identify the writer's use of language for an easy grasp of the meaning of the

text. This research, therefore, offers the main lines of thinking, that the relatively advanced

stylistic has adopted.

1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Since research in this area of study had not been adequately conducted both at the

undergraduate and graduate levels at the Addis Ababa University, it is hoped that this study

may have its own contribution as it applies the stylistic method in the analysis of Ethiopian

literary works, which have not been broadly explored and examined. Generally speaking,

the outcome of the study might be of some contribution to research in the field of literature

as it may provide information on the significance of stylistics for other researchers in the

field.

1.5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This thesis is concerned with a study of some selected poems written in English by Tsegaye

G/Medehen, Solomon Deressa and Eyasu Gorfu. Among their collection, six poems are

selected from each poet by identifying that they signify the styles of each poet and reveal

prominence of themes. In the course of writing the thesis; a number of sources are

consulted concerning the subject of stylistics. The researcher has tried to focus on the

4
discussion of the practical analysis since it is the central aim in this research. Since the basic

theoretical framework of the research is stylistics (including the concept of style) the study

endeavours to discuss the two concepts. Besides, the analytical frameworks, which are used

as tools to perform stylistic analysis, are included in the discussion. This is because the

stylistic devices employed as analytical frameworks are the means to extract the meanings

suggested in the poems. The present study focuses on the linguistic factors that exhibit

some degree of foregrounding, like deviation, parallelism and repetition. Hence in this

study, particular attention is given to the main linguistic levels, such as grammar, lexis,

phonology, syntax, semantics, morphology and graphology.

1.6 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The research is theoretical, analytical and descriptive in nature and draws on library

materials. Therefore, there will be discussion of the main concepts of style, stylistics and

the frameworks of stylistic analysis such as the notions of foregrounding, deviation,

parallelism, repetition and the linguistic levels in which these stylistic devices have

occurred. This research utilises modern ideas raised by contemporary scholars in the field of

stylistics. The approach adopted in this research is the stylistic approach, which is a

descriptive method. The elements examined will be those linguistic features that are closely

connected with the over all meaning of the poem. These could be lexis, syntax, semantics,

graphology and etc. The study adopts the revised method proposed by Geoffrey Leech

(1969) in his book A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry and Mick Short's (1996) Exploring

the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. Nevertheless, reference has been made to other

books of these scholars and other specialists in the area of the study.

5
The selection of the particular poems interpreted in this study is based on the recurrent

themes they reflect and the beliefs that the poems could manifest the styles of each poet.

Based on first intuitive reading, they are selected and analysed to discover how and why

language is used in communicating a certain message. For each poem a line number is given

and when a certain poem is described and analysed its number is indicated so as to bring the

linguistic evidence, which relates the description to the interpretation. Finally, copies of the

poems that are used in the analysis are appended. All the dates mentioned in the thesis are

according to Gregorian calendar.

6
 CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The researcher has been able to read critical reviews and research works that in one way or

another are related to the current study. In this regard, she came across five theses, which

are concerned with stylistic analysis and are presented to the Department of Foreign

Languages and Literature. Among these, two of them are B.A. theses while the other three

are Ph.D. theses. The other studies, which she came across, are related to Ethiopian poetry

in English. She has read through five works, four of them are reviews and critical articles

while the fifth one is a fully-fledged research at M.A. level. These theses will be duly

examined and an attempt will be made to point out the similarities and differences with the

current study.

Gize Demelash's (1997) B.A. thesis "The Relevance of Stylistics in the Teaching of Poetry

in the Course Verse and Drama" focuses on how useful the stylistic method is in teaching

poetry to students of Foreign Languages and Literature, who take the course "Verse and

Drama" in particular. She comments that students lack knowledge in poetry, because the

literature courses they had taken have not adequately prepared them for a further study in

the area. The study suggests that stylistic approach to literary analysis, with its emphasis on

textual language, is very useful in teaching literature as a subject, for it leads students to a

better understanding and appreciation of the literary text. However, except stating that the

stylistic approach is much better than the traditional way of teaching, she does not show

how she arrived at such a conclusion, as her research does not offer a comparative

study. Nonetheless, the present study shares a common element with Gize's as both

7
studies advocate a language-based approach to the study of literary texts. However, Gize's

study is mainly concerned with applying the stylistic method in teaching poetry for a

particular course. The present study does not restrict itself to the pedagogical aspect of

stylistics; it rather discusses the overall significance of the approach in analysing and

appreciating literary works. Besides, although both Gize and this researcher apply the

stylistic approach to examine literary texts, Gize's poems selected for analysis are foreign

poems, while the poems the researcher uses are Ethiopian poems written in English.

The other thesis which is related to this study is Yetenayet Abera's (1998) B.A. thesis

entitled "Foursome: A Discourse Stylistic Analysis." Yetenayet endeavoured to discuss the

concept of discourse analysis and its importance in understanding language in literary texts.

The basic objective of Yetenayet's paper is to show that employing a discourse analysis

approach in dramatic texts helps students of literature to improve their language efficiency.

Like Gize, Yetenayet suggests that the methodology used in the teaching of literature should

be a language-based approach and any language-based study should aim at increasing the

language proficiency of the learner. Since both stylistic and discourse analysis approach

basically pay attention to the aspects of language in the text and discourse analysis is a sub-

discipline in the field of stylistics, this study shares common interest with Yetenayet's essay.

Yet, discourse analysis is concerned with the analysis of drama while stylistic analysis is

mostly appropriate to the analysis of poetry. This is because the two approaches have their

own analytical framework and principles.

Another research presented to the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature is

Berhanu Matthews's Ph.D. thesis entitled "English Poetry in Ethiopia: the Relevance of

Stylistics in an EFL Context (1994)." The study, attempts to provide an overview

8
of the situation of English language and literature teaching in Ethiopia, so as to find out the

main reasons that have contributed to the decline of the role of literature and to examine

some features of the problems inherent in the current system. It explores the basic

theoretical issues both in literary criticism and stylistics and examines the implication of the

different views for literary text analysis and literary pedagogy. The study hence, proposes a

method that integrates language and literature in teaching English language to the EFL

students. The thesis suggests that since stylistics relates language and literature, it suits to

the EFL in the Ethiopian situation and reflects that the stylistic analysis approach provides

open-ended strategies and procedures of analysis and interpretation. It attempts to

demonstrate how the principles and techniques of stylistics could be practically

implemented in the classroom. The demonstration helps to show how the students identify

the linguistic features and make the analysis and interpretation of the texts. Berhanu's study

shares common features with the current study as the main focus of both studies lies on the

relevance of stylistics in the analysis and interpretation of literary texts. However, the

present study does not restrict itself to the pedagogical aspects of stylistics. It is concerned

with the overall significance of the approaches in analysing and interpreting literary texts,

particularly poetry and sets out to analyse and interpret the selected poems. Since it basically

shows how stylistics is an instrumental and helpful method for literature students to do

analysis of literary texts, Berhanu's study drives the researcher's inspiration to carry on this

study. This research can, therefore, be considered as one of those works that favour

stylistics as one of the suitable methods of examining literary texts.

Akalu Getaneh's (1997) Ph.D. thesis entitled "An Empirical and Comparative Study of

the Traditional Practical Criticism and the Innovative Stylistic Approaches in

9
Teaching Drama for Language and Literary Skills Development Purposes in An EFL

Context" is another research that is related to the current study. The study restricts itself to

the teaching of drama to third year extension Foreign Languages and Literature students at

Addis Ababa University. The objective of the study is to offer a systematic approach to

those students because, although they are required to understand and analyse literary texts,

they fail to do so as they are not taught how to apply any practical and systematic analytical

approach.

Adopting comparative methods, the researcher claims that those students who are taught the

stylistic approach performed better than those who are exposed to the literary criticism

approach. Based on his findings, he recommends that the learners at Addis Ababa

University who take drama courses should be taught systematic and text-based approach

rather than the literary criticism approach. The present study also advocates a systematic

and text-based approach in understanding and analysing literary texts as it helps to arrive at

a valid interpretation. However, Akalu's study incorporates different views and theories

regarding literary language and criticism whereas the present study limits itself to discussion

of the concepts of stylistics, the levels of interpretation and the actual analysis of the

selected poems. Hence, like the other studies, which are mentioned above, the focus of

Akalu's study is on the pedagogical contribution of stylistics towards enhancing the

linguistic and literary awareness of the students in the Department of Foreign Languages

and Literature. As said earlier, this research recommends applying a stylistic approach in

performing critical analysis of literary works. The analytical frameworks employed are

also different. Akalu uses the paradigms designed to analyse dramatic exts while the

current study employs devices that are designed to analyse poetic texts. The other

10
difference occurs on the fact that the previous study uses foreign drama texts for analysis

while this present study mainly examines Ethiopian poetry in English.

Abiye Daniel's (1998) Ph.D thesis entitled "African Literary Texts and Language-Based

Approach in ELT: A Study of Motivation," also shares common characteristics with the

current study. The main concern of the thesis is to examine motivation of the Freshman

students at the Addis Ababa University. The researcher, therefore, suggests that the English

language learners in the Freshman class seem to be less fluent and score low grades as a

result of lack of motivation. The author of the thesis attempts to bring together the idea of

providing appropriate materials (African Literary texts) and a language-based approach

(Stylistics) in order to enhance the learners' motivation in learning the English language.

Based on African texts as text, message and discourse, the researcher contends that the

learners can examine the different levels of the language (such as syntactic, lexical etc.)

through the stylistic approach. On the basis of the concept of Africanness, the texts have

been selected in terms of geographical and historical perspectives and among them are

included few Ethiopian literary texts, one of them is a poem of Tsegaye G/Medehen entitled

"Home Coming Son". This study shares common characteristic with Abiye's thesis as both

studies favour the language-based approach to analyse literary works. However, as it has

been mentioned earlier, Abiye's research uses the stylistic approach for pedagogical

purposes, while the current study applies the stylistic method to examine literary works to

bring out their suggested meaning and as a contribution to the development of literary

criticism in Ethiopia. Moreover, Abiye's study attempts to incorporate almost all genres by

employing novels, poems and plays for analytical purpose while the current study only deals

with some Ethiopian poems in English.

11
As indicated in the above discussion, each of the above mentioned studies serve their

purposes. Since all the previous studies call for a language-based approach in literary study,

this study can be seen as a kind of succession of the previous studies, thereby; the former

studies serve as springboards and inspired the researcher to the progress of the current

research.

The researcher also endeavours to assess related studies concerning Ethiopian poetry in

English. She came across few critical articles, reviews and a research work. William

Prouty's article entitled, "Look In: Look Out, the Poetry of Tsegaye Gebremedhin"

(Something, 1967) is one of the reviews considered here. Prouty suggests that Tsegaye's

poems reveal the themes of poverty, modernization, being African and being Ethiopian.

However, except for mentioning that these are the main themes, he has not attempted to

demonstrate how these themes are reflected in the poems. Prouty also comments that upon

examination, one finds that the chief thematic link between the poems has less to do with

the state of the world than it does with the state of the mind. This statement, however,

seems to contradict with his earlier statement since the themes of poverty, modernization,

being African and Ethiopian, are very much related with the state of the world. Concerning

style, he comments that since many of the poems are too long they tend to trap the reader

into a labyrinth of complication. Thus, he pointed out that the poems have 'uninteresting

form' and occasional 'verbal entanglement' as a result of defects of style. This statement

sounds a little bit inept, since the elements that make the poems' form 'uninteresting' have

not been clearly indicated in the discussion. In fact, the critic attempted to examine many of

Tsegaye's poems and in most cases his argument sounds sensible. However, the article

seems to lack a close examination of the poems as the reviewer has not attempted to support

12
his argument with evidence from the existing poems. The researcher believes that in the

present study, however, an attempt will be made to carry out a close examination of the

stylistic devices that help to impart the meaning of the poems.

Innes Marshal's review entitled "The Tone of Silence" which appeared in the magazine

Addis Reporter (1969), comments on Solomon Deressa's poems. She comments that

Solomon deals with simple words, Latinate vocabulary, invented words and highly personal

terms. However, the reviewer has not revealed which words are considered as simple,

Latinate and highly personal and how these elements affect the meaning of the poems. The

reviewer also remarks that Solomon, like an artist, casts visual images freely throughout his

poems, but she did not show how these visual images are created. Although the review

offers an insight about the poet and his poems, it does not exhaustively deal with the issues

raised in the article.

E. Huntsberger's (1973) Highland Mosaic: A Critical Anthology of Ethiopian Literature in

English is another critical anthology that deals with some of the poems that are considered

in the current study. Although the anthology is entitled, "Ethiopian Literature in English", it

surveys works which are originally written in Amharic but translated into English. In fact,

Huntsberger includes some works which are originally written in English and among them

are included the poems of Tsegaye G/Medhen and Solomon Deressa. Concerning Tsegaye's

Poems, he comments that the poet is known for his impressive language and power of

imagery. The critic fails to identify and show how Tsegaye employed these elements and to

what extent the elements affect the meaning of the poems. Huntsberger also, comments on

the poems of Solomon Deressa as intellectual poems, however criticises them as devoid of

Ethiopian reference i.e. for not considering the problem of the country.

13
The present researcher feels that this assertion seems not reasonable as the poet has few

poems that deal with the Ethiopian issue; moreover he has the right to write about anything

he likes. Thus, it seems better to see what the poets tried to convey and how the message is

transmitted through the poems, instead of criticising them for what they do not write about.
Debebe Seifu's (1980) M.A. thesis "Ethiopian Literature in English" shares some common

characteristics with the current study. In the study, Debebe has attempted to examine the

state of Ethiopian Literature in English and he has classified the whole work according to

their genres. Hence concerning Ethiopian poetry in English, he dealt with the poems of

Tsegaye G/Medehen and Eyasu Gorfu in one chapter and this aspect is related with the

current study. Debebe's overall approach is a thematic one with a prime consideration of the

ideology of the then existing society. Therefore, he claims that Tsegaye is a conscientious

poet with a strong commitment to the welfare of the black people and the review of their

culture, while Eyasu is engaged with topics that have no significant relevance to his country.

It could be said that Debebe discusses the poems in terms of nationalist attitude and the

ideology prevailed at that time. For instance, when he examines "Home Coming Son" a

poem by Tsegaye, he remarks that the poet reflects his Pan-African concern and in "Ours"

and "Addisaba" he committed himself to the issue of his "mother land". Thus, he points out

that Tsegaye's main themes are concerned with the idea of pan-Africanism as his poems

focus on the loss of African identity. Debebe admires Tsegaye for he calls upon the

Africans to take deep roots in their culture and moreover for challenging imperialism.

Regarding the techniques of Tsegaye's poems, he remarks that the poet uses powerful

imagery and this enables him to help to change the attitudes in the minds of the readers.

14
Similarly, he looked through how Tsegaye employs metaphor and figurative language in

order to convey his message and change the attitude of the reader. Yet, he did not clearly

show how these elements affect or change the attitude of the reader.

He also examines the poems of Eyasu Gorfu and comments that since in many of his poems
Eyasu deals too much with abstract notions, such as truth, love, beauty, good and evil, it is
difficult to grasp his ideas with clarity and certainty. In the present researcher's opinion,
clarity could be maintained by close examination of the way the poet presented his ideas.
Debebe remarks that because Eyasu tackles general subjects like truth and love and treats
them in philosophical vein, it becomes difficult to locate specific setting and exact reference
to his poems. In this case, he argues that Eyasu does not reflect the 'burning issue' of his
country. This statement sounds rather unjust as any poet has the poetic license to engage
himself /herself with subjects that interest him/her. It seems that Debebe attempted to
discredit the effort of the poet only because he does not focus on the situations of his
country and mainly dealt with abstract notions. However, analysis reveals that Eyasu has
few poems that deal with concerns of the social problems existing in his country. Debebe's
research and the current study are related in that they both deal with the poems of Tsegaye
G/Medehen and Eyasu Gorfu for analytical purposes. However, since Debebe incorporates
all genres (except the short story) with the aim of surveying and examining the state of
Ethiopian Literature in English and employing a thematic approach, it differs from the
research under study. Besides, since this study mainly focuses on the language use of the
poems in communicating meaning notably difference marked between the two research
works.

In the foregoing discussion, the researcher has tried to review the research works that
exhibit some bearings with the current study and an attempt has been made to discuss the
similarities and differences, which exist among the previous researches and the present one.
In the next chapter an attempt has been made to discuss the concepts of style and stylistics.

15
 CHAPTER THREE

3. THE CONCEPTS IN FOCUS

This chapter is devoted to throwing some light on the theoretical aspects of the research

work. The term stylistics is central to this study. Nevertheless, since stylistics is derived

from the word 'style' as a branch of literary study (Fowler, 1973:185 & Turner, 1973:13),

the definition of the concept of style is also included. Style, which is particularly related

with written literary texts, is the term, which concerns this study. Therefore, these two

concepts need to be given due consideration so that the concept they represent may come

out vividly. Both concepts will be looked at briefly in order to set-up a conceptual

framework that would help to make things clear and lay the foundation for the chapter to

follow. First, let us very briefly recall some of the ways in which style has been addressed.

3.1. STYLE

Style is one of the oldest and widest concepts in literary criticism that has been the subject

of discussion for a long time and considered as "...the most tormented... its meaning

controversial... its relevance disputed..." (Fowler, 1973:185), "... a highly complex

phenomenon... [and] notoriously slippery and difficult to codify into concrete terms that

allow operational definition" (Enkvist in Spencer, 1964: X and in Van Dijk, 1985:50).

Others, similarly, reveal the difficulty of defining style by saying that "style is one of the

most vexed terms in the vocabulary of literary criticism" (Lodge, 1966:49) and "... a

recognised but elusive phenomenon ... [which] evades precision" (Spencer, 1964:59).

These views are indicative of the difficulty of obtaining a precise definition of style,

16
as it is approached from different perspectives. The fact that these views are indicative of

the difficulty of defining style, it needs not lead us to abandon the concept.

Some traditional literary critics regard style as a desirable quality of the text. As a matter of

fact, the term has been taken to describe a text as 'good' or 'bad' writing. Style is not to be

characterised as 'good' or 'bad' in an absolute sense, for, as Enkvist (in Van Dijk, 1985:19)

puts it, style does not necessarily mean the characteristic of good texts, rather "style can be

regarded as a quality of all texts since there is no text without style." When one approaches

a text stylistically, it is not the concern of the analyst to make such judgements. The reason

is that any use of language is apt to stylistic investigation. In fact, some texts can be rich for

such investigation.

Conception of style is mostly based on the familiar expression of Buffoon's "style is the

man" (Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1965:815). Buffoon asserts the essential

particularity of an individual writer's work. Such definitions, in a general sense, reflect the

merit of authorial style: the unique writing which makes one writer different from another.

A more recent view is Riffaterre's (in Chatman & Levin, 1967:413) definition which states

that "style is understood as the emphasis (expressive, affective, aesthetic) added to the

information conveyed by the linguistic structure, without alteration of meaning, which is to

say that language expresses and style stresses." For Riffaterre, style is merely the expressive

and emotive constituent of language, which is added to the bare message.

Milic (in Chatman & Levin, 1967:448) attempts to define the term, as "the individual's style

is the aggregate of his stylistic selections from the particular state of the language that he

construes as the real one of his time." In this regard for Milic style consists of choices that a

writer makes from among the various possibilities that the language offers.

17
The other approach takes style as deviation and in this regard Charles E. Osgood (in

Sebeok, 1960:293) defines style as "an individual's deviations from norms for the situation

in which he is encoding these deviations being in the statistical properties of those structural

features for which there exists some degree of choice in his code". Here, Osgood

emphasises the notion of deviation as the individual writer's choice from among the

different levels of the language he/she employs to impart the meaning. In fact, deviation

can occur in a literary work and the study of style in terms of deviation gives us a basis for a

stylistic study. However, taking the notion of deviation as the only characteristic of style

reflects the limitation of the definition. As a matter of fact, other features can also

characterise style, like, high regularity of language features in a text.

Recently, the dominant idea, which is shared by many scholars in the field of linguistics and

stylistics regarding style, is the study of style as the study of the literary text. Consequently,

Leech, for instance, suggests that the individual text is "the most specific domain of style

and in many ways the most valuable starting point for stylistics" (in Van Dijk, 1985:39).

Basically, the argument in this regard is that, since style is characteristically and explicitly

the property of the language of the text, it should be approached through the text itself since

the language of the text unfolds the style of the writer. Accordingly, Jakobson in his seminal

essay "Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics" (in Sebeok, 1960) sees style as an

inherent property of the literary text.

In this regard, the possible ground for the study of style of one particular author or period is

the language of the text. In their book Style in Fiction, Leech and Short (1981:12) discuss

this issue as follows:

18
 A text, whether considered as a whole work or as an extract from a
work is the nearest we can get to a homogeneous and specific use of
language. It is therefore the natural starting place for the study of
style. In a text we can study style in more detail, and with more
systematic attention to what words or structures are chosen in
preference to others.

Therefore consideration of the text in its individual whole is the first and most important

task in the study of style. It has been pointed out that the literary text offers the view of the

author. "If the poet succeeded in doing it," states Wimsatt, "then the poem itself shows

what he was trying to do" (1970:4). In this way the language of the text can be seen as a

means of discovering the style of an individual. Regarding this undertaking, Leech and

Short (1981:257) claim "language is a vehicle of communication whereby one person

conveys messages to another for a range of different purposes." The language that is used by

the author to transmit the message he/she had in mind manifests the style and artistry of the

work. Leech and Short (p.10) reflect this view when they say "one should think of style as

the linguistic characteristics of a particular text ... [to] be on the safest ground". Therefore,

while the language of a text is examined or investigated, i.e. when our response is basically

to the use of language on the page, then it is possible to say that the style of a text is under

examination. As Leech and Short (p.10) further state, " the language of a literary text can be

a means to a fuller understanding and appreciation of the writer's artistic achievement".

Enkvist's (in Spencer, 1964:28) definition of style focuses on the understanding of the

concept as a combination of linguistic elements in a given specific situation. He contends,

"the style of a text is a function of the aggregate of the ratios between the frequencies of its

phonological, grammatical and lexical items, and the frequencies of the corresponding items

in a contextually related norm". According to this definition, style is maintained as a result

of the combination of more than one linguistic element characteristically determined

19
by the context. The notion of style as the frequency of linguistic items in relation to the

context, of course, is an essential point in defining style. Hence, this definition, as we have

observed, includes the notion of context as another element in the study of literary style.
In this regard, Geoffrey Leech in his article entitled "Stylistics" (in Van Dijk, 1985:39)

defines the term as "... how language use varies according to varying circumstances, e.g.

circumstances of period, discourse situation or authorship". Therefore, a study of style

should be constructed in terms of the examination of literary texts that have different

contextual relationships. In Enkvist words "style, then, is a link between context and

linguistic form" (in Spencer, 1964:33).

Perhaps, we can now draw a few general conclusions about the concept of style. Primarily,

when we say style, we refer to the style of written literary texts and with this conception;

style has a lot to do with the way language is used in a literary text. Owing to this view,

definitions of style incorporate choices or selection of some features among others from a

given language. Hence as Leech and Short (1981:10) explain by adopting Saussure's terms,

style refers to parole rather than langue. Style, is therefore, language in a text, i.e. selection,

combination and deviation, expressed with language in a contextual situation added with the

feelings these features inspire in us.

In light of this let us conclude this section by citing the following quotation, which reads:

…The style of a text involves the progressive development and

expectation of a response which results from a primary, but not an
exclusive, concentration on an examination of the complex of
linguistic features possessed by that text… (Spenser, 1964:104).
In our discussion so far, we have seen some of the ways style has been defined, however we

could not find a definition which bind all features that need tot be considered in an

absolute sense. Nevertheless, the conception of style, which goes in accordance with the

20
notion of stylistics, is the one greatly considered in this study. That is style as language in a

text and its context including the reader's response. After this brief discussion about style,

the next section deals with the concept stylistics.

3.2. STYLISTICS

This section, hence, focuses on the concept of stylistics and the discussion will be presented

by addressing the main currents in contemporary stylistics. Accordingly, the researcher

deliberately avoided discussion of the trends in literary theory and criticism as well as the

debates concerning the issue of language and literature, for these matters had been discussed

by many different scholars and thoroughly treated in the Ph.D theses written by Berhanu

Mattews (1994), Akalu Getaneh (1997) and Abiye Daniel (1998).

Stylistics, which is assumed to be a relatively new subject, is introduced as a discipline in

the 1960s (Verdonk, 1993:1 & Short, 1991:1085). It has a close link with Russian

Formalism and New Criticism thus essentially it is a formalist approach.

Despite the diversity of approaches, texts have been a long-standing object of literary study.

To say texts are the object of literary study means to focus on the language. Therefore,

stylistic "studies are primarily concerned with the examination of written language"

(Spencer, 1964:9). Nevertheless, stylistics at its early phase seems more of a linguistic

criticism, which was attested by the formalist, objectivist and scientific concept of

Jakobsonian orientation. Roman Jakobson in his Seminal essay "Closing Statement:

Linguistics and Poetics", appeals to an objective and scientific approach in literary criticism

which was founded on the science of linguistics. He, therefore claims, "since linguistics is a

global science of verbal structure, poetics may be regarded as integral part of linguistics "(in

Sebeok, 1960: 350).

21
In the current view, stylistics also shares the idea of language-based scrutiny of literary

materials. For instance, Leech in this respect points out that "…literature cannot be

examined in any depth apart from the language "(1969: 1). However, the Jakobsonian

approach seems much more distinctive since every utterance of the language in the text is

described with linguistic method, for it regards every linguistic utterance in poetry as

poetically significant. Therefore, stylistics at its initial stage has been strictly influenced by

Jakobson's objectivist example in literary study and tends to be epistemologically formalist.

In light of this consideration Short (1991: 1085) in his article "Literature and Language"

writes, "…given its emphasis on the language of the text, it is hardly surprising that early

stylistics was formalist in orientation".

Therefore, since stylistics at its early phase inevitably tends to be formalist, it has been

termed as formalist stylistics (Taylor & Toolan, in Weber, 1996: 88) or traditional stylistics

(Simpson, 1992). Accordingly, definitions of stylistics have been revolving around and

focusing on the perception of its objectivity and linguistically oriented characteristic in its

practice of literary study. Hence, it is defined: "stylistics means the study of style, with a

suggestion, from the form of the word, of a scientific or at least a methodical study" (Turner,

1973:8). Michael Riffaterre (as quoted by Lodge, 1966: 58) also asserts this observation

when he points out "subjective impressionism, normative rhetoric and premature aesthetic

evaluation have long interfered with the development of stylistics as a science, especially as

a science of literary study". Such definitions appeal to a study of literature in a pursuit of a

more precise and verifiable understanding of the formal elements; to reduce subjectively

perceived fact to an objective fact. So, formalist study by and large based on the linguistic

foundation, investigates the formal properties of literary texts, such as the occurrences

of repetition, parallelism, rhythm and instances of deviation from the accepted linguistic

norm.

22
In this regard, Chapman's (1973: 11) definition of stylistic says, "The linguistic study of

different styles is called stylistics". Since the orientation in formalist stylistics seeks more

of an objective procedure, the definitions also reflect this extreme position that is to focus

only on the formal properties using the linguistic method. In this respect, the literary text is

considered to revolve around itself, draining all of the information from the formal

properties within itself by descriptive methods, neglecting the function of literary elements

to interpretation and other aspects of literary texts, like, communicative interaction with the

reader. This makes analysis, consequently, highly mechanical and lifeless. To put it clearly

it is worth illustrating what Geoffrey Leech (1969: 6) observes:

The analytic approach to literature might appear to such a mind

objective and clinical, bent on destroying the sublime mysteries of
poetry and on reducing the study of literature to a set of lifeless
mechanical procedure.

One of the arguments raised by literary critics against stylistics is, its high objectivity and

scientific nature. Not only literary critics but also scholars in the realm of stylistics signify

"the problem with these formalist stylistic analysis is that they strike one as mechanical,

lifeless, sterile exercises and largely irrelevant to the interpretation of the literary work that

they are describing"(Weber, 1996: 2). These arguments in essence sound acceptable. This is

because, even though objective and scientific techniques are helpful in describing formal

elements of the text, literary expression is subjective and those subjective feelings, emotions

or thoughts cannot be always substituted by objective approach.

The concept of objectivity is parallel with the recent view of stylistics. However, the latter

does not aim to make criticism totally scientific; rather its objective is to put criticism in a

systematic way. Short and et.al (1998: 46) in this regard, argue what scientific objectivity

means as follows:

23
 For the stylistician, then to be objective means to be detaled,
systematic and explicit in analysis, to lay one's interpretative cards,
as it were, clearly up on the table.... Like the natural and social
scientists, we are human analysts, not machines. But like them....
we do think that it is incumbent on us (a) to produce proper
evidence and arguments for our claims (b) to make claims which
are falsifiable and (c) to be explicit and open about our claims and
the evidence for them. This does not constitute a claim to be
natural scientists, but merely to be systematic, open, honest and
rational.

This is the view that stylistics in current thinking holds, although a more traditional kind of

stylistics has been strictly formalist, text-immanent, consciously withheld subjective

judgements and detached itself from interpretation.

The linguistic technique, in this sense is useful for a systematic and scrutinised study of

literature. Moreover, as Leech (1969: 1-2) explains this issue "much of the basic vocabulary

of literary criticism ('metaphor', 'figurative', 'antithesis', 'irony', 'rhythm', etc.), cannot be

explained without recourse to linguistic notions. As a meeting - ground of linguistic and

literary study, stylistics is the field within which these basic questions lie". In this case,

linguistic notion of stylistic analysis is of a great help as far as it acts to support our

responses, not like the Jakobsonians assume and attempt to make us believe that it is an end

in itself. In fact, the preliminary and principal concern in literary study is to describe a text

in a considerably detailed manner. Nonetheless, to describe a text for mere description's

sake is one of the failures encountered by traditional stylistic approach.

Ann Cluysenaar in her book Introduction to Literary Stylistics (1976), precisely discusses

this as she says, "the mere linguistic description of a text is just applied linguistics not

'stylistics'.... linguistic description offers the stylistician (or literary critic) both too much and

too little. And this is why critics have sometimes accused stylistics of irrelevance to literary

concern" (p.16). This means that, when stylistic analysis stops at descriptive level and

24
ignores interpretation and evaluation, naturally it exposes itself to criticism. The argument

is that over-emphasis on description without considering interpretation is not the ultimate

goal of literary study. Besides, while only performing linguistic investigation of the text,

the stylistician may omit some features which are not linguistically describable, but play a

vital role in producing meaning of the text. Moreover, sometimes those linguistic features,

which are exhaustively identified, may not play any stylistic significance or may be devoid

of stylistic effect in that particular text. Linguistic description of texts, in spite of all what

have been said, should aim at critical interpretation, because the ultimate goal of literary

study is to interpret, bring out meaning and appreciate the text as a literary production.

Formalist stylistics, although exhibits some fundamental problems, produces some valuable

insights for stylistics in current thinking by providing methods and techniques.

Much recent stylistic trend which is based on readers' response theory has shown acute

awareness of readers' participation and their effect in interpretation. The basic argument in

the reader - response theory is that the reader is the one who creates meaning, hence, it

undermines the notion of the text as self - sufficient entity and its place in literary

interpretation. The proponents of this approach argue "if interpretation has set itself the task

of conveying the meaning of a literary text, obviously the text itself cannot have already

formulated that meaning" (Iser, 1978: 18), "... all poems and (novels and plays) were in

some sense, about their readers and that therefore the expression of the reader rather than

the 'text itself' was the proper object of analysis" (Fish, 1980: 21) and "we have a better

approach through the reader" (Riffaterre; 1967: 419). What these views imply is that the

disregard these people contend to the text as meaningful by itself but meaning is the

production of the reader. Based on the notion of the reader - response in the interpretation

25
process, Stanley Fish (1980) in his book, Is There a Text In This Class?, attacks stylistics for

its obsession with text, overemphasis on description and neglecting of the reader in

formulating meaning out of the literary text. Therefore, he proposes and advocates reader-

oriented stylistics or as he termed it, 'Affective Stylistics' (1980: 21). In this regard, the shift

is from text to reader and he holds the view that meaning is actualised in the "process of

reading and the reader's expectation, projection, conclusion, judgements and assumption".

(Fish, P.2). As a result, Fish claims, "it is the reader who 'makes' literature" (p.11).

Even though the theory holds 'only- the reader' conception tends to cause some problems,

stylistics acknowledges reader response stylistics, but focuses on the notions of both the

reader and the text as components in the production of meaning. Reader response

orientation is useful in stylistic analysis for the very reason that the reader is the one who

formulates meaning on the basis of what she/he discovers in the text and by interacting it

with his/her experience outside the text. Hence, this approach plays a vital role in the

reciprocal relationship of the text world with the reader's world in meaning formation, for

the reason that a text becomes literary only by virtue of its relationship with the reader and

vice versa. In stylistics, hence the relationship is two fold: the text provides the linguistic

and stylistic elements which potentially carry meaning and similarly the reader brings to the

text a network of experiences in literature and life, therefore, produces the ultimate meaning

attached to the literary text as a whole. As Iser puts it, "when one is reading a text, for that

is the text begins to unfold its potential, it is in the reader that the text comes to life" (1978:

19). In light of this understanding, the reader actually creates meaning guided by the

linguistic elements or printed symbols, which reside in the creative written corpus. This is

what modern stylistics or New Stylistics (Fowler 1975, Widdowson 1975, Leech 1969,

26
Leech and Short 1981, Verdonk 1993 and others) gradually has addressed as a development.

Consequently, it increasingly makes clear that meaning does not inherently reside in the text

as the formalist stylisticians claimed nor totally in the reader's interpretation as Fish and

other Reader-Response theoreticians insisted, but it is an effect produced by the interaction

of the literary text and the literary reader.

Widdowson (1992: x) states, "…the reader is the only agent whereby meaning can be

created." Here, he argues for the role the reader has in literary interpretation and objects the

notion of autonomy of the text, thus, emphasising the integration of both the text and the

reader in literary understanding. The attempt is to support intuitive response with the

objective formal linguistic elements, so as to avoid subjectivity. "One major concern of

stylistics is" Leech and Short state," to check or validate intuitions by detailed analysis"

(1981:5). As a matter of fact, with this realisation stylisticians attempted to mix the two.

Short (1996: 5) in explaining the potential stylistics has compiled in this area states:

Stylistics is thus concerned with relating linguistic facts (linguistic

description) to meaning (interpretation) in as explicit a way as
possible. ... When we read, we must intuitively analyse linguistic
structure at various levels (e.g. grammar, sounds, words, textual
structure) in order (again intuitively) to understand the sentences of
a text and the relations between them. We usually perform this
complex set of tasks so fast that we do not even notice that we are
doing it, ... our understanding of the linguistic description and its
relationship with interpretation should also be discussed as
explicitly, as systematically, and in as detailed a way as possible.
One advantage of this is that when we disagree over the meaning to
ascribe to a text or part of a text, we can use stylistic analysis as a
means to help to decide which of the various suggestions are most
likely.

Interpretation, in this case, only reaches full realisation when it comes into contact with

textual and reader-centred approach, including intuitive response as part of the meaning of

any work. In general, the reader's sensibility, knowledge and different previous experiences

27
attached to the linguistic features in the text indicate the important development in stylistics.

Nonetheless, the stylisticians hardly depend on intuition while interpreting texts; rather they

are more concerned with "patterning of language in texts and....makes no presupposition

with regard to artistic value. Investigating the way language is used in a text, ... make

apparent those linguistic patterns upon which an intuitive awareness of artistic values

ultimately depend"(Widdowson in Weber, 1996: 40). It can be said that the linguistic

analysis is used to support intuitive interpretation as the reader may at first present a

response to a literary work and then investigates through the language to support his/her

response.

Hence, in the modern view of stylistics, the linking of literary criticism and linguistic

approach is immense. In this regard, it seems worthwhile to present the frequently quoted

but important definition of stylistics by Widdowson:

'Stylistics' ... the study of literary discourse from linguistic

orientation and ... what distinguishes stylistics on one hand and
linguistic orientation on the other is that it is eventually a means of
linking the two and has (as yet at least) no autonomous domain of
its own...stylistics as area of mediation between two disciplines"
(1975: 3 - 4).

What this definition attempted to reveal is that stylistics is a blend of the two schools that of

literary criticism which involves the reader's intuitive response and subjective judgement

and linguistics which offers the methods of description that helps in supporting the readers

response. Here, what is significantly important is that the two are interdependent and

strongly related to each other.

Concerning stylistic analysis and the involvement of the reader in interpretation, Short (in

Verdonk 1993:8) remarks that "stylistic analysis involves examining carefully the linguistic

28
structure of a text and showing the role which that linguistic structure plays in helping a

reader to arrive at an interpretation of that text". The linguistic features, even when they

seem to be insignificant, support the initial response and appreciation of the artistic effect of

the message that the artistry conveys.

Given these premises for its progress, the other important development, which took place in

stylistics, is an attitude towards contexulzation with the influence of similar trends in

linguistics, in the sub-disciplines of pragmatics and discourse. Stylistic effect and meaning

are not fixed as stable, accordingly cannot be extricated from the text by a kind of

archaeological approach, but they have to be considered as a potential which is existing in

the reader's mind, that is the result of discovered intuition between the writer, the writer's

context of production, the text, the reader and the reader's context of reception. In this

regard, context includes all sorts of intertextual, sociological, historical and cultural

elements. Consequently, the text is approached as an entity of discoursal object. For a better

understanding of this, let us consider Fowler's (in Weber 1996: 203) view which he states,"

we approach the text as discourse, that as a unified whole of that with hypothesis about a

relevant context, based on our previous experience of relevant discourse and relevant

context". Here, we notice, the text is taken as a discourse because literary effect is mainly

realised through language, and language as part of human social behaviour, communicated

and comprehended by the reader. Therefore, language as part of eventual situation has been

governed by the notion of context. Here, we should note that the text is always important in

stylistic study.

The text can be taken as an object of analysis, since it is the place where the writer as a

medium of contextual communication uses language and imparts meaning.

29
Here, the role language plays is significant for it provides the vast patterns of social events

and human activities that are shared by the writer and the reader. The social activities and

events the writer and the reader encounter are determined by the linguistic elements or

expressions in the text. Therefore, as readers we distinguish among the circumstances of

language use, which affect our response. Accordingly, the literary text is capable of

communicating this complex social and cultural process (Fowler, 1981). When discussing

the issue, i.e. the notion of language as a social function and the task of stylistics,

Widdowson (in Weber, 1996: 138), demonstrates his argument as follows:

Stylistics is concerned with.... message types its purpose is to discover

what linguistic units count as in communication and how the effects of
different conventions reveal themselves in the way messages are
organised. ...Stylistics then is the study of the social function of
language and is a branch of what has come to be called socio linguistics.
It aims to characterise texts as pieces of communication.

In this regard, the text as an object of communication is approached by linguistic descriptive

method, considering the contextual factors in literary analysis. Hence, knowledge of the

language used, knowledge of the world in which the linguistic features or utterances are

interpreted and knowledge of the various states of contexts as well as other systems of

convention inside or outside the text are important for literary comprehension and

interpretation. Obviously, the primarily shared experience is the language used by both the

writer and the reader. Besides, it is important to bear in mind that text and context are

inseparable. Enkvist, in this regard states, "…all stylistic analysis is ultimately based on the

matching of a text against a contextually related norm. Such norms may be explicitly

circumscribed or they may remain implicitly embedded in the part experience of a speaker,

writer or literary critic"(1964: 55). It is not possible to produce meaning in a context free

situation as language in a text is always language in context; words give meaning in relation

30
to other words and sentences are constructed in relation to other sentences and the events

also are contextually interacted. This idea is underlined by Verdonk (1993: 126) as he

states," the discourse of poetry is a tightly knit network of textual and contextual elements

which constantly reinforced each other in meaning".

Here, we can see that meaning is not derived from textual elements only, but also from

contextual features. Since those textual and contextual elements are interwoven, (and this is

the characteristic of literary texts especially of poetry), we should have to address them with

an approach, which considers the reader's response and contexuality in a literary study.

Contextual approach brings into play various meanings that may not win much attention in

the formal linguistic description of the text. As it is said, since text and context are

inseparable, it is hardly possible to achieve meaning or to interpret texts without the

combination of the two. What Verdonk states go in line with this as he says "... successful

communication is the combined effect of textual (linguistic) competence and contextual

(pragmatics) interpretation"(1993:2). This means that, to make interpretation complete, we

have to acquire both linguistic and discoursal information. A word may not stand by itself,

usually we, as readers specify value to it in relation to the circumstances we perceived.

Hence, many stylisticians showing their response in line with the current view of language-

oriented stylistics set out to match text with context (Leech 1969, Fowler 1996, Widdowson

1992, Short 1996, Verdonk 1993 and etc.). In this case, we recognise a shift from text-

immanent approach to a discoursal approach as Verdonk (in Short, 1989: 243) pointed out

"stylistics should never be reduced to some mechanical ticking off of the linguistic features

of a text but that on the contrary intuition and personal judgement (based on observable

textual features) are of paramount importance". The involvement of the personal interaction

31
is very much gainful for interpretation, as the reader is the one who identifies and attaches

contextual meaning to the text. Regarding the combination of text, context and reader

orientation in stylistics Short elaborates his view as follows:

Thus we combine linguistic, contextual and general world

knowledge, and use that as the basis for inferring an appropriate
interpretation. The meaning, then, comes from the text, but notice
that we cannot get at that meaning just by doing linguistic analysis
(although that is an essential and important part of the process.)
(1996: 8).

Therefore, in the current thinking of stylistics, consideration is given to the linguistic and

contextual features along with the reader's participation in inferring meaning of the literary

text. Reviewing the different movements in stylistics, so far, an attempt has been made to

reveal what is meant by stylistics.

After this brief presentation of the concept of stylistics and its principles, the researcher

shall make some general remarks on the value of stylistics to the study of literary works.

Firstly, with its application of linguistic techniques, stylistics helps to understand the

language, which is used in a literary text because unless we understand the language we

cannot interpret it. Besides the detailed description of the linguistic features allows us to

examine and uncover hidden meanings that may reside in the language of the text. When

we follow a rigorous description of the linguistic elements step by step, we can find out

their relationship to each other, and the significance they have to interpretation. "We cannot

appreciate how a poem fits together", Leech (1969: 4) states in favour of the descriptive

method and adds, "unless we have first found the means to take it to pieces". What this

statement implies is that, while examining the language in the text, the detailed description

makes the features more recognisable, more distinct and most noticeable, therefore, it

sharpness our new awareness of discovering unexplored features which may be capable of

32
carrying fresh meanings, otherwise would be failed to be considered. The definition of

stylistics which trusts to this discussion reads, "stylistic analysis involves examining

carefully the linguistic structure of a text and showing the role which that linguistic structure

plays in helping a reader to arrive at an interpretation of that text"(Short, in Verdonk, 1993,

8). Being aware of this, stylistics provides a systematic descriptive method to identify,

explicitly understand and appreciate the literary features in the text. Cognizant of this Leech

(in Van Dijk, 1985: 42) claims" ... a close examination of the language of the poem leads to

a greater understanding of its meaning and value i.e. a greater appreciation of it as a work of

art". Since stylistic analysis aims at examining how the language resources are used to

communicate message, it hence develops the basis for a more explicit and reasoned

interpretation that was obtained impressionistically.

Talking about impression, we move to the second value that stylistics has in literary study.

Since it focuses on the language of the text along with personal involvement of the reader,

stylistic analysis enables us to check our intuitively understood judgements towards a

literary text under exploration. When the reader attached his/her first intuitive response to

the meaning of the text, the linguistic features that are attainable in the text may offer

him/her clues to check his/her response so as to make the subjective interpretation objective

as it can be attained by the objective descriptive method of linguistics. Therefore, the

reader's response along with linguistic description is very important in ensuring a clear

realisation of the meaning of the text under study. Since "criticism is an intersubjective

practice" (Fowler, in Weber, 1996: 204) the personal involvement is a very important

implication of stylistic analysis in literary criticism.

33
Stylistics value does not limit itself to literary criticism but it also contributes a lot in the

pedagogical spectrum. As Widdowson elaborates, "the value of stylistic analysis is that it

can provide the means where by the learner can relate a piece of literary writing with his

own experience of language and so extend that experience"(1975:116). However, since it is

addressed in detail and exhaustively by foreign scholars on the field such as Short (1989,

1996), Widdowson (1975), Carter (1989), Leech (1969) and as well as in the Ph.D. thesis of

Berhanu Matthews (1994) Akalu Getaneh (1997), and Abiye Daniel (1998), this study only

touches upon the major contribution of stylistics to literary criticism.

In concluding this chapter, let the researcher make one further point about the value of

stylistics which is stated by Mick Short (1996: 9) that says," stylistic analysis, besides

helping you to acquire an explicit and rational basis for deciding between interpretation

should also help you to become more consciously aware of the processes of interpretation

which you use in order to get to grips with the texts you read". Hence we can say that

stylistics, which is a meeting ground of linguistics and literary criticism, contributes in

making literary criticism more objective and systematic study of literary production.

Briefing about the concept and value of stylistics, next we will focus on how stylistic

analysis is performed.

3.3 A FRAMEWORK OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

Stylistics adopts its own method of analysis, which stems from the linguistic insights. Thus,

since stylistics is a blend of the two schools that is literary criticism and linguistics the

stylstician is engaged with description of the linguistic features and interpretation.

Therefore, how does one go through analysis of the literary work? From where should one

start analysis, from the linguistic description or from intuitive interpretation? What is the

34
method of analysis? How can one describe and interpret all the features in the text? Is there

a way to describe some and leave the rest? If so, what is the way of identification of those

features that need description and interpretation? All these and other questions regarding

the method of analysis will be considered in the course of the discussion in this section.

First, let us consider the issue of the beginning of interpretation, either from the linguistic

description or intuitive interpretation. Although we use our intuitive understanding and

interact it with the linguistic description, mainly our focus should be on the text as it is a

product of language. The question of priority or level of interpretation is discussed by Leech

(in van Dijk, 1985, 42) and Short (1996:9). These scholars agree on the notion that

interpretation could be performed starting from both levels i.e. either from linguistic

description or intuitive interpretation. However, they argue that starting from both levels

does not matter but the important thing is to make interpretation systematic and serve its

descriptive and explanatory purpose. The description of linguistic features is more

important in making explicit meaning of the artistry. Short (1996:3) shows the levels as

follows:

Description → Interpretation → Evaluation

The arrow represents that interpretation precedes evaluation and description in turn precedes

interpretation. "If interpretation is logically prior to understanding" Short states, "it is also

the case that what I have called description (which in turn includes analysis) is logically

prior to understanding" (P.4). This implies that it is through description that understanding

and appreciation of texts are produced. Although it is said we begin from the linguistic

description, it does not mean that we do the interpretation at the end. There is no such a

rigid procedure in stylistic analysis, since we go to and from back and forth or from one end

35
to the other, seeking linguistic evidence and at the same time seeking literary understanding.

Hence we move from linguistic description to literary interpretation and vice versa for a

complete understanding and interpretation of the literary work. As Leech and Short put it

"there is a cyclic motion whereby linguistic observation stimulates or modifies literary

insight, and whereby literary insight in its turn stimulates further linguistic observation"

(1981:13). For instance, Short (in Verdonk 1993:1996), made it clear that he often follows

his own technique which sets first the general intuitive interpretation and then go through

detailed linguistic description so as to relate his final interpretation with his first general

response and make the initial interpretation more explicit and developed.

Leech on the contrary, favours to begin with description and delves into the analysis and

interpretation (1969, 1985). Note that, to begin from either end is acceptable as far as it is

systematic. The writer of this research also holds this view and she adopts the model of

analysis proposed by Mick Short. That means the analysis of the selected poems will be

done beginning from intuitive response and then go through linguistic description and

interpretation. Being aware of this, let us move to the discussion of the methods of stylistic

analysis.

When we say description of linguistic features, we have to clear out which linguistic

features need description and on what basis. It is obvious that to interpret and appreciate a

text the whole elements of the language in the text cannot be described, for all the elements

may not have equal relevance to the textual art. Therefore, since some linguistic features

are more noticeable than others, we focus on those features that appeal to our perception.

These features that attract our attention are the results of linguistic choice. Therefore, there

is no fixed formula for identifying and describing the linguistic elements, but to pick those

36
that call for our attention. As Widdowson (in Weber, 1996:145) suggests "there is no rigid

order of procedure, the technique is to pick on features in the text which appeal to first

impression as unusual or striking in some way and then explore their ramification".

Therefore, the method is just to identify those features and examine them so as to find their

significance for the production of meaning of the artistic material. Those linguistic features

reside in the language are stylistic devices which help to understand the meaning of the text.

The notion of easily identifiable and noticeable aspect of language use is called

foregrounding. It is produced by elements, which appear unusual or strange, and understood

as deviation, and by production of patterns, which is called parallelism, so as to produce

effects. Since these concepts are the bases of stylistic analysis and serve as analytical tool

they need further explanation. Hence, it is believed that a brief exploration of the notions of

foregrounding, deviation and parallelism helps to provide some insights.

3.3.1. FOREGROUNDING

In stylistic analysis, the most fundamental concept is foregrounding. It refers to more

noticeable linguistic elements that draw our attention and invite us to react in a certain way.

These linguistic elements are different from the rest of the language used in the literary text.

Foregrounding is basically a concept in art criticism in which a painting appeares noticeable

from its background with the help of some devices such as colour, light and etc. Therefore,

the painting can be perceived against its background (Leech 1969, Fowler 1996 and Short

1996). Abstract paintings, especially, very much hold the attention of the viewer as they

look strange from the normal and expected patterns in painting, and they produce much

more effect. The same holds for language: the normal or expected patterns of language

which do not fascinate our perception can be considered as background and the linguistic

37
elements, which unusually attract our mind and in turn force us to react differently towards

them, are considered as foregrounded. To perceive this idea more clearly let us consider the

definition of foregrounding provided by Fowler (1996:95) as he states, "Foregrounding: is

whenever some item or construction appears in a text with unusual or noticeable frequency

and apparently for some valid reason, then cumulatively a distinctive effect emerges".

Foregrounding as it is said reflects the appearance of some unaccustomed or unexpected

language items and as a result arouses a different response to the literary work.

The concept of foregrounding is introduced by the Prague School Scholars and especially

developed by one of these scholars, called Jan Mukarovsky. He thus argues that any literary

production is uniquely recognised by the "consistency and systematic character of

foregrounding" (as quoted by Leech 1969, 57). For Mukarovsky and the Prague School

Scholars, foregrounding means the act of communication or the act of the art since, for any

poetic work is foregrounded because, breaking of the norm of the standard language

produces it. Hence, their notion of poetic language is by itself foregrounding as they argue

that it is different from the day-to-day communicative use of language. Therefore, their

notion of foregrounding designates to the notion of deautomatization or making strange.

When the language manipulated in poetry looks strange, it produces a new understanding or

perception of the language. To make it clear, there are expected norms in language,

however, when these expected norms are broken or the writer exploits the language in a

different manner, the reader becomes surprised and gains fresh awareness and sensibility to

the language, which looks unique. Poetry in this case is more foregrounded and restores a

new awareness and understanding to the minds of readers. Poetry has said to be produced by

foregrounding, for in most cases it deviates from the normal use of language for different

38
reasons, and meaning is very much inhabited in the linguistic foregrounded features, which

need to be interpreted by the reader. Foregrounding then is, referring to the unique items,

which are made strange by their author for the production of new meanings and surprising

effects out of the normal and routinely used patterns of language. It provides those

noticeable elements from a mass of linguistic features and the reader is the one who selects

and identifies those elements that are relevant to literary effect. As foregrounding effects

entail the creativity of the writer, they also highly demand the creativity of the reader in

identifying, understanding and appreciating those effects and bringing out their significance

to the overall interpretation.

Leech in this regard remarks, "poetic foregrounding presupposes some motivation on the

part of the writer and some explanation on the part of the reader. A question mark

accompanies each foregrounded feature. Consciously or unconsciously we ask 'what is the

point?'" (1969:58). What this implies is that, although the writer produces these

foregrounded elements, the reader has a part in bringing out those elements from the range

of linguistic details as the elements by themselves do not produce any significance unless

and otherwise they interact with the reader's subjective response as he/she can ultimately

decide which is and which is not foregrounded. Along with production of effect,

foregrounded elements have characteristics of prominence and the ability of elevating some

items among the rest of the language use in the text. Thus, it intensifies the style of the

author or the work i.e. we can distinguish the items that are prominently occurred and

signify the author's unique habit of using some recurrent features than others.

Another characteristic of foregrounding is its context - bound nature. We identify and

describe the foregrounded elements on the basis of their context. This is because one

39
foregrounded element can have values attached to it as a result of its context. Foregrounding

in literature is mostly produced by linguistic deviation i.e. by breaking the rules of the

language or other deliberate uses of ambiguities like parallelism, the patterning of the

linguistic elements. These two concepts of foregrounding will be considered below

separately along with the linguistic levels at which they occur.

3.3.2. DEVIATION

As pointed out in the above discussion, deviation which is a stylistic notion is one of the

ways in which foregrounding is produced. The notion of deviation is very important, as it is

a way of creating abnormal patterns from the normal patterns of language so as to represent

a distinct reality from the established norm. In this sense, the notion of deviation accounts

for a departure from the usual communication and gives rise to foregrounding and to the

reader's awareness of such exposure. Even though it is said that literary works distinctively

use deviation, it also should be noted that other written texts or even in ordinary speeches,

deviation can occur. Nonetheless, it is obviously understood that literature, particularly,

poetry is distinctively characterised by departure from the normal use of language.

Consequently, poetry has the potential to attract the attention of its readers. In Fowler's

(1973:75) Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms, deviation is defined as "the violation of

rules and conventions, by which a poet transcends the normal communicative resources of

the language, and awakens the reader by freeing him/her from the grooves of cliché

'expression' to a new perceptivity". In a general sense, deviation refers to breaking of the

rules of language and socially accepted conventions expressed through language (Leech,

1969). Deviation occurs as a result of choice i.e. the poet's selection of features among the

range of linguistic items. As Leech noted, "... for a poet, the question of whether to obey

40
the rules of the language or not is itself a matter of choice " (1969: 30). The writer can use

the normal range of linguistic items or exploit those normal elements uniquely, so as to

make them communicate new effect. Deviation has two aspects; namely external and

internal. So far it has been dealt with the external deviation that pertains to the departure

from the linguistic norm that is external to the text, which is breaking of the language rule

as a whole. Internal deviation, on the other hand, refers to breaking of the rules established

within the text itself. According to Cluysenaar, (1976: 31)" literature can deviate against

the language system itself, speech expectations," which refers to the external deviation and

"or, indeed, against exception that have been set up in the work we are reading" that refers

to the internal deviation. Therefore, when we are dealing with poems or any literary piece,

we have to focus on those deviant elements which also can occur as a result of breaking of

the internal norm set up by the poet. To make this matter more clear, if a poet formulates

certain rules and patterns and when some elements appear deviant against the established

norm, the elements appear to be foregrounded. This type of violation is what we call

internal deviation.

Now, back to the external deviation. In literature as it is noted, deviation is a normal

characteristic of the literary work. In this regard, Leech remarks, "a linguistic deviation is a

disruption of the normal process of communication; it leaves a gap, as it were, in one's

comprehension of the text"(1969: 61). This kind of deviation is relevant in poetry. Since

deviation causes a strange effect, the reader's involvement is crucial to perceive them and

achieve meaning so that the features do not appear to be superficially ambiguous. Deviant

elements force the reader to attach some meaning to them. To pick foregrounded or deviant

elements and attach them meaning may not be an easy task. So, we have to consider

41
deviation with its context. The best way offered by Leech and Short is to categorise their

occurrence according to their linguistic levels. Thus, instead of identifying and describing

the deviant elements in isolation, it is gainful to categorise them on the basis of their

linguistic occurrence as they may create cohesive patterns so as to produce meaning.

Therefore, these elements are looked upon with the relationship they have to each other.

That is why Leech in his article "Stylistics" calls the relationships cohesion of

foregrounding and defines this concept; "the foregrounded features identified in isolation

are related to one another, and to the text in its entirety"(in Van Dijk, 1985: 45). To clarify

this, the need to identify the deviant elements on the basis of their cohesive patterns is to

explore the inter-textual patterns and formulate a kind of relatively similar meaningof the

poem as a whole.

It is believed that this brief discussion about deviation somehow throws light about its

nature and relevance in stylistic analysis as it gives rise to foregrounding. Next, we will see

the levels of deviations that help as analytical tools in stylistic study. Nevertheless, before

we deal with the types of deviation, we will consider the notion of linguistic levels that

coexist with the deviant elements as the kinds of deviations occur on those levels of

language.

Throughout the discussion of the concept of stylistics, we mentioned the term linguistic

levels here and there but the meaning is not revealed. It, hence, is important to consider it at

this juncture. In writing or in any piece of speech, several things are taking place at once.

There are different aspects of linguistic structures that make the language structure as a

whole. These aspects of language are usually referred to as linguistic levels. Each level has

its own terms and techniques, which help to carry out analysis. In the widest sense, the most

42
widely used linguistic levels can be categorised at four levels namely phonetics, phonology,

grammar and semantics. However, further divisions within and among these levels are

often made. For instance, with grammar we can include morphology and syntax and with

semantics we can consider the lexical levels. And with phonology we also address

graphology.

Phonetics refers to the aspects of pronunciation or articulation of language. Phonology

consists of the organisation of sound structure. Grammar on the other hand, deals with the

possible sentence structure in the language and within it; there are two basic notions called

morphology and syntax. Morphology applies to the structure of words while syntax is a way

in which words are arranged to show relationship of meaning within or sometimes between

sentences. Therefore, syntax focuses on sentence structure. Semantics refers to meaning i.e.

the way in which words relate to each other within the language. Therefore, meaning is

looked in detailed way so as to find out how words and sentences are used in specific

contexts. Within this, lexical levels are also considered. Although we isolate each level in

the analysis to be systematic, these levels interact with each other. Therefore, we need to

consider the relationship to understand the way language is organised and meaning is

produced.

Being aware of the linguistic levels, next we take a glance at some of the categories of

deviation that are based on the linguistic levels. The categorisation in this study is based on

the classifications proposed by Leech (1969) and Short (1996). Here, we will consider

lexical, grammatical, morphological, semantic, phonological and graphlogical deviations.

Since these are the analytical tools, which serve in the analysis of the poems in the chapter

to follow, we will briefly consider the nature of each kind of deviation.

43
Lexical deviation refers to the departure from the norms of the lexis in the language.

Lexeme is a meaningful linguistic unit that is an item in a vocabulary of a language and

usually found in the dictionary as a headword. For instance, eat is a lexeme, but eats, eating

and etc. are words formulated from the headword. When we find elements, which are

produced by breaking this rule they are regarded as lexical deviation. The most obvious

lexical deviation occurs when poets innovate new words that couldn't be found in

dictionaries. Innovation or creation of new words is called neologism and this is considered

as formulating meanings beyond the normal resources of a language. Such words can be

created by affixation that is by prefixing or suffixing elements to words so as to formulate

new meanings. However, the innovated words must be fresh creations so as to be deviant

and attract attention and in this way new significance can be attached to them. For instance,

Hopkins's creation of new words such as widow-making, unchilding, unfathering (in Leech

1969:43) are examples of neologism and lexical deviation. This kind of word formation in

which affixation and compounding are used is unusual in English language. So, it produces

a new effect in the reader's mind and achieves new meanings. Within this category, the

other innovation of words refers to the idea of converting a word from one grammatical

function to another without changing its form. This is called functional conversion as Short

states and shows its example by quoting Hopkins's "-the achieve of, the mastery of the thing'

(1996: 46). The other lexical deviation that produces foregrounding is, by way of

associating words that do not normally belong to each other and as a result the oddity

terrifies us. The lexical oddity occurs by way of associating words or inserting one word to

another to which it does not belong. For instance, associating or inserting words, which are

referring to one concept, to words that hold another concept, like words, which signify

44
political concepts to words which refer to love, forms lexical oddity. However, the poet

uses them for some effect. By this kind of innovation of words, deviant features are

produced and the effect of foregrounding emerges in poetry. Although these deviant

elements seem to be odd, they create some meanings in their semantic relationships, which

the reader is to examine and extract in the interpretation process.

Grammatical deviation involves breaking of the structure of the language. As it is pointed

out above, grammar refers to the sentence structures of the language. Any language

structure has its own way of arrangement of the words and sentences based on the language

norm. In its widest sense, it considers ordering of words and sentences. Thus, when a

certain word order or sentence structure is violated from the rule of that particular language

structure, we call this grammatical deviation. In poetry, it is not strange to come across

foregrounded elements at this level. This type of deviation appears for a number of

purposes like a phonological end and so on. Grammatical deviation refers to a disordered

structure on the surface. For in stance, instead of saying 'he came' if we say 'came he' it

looks strange but strikes our consciousness to find out why it is expressed in this way. Why

does a writer bother to create such a disordered structure? Is it just for mere disordering?

When a poet, exploits such structures, he/she does it on purpose in most cases to give

emphasis to the idea that needs to be communicated. In poetry, we can find different

grammatical deviations other than the violation of word order. For instance, breaking the

rule of conjunctions is one of the linguistic deviations, which occur at this level. To use

dots, commas, or to leave these in unexpected structure of the language produces

foregrounding. For example, when listing some items like 'women men children' we have to

use conjunctions like comma, or the conjunctional word 'and', but here they appear without

45
any conjunction. When we find such deviant features in poetry, they have a stylistic effect.

The poet might be trying to show their equal significance as he lists them like this. Thus,

grammatical deviation is a very important concept in poetry as these odd characteristics

signify something to the overall meaning of the poem.

The concept of semantic deviation deals with the notion of meaning. Meanings are

formulated with words and sentences in specific contexts. Therefore, the notion of meaning

is governed by the rules of the language. However, semantic deviation refers to "... as

meanings relations which are linguistically inconsistent or paradoxical in some way" (Short,

1996:43). In general, metaphors exhibit this characteristic of deviation, for those

metaphorical elements that are joined together do not belong to each other and in the real

sense of meaning, they can be regarded as 'nonsense'. However, with this kind of deviation,

poetry makes foregrounding and the analyst makes the seemingly nonsense features

sensible. Those deviant features produce new meanings that cannot be found in the

dictionary. For instance, if we find an expression, which says, "the sky rejoices in the

mornings birth" (in Leech, 1969:153) in normal usage, sky could not rejoice. The term

rejoice refers to humanness i.e. the habit of becoming happy but sky cannot be happy since

it is inanimate. However, it is attributed human quality to refer to its brightness or pleasant

atmosphere. Paradoxical relationships also fit into this category. Since they create

inconsistent semantic relations, they look nonsensical. To cite an example, let us consider

the following instance in the poem of Dylan Thomas, which reads," light breaks where no

sun shine" (Short, 1996: 43).

Here inconsistent semantic relationships occur in the phrase 'light breaks where no

sunshine'. Light and sunshine are semantically parallel but with 'no sunshine' light could not

46
emerge. If the sun does not shine, it means it is dark and in darkness it is not possible to

have light. Here, the reader has to make meaning of these elements. By taking such

foregrounded items that are semantically odd we can construct interpretation. Light and

darkness are semantically contradicting. Therefore, the combination possibly shows the

opposition of life.

Morphological deviation is the breaking of the rule of the word structure in a language.

Morphology refers to the structure of words. Words are the easiest and lowest units of

grammatical structure, while morphemes are the smallest meaningful elements into which

words are built. Morphemes like 'jump' 'walk' and 'cook' stand by their own. Other

morphemes like 'unhappy' are made of two morphemes because when divided into two parts

they have independent meaning. 'Un' which is the smallest unit of meaning is an affix and

when affixed to certain words it formulates a negative meaning and 'happy' is also another

morpheme that has another meaning. These are called bound morphemes. Morphemes

provide the subject matter of morphology. Hence, at this level deviation can be produced by

adding an affix to a certain word, which does not cohere to the normal word formation.

Morphemes can also be produced by separating one unit from a word and fixing it to

another that does not belong to. Therefore, by bounding two different morphemes one can

produce very odd word structure.

Phonological deviation involves breaking of certain sound patterns. Pronunciations of words

fit in here. When certain sound patterns and a pronunciation violate the regular pattern, we

call it phonological deviation.

In poetry, phonological deviation is used for rhyming effect. Phonological deviation can

be mostly produced with graphological deviations. As has been stated earlier, these levels

47
overlap with each other for they can occur in different levels simultaneously, to create some

effect. For instance words can be pronounced in an odd way for the effect of stress or

rhyming.

Graphological deviation is related to phonological aspects, for the latter can be represented

by graphological instances of language. Graphology constitutes the typography or style of

writing system. Every language has its graphological rules. Hence, when certain

typographical elements in poetry are violated, it is called graphological deviation. The

primary consideration is the way in which letters and words as well as punctuations are

arranged in different ways on the page, so that they visually reinforce the verbal meaning. In

most cases, in graphological deviation the use of capitalisation, punctuation, spacing and the

overall shape of the poem and other normal visual patterns which are devices of typography

appear to be violated. These types of deviations emerge in the poems of Dylan Thomas and

E.E. Cummings and William Carlos Williams.

These are some of the linguistic deviations that occur mostly in poetry to produce

foregrounding effects. Next, we will consider the other concept of foregrounding.

3.3.3. PARALLELISM

We have seen that breaking of the rules of language can produce foregrounding, but it is

also realised by patterning of a language through repetition of the same or identical words,

sounds, phrases or sentences and structures as well as syntactic and semantic organisation.

Parallelism occurs when words or structures are re-used in different forms in a given text to

create meaning connection. Parallelism is, hence, the patterning of extra regular elements of

the language. When certain elements occur in a text, they become regular and their excess

presentation appears to be extra from the normal usage of the language.

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While deviation makes the regular language irregular, parallelism creates highly regular

elements. Here, in parallelism, the writer's linguistic choice is limited to certain features as

he/she makes the same choice again and again from the range of alternatives in the

language. Leech, (1969: 62) states, the notion of parallelism as type of foregrounding that

"consists in the introduction of extra regularities into the language". This indicates that

every language has its own rule. When a poet uses this language without breaking its rule

limiting him/herself just to certain features and makes those language features highly

regular, it is called parallelism. Leech defines the concept as, "in any parallelistic pattern

there must be an element of identity and an element of contrast" (1969: 65). That means

parallelism results from repetition of identical items or contrasting elements.

Parallelism is not characteristic of only literary works. It occurs in our day to day

communication, in advertising, in public speeches, like political speeches, in nursery

rhymes, oral narratives and so on. The reason is that since parallel elements involve a high

pattern of repetition they attract the attention of people and they create an unforgettable

effect. Poetry is said to be constitute of parallelistic features for different reasons. Most

significantly, for rhythming and rhyming purposes, poetry involves patterns of sound.

Nonetheless, apart from this significance, poetry involves patterning of different linguistic

features for emphasising certain ideas or feelings so as to communicate directly to the

reader. The poet uses recurrent patterning for the purpose of highlighting the issue that

needs to be emphasised.

Parallelism does not only refer to repetition of words, sentences or structures, rather it also

involves a patterning of meaning that resides throughout the text. Sometimes, elements

recurrently appear by straight foreword repetition of patterns. However, when we say

49
parallelism, it also refers to those elements that are not obviously noticeable. Such patterns

may not immediately appear evident to us because they are so different and also

unobservable. But we have to make grouping of those features according to their level of

structure, for with visible repetition or with associated patterns, meanings can be patterned

through the text. Associated parallels refer to those elements that cannot be logically similar

but are partly similar by their conceptual relationships. We have to make a set of parallels to

identify their connection. The connection can either be of similarity or of contrast.

Therefore, to find out the connection we must focus on the meaning. Short defines the

'parallelism rule' saying, "when readers come across parallel structures they try to find an

appropriate semantic relationship between the parallel part" (1996:68). This is how we

identify the parallel elements, as they are not determined by just repetition of identical

features, but by their semantic link to each other. When we look for parallel patterns, we

have to concentrate on the patterns of linguistic features that have semantic connection. In

general, techniques of parallelism are deployed in order to insist upon relationships among

elements or organisation of the content within the text, most often similarity, yet, opposition

can also be stressed.

As pointed out earlier, parallelism provides patterns of elements that carry some meaning

connection in the text. Since parallelism has the power of attracting attention, it creates a

long lasting effect. The reason is that since parallel elements give prominence to certain

elements so as to emphasise the idea that needs to be imparted, they draw our attention and

force us to investigate the link between them. The effect of emphasis that arises from

parallelism or repetition of certain patterns is very important as it produces emphasis of

certain meaning of the text. The occurrence of patterns of words, sentences, events and

50
ideas can provide sense of organisation. Therefore, recurrent structures produce recurrent

themes. So, in order to obtain the meaning of the overall text, the parallel structures offer us

the elements that are patterned extra regularly in the web of the text.

Short reflects his view about the use of parallelism when he says, "what is interesting about

parallel structures, in addition to their perceptual prominence, is that they invite the reader

to search for meaning connections between the parallel structures, in particular in terms of

the parts which are varied" (1996:14). In this case, when we come across parallel linguistic

features, we can find structures that have an obvious link in meaning like 'go', 'walk', 'jump'.

But it is not always like this, as some categories of parallel structures seem to look different

but have some meaning associations with each other. When we come across such elements,

we investigate their relationship either by examining their semantic connection or inferring

some meaning from our knowledge of the world. Sometimes, we come across non-logical

equivalence between objects and ideas that are only partly similar. For instance, we could

have a parallel pattern of a teacher, an artist and a football player, showing how all possess a

certain creativity, drive and devotion to their work. In this way, we can achieve new

meanings for those patterns that are created through the whole literary work. For instance,

night and darkness are not similar words in normal circumstances. But when they occur in

equivalent position, they make some parallel meaning that signifies and emphasises

something which is deprived of sunlight. Therefore, the writer uses such a device to capture

our attention and widen our scope and understanding of the connections made between the

language elements to produce new aspects of meaning. Short, in this regard, remarks,

"parallelism is one of the mechanisms which writers have at their disposal for controlling

the associative connections which readers make" (1996:65). Parallelism, hence, helps us to

51
decide the appropriate associations for given linguistic elements or items. But parallelism

controls the associations in context for different readers can attach different meaning to the

words or make some opposite meanings. Therefore, context is important in determining the

association of the items used to produce meaning. Readers have to play a part in making the

association of the patterns so as to find out the semantic link between them and to relate it

with the whole meaning of the text. Parallelism is helpful to perceive foregrounded

associations since these associations evoke our interest to investigate the semantic link

between the language elements, which we could not find in the language structure. In

poetry, parallelism occurs to emphasise certain idea. Here, it may be advisable to see

Leech's view as to why and how we need to interpret parallel elements as he puts it as

follows:

The assignment of significance to a parallelism rests upon a simple

principle of equivalence. Every parallelism sets up a relationship of
equivalence between two or more elements: the elements which are
singled out by the pattern as being parallel. Interpreting parallelism
involves appreciating some external connection between elements.
The connection is broadly speaking, a connection either of
similarity or of contrast. (1969: 67).

The notion of parallelism, which is achieved through patterning of different phonological,

lexical, syntactic and graphological as well as semantic structure, needs to be interpreted so

as to obtain the whole pattern of organisation used to produce effect. Thus, parallelism

occurs at different linguistic levels and sometimes, one item can occur at a different level

simultaneously or at once. Let us briefly consider the kinds of parallelism.

Lexical parallelism refers to identical or opposite patterns of lexis or vocabulary. Lexical

patterning can constitute repetition of identical words that have similar meaning.

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Moreover, lexical parallelism can occur by a set of lexical items that are not identical by

meaning association. That means words which are not typically identical to have logical

meaning, can be categorised in lexical sets so as to achieve some associate meaning.

Therefore, with lexical parallelism we find two types of parallelism. One is a direct

repetition of words more than once and the other type has to do with words that do not look

similar but have some conceptual relationships. Poetry involves mostly recurrent lexical

patterns so as to make recurrence of meaning. Hence, in lexical parallelism, elements can be

produced by synonyms and antonyms.

Grammatical parallelism involves identical parallel structure of words and sentences.

Hence, grammatical structures, i.e. the same part of speech or same syntactic form occur

more than once in a certain limited part and we can find it throughout the poem. When we

find highly regulated grammatical features, we say it is foregrounded through grammatical

parallelism.

Phonological parallelism refers to repetition of sounds. When the repetition of sound

structure occurs at the initial part of a word it is called alliteration. In phonological

parallelism, alliteration, assonance and rhyme are recurrent elements. Assonance refers to

repetition of vowels. In poetry, assonance plays a vital role as it stresses certain elements to

artistic effect and meaning production. Besides, rhyme is produced as a result of the

repetition of identical words or sounds.

Semantic parallelism constitutes the patterning of meaning in the text. When certain

linguistic features or structures recurrently appear with the same potential of meaning, we

can say they are semantically parallel.

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To conclude the discussion of this chapter, so far an attempt has been made to introduce

briefly the concepts of style, stylistics and the analytical notions of forefrounding, deviation

and parallelism. The following chapter hence will concentrate on the actual analysis of the

selected poems employing stylistics method.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4. 1. A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE POEMS OF TSEGAYE G/MEDHEN

This chapter will deal with the analysis of the selected poems. Therefore, the analysis will

be carried out beginning with the selected poems of Tsegaye G/Medhen. Tsegaye

G/Medhen is a poet and playwright who is writing both in Amharic and English. In this

section, an attempt has been made to analyse some of his poems published in the magazine

called Ethiopia Observer. Tsegaye is noted for his acute observation of continental and

national problems. In his poems, African and Ethiopian identity crises, dilemma of the

educated ones and the concern about self-examination and other critical issues are revealed.

Among the many poems that appeared in the magazine six poems which represent the

recurrent themes and style of the poet are selected for analysis. The poems are 'Death In

Me', 'I Remember', 'Prologue to African Conscience', 'Tomorrow sit-in-ers?', 'Self-exile' and

'Also of Ethiopics'.

The researcher will begin with the poem entitled 'Death In Me'. In this poem, two worlds of

the speaker are stated in contrastive manner. In this structure, the notion of the self who is

dreaming or involved in the two dreams is given prominence, since the pronoun 'I', which

refers to one self, (in this case the poetic persona) is repeated. In this regard, the 'I' is

involved with two personalities. It reveals that in the first he/she isolates him/herself from

the fantasy and in the second he/she sticks to the second dream. Therefore, by the two

different and contrasting phrasal patterns, the positive and negative, the imaginary and the

real are contrasted to the effect of showing the different worlds, which people create on the

one hand, and the real sensible world on the other.

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Let us illustrate these elements to see how the poet created a contrasting effect. In the first

stanza, we find all those positive words such as 'a moonshine walk' (1). In the second stanza

we read, 'well-fed baby angels' (6) 'alluring... dead feelers of God' (7), 'golden walls of the

Vatican’ (8), ‘fly... on the wings of sweet bird of youth’ (13) which reflect the imagined

perception of life. All these elements involve an imaginative presentation. For instance

'Michelangelo's well-fed baby angels' (6) refers to the artist's visualised world of angels,

which is beautiful. Those very beautiful and fat angels are not found in real life as no one

ever saw angels since they are creations of the mind (and in this case the artist) as the

fantasy world or dream is the creation of the poetic persona. The term 'well-fed' is deviant,

as it does not cohere with the notion of angels (deviant in terms of the norm that we know

about spiritual beings). However, in order to show that the angels look attractive, the poet

uses this deviant element to convey the idea of attractive world the poetic persona has

imagined. The same is true with the phrase 'feelers of God from golden wall of the Vatican'

(7&8). These angels that exist on the golden shiny and attractive wall of the Vatican are

imagined ones created by painters. In an attempt to reveal the imagined vision, the poet uses

other imagined creations of artists. In this poem, what is visualised is not reality but the

illusive world, the world of fantasy and beauty.

In the first dream, we find positively loaded aspects of life, which are revealed through

positive linguistic items like 'happy days' (2), 'well-fed baby angles' (6), 'alluring' (7),

'golden wall' (8) and 'sweet bird' (13). All these lexical items have a lot to do with the

attractive and beautiful concept of life. Nevertheless, all these lexical items and phrases are

described in terms of a negative phrase 'I no more' which negates the existence of these

alluring features of the imagined world.

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In this regard, the poetic persona is seen negating or disregarding this interesting but illusive

world.

We find a change of attitude that makes the poetic persona detached from the fanciful life,

as he/she became aware of its uselessness. The clause 'I only wait absorbed by emptiness'

(4) reflects the reason for which the poetic persona shifts from fantasy to reality. Though

beautiful and attractive, this clause reflects that the first dream is empty and hollow, which

does not bring about satisfaction or pleasure. Again, the poet creates a pattern of semantic

link, which magnifies the meaninglessness of the first dream by repetition of the word

empty in line 4 with the noun 'emptiness'. The repetition of the same word reflects the

horrible and uninteresting fact about the imagined world created by the speaker. All the

positive elements refer to the beautiful situation of the dream world, but it is described in

terms of its emptiness. This is the interesting paradox, which the poet creates to discourage

those who like to fantasise instead of looking at the real world. The emptiness refers to the

unreal and intangible world. In the clause 'under a clouded over rock of emptiness' (4) we

find 'clouded' also which has a link with the meaning that refers to the unperceived notion of

the dream, for 'clouded' involves being unclear and blurred in vision.

In the second dream, we find aspects described in terms of the phrase 'I only' being followed

by negatively loaded words to reveal the unpleasant image of the world. The phrases 'thick

white pus' (10), 'leper's distorted eyes' (11) and 'wounds of life' (16) have relationship in

meaning for all have to do with the notion of physical injury and unhealthy situation. The

word 'pus' refers to a thick yellowish fluid produced by an infected part of the body. The

lexical items that are used to describe it, are the two adjectives 'thick' and ‘white’, which

create a semantic repetition, for the word ‘pus’ by itself, involves these two characteristics

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by its nature. Yet, to magnify the awful sight, the poet deliberately makes the redundancy.

The lexical element 'leper' also refers to a person whose body is disfigured by a skin disease.

That is another negative aspect of life, (in the context of this poem) which is full of

diseases. The pus is 'ejected out' (11) from the eyes and again the eyes are described as

distorted. The pus in the eyes describes the unpleasant scene of life, as the sight of pus in

the eyes is disgusting. The eyes being described in terms of the adjective 'distorted' reflect

deformation. The poet chooses to make the pus come out of the eyes not from the leper's

body. This may signify that the very important organ in the body is infected. As a result, the

image of the unpleasant real world, the real fact with all its abnormality is foregrounded and

placed in focus.

The other lexical categories that are patterned to create parallel meanings are 'cold blankets

of reality' (15) and 'naked soul' (20). These are other instances of metaphorical language in

which linguistic forms have been used to mean something other than their literal meaning.

In this context, 'reality' is described as 'cold blankets' to refer to its unfriendliness and

uncomfortability. The phrase 'naked soul' is another negative element, which is used to mark

the explicitly distorted reality. The word 'naked' has to do with being uncovered. Here what

is exposed or uncovered is the soul as it is absorbed in the reality that is full of disaster; it

cannot feel itself covered. Thus, the inner being is exposed to shame and has lost its

reputation as being naked connotes a meaning of being unguarded or unprotected.

The lexical items 'moonshine' (4) 'clouded' (4), 'evening sun' (18) and 'good-night kisses'

(19) are semantically connected for they all indicate night-time. Hence, the connection is

temporal. These elements, which involve night-time and darkness, are attached with the first

dream, which is full of positive ideas. However, it exists at night, in darkness. This reflects

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that it is not seen clearly because it is unintelligible. In this contrastive parallel, the

linguistic features 'the wounds of life received at day light' (16) and 'glow wider in the dead

of night' (17) are parallel in meaning. Semantically, 'day light' refers to the end of night.

That 'day light' involves breaking of day and again 'dead of night' also refers to the end of

the night or starting of a day. So, the repetition of the words emphasises the idea of being in

light, in the open, which can be seen clearly. What is exposed to the open is the negative

aspects of life, such as despair, wound and the entire unpleasant situations. With those

contrasting features and meanings, the poet gives prominence to the idea of the real fact

around us, which is unavoidable.

Therefore, the first dream, though with positive elements, is unreal, as it is full of fantasy.

The second dream that is signified by the 'I only dream' (9) is real with all those negative

elements that turned out to be a nightmare. By contrasting the real and the unreal, the poet

emphasises the idea that one has to look outward to those undesirable facts of life instead of

being absorbed by inward imaginative world. We now understand the title of the poem. The

first person 'I' no longer exists in the ideal world of his/hers. Hence, 'Death In Me' possibly

refers to the death of the first self who has been absorbed by fantasy. The 'I no more' may

refer as said earlier, to a disconnection from the fanciful world and the 'I only' involves the

connection with the real world. Therefore, emphasis is given to the idea of self-awareness.

Its aim seems to initiate people to see around them and be part of that life, although it is

diseased and uncomfortable. With a clear contrast of the first self (first dream or fantasy

world) and the second self (second dream or real) the poet produces a semantic link

throughout the poem and emphasises the fact that being in the real track of life is important

though it is painful.

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The following poem entitled 'I Remember' is presented with a contrastive parallel, which

compares the negative, and the positive, the inward and the outward looking individual.

Here too, what is positively described seems to be only the vision of the poetic persona and

what is negatively described is what he/she actually looks for and experiences in the real

life. Like in the above-discussed poem, here the poet creates a contrast of ideas between the

first and second stanzas.

In the first stanza, we find the lexical features, which involve all positive and luxurious

things in the world. Here, we see that the poetic persona who is described by the first person

pronoun 'I' pleads with God to provide him more. He/she yearns that God will give him/her

the opportunity to 'choose' (1). Choosing refers to selecting something from many other

things or options. Therefore, he/she mentions the things he/she desires to have. The phrases

'castles high and wide, with gardens full of charm' (2), 'fountains here and there, more acres

of good farm' (3) and 'more golden rings to wear, spectacles' (4), could likely indicate a high

living status. 'Castles', 'gardens', 'fountains', 'golden rings' and 'spectacles' are costly and

valuable materials, especially the first three are materials which indicate wealth. All these

materials are modified by the adjective 'more' (2,3&4). The comparative element 'more' is

repeated three times to describe the person's excessive need of those materials. Hence,

'more' refers to unchecked want for the materials. That is to say, if some one asks for more

he/she has already earned something. Therefore, what the speaker in this poem asks for is

additional. When he/she asks for more castles it means he/she already has one. When he/she

asks for a garden full of charm it implies that he/she already has a garden though not

beautiful. When he/she asks for more acres of farm, he/she already has a farm, and when

he/she asks for more golden rings, it shows that he/she already has golden rings but he/she

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needs more. Lastly, when he/she asks for more spectacles and shoes, it means that he/she

already owns those materials; above any thing else he/she has eyes and feet. In the first

stanza, what the person needs is more, which is additional to what he/she already has and in

this case the luxurious side of things is illustrated.

In the second stanza, there is another individual who is a child. The poetic persona is the

one who is telling us about the child's condition. Thus, the poet confronts us with all the

negatively loaded lexical items. The child is described as one with 'ragged dress' (10) who is

'lying in the road' (10). This indicates that the child is poor with no home to live and clothes

to wear. In the first stanza, 'more' is used to describe the additional things while in the

second stanza 'no' is describing the things, which are very important or essential. The

phrasal structures 'no home ’, 'no food', 'no foot' and ‘no eye’ (14) are syntactically parallel

for all are nouns modified by the adjective 'no'. The repetition of 'no' also produces a sound

effect or alliteration, which is created to intensify the idea of being deprived of those

essential materials. The items 'home' and 'food' are semantically connected for they have

something to do with the essential needs of human beings. 'Foot' and 'eye' are also related,

as they are important parts of the body. Giving all these descriptions, the contrastive parallel

produces a pattern of meaning.

The person with all the necessary things asks for more while the child is deprived of the

essential things, above all his body. The person in the first stanza is blessed with the

essential materials and more than any thing; he/she has his/her eyes and feet, while the child

has nothing. The person yearns to have spectacles for his/her eyes, while the child has no

eyes; the person asks for shoes for his/her feet while the child has no feet. Thus,

supplementary and compulsory sides of life are contrasted within the two stanzas. The poet

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creates such comparison to reveal and intensify the extremity of people’s living standards

and magnifies the idea of the limitless need of human beings as contrasted to absolute

deprivation.

The parallel patterns create a foregrounding effect, which reflects the idea of selfishness and

greediness contrasted with the world full of disease, poverty and scarcity. It could be

deduced that the poet foregrounds the ignoble character of the individual who does not care

for others except him/herself. The bitter scene (the situation of the child) may symbolise the

bitter reality which some are unaware of. Here too, the poet creates two worlds: the world of

fantasy and the real fact. The world of luxury and choice is interrupted and shattered by the

sudden realisation of the unexpected sight of disaster, i.e., the condition of the child. Thus,

what the poet depicts and communicates through the contrastive parallel patterns is the

mutually exclusive side of life. What are contrasted are being self-indulgent, obsessed by

panoramic view of the world, selfishness and ignorance of other things and being deprived

of everything. Tsegaye seems to criticise the notion of selfishness and by emphasising the

unpleasant situation of the child, he attempts to awaken those who are disconnecting

themselves from the reality around them, although the reality seems hopeless to be mended.

Tsegaye is resourceful in creating such patterns, which recur consistently throughout the

poem, strengthening the same idea.

The other poem of Tsegaye entitled 'Prologue to African Conscience' and particularly deals

with the notion of the African identity crisis i.e. being still a victim of the white people after

colonization in the name of the so-called civilization. Thus, the poet uses bitter words and

highly emotional feelings to reveal and criticise the Africans for losing their sense of

judgement. Next, this poem will be scrutinised.

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The lexical items, 'conscience' (5), 'mind' (15), 'head' (16), 'brains' (19) ,'inner soul' (30) and

the direct repetition of the word 'conscience' (32) intensify the same idea, as all are lexically

synonymous and semantically identical. These lexical items have to do with the internal

being or the state of the mind that is a faculty of reasoning. The mental faculty, which

enables human beings to identify wrong and right, is recurrent in this poem. The lexical

features 'black conscience' (5) and 'african conscience' (32) recur in the poem. This reveals

that the poet is talking in particular, about the African's loss of self-identity. The words

'black' and 'African' are used interchangeably to refer to the identity of the person and the

conscience of the African about which the poem is talking.

In the first stanza, we find lexical features 'tamed to bend' (1) and 'carpentered' (3) which

have some semantic link and grammatical pattern as both are verbs in past tense form and

describe the same idea which in this case is the 'black conscience' (6). The semantic link

occurred because of the fact that both terms involve a kind of shaping. 'Taming', in its

broadest sense, implies domesticating or making something submissive. It mostly has to do

with non-human creatures, particularly wild or domestic animals. The lexical element

'carpentered' also involves making or repairing wooden materials in a desired form or

fashion. The similarity of these two words also occurs in the sense that they have to do with

things lacking human quaulities. Thus, what is 'tamed' and 'carpentered' as desired is the

conscience of the African. These words bring out animal and inanimate references to

describe a human being. Hence, two meanings can be inferred from the notion of the

African mind. Firstly, it is considered as an inanimate object, which is designed to act or

behave as desired. Secondly, it has a meaning of led and shaped by others. This creates a

negative image of the African conscience since dehumanising metaphors that ascribe animal

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or inanimate properties or features to a human being, frequently have a tone of contempt. By

these words, the poet magnifies the notion that the African conscience is not led by its own

will but by the will of others who can treat it as they wish. The term 'to bend' reflects the

idea of submissiveness, thus loss of ones reasoning capability and being shaped by others is

emphasised.

The second stanza also shows some recurrent features like 'looks right' (7), 'looks left' (8)

and 'not look into its own self' (9) that stress the notion of being engaged with outward

looking. The looking is an outward one, which reflects the pressure of the outside power. In

this regard, the idea of 'looking' is foregrounded by the direct repetition of the word 'look'

three times (7,8&9). Although the idea of self-examination has been highlighted, it is in the

negative sense, for the African does not attempt to look inside him/herself or act as his/her

mind guides him/her to be. The mind lacks the power to do so, because it is controlled and

victimized by an outer force. This reflects that loss of self-esteem is being over empowered

by other forces. In this regard, racial discrimination by which the African conscience is

entrapped is foregrounded. The phrasal structures 'friendly pharos of its time' (4), 'broken

yoke threatens to return' (10), 'the old dragon sun' (7) and 'past and present masters' (27)

reflect racial discrimination.

Here, we find the elements, which involve the past and the present. The phrase 'broken yoke

threatens to return' (10) reflect that the oppressor who left Africa seem to exercise their

power. The term 'broken yoke' in its literal sense refers to ploughing equipment, which is

fastened onto the necks of oxen. Here, it is described in terms of the modifier adjective

'broken' to reveal that it has no power anymore. In this regard, what is described in terms of

such symbolic representation by the phrase 'broken yoke' is the non-existent oppressive

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power that has enslaved the Africans. However, the poet reflects his fear as he expresses

colonization is threatening to overshadow their lives again, this time in the name of

civilization. What the poet attempts to emphasise is that although colonization is over, it still

clouded over the African's life.

In the second stanza, the clausal items 'luring' (12) and 'luxury and golden chains' (13)

reflect attraction by material wealth. The idea communicated here is that what wrapped the

African conscience is wealth. In other words, it has taken by the enjoyable things but not

essential. Thus, it some how shows self-indulgence. The phrases 'freed the body' (14) and

'enslave the mind' (15) are parallel as they are created in antithesis as 'freed' and 'enslave' are

opposite words in which one is positive and the other negative. What are described in terms

of these elements are the 'body' and the 'mind', where one has to do with the inner

personality while the other deals with the physical being. What is freed is the body but the

mind is enslaved. ‘Free’ and ‘enslave’ are in parallel position to produce a foregrounding

effect revealing that the African is still a slave of the white man as a result of imposed

civilization. A slave does not have any right to decide about him/herself, he/she is another

person’s property. Once the mind is a slave or under pressure, it is impossible for it to

reason out and differentiate between right and wrong. The phrase ‘golden chains’ (13)

reflects an aspect of bondage and the poet seems to consciously use this term parallel with

the lexical item ‘enslavement’. Chains are used to fasten something. In this case, ‘golden

chains’ are beautiful ornaments in their literal meaning. Therefore, gold, which is one of the

luxuries, fastens or chains the African mind. This signifies riches, which the mind of the

African is taken by. The poet produces such language organisation to foreground the

conscience of the black, which is obsessed by temporally alluring materials.

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In the third stanza, we find the phrase the old dragon sun (12) which seems to be deviant as

the noun ‘sun’ is modified by the two adjectives, ‘old’ and ‘dragon’ in order to foreground

the power of the heat the sun produces. In literal use we cannot find an old or a dragon sun,

but this characteristic is given to the ‘sun’ to bring out its ruthless heat. The other deviation

occurs when the sun is described in terms of the metaphor ‘breaths hot civilization’ (18),

since in its literal sense breathing is not characteristic of the sun but a human quality. We

identify two marked deviations in the lexical elements ‘sun breaths’ and ‘hot civilization’.

Literally, the sun cannot breathe and civilization cannot be hot or cold. The easier way to

interpret this oddity is to describe the lexical elements, which seem deviant at this level. A

dragon is a mystical animal that is believed to breathe fire. This characteristic is given to the

sun through a simile. Here, we can attach associative meaning to the elements. The

noticeable idea is that all have to do with the aspect of heating. The sun, like the dragon, is

breathing heat. The meaning attached to this refers to civilization. The extra heat or the

influence of civilization produces pressure on the African mind. The ‘dragon sun’ is a

simile, which refers to the colonizers. The heat, which is expressed in terms of the phrase

‘hot civilization’, reflects the pressure of the colonizers that is imposed on the mind of the

African in the name of civilization. The other lexical items, which have some bearing in

meaning to the notion of heat, are ‘pant’ (21) and ‘suffocation’ (22). These two items have a

lot to do with heat, as they refer to breathing difficulty as a result of high heat and

suffocation. The African conscience is described in terms of these metaphorical items to

reveal its suppression under colonialism.

The lexical elements ‘torn’ (26), ‘hook’ (30) and ‘fear’ (31) are at the same semantic level

for all refer to damage or destruction. These elements occur in those positions to describe

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the inner being. ‘Torn spirits’ (26), ‘hook its inner most soul’ (30) and ‘tear it apart ‘ (31)

show the breaking down of the African’s identity. The repetition of the terms that reflect

the inner being helps to vividly show what is mostly damaged. The terms ‘torn’ and ‘tear’

are lexically similar ; one is a present and the other in the past tense. Both refer to the idea

of pulling forcibly to pieces. Here, what is being pulled apart and put into pieces is the

African's spirit, soul and mind, the inner being as a whole, his/her original identity. All these

items vividly show the serious and regretful reality of loss of identity.

Tsegaye’s creation of parallels with patterning of such semantically linked words is very

interesting. The words look simple but their reoccurrence throughout the poem renders the

overall meaning significant. Thus, through such patterning, he creates the meaning of

oppression in the name of the so-called civilization. In the past, they had been oppressed by

force, now by luxurious materials. In this way, they peacefully surrendered their identity.

Although the Africans' inner being is damaged, Tsegaye also brings out the previous

qualities of the Africans, that is, their mental power, courage and intelligence. The lexical

items ‘wise’ (19) and ‘strong’ (20) are used to describe the bravery of the African. Here, it

presupposes that the African people are not stupid and weak, but rather wise and strong,

although they were victim of the colonizers not by war but by the hidden weapon of

civilization which deceived the Africans. Since the poet emphases the inner personality of

the African, we never find a personal pronoun he or she or they but throughout the poem the

noun conscience recurs in different forms. It is referred to by those terms or by the pronoun

‘it’ which is an impersonal subject. It occurs in lines 3,6,7,8,16,18,26,27,28,29. It is used to

emphasise the notion of intrinsic personality. Once the inner personality is destroyed, there

is no identity that stands for itself. Here, what is significantly communicated is the fate of

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the Africans' being puppet of others. It is an attempt to criticise those Africans who

disposed of their original identity for worthless possessions. The spirits and the guts that are

inherited from their forefathers are gradually destroyed through civilisation by being

educated. But above anything, those luxurious materials that attract them have corrupted

them.

At the end of the last stanza, we find the phrases ‘moans molested’(33) and ‘drafting

up rooted’ (34) which are highly patterned elements that give prominence to the idea of

suffering resulting from lost of African conscience. The reinforcing connection between

‘moans’ and ‘molested’ is one of similarity for both have to do with suffering as ‘moan’

reflects a sound of lament or grief whereas ‘molested’ refers to being disturbed, burdened

and annoyed by the effect of injuries. Here, both words reinforce the ideas of grief and

suffering of the Africans. The word ‘drifting’ refers to being pushed or move forward

without purpose or aim. This emphasises the whole notion of losing self-esteem. ‘Uprooted’

also reflects to being disconnected from one’s root, or losing identity. This term is related to

the whole pattern of meaning in the poem.

The repetition of the word ‘still’ reflects that the African is unaware of the problem and are

unable to lead a meaningful life. Hence, if the African is still unaware of the problem, the

helplessness and hopelessness of the situation is foregrounded in the last stanza.

Again, we find graphlogically deviant element ‘african’ which would have been written in

capital ‘A’ for it is the name of a continent. The word signifies the identity of the person.

The Africans have lost their self-esteem and dignity. Being written with a low case letter

may suggest the poet’s attempt to reveal that the African is no more like the original one.

The small letter possibly implies belittling the African's mind. With these interesting

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arrangements of syntactically and semantically parallel elements, Tsegaye attempts to reflect

the situation of the Africans' identity crises, brought about by material benefits that uprooted

them from their noble backgrounds. He criticises the Africans for being unaware of the

consequences of adopting the values the Europeans imposed on them without ever

examining or questioning. The poet shows his distrust of the unquestioning mind and insists

on the view that it must dare to look at itself, know itself, beware of itself and the facts in its

surrounding.

In the poem entitled ‘Tomorrow’s sit-in-ers?’ Tsegaye uses language, which creates a

parallel meaning that reflects deep and penetrating thoughts. In light of this, let us examine

the poem. At the beginning of every stanza, we find a verbal repetition ‘caught’ (1, 15&36).

This verb refers to the state of seizure or awareness or an unexpected discovery of

something. The verbal repetition in every stanza is followed by almost similar syntactic

structures such as ‘in the cold-blooded verdict’ (2) and ‘of … (3), ‘in a maculate fixation

(16) and ‘of…’ (17), ‘in the consuming wings’ (37) and ‘of….’ (38). Hence, in every stanza,

there is a pattern of repetition i.e. verbal + preposition + article + adjective + noun and again

a prepositional phrase. In this poem, highly patterned elements and structures recur

producing a well-organised and cohesive arrangement of ideas that reinforce the meaning of

the poem. The syntactic structure produces phonological as well as semantic repetition and

creates a foregrounded effect.

The other interesting characteristic that occurs in this parallel arrangement is the creation of

negatively loaded ideas i.e., the verb ‘caught’, which recurrently follows negative words or

phrases that designate negative aspects of the reality. The person who is described in terms

of caught by something is confronted with a very unpleasant notion of life. Although these

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negatively loaded elements appear in different forms in each stanza, they have a connection

of meaning all over the poem. Let us categorise these lexical items that appear in every

stanza so as to identify their relationship in suggesting the meaning of the poem.

In the first stanza, the lexical items ‘verdict’ (2) and ‘decision’ (6) can be grouped in one

category for both have to do with judgement or a final conclusion. The adjective ‘cold-

blooded’ (2) and ‘bitter’ (6) modify these verbs respectively. This shows that what is

decided or judged is not just. What the person is confronted with is the unjust reality. There

are also other lexical elements grouped in another category. These are ‘fear’ (7), ‘death’ (8)

and ‘scream’ (9), which all have to do with something horrible or depressing. These

elements recur throughout the poem by direct repetition and parallel structure. The notion of

fear occurred with a direct repetition in lines 7, 17 and 47. This is because the one aspect of

reality that the person caught with is fear. The fear is described in terms of a metaphor like

‘ghost of fear’ (7) and ‘goddess of fear’ (17) so as to magnify the power of fear by

attributing the characteristics of the mystical creatures. The poet attributes the more abstract

characteristics of the mystical world to ‘fear’, which is an abstract notion itself and enables

to reinforce the feeling of fear as powerful as the supernatural power. Besides, the

characteristic of human beings is attributed to the abstract concept of fear given that it is

referred to as ‘caresses one’ (7) and ‘with finger’ (8). The poet metaphorically expresses the

nearness and impact of fear, by attributing human qualities to an abstract idea and

concretising its powerful effect.

In the first stanza, the phrase ‘yes for-me or yes-for- others’ reflects the dilemma of the self.

The phrases ‘one’s judgements stood naked and aloof’ (12) and ‘where the exiled soul’ (23)

involve the self’s detachment or uninvolvement with whatever happened in its surrounding.

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The term ‘naked’ conveys the meaning of being unaided or uncovered which reflects shame

and disguise. Like in the other poems, the poet creates two different worlds for the inner

being. Thus, it helps the reader to envisage the positive aspects of the universe as well as the

negative ones as indicated above.

The elements ‘God-forsaken memory rives’ (40, 41) and the ‘undying taste of one’s fruit of

knowledge’ (43) occur to emphasise the causes of the disaster in the world that worries the

person. The poet seems to attach the cause with the very original sin of Adam, which

brought about a curse to the earthlings as well as to human beings. ‘Fruit of knowledge’

seems to signify the forbidden fruit that God did not allow Adam and Eve to eat. The

‘undying taste’ possibly reflects the consequence of the fruit, as it still is the cause of

physical death and unsettled situation in the world.

Thus, the ‘undying taste’ refers to the continuing existence of sin, as it is always fresh.

Hence, it symbolises the transfer of sin from Adam and Eve to this generation.

The other recurrent meaning in this poem reflects the notion of death. The term ‘death’

connotes the death of the inner being not the physical body. Fear and death persistently

occur in the poem to enhance the tension and dilemma of the self. In the last stanza highly

foregrounded are the notions of internal death, and loss of self-esteem as well as

hopelessness. The phrase ‘living grave’ (49) is paradoxical as grave has to do with dying not

living. Living refers to life while grave refers to death. Here, the term ‘grave’ connotes the

body, which signifies that it is a grave to the dead soul. It is parallel with the lexical

elements ‘frame’ (50) and ‘flesh and blood’ (51), which are elements that constitute the

physical body. The term ‘frame’ is to do with a physical makeup of a human or animal

body. This human body consists of ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ and is where the soul resides. Again,

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the physical body and the soul are described separately as the poet is more concerned with

and interested in human thinking i.e. the mind. The terms, which are created to describe the

physical body, produce semantic repetition. We can attach a meaning of the inner death that

is engraved in the physical body. The physical body is symbolised as a grave, which the soul

or the self-esteem is engraved in. With these paradoxical elements, the poet explicates the

idea of self-losing.

The term ‘youthful spirit’ (65), which is parallel with the term ‘soul’ and ‘heart’, occurs

again. The word ‘youthful’ has a lot to do with young age. It seems that the poet refers to

particular age, possibly, the loss of self-awareness of the young generation. The other

phrase, which occurred at the end of the poem, draws the repetition of the meaning of the

whole poem. ‘Wear and tear’ (64) and ‘reduce’ (60) have a lot to do with being used up and

no longer important as a decrease of value or potential. What is described with these phrases

is the ‘youthful spirit’. The other phrases such as ‘dangling adrift’ (68) and ‘partly blown’

(69) too are parallel for they involve a movement drifted by some power. The movement

indicated here refers to drifting forward without purpose. Here, the significance of these

foregrounded features to the meaning of the poem is that the young generation, which lacks

any self-awareness or self-knowledge, is driven forward aimlessly. Thus, what are left are

fear, uncertainty and purposelessness. Seized by fear, the young generation has lost his/her

self-knowledge or self-esteem, and this is to be considered as death of the self-ego.

The notion of ‘posterity’ (70) also appears in this poem. It indicates that the poet is

reflecting this uncertainty about the future generation.

The recurrent theme of the poem is loss of self-knowledge and self-awareness of the present

generation, which shadow the fate of the future generation. We now possibly understand the

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title of the poem ‘Tomorrow sit-in-ers?’, for the term ‘posterity’ (70) is semantically related

and reinforce the idea of young generation. The lexical feature ‘sit-in-ers’ refers to being

stationed in the same place or in an immovable condition. ‘Sit-in’ is a verb but by suffixing

‘-ers’ the poet makes it a noun. Therefore, ‘-er’ refers to performing something, in this case

those who refuse to move as‘s’ is a plural marker which indicates a case with a lot of

people. Thus, the poet creates a new word by neologism. Again, the hyphen between the

main verb and the suffix makes its unusual, so it is deviant and produces a foregrounding

effect. In this regard, it may suggest the fragmentation of the generation, which is

fragmented by fear and the loss of the self. The oddity of the neologism also interestingly

creates a certain concept. Here, the concept of stagnation is foregrounded. This meaning is

created in a unique way; otherwise it has to be expressed with a phrase. The idea of

stagnation or being in an immovable position recurs in the poem in different lexical forms.

The phrases ‘stale cause of action' (10) and ‘maculate fixation’ (16) are related to the

stagnant condition of the generation. The words ‘stale’ and ‘maculate’ involve the idea of

pollution as a result of staying at the same place for a long time. The term ‘fixation’ also has

a connection of meaning with the notion of ‘sit-in-ers’ as it reflects the idea of being fixed

at a particular place.

The present generation, seized by fear to challenge reality seems to be half-dead and stays

where it was. The poet seems doubtful towards the future generation, as he seems to

question how such self-awareness-deprived generation can take over the responsibility of

the future generation. Placing a question mark at the end of the title may reflect his doubt.

The poet hence sounds pessimistic with regard to the existing as well as the future

generation, as the question mark appears to reflect uncertainty. The negative aspects of the

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universe, the disaster and destruction in the world seem to have crippled the sprit of the

young. All over the poem, fear, dilemma, confusion and bewilderment recur so as to

magnify how the crisis of the world influences or affects the conscience of the young.

Tsegaye’s next poem entitled ‘Self-exile’ reflects the detachment of the educated ones from

the current situation in their society. In the first stanza, the poet uses the word ‘we’ and this

seems to be self-inclusive. In this stanza, the notion of self-exile is emphasised by the term

‘asylum’ (1) which refers to being hidden from something. In lines (3-6) the poet seems to

blame himself and others. Hence, he attempts to reveal that those people are mainly taken

by their own needs. What they are obsessed with are not grand things but very unworthy

materials. The phrase ‘cashing principle in favour of tin-gods’ (10) reflects that they

exchange great values for worthless things. In this case, ‘tin-gods’ (10) is one word, which

is coined by the poet to describe one concept. ‘Tin’ and ‘gods’ separately have other

meanings than appear in this poem. The word ‘tin’ refers to any silvery white material and a

metallic element, the least valuable thing when compared to diamond and gold. Again

‘gods’ on the other hand, refers to spiritually worshipped entities. Thus, these people

worship materials rather than greater values and principles. Thus, importance is given to the

idea of losing the great values for trivial things.

Tsegaye, creates a contrast of parallels between the past and present generation to magnify

the loss of moral values of this generation. What the poet attempts to impart in lines (7-16)

are the different values the past and the present generation have. The terms ‘greater causes’

(7) and ‘principles’ (9) have to do with the moral aspects. The phrase ‘the past has died to

keep aflame’ (8) refers to those forefathers who sacrificed themselves to hand down these

moral values to the next generation. On the contrary, the present generation is described in

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terms of destroying those values. The phrases ‘prostituting- greater causes’ (7) and

‘cashing’ (9) involve exchanging the best for some other things, that are, unworthy.

‘Prostituting’ refers to practising immoral deeds.

The other comparison occurs on the notion of scarifying oneself for what is worthy. The

people in the past are contrasted with those in the present in terms of dying for honourable

causes. The phrase the ‘past heirs died’ (8) is in contrastive position with the phrase ‘scared

total death ‘ (12) in which the former describes the honourable death of the past generation

while the latter refers to the present. What are contrasted are the patriotism of the past and

the cowardice of the present generation. The phrase ‘total death’ connotes a complete death

although death by itself is a complete phenomenon as it is the end of life. Hence, the people

are described as living dead for they fear total death. In this case, they seem to be partly

dead and partly alive. This idea is revealed through the lexical element ‘half-dead’ (15),

which is almost an opposite equivalent of the word ‘total’. These two elements occur to

reveal that those people do not like either complete death or complete life; they rather

choose to proceed partly alive and partly dead. Moreover, the clauses ‘seeking asylum in the

bosom of an ailing world’ (1,2) and ‘prefers to move half-dead in the shades of a doomed

era’ (15,16) are phrases with different forms but almost similar meaning. The phrases

‘seeking asylum’ (1) and ‘prefer to move’ (15) are followed by negatively loaded lexical

elements or phrases like ‘ailing world’ (2) and ‘doomed era’ (16) which reflect the negative

aspect of the world and the period as well. The phrase, ‘seeking asylum’ means looking for

a place where to hide oneself.

If someone needs a shelter, it means that he/she had been in some terrible situation. Hence,

he/she needs a better or safe place. Nevertheless, we observe in this line that the place,

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which is chosen as a shelter, is not safe but is an unhealthy world. This is paradoxical as

looking for a better place contradicts with the unhealthy world. By creating such contrasting

parallels, the poet magnifies the confusion of the educated ones. By the same token, the

clause ‘prefers to move in… the shades of a doomed era’ (15, 16) reflects a paradoxical

state, as no one in his/her right mind prefers to keep going in the dark since ‘shades’ implies

dim light. Here, what is conveyed is the bewilderment and confusion of the generation.

In the four successive stanzas, we find a verbal repetition on every first line of each stanza.

The phrase ‘they say’ (17, 26, 34&43) is repeated in the four stanzas followed by the same

syntactic structure. Hence, it creates a verbal repetition called anaphora which is a rhetoric

device involving the repetition of a word or group of words in successive clauses. The

repetition on the first line and the other variant patterns occur at the same level in the four

stanzas. The pattern is ‘they say (17,26,34,43) + where (18,27,35,44) + to (20, 28, 32, 46) +

lest (21,29,38,47) + one must learn (22,30,39,48) + to (23,33,40) + not (23,32,41)’. In

almost all the four stanzas, the repetition of individual phrases and words is accompanied by

some degree of repetition of syntactic structure. The repetition of individual words, in this

case, creates emphasis.

The clauses in lines (18, 27,35,36,44 & 45) reflect similar ideas of unpleasant happenings,

and they are also related on the semantic level, as they all are all destructive agents. The

growing of weeds is not a good sign in farmlands because it is unwanted, for it destroys the

crops. However, what is left to grow is weed while plants, which are essential to life, are

destroyed.

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‘Chocking smoke’ (27) is also not important as it shadows the sunshine and causes

darkness; yet nothing is done to get rid of it. ‘Breeds of rats’ (35) are also unwanted given

that rats destroy valuable materials; yet they are allowed to breed. Those things, which need

to be destroyed or eradicated, are left tolerated and allowed to damage the things, which are

important to life. Here, we observe an obscure reality through the opposite patterning of

language. This is because what is given to destruction and danger is plants, sunshine,

healthy body and flowers, which are all-important, and connotes positive aspects of life.

These things create an equivalent relationship as they can all be categorised as positive

aspects and quality of life albeit exposed to danger. What is suggested by this relationship

is that importance is given to the notion of losing a sense of value, i.e., instead of keeping

the good things of life, what is preserved is the unworthy. Hence, the idea of losing value is

emphasised.

The poet creates such contrast with opposition of meaning and ideas to magnify the lack of

moral principles among the educated individuals of the present generation. The other

parallel structure, which occurs in each stanza, is the repetition of the phrase ‘one must

learn’ (22, 30, 34, 48). The phrase ‘one must learn’ is followed by the values a person

needs to have. The lexical terms, which occur following the phrase ‘one must learn’, are

negatively loaded and implicative of negative ideas or values. The terms ‘up root’ (24) and

‘undermine’ (20) are semantically related as both of them refer to a damage or ruin of

valuable things. The first indicates the ruin of plants while the second is used to describe

spoiling friendship. In this respect, what one must value is the concept of messed up

friendship. But this is a negative and destructive value that is encouraged by those people.

In stanza four, what is also encouraged is to ‘develop hard skin’ (40) in order to ‘protect

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oneself from life’ (42). Here, we observe that the term ‘hard skin’ implies protection.

However, what one has to protect him/herself is not from any danger but life. In this case,

life is considered as a dangerous element which one should protect him/herself from. What

is revealed within these lines is a negative perception of life. The fifth stanza also reflects a

negative conception towards life as it implies pretension and deception. The lexical item in

lines (48 –51) shows that one has to look happy, showing white teeth without ‘the heart’s

consent’ (51). What is stressed and communicated is the idea of hiding one’s real feelings.

What is suggested is the notion of being worried about outward appearance rather than the

inner feeling. In these lines, those people are being criticised for their pretence as they

attempt to look content with themselves while conscience does not approve of it.

In the last stanza, we find the lexical elements ‘fear’ (5) and ‘scared’ (12) which are in

equivalent position as they are lexically synonymous words and refer to being in the state of

fright. This is also revealed in line (24). These lexical items and the phrase reflect the

notion of fear, which is another recurrent theme of the poem. Fear is described in its

different forms with repetition of lexical and semantic elements, which seem to imply that

the fear is too great to be expressed in few words. The notion of fear is again reflected in

different linguistic forms throughout the poem. In this regard, the phrases ‘dimming your

light of day’ (61), ‘lurking in your innermost ‘ (62), ‘clinching your raison d’etre’ (63) and

‘catches to consume’ (64) all are parallel at their semantic level. ‘Dimming your light of

day’ is equivalent with’ saps the hope’ as in both cases threatened and darkened as well as

dimmed is the future. It indicates that the future is gloomy. This also reveals the poet's

pessimistic view of the future.

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The phrase ‘clinching your raison d’etre’ is also another implication or influence of fear

towards the self. The term ‘clinching’ implies fastening or seizing. In this regard, what is

fastened is the person’s ‘raison d’etre’, which has to do with the reason for existence. Here,

what is revealed is losing a sense of the very purpose of existence. These all are repeated

ideas, which intensify the notion of fear that cripples the inner self. For instance, the phrases

‘consume… like a strange disease in the wilderness’ (65) and ‘runs deep like the cult of

inherited sin’ (67) have create a metaphorical representation of fear. Fear is described in

terms of disease, which consumes the inner being. Besides, its severe pain is described in

terms of the very ‘inherited sin’. Normally, valuable materials are inherited from

predecessors or parents. But what is inherited, in this regard, is sin. This phrase probably

refers to the first sin committed by Adam.

That is why it is described as ‘runs deep’ as the influence is so deep and painful. This makes

the vivid idea of fear and gives it depth in meaning. Although the notions of disease and sin

are abstract, the consequence is real and concrete, for in both cases bitter pain and death

occur. Therefore, the bitter aspect of fear is magnified by these metaphors.

In this poem, the poet creates a parallel meaning of ‘death’ and ‘self-exile’ (70). Being

isolated from the society and the self is parallel with death. ‘Death’ involves non-existence

in the world. Hence, being exiled from the self is equivalent to death. All aspects of fear are

stressed to reveal the cause of self-fragmentation. Therefore, the notions of hopelessness

and aimlessness as a consequence of fear are the other recurrent meanings of the poem,

which reinforce the idea of self-isolation. Hence, with all these parallel aspects of language,

Tsegaye communicates the frightening and unpleasant situation of self-exile. The themes of

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fear, hopelessness, loss of greater values and aimlessness recur in the poem aiming at

stressing the notion of self-exile.

The next poem deals with the issue of being an Ethiopian. In this poem entitled 'Also of

Ethiopics', Tsegaye again voices the same problem of the educated individuals. In the first

stanza, the state of the educated generation is exposed with highly invective words that

stress the idea of self-criticism. Since the phrase 'we, the intellectual' (7) refers to the

intelligentsia, it could be presumed that this poem in particular deals with the educated

Ethiopians. In every four lines the word 'we' is ocurs followed by negative words, which are

used to describe the characteristics of the educated ones. The repetition of 'we' in each

fourth line produces a lexical repetition, which indicates that the focus is on the large

number of the erudite.

The phrases 'car-hooters' (2), 'hollow hearts' (4), and 'jazz-minds' (4) have almost similar

meanings. Firstly, they all imply a negative meaning. Secondly, they reflect the same

concept. Being a 'car-hooters' is not acceptable for the word shows the production of loud

noise. It has to do with boasting or being showy. The adjective 'hollow' also reflects the idea

of being empty inside, since the heart is described as hollow. The two can be related with

the idea that being hollow refers to making a lot of noise. As it is said 'an empty vessel

makes the most noise'. Again 'jazz-mind' has a two-fold meaning. On the one hand it

indicates love of music and on the other, empty talk or talking nonsense. These terms

intensify the idea of emptiness and uselessness.

The clausal items 'mockeries, who seem to know what we don't care for' (5) and 'we, the

intellectual brain diseases cases' (7) are in parallel positions for they are related with the

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idea of being educated. However, here being educated is not praised but condemned. The

term 'mockeries' reflects being a laughing stock. What these people know has nothing to do

with the situation of their country. It may be suggested that they know about the western

history or values, which is insignificant to their society. The phrases 'giants who do not

know where to step' (6), 'who aimlessly drifted from day to day (16) and 'flutter in dark

hopes' (46) are highly connected semantically as they show movement without aim.

Although they are intellectuals and 'giants', these people are like little children who do not

know where to go. What is communicated with these parallel elements is the intelligentsia's

aimlessness and purposelessness.

The other parallel structures exhibit the cruel characteristic of those educated Ethiopians.

For instance, the term 'gogmagogs' (9) is used to describe those people. 'Gogmagogs' are

people known for being destroyers of Gods people the Israelites. These Gog and Magogs

have usually known for their cruelty and merciless to the people of God (Ezekiel 38-39 &

Rev. 20). Here, the poet alludes this characterstics to the educated ones of his time who are

destroying one another. The heartlessness and cruelty are foregrounded with this very

lexical feature through the method of allusion. What follows this word is 'to scratch each

others' eyes out' (9&10). The word 'each other' reflects being from the same country and the

same circle, in this case the intellectual world. Therefore, one could presume that the

notions of hatred and jealousy recur in this poem.

The phrases 'we, the odd misfits among your own folk' (15) and 'with pocketed hands that

refused to touch the earth our mothers bent to till' (19) are connected because both reflect

being proud of themselves as they are educated and have detached themselves from their

fellow countrymen and women and the situation around them. The terms 'odd and misfits'

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reflect the inability to be part of their own people, since they have alienated themselves

from the people because of their education which they are proud of. Here, we observe that

the idea of isolation or alienation is communicated and in this regard the poet criticises the

detachment of the educated ones from the rest of the society. The 'pocketed hands' connotes

pride followed by distaste for doing any kind of odd jobs. This shows that they think highly

of themselves. This is foregrounded in terms of these terms to reinforce the overall spoiled

personality and hence intensifies the notion of self-detachment and isolation from the real

situation of their society.

Having foregrounded the very nature of those educated people, their character and identity

crisis, the poet seems to make others aware of their country and themselves. This is

foregrounded by the clausal repetition 'we are to know, condemned to know', at the end of

each stanza. The repetition in each stanza produces a regular pattern of parallelism with a

highly rhyming effect apart from the meaning emphasised. Why does the poet urge them to

know is an interesting question. Thus, being ignorant of the reality, the poet seems to insist

on knowing the real situation. Change comes from self-knowledge and self-understanding.

The problem emerges as a result of ignorance but ignorance must be changed with

knowledge. Where there is knowledge, there is no ignorance. Reality could be unpleasant or

pleasant, bitter or sweet, yet one has to know and face the challenge of life, the ups and

downs and the negative and positive aspects of life. This is what the poet attempts to

emphasise with the repetition of the clause 'we are to know'.

The fascinating elements in this poem are the contrastive parallels that are created to reflect

the situations in the past and the present so as to magnify the shortcomings of the present

generation in particular. The phrases used in stanza three are all positive words that imply

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the positive aspects of the past. Thus, the poet seems to glorify the past and condemn as

such the present. Nevertheless, the poet criticises both the educated ones of the present as

well as the past generations.

The poet exposes the consequences of past mistakes that cause problems in the present

generation. For instance in lines 2 and 3, the past and the present are contrasted but both

reflect the same idea of destruction. The present generation is referred to as the product of

the devastated experience of the past and at the same time the outcome of the insecurity and

disorder of the present situation in the world. The pressure upon the present generation from

both sides is foregrounded. Both sides are affected by negative influences. Thus, these terms

suggest that from a destructive past, it is hardly possible to get healthy children. If

forefathers and fathers are ruined so are the children. The fate of the present generation,

therefore, is at stake, as it is the product of the disorder of the existing world. Hence, one

could deduce that the poet seems to reveal that the problems of the present educated

generations are rooted in destructive experiences. Here, the poet seems to reinforce the

causes that forced the present generation to act the way they did. The two-sided pressure

forces them to lose their sense of responsibility and confidence. As a result, they feel

scared and desperate.

He also intensifies the connection of the two generations with similarities. The phrases 'false

of the songs of the past our elders taught us' (62&63), involves a negative aspect of the past

generation. What they taught and transmitted to the present generation are false songs. This

seems to be the other aspect, which impedes the present generation from being honest. In

this sense, the poet seems to criticise those invalid tales that are inherited from our

forefathers. Along with this presumption, we find the features 'mist of past ballads' (79) and

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'tales of historical etiopics' (82) that have a lot to do with the idea of obsession with unreal

tales about the past. The word 'tale' reflects a story that is not factual. To have a story to be

told does not seem the problem, but the problem lies in being obsessed with past history

without doing anything. This notion is emphasised in this poem. To be proud of the past and

often talk about it, is also forgrounded with a parallel phrase 'the deaf pride of antiquity'

(65). The term 'deaf pride' refers to a stubborn pride that refuses to see other things except

past glory, past monuments and so on, as if an ancient story brings about success by itself.

The poet reveals the futility of the present generation that refuses to change its attitudes and

open itself to new experiences. We have to note that Tsegaye is not totally rejecting past

history but to be absorbed with past history and refuse to face the real or existing situation is

what he seems to criticise. Therefore, the vanity of the present generation is foregrounded

through these phrasal items. Conceit is not only the characteristic of the present but it was

also reflected in the past generation. In lines 67-70, we find the idea of pride, which is

recurrent. It prevails both in the past and present generations. The peasants in the past are

described as 'stood aloof' (68) and this implies that being proud these people did not attempt

to challenge those ruling chiefs when they oppressed them and darkened their days (69).

Here, the negative consequence of pride is foregrounded in terms of its uselessness as it

brings about disaster.

The other recurrent idea in the poem has to do with the concept of time. The phrases 'who

eat your days' (10) and 'when time was of little or of no concern' (63) reflect that the concept

of time seems to be unimportant as it has been wasted by telling tales and is still wasted by

memorising past history. 'Eat your days' (10) is a metaphor for in its literal sense time cannot

be eaten. However, to foreground the wastage of time, it is attributed the quality of edibility.

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The other element, which is related to the concept of time, lies in the phrases 'we whose

fathers inherited centuries of yoke' (73) and 'fought and bleeded in centuries of battles' (74).

In these two phrases, the term 'centuries' is directly repeated. The meaning of the word

'century' involves a long period of time. What is wasted in the past is not little time but

many years just engaged in battles. The term 'yoke' has a two fold meaning here. On the one

hand, it refers to the act of ploughing, and what is foregrounded is that the forefathers were

for centuries ploughing the land with pairs of oxen. Yet, what the present generation has

inherited is this traditional way without any change. Here what is foregrounded is the waste

of centuries in backward life. 'Yoke' on the other hand connotes the meaning of oppression.

The people in the past were oppressed. The present generation has also inherited a long

experience of war and oppression, which are negative aspects of life. Although Tsegaye

seems to glorify the past and patriotism, underneath he criticises it for he considers it as a

waste of time. Time is wasted in battles in the past and time is also wasted talking about

those wars at present. All are the same as one is the consequence of the other. Time is

wasted on destruction rather than construction. Regret for time that is lost is conveyed in

this manner. Given all these comparisons of the past and the present and by foregrounding

the causes of the crises, Tsegaye, laments the situation of the present generation.

In the last line of the poem, we find the term 'drift' which is semantically parallel with the

phrase 'giants who do not know where to step' (6) as both have to do with the notion of

aimless movement. The present generation is bewildered and does not know where to go;

does not know its direction. The cry 'who am I mother!' reflects this confusion and the

identity crisis of those individuals. The word 'mother' connotes one's country. Therefore,

those people seem to ask the very question of identity. Being a fruit of the past, it is a

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mixture of noble and ignoble experiences and being the outcome of the present devastating

world, with its positive and negative impacts, the present generation stands in dilemma,

unable to know its identity and its original intent in the universe. The exclamation mark

reflects an angry cry, which is used to emphasise the inner quest to know who those persons

are.

As we have seen, Tsegaye, focuses on the educated Ethiopians of the present generation, he

equally reveals the problems within the past generation. In this respect, it is hard to agree

with what Debebe Seifu asserts about Tsegaye's great attachment and glorification of the

past. He says "Tsegaye has …usually uncritical reverence for whatever is in the

past"(1980:95).

However, as it has been discussed earlier, Tsegaye attempts to admire the positive and

undeniable facts of the past and at the same time he voices his discontent towards the

negative impact of the past. In this poem, prominent are the notion of lack of values,

confusion, hopelessness, purposelessness and identity crises and the problem of self-

awareness. Tsegaye condemns the intelligentsia for ignoring the culture and moral

principles, which are disguised by the so-called civilisation. In this poem, the poet seems to

be pessimistic about the future as well as the fate of the present generation. The

foregrounded elements concerning purposelessness and drifting without aim reflect this

pessimist attitude.

To summarise this section, through stylistic method it is found out that Tsegaye's poems

mainly focus on the question of the self. It can be said that he is interested in human beings

rather than nature or the like. Almost all these selected poems reflect the notion of self-

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knowledge. The problems of the African and present Ethiopian generation are also depicted.

Hence, the young generation being a victim of civilization and past devastating wars seems

to be confused. Tsegaye's poems are thematically linked. In most of his poems, he deals

with the notions of self-defeat, despair and hopelessness.

4.2. SOLOMON DERESSA AND HIS STYLE OF VERSIFICATION

In this section, an attempt has been made to analyse and interpret some selected poems of

Solomon Deressa. Solomon is a well-known poet and essayist. His involvement in literary

production extends over three decades on three continents: Africa, Europe and the USA. He

is admired for he equally wields different languages i.e., Amharic, Oromiffa, English and

French. Generally speaking, he has voiced the deep aspect of humanity and focused on self-

examination. Giving this background about the poet, it seems proper to carry on with the

analysis of some of his poems and try to find out how he uses the language to impart

meaning. From his collections of poems, six of them are selected for analysis. These poems

are chosen for the reason that they significantly represent the recurrent themes reflected in

the poems and the widely used style of the poet. They are entitled 'Prayer', 'ode to myself',

'Ring the Child Alive',' Ethiopiques', 'What a face!' and 'Choices'. We begin our analysis

with the first in the list that appeared as introductory in his collection of the poems under the

title 'Tone of Silence'.

The word 'prayer ' refers to the act of asking or begging the supernatural to grant the speaker

things he/she needs. In this context, the speaker is praying for making the flame flow and

the fountain smoke. What is emphasised in the prayer is that God is begged to do

something. In this poem there are many foregrounded groupings of lexical items as a result

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of the following parallel patterns and deviant choices from the language code. Let us

describe lines 1 and 7 that emphasise the intent of the prayer.

The lexical items 'flame', 'flow' and ' fountain' (1) are alliteration pairs which produce a

repetition of the sound /f/ at the beginning of each word thus, creating alliteration. The

alliterative phonological sounds produce an effect of emphasising the semantic link among

the three items. The lexical items 'flame' and 'flow' (1) and 'fountain and smoke' (1) are

paired in opposite terms but one defines the other. In this patterning, 'flame' is described in

terms of 'flow ' and 'fountain' is defined in terms of 'smoke'. Nevertheless, there seems to be

a role reversal within these words. 'Flame' refers to burning and expected to be modified

with the term ‘smoke’ as both involve the firing and burning. 'Fountain' too should have

been described with the word 'flow' as they both have to do with flowing that requires

movement. Yet, what the poet does is reverse the role and define one term by the opposite

term that is not normally used to define it. The question is why does the poet bother to

reverse the role of the modifiers as each has its own modifying element. This role reversal

gives the impression of emphasising the vigorous acts of the flame and the fountain. If the

poet uses flame with smoke and fountain with flow he may not be able to explain how

forcibly the flame smokes and the fountain flows. Thus, what the poetic persona is asking

God is to make flame and the fountain powerful so as to collect a good harvest from the

sand that the speaker is going to sow as the second and third lines expose.

The lexical items 'sand' and 'sow' (2) also produce alliteration and phonological effect of

internal rhyming. The internal rhyming might show the close relationship between the

activity of planting and the seed (sand). Therefore, the alliteration pairs 'sand' and 'sow'

exhibits the repetition of the sound/s/. These two lexical features and the other pairs of lexis

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like 'harvest' and 'pebbles' (2) and 'sowing on a floor' (2) and 'fragile pebbles' (3) are deviant

elements at the semantic level. The action of sowing in the normal sense of the word does

not go with the term sand. Sowing involves seeds that have life, which can grow and can be

fertile to produce more of their type. The term sowing, harvesting sand and pebbles are

metaphors because sand being element of the unproductive item rock, cannot be sowed.

'Sand' sowed instead of seed is lifeless. The other deviant element is the connection created

between 'pebbles' and 'harvest'. Normally, what is harvested is a plant, seed or fruit not

pebbles. So the relationship of these terms is against the conventional norm of planting.

Besides, 'pebbles' are defined in terms of the word 'fragile' which creates another deviation

which is a paradox since pebbles, as said earlier, refer to concrete elements while fragile

involves easily breakable or delicate materials.

The other interesting thing about this poem is that the sowing took place not on a fertile land

but on a floor, which is defined in terms of the adjective 'adamant'. To put this idea clearly,

in the normal sense of the word floor refers to surface of rooms. Therefore, it is lifeless. In

order to stress the sterile situation of the floor the word adamant is added. This manifests the

floors' extreme unresponsiveness to yields. Sowing needs a fertile land not an arid floor

hence, the relationship produces deviation.

Let us also consider the implication of these foregrounded or deviant elements to the

meaning of the entire poem. What is the poet talking about? How can the terms 'flame'' and

'fountain' go together with the notion of 'sowing' and 'harvesting'? What is the poetic

persona really praying for? What are the deviant elements connoting apart from their literal

meaning? This poem requires the decoder to find out the missing part. Obviously, the poet

cannot only be talking about sowing sands and harvesting pebbles at their literal level.

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Therefore, we should go back and reconsider all the lexical and the semantic aspects of the

poem to dig out a deeper and broader meaning and determine the association of the

underlined and compressed language, which leads to a more symbolic representation.

In spite of the fact that the two pairs 'sow and sand' and 'harvest and pebbles' have no

meaning relationship, we are invited to construe a relationship between them of a parallel

meaning. One way to do it is to notice the context. This allows the possibility that the person

is talking about owing harvesting of some other things rather than sand and pebbles. In its

deepest meaning, the word 'sow' refers to implanting anything including seeds. In this case,

it is metaphorical in that what are sowed are ideas. Sand is also metaphorically representing

an idea. Ideas are defined in terms of the word sand that reflects the notion of concretness.

As seeds are scattered and implanted, in this context, sand, which symbolizes the idea is

implanted. As seeds grow, in this context, the sand, which represents ideas is also grown to

pebbles that signify the vividness of the harvest. Therefore, the pebbles are the produce that

is harvested. Yet, the outcome is defined in terms of the negative term 'fragile' to indicate its

delicate characteristic. 'Fragile pebbles' is a paradoxical representation, which intensifies the

difficulty of communicating which the poet sows or implants. Thus since the ideas

implanted are defined in terms of sand which involves tiny elements and the outcome or the

pebbles as a bit bigger in size and stronger but rather delicate, the poet pleads God to make

these things aflame and powerful and concrete and stronger (Crystal images (7)). Sowing or

implanting the ideas’ on ‘adamant floor’ (2) is another deviation, which occurs in the poem.

Floor may also connote a right to speak in an assembly. Adamant floor might refer to

indifferent addresses. Thus, the idea of unresponsiveness appears to be stressed with the

repetition of the same idea with the word ‘adamant floor’. Hence, sowing the speaker's ideas

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on an unresponsive floor seems to make the poet scared and urges him to ask for a

supernatural intervention so as to make the words or ideas very clear. In this context,

'fountain' possibly reflects something of the source or origin that means the words. The sand

and pebbles might reflect the powerfulness of the ideas the poet is going to transmit through

his poems. Nevertheless, the poet seems to be doubtful about the readability of his poems

and requests the intervention of a supernatural power to make the words aflame and smoke

like a fountain; to be powerful and to show or reflect the image of each one (crystal image).

The phrase ‘crystal image to skin ourselves on’ (7) reflects that the poet includes himself as

part of the addressee and that the poem reflects his and other peoples' images. Nevertheless,

he seems pessimistic about the acceptability of his ideas as he reflects his negative outlook

by the word 'adamant floor' (2). In this poem, the notion of self-seeing through the poems is

also foregrounded with the phrase ‘Crystal images to skin ourselves on’.

In the next poem entitled 'ode to myself', Solomon shows an image of a self-critical

tendency of the poetic persona. The poem is a very short poem only with three lines and

exhibits many deviant choices from the language code. To begin with the title, the term 'ode'

refers to a lyric poem usually of some length written to some one or some occasion

(Abrams, 1981:124). It can be deduced that this poem reveals deviation from the convention

of the ode, as it is composed of three lines. The poem is a self-addressed one as it has been

indicated by the word 'to myself'. The speaker's compulsive concern with the self is

recurrent in the poem, for the pronoun 'I' (1) is repeated in its possessive form ‘my’ (2) and

reflective form ‘myself’. Therefore, it seems to suggest the most significant lexical item of

the poem and what is emphasised is the notion of the self that the speaker is concerned with.

The poem is structured in a question form and it is only one sentence reflecting one

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particular idea. The question is not addressed to any one in particular; it rather involves the

interpersonal doubt as the person asks someone, possibly him/herself, if by any chance

he/she would be forgiven.

The terms, 'shall' and 'someday' reflect indefiniteness. Thus, the speaker appears to be

wondering if the thing he asks may come true. The lexical feature 'forgiven', which occurs

in the form of past participle, presupposes that the speaker has done something wrong.

Thus, when the speaker says, ‘shall i someday be forgiven’ he is admitting his wrong doing

or expecting to be pardoned. As the clause 'unrelenting obsession with the tone of silence' (2

&3) indicates what he confesses is regarded by him/herself as a mistake, which needs to be

forgiven. From these, one can generate the implicature that the speaker is blaming

him/herself. The term obsession refers to being occupied with persistent thought. Thus,

obsession reflects a negative implication, as it is usually understood in the context of

illogicality. Besides, the idea of being obsessed is more emphasised and magnified with the

adjective 'unrelenting' (2) that also holds a meaning of harsh persistence or stubbornness.

These two words create a foregrounding effect as they intensify the negative connotation of

being taken by or absorbed with one thing to the exclusion of others and also being

obstinate and unwilling to communicate. The speaker is considering his obsession with

silence, as a sin that is unpardonable.

The phrase 'tone of silence' (3) is another deviant element in which the words have opposite

meanings. As a result, line 3 is forgrounded and placed in focus. Silence involves quietness

or being shut up. However, the notion of silence is defined in terms of 'tone', which has to

do with producing a sound. The paradox intensifies the weight of the silence, which seems

unpardonable from the point of view of the speaker. The silence in this context indicates

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that it is audible as it has a tone and that it means something. Hence, the total isolation or

uncommunicativeness of the speaker is stressed with the creation of these paradoxical

elements. The deep detachment is greatly intensified through deviant language. Therefore,

by magnifying the notion of his/her uncommunicativeness, the speaker is made to admit his

mistakes and expose the negative image of self-obsession.

The other striking feature of the poem occurs at the graphlogical level. Thus it encounters a

deviant layout from which we can deduce meaning related to the significance of the poem.

Semantically or graphologically, the elements those appear to be deviant lay emphasis on

the notion of self-obsession, uncommunicativeness or isolation. The poem, hence, exhibits a

graphlogical characteristic that appeared with the violation of capital letters. The whole

poem is written in small letters including the personal pronoun 'i' (1), which is expected to

be capital. The poet violates the norm of the English language so as to magnify (in this

context) the shameful experience that needs to be pardoned. The small 'i' seems to reflect

the detachment from the others who refer themselves as 'I' to reveal that he/she does not

belong to their category or he/she is isolated from them. Besides, the small 'i' may imply a

meaning of self-depreciation or belittling of him/herself. He/she considers him/herself as a

sinner who expects to be forgiven. Being obsessed with silence, he/she feels that he/she

committed a grave sin; he/she seems to excruciating self-humiliating. The feeling of guilt

makes him/her to undervalue him/herself. Thus, the self is represented by a small "i".

The brevity of this poem enables us to point to one particular deviation on the graphological

level, which involves the poem’s layout. Normally, we find a poem placed properly at the

left margin. But this poem is placed on the right margin and bottom edge of the page.

Therefore, the whole idea of the poem that strives to communicate the speaker’s

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uninvolvement, uncommunicativeness and standing aloof is symbolised by the poem's

appearance at the bottom edge. Hence, self-isolation is indicated by the format of the poem.

People who do not get involved choose to sit far in a corner at a place not occupied by

others. Thus, the placing of the poem helps to visualize such isolated individuals. The other

graphological deviation has to do with violation of punctuation. Although the poem seems

to reflect the speaker’s question, the question mark that would have been placed at the end

of the statement is omitted. Placing a question mark normally intensifies or stresses the

question or the idea that may need an answer. Therefore, omitting the question mark

possibly reflects that the speaker does not seriously expect an answer.

Now that we have pointed out several linguistic and stylistic features of the poem, we will

consider the attribution of these foregrounded elements to the total signification of the

meaning of the poem. What is stressed and magnified in the poem is the notion of silence,

uninvolvement or isolation. Therefore, all the deviant elements at semantic, lexical and

graphological levels emphasise this idea. The whole significance of the poem pivots on

these deviant elements that of course, could not have arisen if the poet used conventional

rules of the language. What are communicated in the poem are themes of isolation and

alienation. The notions of alienation and self-isolation are foregrounded in terms of the idea

of persistent silence or by uncommunicativeness. This aspect of alienation or self-isolation

is presented in a manner that the speaker regrets and seeks forgiveness. However, the

seriousness of self-accusing and expecting forgiveness does not seem to have been taken

seriously by the speaker. The speaker seems aware but does not look ready to change his/her

situation as the terms 'shall' and 'some day' imply a sense of doubt or uncertainty.

Nevertheless, what is significantly communicated in this poem is the gap created between

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the stubbornly unrelenting self and others. With his ability of using compressed language,

Solomon expresses the question of the self, which is consumed by regret and guilt

consciousness.

In the next poem, Solomon makes us see the challenge of losing the very important part of

our being, and to look or search for it. The poem is entitled " Ring The Child Alive" and the

poet significantly foregrounds the idea which he likes to communicate in the first 5 lines.

The title of this poem is presented in capital letters, probably to emphasise the idea of

ringing the child alive or awakening as the following discussion will show.

The term 'ring' does not cohere with a human being, a child. Hence, it creates deviation.

Ringing refers to producing a very loud sound and it is normally the characteristic of bells

rather than children. However, in this context the poet seems to magnify the need to awaken

the child (5). The title also exhibits a syntactic form, with verb-object relationship, which

reflects or expresses an imperative effect. Therefore, the need to awaken the child to life

seems to be very important.

In the above illustrated lines we come across lexically parallel features, which have a

connection of meaning. The lexical items "waif-ends' and 'shells (3) refer to materials which
are found around a beach. "Waif-ends' are pieces of properties washed up by the sea and

unclaimed. Shells too are washed up by the sea and found at the beach. In this line, what

appear in equivalent position are the gathering of lost materials and the searching of a child

dead for a thousand years. In this case, 'waif-ends', 'shells' and 'a child ' are at equivalent

level, as they have to do with something lost and involve searching. Thus, the words

'gathering' (3) and 'combing' (4) are semantically and grammatically parallel for they are in

the same syntactical position, which reflects a continuing activity. Semantically both are to

do with looking for or collecting something.

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In this case, the person who is engaged with gathering the lost materials and shells is also

engaged with a search for a lost child who is no more alive. 'Combing’ refers to a thorough

search, and it could be presumed that Solomon uses the word for striking effect since;

'combing' is stronger than gathering. What is gathered appears at the surface of the beach

while what is combed is no more alive, but dead. Even though a thousand years have

passed, the person is still looking for the lost child, thinking the status of a child cannot be

changed through time (6&7). The person absorbed in thoughts while gathering the lost

materials and shells from the beach and at the same time he is searching for a 'child'.

The word 'child' indicates a young human being. One of the attributes of a child is the

concept of being morally good. Therefore, searching for a lost child may imply looking for a

lost innocence, since child is repeatedly found in the poem (the title, 5,6,17 &18). This

might be one of the meanings communicated through the poem. On the other hand, the idea

of losing one's mind (2) might refer to a loss of identity. The person seems to look for

indicators that connect him/her to the child who is dead for a thousand years (9). The terms

‘his’ (2), ‘he thought’ (1), ‘he told himself’ (7) reflect the notion of the person’s deep

thoughts about his/her lost personality. The lexical element, 'colour of shells', which is

destroyed by the ebb, is parallel position with the beauty and purity of one's innocence,

which is lost for different reasons within a very limited time.

The notions of 'sleep' and 'death' have to do with being unconscious. Child death /innocent

sleep create parallelism to intensify the notion of lost innocence. The title of the poem

indicates that there is a need for awakening the dead child, in this case, the lost innocence.

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Therefore, in lines 15,16,17,18,19&20, the poet illustrates the ways of awakening the dead

child to life.

The lexical elements 'bells’ (15), ‘gong’ (16) and 'ring’ (17) have a lot to do with producing

a very loud and resonant sound. The urge to awaken the dead child is very high as these

repeated items give prominence to the idea of ringing to life. 'Bells' are known for making a

very loud sound and 'gong' also refers to a metal plate and creates a sound when struck.

‘Ring ' also refers to making a very loud sound. The notion of very loud and resonant sound

is reinforced by repetition of synonymous words. The items, which are meant to cause the

loud sound, are not made of materials that produce a loud sound. The 'bells' (15) which are

meant to disturb the dead child are made of shells (15) and the 'gong" is the sea (16). Shells

cannot have the potential to produce a very loud resonant sound and the same is true about

the sea because when struck it does not produce a sound equivalent to bells. The

paradoxical pairs create a sense of irony and humor, which presuppose that the need to

awaken the dead child is not taken seriously. Thus, the poet creates a feeling of triumph and

suddenly resigns. Since the elements that are supposed to awaken the child do not give

sound they do nothing in awakening.

The lexical items 'sleep' (19) and 'back' (19) are directly repeated in line 20 so as to magnify

the continuity of the lost innocence. The person depicted in the poem does not really like to

change or revive his/her lost innocence. What is revealed in this poem is just a glimpse at

the lost innocence yearning to regain it but in vein. The paradoxes and semantically parallel

elements hence heighten the notion of the lost innocence, which is one of the characteristics

of most people in our time.

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Thus, what is communicated in this poem is the notion of lost innocence. Yet, it does not

show the way out. Moreover, the poet seems pessimistic as with the paradoxical elements he

creates humor and leaves the person's sense of innocence stay the way it is. The humor

glosses over the seriousness of the issue.

The next poem to be analysed is entitled 'Ethiopique'. The title indicates that it talks about

Ethiopia. Through his poetic persona, Solomon envisages the underlying image of Ethiopia

and uses the repetition of highly connected semantic elements, which intensify its

backwardness. In the poem, we find two personalities; one described by the first person

pronoun 'I' (8, 9, 11, 18, 20&26) and the possessive forms 'mine' (7) and my (27). The other

person is described in terms of a second person pronoun 'you' (3) and possessive pronoun

'your' (5, 6&19). The two have a relationship as the first person 'I' who is the poetic persona

of the poem, addresses the 'you' and talks about it. It is only to a non-human listener that the

speaker is expressing his/her thoughts and feelings, since the person who is described in

terms of 'you' is an inanimate object, that is, a country. The poet uses an apostrophe, one of

the figures of speech devices, and magnifies the condition of the country as the poetic

persona is addressing it as a human being. The poetic persona is directly addressing the

inanimate object Ethiopia. The poet creates a deep relationship between the poetic persona

and Ethiopia. Moreover, the poetic persona is able to communicate his/her feelings and

express his/her attitude with great subtlety. Thus, by breathing life into the abstract notion

of a country, the poet magnifies the relationship between the poetic persona and the country

and reveals the real situation of Ethiopia.

The personification conveyed through the terms 'fever' (2), 'lay paralysed ' (3) and your

'pain' (6) and all of these gives a human attribute to a non-human entity. Thus, the poet

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magnifies the condition of the country with these devices. Therefore, we have seen that 'I' is

addressing the 'you'. In this case the poetic persona is directly talking to Ethiopia. The

phrases which appear to be in the infinitive form 'to sweat' (1), 'to condense' (2) 'to touch'

(4&5) have a strong pattern of verbal repetition. This structure appears repeatedly and sets

up a special relation between expression and content: the outer form of the message not only

imitates its structure but also expresses and strengthens the underlying meaning. The verbal

repetition beginning with the audible sounds /t/ and /o/ attracts the eye and is also audible to

the listener and visible to the reader. In this sense, the poetic persona utters the same thing

many times. Thus, the expression hammers the meaning. The term 'to condense' reflects the

idea of reducing something, which causes pain and this, involves the speaker's attachment

and concern for his/her country. Besides, the verbal repetition of the phrase 'to touch'

involves contact and affection. Through these verbal repetitions, the poet emphasises the

connection of the poetic persona with his country.

The other patterns of lexical items are categorized in terms of their semantic relationship.

These terms are 'fever' (2) and 'paralysed' (3), as they have to do with abnormality or hurt.

Both involve a disease in the body and refer to immovability. The repetition of the same

idea reflects the situation, which Ethiopia is undergoing i.e. the notion of pain, which

hinders from moving. The other lexical categories, which highlight this idea, also have to do

with the idea of immovability. The linguistic features are 'lay paralysed' (3) and 'immobility'

(5), which refer to being in the state of motionlessness or loss of power to move.

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The phrase 'lay paralysed' is a foregrounded feature, which is produced by redundancy.

'Lay' involves being fixed in a specific state and' 'paralysed' refers to immovable situation

and being static in one place. The term 'paralysed' is premodified with lay a word, which

almost has a meaning similar to the main word, as in both cases it refers to the

motionlessness of the country.

The redundant features magnify the static situation of the country. The word 'immobility'

also has a lot to do with the idea of losing the ability to move and stay in the same place or

being stationed at the same state. All these elements have a strong semantic link, which

refers to being motionlessness. What the poet stresses with these elements is lack of activity

or development in the country. Thus, backwardness, which is the theme of the poem, is

reflected and magnified within these lexical terms. The phrase 'the rock bottom' (4), which

refers to the very low level, shows the undeveloped condition of the country or intensifies

the backwardness of Ethiopia. The notion of backwardness is also reflected with the lexical

element 'first item' (5). The poet also creates another parallel pattern of meaning by using

the word 'crude' (16) to describe the negative image of Ethiopia. 'Crude' refers to being in a

very natural way, which goes with the word 'first item' and connotes the notion of being

primitive and undeveloped. These features magnify and stress the idea of backwardness and

low status of progress. Hence, it seems that the speaker likes to expose these facts.

Therefore, in the first stanza, the lexical pairs are identical as they all refer to static

perceptions of things. Hence, the terms chosen to denote the situation of the country are

negatively loaded.

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The other striking thing about this poem is that Solomon like in his other poem 'ode to my

self' reflects the isolation or ignorance of the other speaker about his country. In lines 6&7,

the poet creates a contrastive parallel. These two lines exhibit a pattern of connection of

contrast as the terms 'complexity', which is attributed to Ethiopia, and 'simplicity' which is

attributed to the poetic persona, are words that are related in opposition. In other words, the

poet applies antithesis, which refers to a contrast. The speaker seems to regret that although

his/her country is in pain (4) he/she is not willing to be part of it (7). Therefore, the country's

complex situation and his/her obstinate disobedience are contrasted so as to magnify his/her

isolation. In this case, the speaker is evaluating rather than describing the situation i.e.,

he/she is criticising him/herself. Like in the poem 'ode to my self' here too the poetic

persona confesses his/her mistake, (not being concerned about his country) and asks for

forgiveness but we see that he/she fails to do so (28). In this poem, the person addresses an

inanimate object, which could not answer him or communicate with him. Thus, what this

signifies is that his/her request is also unanswered. In this poem, the poet magnifies two

aspects: one has to do with the backwardness and undeveloped condition of Ethiopia

whereas the other involves the notion of self-detachment from the affairs of the country.

What the poet envisages is the negative image of Ethiopia. Thus, the poem reflects

pessimism.

'What a face!' is Solomon's fifth poem that is going to be analysed as follows. The first three

lines of the poem are the most foregrounded ones. The title reflects a tone of wonder with

its exclamation mark. The creation of a hyperbole makes it more ironical. The person is not

really admiring the face but reflects his/her astonishment. The word 'face' is repeated and

emphasized in the poem.

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Thus, the poet describes this face in terms of the lexical items 'solemnity frozen' (1),

'desolation' and 'self-spaced' (10). The word 'solemnity' indicates that the face is not

cheerful but grave. The word 'frozen' indicates being detached or aloof from something.

Thus, this face is unhappy, and it has stood aloof or lonely. The other lexical item

'desolation' has a lot to do with the idea of neglect or desertion. All these three lexical items

are semantically connected for they convey the same meaning that of being unhappy.

The demonstrative pronoun 'this' (1) implies a specific face. In this case, the speaker

suggests that the face is one that has isolated itself from the real self. The lexical items

'name-sake' (3) and 'daemon' (3) refer to the inner being or spirit. 'Name-sake' means to have

another person's name and 'daemon' refers to the spirit of oneself or inner personality. So,

the poet refers to the face that has the same name as the inner personality. The face is

described in terms of the coined term 'self-spaced' (10), which implies creating a gap or a

place between something. In this case, to show the face is isolating itself from its origin, the

poet creates a word to reflect this idea. Self-detachment is magnified with this word.

In the last lines 'waving this wand at the motherland' (16) 'nothing but swagger, all grand-

stand' (17) refer to the idea of being showy. The terms 'swagger' and 'grand-stand' emphasise

the idea of being showy in the public while the real face is 'bared mooning slot'. This phrase

reflects the face's unmasked personality. In this poem, the poet reflects the detachment of

the outer personality from the inner being. What is disgusting is hidden and what the person

reflects is what is pleasant. The face, which is detached from its original being, reveals that

it is not acting in accordance with itself but pretends. What is lost is one's own personality.

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This is what Solomon communicates in his poem i.e. the notion of loss of the self through

pretension.

The last poem is entitled 'Choices'. The verbal repetition in the first and fourth lines

produces an initial repetition of the very idea of the poem. The poet emphasises the notion

of living in pain through the device called anaphora. The repetition of certain words is

accompanied by other words with the same syntactic structure that are displayed in this

poem. Thus, it stresses the idea of pain. Again, the idea in the last line of the first stanza is

repeated in the last line of the second stanza. Thus, the repeated ideas occur through the

phrases 'to dwell on pain' (1) and 'to swell with pain' (4). These lexical items occur at the

same syntactic level. Both lines start with an infinitive and finish the idea with comparative

sentences. Both lines exhibit repetition of the last line.

The word pain is repeated three times (1,4&19). The lexical item 'dwell on' (1) refers to live,

in this case with pain. Therefore, what the poet talks about is living with pain for a long

time until he/she is lost. The other term 'swell' (2) reflects being filled with something, in

this case, with pain. Although they seem different in their form, the words hold an almost

similar meaning for both have to do with being filled with pain. In the first line, the poet

creates a contrastive word 'than' to indicate that it is better or something favorable. Let us

describe the items to clarify this idea. The idea of losing one's hair is taken as if it is good

because it saves one from spending money in the barber (3). The term 'cheaper than the

barber's' creates a tone of irony. In normal circumstances losing one's hair is not a favorable

idea. But the poet masks the seriousness of the pain or the bitter experience with a tone of

humour.

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The other lexical element 'swell' (4) is phonologically related with 'dwell' as both produce

the same sound effect and stress the notion of pain. The pain is so much that it seems to

overflow. So, filled with pain to look for a prey in the night is taken as cheaper than the

brothels. Here, the poet is talking about street prostitution and thus; he indicates that it is

cheaper. In lines 4, 5&6 both people are involved are approaching the street, the speaker

looking for a prostitute and the prostitute looking for a prey. They also walk in a stately

hunting manner (stalk). Thus, she gets a prey, as her price is cheaper than the 'courtesan',

which refers to the other prostitutes who have rich clients. But again the idea of 'cheap' is

repeated. Not only the prices paid are cheaper but also the joy is the cheapest. Both the

prostitute and the speaker attempt to get joy in their union (15).

The very striking point about the idea of pain in this poem is its continuity. Although the

speaker goes out to find joy from the prostitute, he again says to 'repeat the blunder' (17)

which indicates being involved in the same mistake (17). The poem starts with the word

pain and ends with pain and with the word 'again' (19). Solomon reflects the problem of

human beings, and makes his characters admit it but he does not give any solution. So,

admitting one's blunder refers to accepting the social problem. This shows his pessimistic

view about a change. Therefore, this poem reveals the vicious circle of the pain in the life of

prostitutes and those involved in the act.

Solomon reflects the general feeling of dissatisfaction, self-isolation and the painful part of

life. He also uses patterns of linguistic items but particularly noted for his deviation of the

language aspects. And through deviation, he emphasises the ideas he wants to communicate.

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Most of Solomon's poems, which are discussed here, reflect the notion of alienation and

self-detachment. He keenly touches upon the idea of self-awareness but mostly with flippant

over tone, which masks the bitterness and leaves it to stay that way again.

4.3. EYASU GORFU AND SAMPLES OF HIS POEMS IN VIEW

Eyasu Gorfu is a contemporary of Tsegaye G/Medehen and Solomon Deressa, although he

is not as renowned as the two poets. Nevertheless, in the early seventies he published two

very slim books of poetry entitled Poems of Thoughts and Solitude (1974) and Wild Oats

(1974). In most of his poems, the abstract notions of human emotion such as love, truth,

good and evil are apparently reflected. Among the collection of his poems, six are selected

for analysis because the researcher believes that these poems can show the prominent ideas

conveyed in his poems and his frequent style. In these poems different human emotions

appear to be recurring themes. The poems selected for this particular study are 'On a

Picture', 'These Ages and Times I', 'These Ages and Times II', ' Aimless I ' , 'We Live Alone'

and 'Adam's Song'. The analysis will begin from the poem entitled 'On a Picture'.

In this poem, immediately apparent are parallel patterns at different linguistic levels. Hence,

the foregrounded effect occurs through repetitive patterns of the language. The very

meaning of the poem lies in the last two stanzas, i.e., lines 53-60 and all the other features

enhance the idea which is reflected in these two stanzas. In these stanzas, we are confronted

with a relationship of equivalence between two contrasting elements that signify the coming

and going of generations. Therefore, we find layers of meaning, as they seem to hold more

than one idea. In line 53, for example, the idea of ignorance is reflected. People are not

allowed to know the system of life.

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This suggests that no one is capable of understanding the very question of creation. Thus,

‘no one can know the meaning’ (53) reflects the impossibility of figuring out the reason to

live or to die. The repetition in line 54 strengthens the impracticability of understanding the

question of creation now or ever. In lines 55 and 56, the lexical item 'generations' is

repeated, for the poet is concerned with the coming and passing of generations that is an

unanswered aspect of life. The lexical items ‘coming’ (55) and ‘go’ (56) are in contrasting

parallel indicating the paradox of life, that is to say, the opposite coexistence of life and

death. What is suggested here is the continuity of generations, the non-stop existence

signified by the paradoxical relationship of life and death. The very line ‘generations come

and go’ is a direct duplicate from The Bible. It is found in the book of Ecclesiastics (ch.1:

v.4) as it reads ‘generations come, generations go’. Besides, one of the lexical features that

enhance this idea particularly deals with the rise and set of the sun (39 and 40), which is

another allusion from The Bible, in the above-mentioned book (ch.1; v.5). With these

allusions, the poet creates an image of the world, which keeps going.

The last four lines (57-60) are the most significant ones. They repeat the recurrent theme of

the poem. The different lexical and semantic elements that recur in the other thirteen stanzas

attribute to the signification of the very idea, which occurs in the last stanza (lines 52-60),

i.e., the notion that nothing lasts forever. Therefore, the poet creates different patterns of

elements, which can be categorized according to their significant characteristics but reveal

the idea of mortality or destruction.

The first stanza exhibits a number of lexical parallelisms that reflect a concrete perception

of things.

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For instance, ‘stones’ (1, 15. 49, 58) are prominently recurrent in the poem and they are to

do with the meaning of concreteness. The alliteration through direct repetition of the word

'stone' (49) creates a sound effect and signifies a strong stress on the meaning of stone in

emphasizing its concreteness. Yet, these concrete and strong materials are fated to be

destroyed. The repetition refers to the notion that even stones that are said to be strong and

seem to last forever do not stay long. The words ‘fall’ and ‘crumble’ (60) are used to

describe the fate of stones. These terms express the state of destruction and stress the notion

of ruin of materials that look strong.

The other categories, which are semantically related, are to do with the notion of size. The

words ‘huge and high’ (9) are identical in reflecting size and height. The halls (9) are

described in terms of these adjectives to show their extremely large size or enormousness.

However, they also cannot escape destruction. The stones so strong, the halls so large and

huge are fated to be ruined. Thus, the idea of nothing remains and lasts the same and forever

is stressed through these language patterns.

We find another category of meaning that reflects the aspect of beauty as the term 'beauty'

(3,6&25) is found repeatedly used in the poem. For example, 'gardens' (25) are attractive to

the eyes and can be categorized under the notion of beauty. However, all these are not

lasting for long. The lexical element 'bed-chamber' (11), 'scepter rod' (17) and 'banquet halls'

are all to do with kingly life. The objects, which are mentioned here, are referring to

luxurious and costly materials found in royal palaces. However, all these objects are no

more used by their owners, as the kings pass away and the materials are exposed to ruin.

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The very strong idea of mortality is reflected in the clause 'kingdoms fall, what're their

power of size' (37 &38). Here, even power does not guarantee eternal existence as nothing,

although, strong, big, beautiful or powerful, escapes fatality.

What is striking in this poem is the personification of the stones used to magnify the grave

situation of fatality. In line one the stones are described in terms of crying. The terms 'cry

out’ (2) and ‘shout’ (3) involve a tone of grief and sorrow. Not only stones but also animals

are given the qualities of human beings. Wild beasts are crying (41) and a falcon sighs

(44&45) and mourns (46) and sang a ‘sad’ and ‘gloomy song’ (47). All these reveal that

these creatures lament the fate of the world. The falcon with a sad and gloomy mood sang

‘the world is badly made’ (48). This suggests the poet’s dissatisfaction with this ephemeral

world. Thus, momental aspects of the world and the very truth that everything stays for a

short time are the significant meanings of the poem, which are emphasized through the

lexical items that reflect different aspects of existence. The poem exhibits not only lexically

and semantically parallel elements but also phonological repetitions. The first line of the

poem has phonological repetition of the initial consonant. The terms ‘stones, stand, still’ (1)

exhibit a repetition of the initial consonant of the sound/s/, which as a result creates a

resonant sound effect and internal rhyming. The lexical items ‘huge, high and halls’ (9) also

have a repetition of the initial sound/h/. Apart from creating a chiming effect, the words are

semantically related and emphasis occurs in both cases. ‘Falcon; flying’ (43) and ‘sighing;

flying’ (45) also reveal alliteration in the initial consonant with the sound /f/ and at the end

with the sound /ing/. This makes the sound and the act of the falcon more audible and

observable and hence, shows a strong feeling of sorrow. Eyasu creates an image of the

ephemeral world by foregrounding the notion of mortality through the different patterns of

language. The overall tone of the poem seems to carry a sense of disillusionment about the

very question of existence.

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The other poem, which is selected for analysis, is entitled 'These Ages and Times I'. The

first four lines reflect a highly paradoxical relationship of the lexical elements by showing

the opposition of life. Let us look at some of the lines to demonstrate how the series of

paradoxes and semantically related and opposed elements are arranged to the total effect of

meaning. In the first four lines, Eyasu confronts us with a series of paradoxes that produce a

semantic deviation. The ‘moon’ (1) is described as 'brilliant' (1) and 'black' (1). The word

brilliant does not collocate with the word 'black'. They describe different concepts. The

word ‘brilliant’ involves light. Therefore, the word 'black' cannot be signified by the term

brilliant for the reason that black involves darkness rather than light.

The other paradoxical pair is ‘shining shadow’ (20) which creates a complete deviation at

the semantic level because in the normal sense, ‘shadow’ cannot shine. The pair ‘gloomy

merry’ (4) is also another paradox because gloom refers to a darkened mood and

unhappiness while merry is a word which indicates joy and pleasure. Here, we recognize a

role reversal, as one term appears to describe another idea that does not go along with it.

The terms ‘brilliant’ (1), ‘shining’ (2) and ‘merry’ (4) are semantically parallel. This is

because they all refer to brightness and a happy mood. The lexical items ‘black’ (1),

‘shadow’ (2) and ‘gloomy’ (4) are all to do with darkness and depressing mood. The first

pairs of words signify the positive aspect while the second refer to the negative. Darkness is

defined in terms of brightness and it creates antithetical relationship of the ideas. Thus,

through the paradoxical arrangement the poet creates an image of life, which appeared with

opposition. The bright/black opposition possibly connotes the opposition of happiness and

sorrow that existed in a person within a spell of time.

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In this poem, what is described with these paradoxical elements is ‘an image of a bull’ (2).

What is described as ‘image of a bull’ recurs in line 29, as 'the bull is the man of the night'.

This is a metaphorical representation of a man, which produces another semantic deviation.

The ‘man’ who is described as a bull is depicted as drunk. A bull is an uncastrated ox or

other male animal. Thus, when its meaning is attached to a human being, it has a negative

connotation, which is to do with nonsenseness or illogicality. The scene of the night is

apparently reflected in the poem with the lexical item ‘drunk week ‘(15) which is another

semantic deviation that occur through a metaphor called personification. Here, the 'week',

which is one of the ways of recording time, is attributed a characteristic of human beings

and defined as drunk. This refers to the perpetual drinking habit of the people. This idea is

also emphasised by the phrase 'week of hangover' (21). The personification magnifies the

image of weeks busy with drinking. Drinking is a recurrent idea in this poem and is revealed

through different words and phrases. The man’s drinking habit is repeatedly recurred with

the phrases ‘lisping with liquor’ (19), ‘empty bottles’ (22) and ‘dirty glasses’ (23) which

reflect the scene in the bar and the situation of the man.

The other recurrent theme in this poem revolves around the idea of prostitution. The phrase

‘all sick with sex’ (10) creates alliteration with the repetition of the sound/s/ and hence

intensifies the lust for sex. The phrases ‘nude softness’ (13) and ‘creaking of a broken bed’

(24) are related to prostitution and immoral deeds. Therefore, what is visualized in this

poem is the image of the nightclubs and bars, which seem to look full of life but are still

gloomy and depressing. The bull of a man in the last line of the poem seems to be in a total

loss for he keeps the cheap, gloomy and shadowy life instead of the valuable and the

worthy. This idea is reflected in the last line of the poem as it says ‘keep the husk and throw

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the wheat’ (30). Normally a bull is offered a ‘husk’ not a wheat, but a man is offered

’wheat’ not husk. In the poem, what the man keeps is husk and this determines his

personality, i.e., he is considered as a bull rather than a man. “Husk” connotes something

trash, while wheat is to do with the best, a qualitative and valuable thing. What is signified

with these metaphors is the value- deprived life of the man. The scene in the poem may

throw light on the life of a city, possibly Addis Ababa, in the late sixties and early seventies,

when the city of Addis has expanded with nightclubs, bars and the red-light districts. Within

the paradoxes, the poet seems to reflect his discontent with such a life in the city.

'These Ages and Times II' is the other poem of Eyasu selected for analysis. It is the second

part to the previously analysed poem. The phrase ' rebel generation' is arguably the most

significant one in the poem since with the exception of stanza 4, it occurs on the last line of

every stanza. The word 'rebel' involves a meaning of ones refusal to an established system

or convention. The generation is described with this term to reveal its being defiant to the

norm of a given society. Hence, all the other patterns of language occur to emphasise this

idea, which will be discussed in the following analysis.

The poem has eight stanzas and every stanza is grouped with a different albeit related

topics. In every stanza we find images created to emphasise the idea of 'a rebel generation'.

In the first stanza, we find the set of lexical items that refer to perception of the generation

in relation to musical aspects.

The aspect of music, which is performed by members of this particular generation, is

described in terms of the words 'rushing' and 'fast' (1). These lexical elements are

semantically related since both refer to quick or great speed. The semantic repetition implies

an emphasis on the music or singing, which is so rapid and lacks its melody. It is hard to

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sense and enjoy the beauty of music if it is so fast. The terms 'screaming and shouting' (3),

which are ascribed to the singer, are involving a meaning of harshness and unpleasant sound

in terms of the idea of singing. In music what is normally expected is a sweet sound. Hence,

the poet attributes this negative impression to the singer and in this particular stanza the

generation's sense of musical concept is depicted negatively. Therefore, this contributes to

the generation's rebellious characteristic.

The second stanza exhibits grouping of lexical items, which deal with the aspect of dancing.

The act of dancing performed in this generation is described in terms of the words 'flung'

(1), 'jump', 'twist' and 'wriggle' (9). These words involve a meaning of rapid motion. The

aspect of dancing creates a relationship of equivalence with the idea of singing, as both have

to do with the concept of music. What is emphasised is the unpleasant beat and sound of the

music and unsteady dance that are favoured and performed by the rebellious generation. In

both cases, hurried movement and rush that have to do with dynamic speed are intensified.

Stanza 4 exhibits group of lexical items, which have a lot to do with visual art. The phrase

'meaningless lines' (21) and 'shapeless shape' (22) reflect an idea of hollow and formless

painting. In this case, the 'modern abstract art' (24) of the generation is considered as

insubstantial and meaningless. The other category of lexical items in stanza 6 deals with the

poetry of that generation and it is described as unrhyming and unrhythemical (20). As a

result, the notion of 'free verse', which is claimed by that generation is criticised. In this

analysis, we have seen that categories of elements are classified in terms of the notions they

attempt to describe the generation. That means, the generation is described in relation to its

lack of sense of music, dance, painting and poetry and these concepts are thematically

linked for the reason that generally, they all have to do with the aspects of art. Therefore, we

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can infer a meaning that the poem deals with evaluating the generation in terms of artistic

decadence.

The second category of lexical items which stanza 4 exhibits has a lot to do with the moral

principles the generation goes through. The phrases 'parents are not respected '(16) and

'children are not reproved' (17) refer to a loose relationship between parents and children.

Respect to parents is a very important moral principle in family and society. Besides,

children need follow up and discipline, as they do not know what is right or wrong, unless

they are directed. However, this moral value is lost in this generation. Therefore, in this

stanza we find the word society repeated (18&20). To reveal the responsibility of the society

to the decadence as it is described by the term 'permissive' (18) which refers to giving

permission freely especially to sexual matters. Thus, this idea is stressed with the term ‘Free

Love’ (19). The term 'Free Love' is placed under quotation and written in capital letters to

give emphasis to the idea of uncontrolled or unchecked sexual freedom. Therefore, we

could deduce that in this poem lack of moral principles is recurrently occurred so as to

emphasise the idea of ' a rebel generation'. In stanza 3 the elders who are the members of the

society are described as 'disillusioned' and careless' (11), disappointed' and 'aimless' (12).

These lexical items imply a meaning of hopelessness and purposelessness.

The other lexical element that refers to the youth is 'uncontrollable' (13) which has a lot to

do with a meaning of unmanageable situation of the youth. This again produces an effect of

emphasise to the idea of 'rebel generation' because the terms 'uncontrollable' and 'rebel' are

highly connected at the semantic level for both imply the notion of an ungovernable

condition. It may probably be noticed from the analysis and the stylistic features that the

poet seems to evaluate the generation. The evaluative words have been discussed above, as

they all are negatively loaded in describing the generation so as to magnify its rebellious

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characteristic. Nevertheless, at the end of the poem, i.e. in the last stanza, last line, we find

the lexical item 'confusion' (41). With this word the poet attempts to give justification for

the rebellious situation of the generation. Hence, all the arts of the particular generation are

identified in terms of its lack of beauty, disordered and disturbing as reflections of its
confusion (38-41). The word 'confusion' (41) is italized and graphologically foregrounded

so as to emphasise the idea of a bewildered and disillusioned generation. Therefore, one

could presume that in this poem, the poet significantly envisages a confused generation as

rebellious. The confusion of the generation is explained through the themes of instability,

unsteadiness, disillusionment, hopelessness and purposelessness.

In the fourth poem entitled ‘Aimless I’, Eyasu expounds on the notion of a quest to know

the purpose of existence. The pronouns ’I’, ‘my’ and ‘me’ recurrently occur in every line of

the poem. Therefore, the speaker in the poem seems more concerned with him/herself and

questions his/her solitary existence. The very question of existence occurs in the following

two lines:
What is all its meaning (21)
Why am I living here? (22).

The person who is young (5&6) seems to be confused about life and he/she ardently yearns

to know the meaning of living. In line 21 he/she is seeking for an answer for the meaning of

life. In these two lines (21&22), he/she attempts to find an answer but fails to do so. This is

a cry of his/her inner being, pleading to know the very reason of being alive. The first cause,

which makes him/her to question the reason for existence, seems to do with his/her being a

teenager. Adolescence is the age between childhood and adulthood. It is known for

restlessness and inquisitiveness about everything, particularly the self and the world. Hence,

the feeling of weariness, disillusionment and dissatisfaction that preoccupy the speaker's

mind can be connected with the problem of adolescence. Therefore, it could be deduced that

the problem of adolescence recurs in this poem, which is reflected through the cry of the

speaker and a wish to die (24).

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The other recurring meaning, which can be ferreted out from the poem, has to do with being
fed-up with life. The outside world and the distorted reality affect the speaker a great deal
and make life meaningless. Therefore, the notion of ‘looking’ and questioning are
forgrounded in this poem. In different lines the idea of looking at the surrounding comes
out. The phrases ‘I look around me’ (2) and ‘where’re my eyes rest on’ (14), reflect the
speaker’s attraction to the outer world but he/she is affected negatively as he/she complains
a lot on what he/she sees around him/her. The phrases ‘there is nothing to see’ (4) and ‘there
isn’t any thing new’ (13) occur following the phrases, which deal with the idea of looking
around. The speaker possibly expects something apart from what familiarly exists. The
poetic persona attempts to fantasize another reality as he/ she says ‘ought I not see my future
in adventurous dreams?’(8). This reflects that the person has some perception about life and
his/her future. But as an adolescent affected by the reality, he/she looks confused and is
filled with hatred towards the world where he/she lives. The things he/she perceives are all
depicted in terms of their negative images that are displayed with the following lexical
items. For instance, the phrase ‘nothing to see’ (4) is semantically parallel with the lexical
item ‘naught’ (3) that has to do with being empty. It could also be noted that the notion of
emptiness is communicated.

The other lexical pairs 'ugliness' (3), ‘misery’ (17) and ‘sorrow’ (18) refer to the negative
aspect of life, as they all have to do with unhappy scenes which disturb the speaker.
Consequently, the notions of grief and despair in the world prevail in the poem. The other
categories of language, which reflect the idea of weariness, are related with the routine
situation in the world. The phrases 'there isn't anything new' (13), 'a concert of monotone'
(16),'a tiresome routine' (19) and 'the world changes never' (20) are all connected in
meaning for they all convey the meaning of motionless, wearisome and unchangeable reality
of the world. What is communicated here is the speaker’s dissatisfaction with the world as
there is nothing new. The tiresome, worn out and routine aspects of the world are magnified
with those semantically repeated elements. The phrase ‘the world changes never’ (20)
magnifies the notion of hopelessness, which is another recurrent meaning of the poem.

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What is contrasted is the image of the world being old (13) and routine (19) and dull with
the speaker’s being ‘young and fresh’ (10). To put it in another way, the speaker’s being
young, strong, and healthy and full of spirit is contrasted with the unchanging world. Hence,
wishing to see new things and activities but being aware of their non-existence the speaker
is filled with hopelessness and dissatisfaction.

Not only the condition of the outside world but also the existence of evil and good within a
person sets the speaker afire with further questions. He/she questions why these two
extremely opposite things (26&27) are present within him/herself. The two words 'Evil' and
'Good' (26) are written in capital letters. Thus, the poet seems to emphasise the existence of
these two abstract notions within the person in order to reveal their impact. The speaker is
so much worried, for he/she feels torn apart between evil and good (44). He/she condemns
him/herself for the presence of evil in him/her (39&55). The poetic persona seems to be
dissatisfied with life. In this poem, Eyasu creates such parallel elements, which produce a
certain pattern of meaning and emphasize the very notion of the question of self, the
tormented image of the world, and the crises of the self. The poetic persona in this poem
cries and seeks an outlet from his/her situation. Bewilderment, confusion and a cry of the
inner self are brought out through this poem. The poem possibly suggests the problem of
young people who entertain such questions and ambitions. For the speaker, everything looks
tasteless and rotten. Hence, hopelessness prevails in the poem. The phrase ‘to die I
wouldn’t care’ (24) stresses the notion of hopelessness.

The fascinating element of this poem is its deviation at the graphological level. The lay out
of the poem looks a little bit odd as it is spaced in a zigzag shape. The word zigzag refers to
sharp turns first to one side and then to the other. Therefore, by creating such a zigzag shape
in his poem, the poet suggests the bewilderment and the confusion of the speaker. It may
also reflect aimlessness as indicated in the title of the poem. Living without understanding
the very purpose of life creates a dilemma because it is hardly possible to live without any
purpose. This seems to be the possible meaning of the poem. Through the zigzag shape, the
notion of aimlessness is emphasized, as one who does not know his/her way cannot go

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straight but wanders here and there. Here, focus on life seems to have been lost. In this
regard, the poem ‘Aimless I’ reflects the very common and widespread notion of the human
question, i.e. the quest to know the reason for existence. Yet, confusion and dissatisfaction
with life are highly foregrounded and the poet seems to be pessimistic about life in the
world. All the lexical items, we can say, reveal lack of purpose in life and mental
frustration.
The other poem selected for analysis is entitled ‘We Live Alone ’. The very meaning of the
poem lies in lines 28&29, which has to do with the idea of relationship between two lovers.
This idea seems to recur in the poem and all the other words seem to emphasize this notion
as will be discussed below.

In this poem, the poetic persona seems to talk about someone with whom he/she is closely
acquainted, since the words ‘darling’ (1&9) and ‘dearest’ (28) imply a close relationship. It
seems that he/she is addressing a lover or marriage partner and talks about love, because
these terms (darling and dearest) involve affection and intimacy. Therefore, one could
presume that the poet is talking about love and a relationship between lovers or married
couple. The word 'love', therefore, is arguably one of the most significant lexical items in
the poem. With the exception of stanzas 2, 6 and 8 ‘love’ occurs in different lines of the
other stanzas, and this suggests an intimate relationship between the poetic persona and the
person addressed as ‘darling'. The lexical item ‘Love’ entails affection and emotional
attachment both physically and mentally. In this poem, the bond remains to be only a
physical act; as a result, the speaker's dissatisfaction is observed. The words 'finger
entwined' (1&31) and 'intimate of embrace' (14) refer to a close relationship, as the word
'entwined' has to do with the meaning of blending together. What are interweaved are the
fingers of the two individuals. The word ‘embrace’ again involves the act of holding closer.
These two terms reflect the idea of close attachment and inseparability. Nevertheless, the
tight attachment remains at its outer level, because the phrases 'thoughts faraway' (5), 'hearts
beat apart (8), 'bloods flow separately' (8) and 'different mind' (32) suggest that the lovers
are not united. The terms 'fingers' (1), 'mouths' (5) and 'bodies' (13) have to do with the

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outer part or physical appearance of the body while the words 'thoughts' (5), 'heart'
(8),'blood (8) and 'mind' (32) have a lot to do with the inner being or mental faculty of a
person. Here, the physical body and the mental or inner being are contrasted. As a result it
strengthens the idea that without mental harmony physical attachment is hardly claimed as
love. Because the mind is the very source of a living being, that involves understanding and
affection that make a relationship normal. In this case, although people are interlocked to
each other physically, such kind of attachment cannot be considered as love. Moreover this
idea is heightened with the phrases 'helpless bodies' (13), 'mad desire' (13) and 'self
consumed fire' (14) which have a lot to do with the flesh's sexual desire. Hence, the speaker
does not call the bodily connection 'love' but 'animal action' (16).

The term 'animal action' (16) is a negatively loaded strong word and as a result it negatively
intensifies the idea of physical lust. Animals are creatures without any conscious reasoning.
They lead their lives by instinct. The animal act, which is driven by instinct, is attributed to
a human action metaphorically and this suggests the speaker's contempt towards such sexual
engagement that lacks love and affection. Thus, physical attachment by itself cannot make
two people one. The lexical items 'faraway' (5), 'separately' (8), 'hearts beat apart'
(8),'divided apart' (22) and 'never has harmony' (23) are semantically connected as they
reveal the meaning of disassociation and detachment. What is needed in relationship is
mental and physical attachment in unifying the two individuals as one. As indicated in the
book of Genesis 2:23 two married individuals are considered as one in flesh and mind.
However, losing this harmony seems to make the speaker unhappy and forces him/her to
conclude that there is no love with out inner harmony. When lovers are not attached
mentally, they cannot live together, for they walk separately. The lexical elements 'no
destiny' (3), 'no plans' (6) and 'aimlessly' (7) refer to a meaning of an altogether loss of
purpose in life. When people are engaged in love or marriage, they are supposed to be one,
they are expected to have one mind, one soul, one purpose and one goal in life. However, as
their hearts beat separately, in the context of the poem, they have no definite purpose
together.

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This is what the poem communicates with the above-discussed linguistic elements. Hence,
what is foregrounded with these words is the notion of aimlessness when there is no
harmonious relationship between two lovers. The poetic persona seems to doubt a perfect
relationship. The occurrence of the words in stanza 6 reflects the idea that let alone two
individuals; even a person has different ideas within him/her self that make him/her divide
into two. Hence, the words 'divided apart' (23) and 'never has true harmony' (24) suggest the
interpersonal disassociation or detachment within the self. Cognizant with this
understanding the speaker seems to choose and favors a lonely life. This choice comes to
the fore with the realization that one belongs not to another person but only to him/herself.
In this poem, what is communicated reflects a doubt about the existence of love and a
relationship. The phrase 'loveless world' (10) suggests the speaker's skeptic view towards
the existence of love. Denying the munificent characteristic of love, the speaker seems to
prefer remaining alone. A tone of fear prevails in the poem and the speaker seems to recoil
into him/herself. Therefore, we can conclude that the notion of individualism is conveyed in
this poem. In general, Eyasu in this poem reflects pessimism towards love and relationship.
Thus, a strong need to be alone and the idea of detachment are emphasised.

Apart from themes of general human feelings and life weariness, in Eyasu's collections we
find some poems that deal with Biblical themes and a case in point is the poem entitled
'Adam's Song'. As the title indicates the poetic persona is Adam and he narrates how a
woman causes him death. But he presents it in a different way, compared to the customary
interpretation. Let us consider the most significant patterns of the language use and
explicate the meaning of the poem in its entirety.

In this poem, the poetic persona Adam is referring to two individuals; that of himself as 'I'
or 'me' that occurs through out the poem and a 'woman' (15, 17 &22). Therefore, the poem
narrates about Adam and a woman. Adam narrates his situation in the past i.e. before the
creation of the woman and his situation after her coming. Before the woman's creation, he
considers himself as happy and carefree (9-12).

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However, he confesses that even before her existence he has been in a bad mood, though
reason is not given (13&14). Hence, the coming of the woman seems to make Adam happy
as he describes her as consoler and comforter (16). What is interesting is Adam does
account to the woman's beauty and says 'then came a woman's beauty' (15). Woman is
depicted in terms of her beauty, which comfort Adam. Woman in Adam's description is
depicted as two extremely opposite personalities.

In one hand she is described with positively loaded words to reveal her positive qualities.
The lexical item 'beauty' (15) refers to the qualities of physical appearance that have to do
with aesthetic senses, especially to the sight. Therefore, Adam seems to be taken by the
woman's beauty that makes him comforted from his displeasure. The words 'gentle and soft'
(18) are related with the meaning of manner or moral qualities and imply affection and love.
All these lexical items expose the woman's positive aspects that attract Adam and benefited
from it. On the other hand the woman is described with negatively loaded words so as to
reveal her weakness or negative side. The phrase 'frail and tender as a leaf' (18) has
contained lexical elements that are loaded with negative meaning. In the first place, the
woman is metaphorically described as 'leaf'. The simile refers to her weak part since she is
described just like a leaf that is so 'frail' and 'tender'. These two words refer to being easily
damaged and delicacy. Here, the woman's weakness is foregrounded. Besides, she is
depicted as 'thief' (17&40) who steals something in this case, Adam's life (20&39). These
expressions imply her negative image. Hence, Adam is accusing her of stealing his life and
drag him to death (24).

In this poem, the cause of Adam's death is humorously expressed as he narrates that the
woman's kiss causes him death (20). Here, we can deduce that the kiss may indicate the
woman's deceptive personality. So delicate, soft and beautiful, and with her kisses, Adam
seems to be deceived. The woman also is described as 'tyrrant [sic]'(23) a word which refers
to a meaning of authoritative or powerful characteristic of a person. Woman in this case is
described as dominantly powerful and absolute ruler over Adam, hence, led him to death.

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Nevertheless, this creates a paradox and deviation for the reason that the woman is depicted
as weak like a leaf but at the same time she is powerful. Her being weak may refer to
Adam's relationship with her as her protector. Hence a strong relationship is magnified. All
these negatively loaded lexical items reflect Adam's negative view of the woman and he
seems to blame her for she causes him death. However, in lines 25-28 he reveals that in any
way he could not escape death. The phrase 'Death was on either way' (2f5) seems to imply
that with the woman or with out her, death is always there. Note the word 'was' which is a
relational identifying verb. It gives us a past identity of death, as it has been there before the
coming of the woman. This creates a deviant image from the norm of the Biblical
orientation we have, as death had never been occurred before the creation of Eve, the
woman. Death comes to the fore, following the eating of the fruit from the tree of
knowledge which was forbidden by God.

In any case, stanza 7 significantly intensifies the idea that in either way Adam could not
escape death. What matters for Adam, seems not the cause of his death or failure but
overcoming it. Stanzas 9-10 are other significant parts of the poem that explicitly show the
idea of overcoming death.

In this poem, the word 'death' (24, 25&41) is written in upper case letters in the middle of a
sentence and creates a graphological deviation. The deviation seems significant, as it may
imply its (death's) powerfulness over Adam and the woman that involves eternal death. In
this particular stanza, the other foregrounded idea deals with the idea of rising from death.
The phrases 'we fall two' (29) and 'we rise up three' (32) set up a relationship of opposite
equivalence, the fall and rise aspect. Thus, within these phrases the poem unfolded the idea
of resurrection. This idea is again repeated in lines 33, 35 and 36 as the poetic persona,
Adam refers to Jesus as the one who rises with him and the woman and calls Him as the
'Son of God' (30). On the basis of this implicature, we can presume that the poem is
concerned with the notion of resurrection and eternal life. Thus, Adam calls it 'victory'
(30&41).

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As it has revealed in the above analysis, he does not seem to blame the woman for she
causes him death rather he sounds grateful for she causes him an eternal life. The clausal
item 'so in this way I will live, for ages, and on, and on, '(37&38) in this case, indicates
Adam's unrelenting love to live for a long time, i.e. forever. In other words, the poem
envisages human beings inherent love to live long, as no one is willing to die. To conclude,
in this poem, significantly communicated are the ideas of resurrection and eternal life in
terms of human beings quest for perpetual life.

To sum up the discussion of this section, Eyasu uses parallel elements in communicating his
ideas. In most of his poems, his pessimistic frame of mind is disclosed through his unusual
obsession with the distorted reality in the world. As we have seen from the analysis, there is
a tone of despair, dissatisfaction, and detachment in his poems. The words he employs
reflect the gloomy atmosphere of the world and evoke a negative view of life. Besides, the
quest to know the very notion of existence is displayed and in most cases, an absence of
truth and love is magnified. In general, a feeling of dissatisfaction and boredom in life,
detachment and indifference towards the world, is concretely conveyed through the choice
of appropriate words used to transmit his feelings.

In concluding this chapter, focusing on the language use of the poets, i.e. by applying a
descriptive method an attempt has been made to understand and explicate the meanings
imparted in the poems. As seen in the analysis, the different devices of language are
arranged and connected to achieve the most distinctive style of the poets and the most
prominent themes that are conveyed in the poem. Therefore, we can summarize that
Tsegaye and Eyasu seem to choose the stylistic device parallelism while Solomon most
often employs deviation. Furthermore certain themes such as criticism of the self and the
educated ones are significantly reflected in the poems of these three poets. The issues of
social problems also are commonly dealt with in the given poems. The detailed analysis as a
matter of fact enables us to find out how language coveys meaning and what kinds of
meanings have been transmitted in these particular poems. We can possibly conclude that in
the analysis what is predominantly observed is conformation of the effectiveness of the
stylistic approach.

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 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Literary works can be examined from different perspectives, theories and methods.

Therefore, in this study an attempt has been made to analyse and interpret some of the

poems of Tsegaye G/Medehen, Solomon Deressa and Eyasu Gorfu, adopting the stylistic

approach. The stylistic approach is used in this study as a descriptive method that focuses on

the language of a text, which is left unexplored in the critical tradition of Ethiopian literary

works in English. Stylistics, as an analytical tool is adopted with the assumption that it can

be helpful in the explication of meaning.

As seen in the analysis, much of the meanings of the poems are accountable through the

descriptive method of stylistic analysis. It, hence offers a systematic method that enables us

to identify the foregrounded features and bring out their meaning. In this regard focus is

given to the language of the poems since language is a device that allows us to bring out the

unusual meaning of the poems. Therefore, as it has been revealed in the study, stylistics can

show us how to identify the constituent parts of the poems and enables us to signify their

function in the production of meaning of the poems. Thus, the study is concerned with

examining the language of the selected poems because the linguistic features help us as a

means for a better understanding and appreciation of the poems. The researcher has not, of

course, referred to every aspect of the linguistic structure of the poems. So the analysis is by

no means complete. Instead, she has tried to concentrate on the aspects of the poems that are

relevant to her interpretation. That means she has made an attempt to concentrate on some

of the most recurrent features exhibited through the stylistic devices such as deviation and

parallelism.

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Hence, deviant and parallel elements that are recurrently observed in the poems are the

bases of analysis and interpretation of the given poems. The descriptive method enables the

researcher to examine the hidden aspect of the language and allows her to uncover hidden

meanings that reside in the selected poems. Note that, although it is said that stylistics is a

linguistic approach it also includes readers participation, as it has been revealed in the

process of analysis, for the reason that every aspect of meaning cannot be controlled only by

linguistic structures. Meaning is produced as a result of the interaction between a reader (as

he/she can bring about all sorts of knowledge) and the poem. As a result the analysis of the

given poems asks for the researcher’s intuitive response and world knowledge are involved

in the analysis and interpretation. In the process of the analysis and interpretation what has

been done is make the analysis and interpretation on the basis of the linguistic evidence.

As it has been shown in the analysis, Tsegaye’s poems are marked with parallel patterns of

language sometimes paradoxical in which to some extent produce deviation. Tsegaye uses

parallelism, which is produced through repetition of similar and opposite words at their

semantic, lexical and syntactic levels. His deviation is marked by creation of paradoxical

elements and metaphors. Hence, by employing these language features he transmits and

emphasises the ideas he likes to convey in his poems.

Tsegaye is resourceful in creating parallel features particularly contrastive parallels that

recur consistently and prominently throughout his poems. The analysis reveals that through

these prominent patterns of language, the themes created are also assumed prominent in the

given poems. Therefore, the themes of African identity crisis, the dilemma of the educated

individuals, the fate of the present generation and social criticism are recurrent in his poems.

Tsegaye expounds upon these themes by employing the patterns of language through

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parallelism and to a certain degree deviation. As it has been mentioned in the study, in

Tsegaye’s poems certain themes appear recurrently almost in all his poems. This is because

almost all the issues raised by the poet are approached in relation to self-examination. That

means, Tsegaye conveys his ideas in terms of self-criticism. His poems tend to deal with

social problems with regard to the individuals such as the educated ones and young

generation assuming that they are more responsible to the concerns of their country and

society. Generally speaking, Tsegaye seems to be obsessed with self-criticism. Hence, he

exposes the problem within the self as one of the reasons to the over all social problem. He,

thus, attempts to reveal how one can act complying with the self. As the analysis revealed,

in his poems the notions of losing an African identity by the influence of colonization,

civilization, the problem of the educated ones characterized by isolation and detachment

from the concern of their country and the problem of the present generation characterized by

imposing values and principles of others, neglecting its own values, are prominently

conveyed. The patterns of linguistic items manifest the notion of confusion, isolation,

purposelessness and hopelessness.

Hence, the poet’s pessimistic view is strongly reflected. Tsegaye's poems uncover the

problems of the society and voice a strong quest for change: a change regarding self-

awareness, involvement and responsibility. In general, stylistic analysis enables the

researcher to distinguish the items prominently occurred and signify the poet’s unique habit

of using parallelism recurrently as his distinctive style.

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In the course of the analysis, one can observe that, in language, these poets seem to prefer

some devices from the other. In the case of Solomon Deressa, through stylistic analysis of

his selected poems, it is found out that he too, to some extent, employs parallelism however

his poems are marked by deviant features and therefore one could deduce that deviation

appears to be his distinctive style. His deviant elements occurred at the lexical, semantic,

grammatical and most frequently on their grapholgical levels to reveal and emphasise the

themes that are recurrent in the given poems. Through the deviant elements, he has dealt

with the themes of Ethiopia's backwardness viewed in relation with the individual’s

detachment and social problems like prostitution.

Along with these different but relatively connected themes, the poems also disclose the

notions of ignobility, isolation, self-obsession and dissatisfaction. Most of Solomon’s poems

expose the negative image of the individual and social situations but as it has been revealed

in the analysis, his poems exhibit a tone of humor thus the seriousness of the issue becomes

glossed over. In this regard it can be presumed that in his poems his skeptical outlook has

been shown.

Regarding the poems of Eyasu Gorfu, the foregoing analysis discloses that his poems are

characterized by unity of highly patterned language and some deviant elements. In his

poems Eyasu categorises different identical items to impart and stress a particular idea. On

the bases of these insistently recurred parallel elements, we can draw that Eyasu’s

distinctive style seems to be characterized by parallelism. His poems deal with the themes of

certain human emotions like a quest to know the reason for existence, fatality of nature and

human beings, and the ephemeral aspects of life, love and other social issues such as

drinking and prostitution as well as some biblical aspects.

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In Eyasu's poems the notions of the generation's lack of good values, dilemma of innocence,

confusion, aimlessness, motionlessness, life’s routineness and feelings of insecurity are

insistently revealed along with the major themes mentioned above. Eyasu created images of

different abstract and concrete aspects of life through different but highly connected

patterns of the language. Most of Eyasu’s poems sound to communicate the issues in a

philosophical vein. The detailed analysis unfolds that in most of his poems a tone of

pessimism pervades. He looks disillusioned and dissatisfied about the whole system in the

world.

Through the analysis a high degree of similarity is observed in the given poems of the three

poets. That means certain themes overlap to a considerable degree. It can be said that the

poems of the three poets focus on the themes of social problems and criticism of the

educated ones. The manifestation of similar issues and their possible relationship might be

the result of the poets being contemporaries. Consequently, the situations they have

witnessed seem to be similar.

Concerning the general methodology adopted, it is found out that this method to a

considerable degree seems to be helpful in examining the language and style used by the

poets to total production of meaning. Therefore, the appropriation of the stylistic analysis is

hoped to vividly describe the recurrent themes that are manifested in the poems of the three

distinguished poets. It is the researcher's belief that the work of these poets such as

Solomon's (as he employs very deviant features) cannot be understood fully without a

detailed descriptive analysis.

We should note that a descriptive analysis without the interaction of the analyst with some

social, political, historical etc. background does not help to grasp what the poets are

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attempting to communicate. Hence, stylistic analysis is a useful method in understanding the

language these poets employ and in bringing out meanings that reside in the poem.

Moreover, its most interesting aspects of the method so far enable the researcher to support

the interpretation with the pieces of evidence that appeared in the language of the poems.

In general, based on the results of the analysis, this study warrants some recommendations.

Hence, more attention should be devoted to language-based examination of literary works.

Descriptive analysis needs to be developed as descriptive method makes the features of

language more recognizable and noticeable, consequently, it enables us to understand the

language use of the poets and bring out the messages conveyed. Moreover, the systematic

approach to analysis of texts should be encouraged, as it will be more effective in guarding

our responses. As mentioned earlier, this study is not a complete one but hopefully it may

help others to see how to do a stylistic analysis in general terms and how we adjust our own

ways of understanding and interpreting texts. Therefore, further research in this direction

may be profitable both to our insight into the development of literary criticism in Ethiopia in

general and to the study of the ways particular writers use language in their literary

production. The researcher believes in the importance of the stylistic approach to the

explication of literary texts. Hence, it should not be ignored.

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 DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, declare that this study is my work and that all sources of material
used for the study have been duly acknowledged.

Name: _________________________

Signature: ___________________________

Place: Institute of Language Studies______

Addis Ababa University__________

Date of submission: ___________________

Advisor's Signature of Approval: _____________________