Introduction to stylistics

Lecture # 08 - Linguistic levels of foregrounding Date: 3-6-20

Introduction: The theory of foregrounding
General Concept: Foregrounding refers to the ‘perceptual prominence’. It is a psychological
effect generated through particular aspects to catch the attention of the reader.

E.g. use of bright colors than dull colors manipulation of the size and position of words or
objects in a poster for any product advertisement (designers do so to highlight the particular
aspects of a product and somehow distract the customer from discouraging aspects i.e.: patent
pending, etc. The upper half of the front page of the newspaper, within western framework,
looks ‘ideal’, thus ‘foregrounded and the bottom half present ‘real’ thus ‘background.’ Same is
the case with the right hand side of the newspaper. So, consequently, we are lead to read
‘foregrounded’ part more importantly than any other.

Concepts of Foregrounding in Linguistics term:

Foregrounding refers to a form of textual patterning which is motivated specifically for literary-
aesthetic purposes’. Literary text can generate foregrounding… an artistic tone by violating text,
world (social norms), language (linguistic norms) and schematic expectations. ‘Schematic
expectations refer to the ‘conventional ways of viewing the world. ’Schematic refreshment’ is
the process whereby conventional ways of viewing the world becomes disturbed and
accordingly refreshed. Moreover, schemata vary individually. Text schematic violations are
‘generic’ violations.

Figure and Ground:

The term ‘figure’ refers to: Self-contained, Well-defined, Distinctive from ‘ground’, Moveable in
relation of ‘ground’, Detailed and of sharper focus.

This ‘figure’ is what we call ‘fictional characters’ that are foregrounded on contrary to the
‘ground’ (background)

Forms of Linguistic Foregrounding:

Linguistic foregrounding can take following forms:

 Deviation: Refers to an encounter with something different from what is expected or different
from regulations of some kind.

Parallelism: Refers to some sort of linguistic repetition.

Categorization of Foregrounding Deviation Parallelism

Deviation and Parallelism:

Both take place on a number linguistics levels. The articles that we are going to discuss, has
analyzed non-literary genre; the writer, Christiana Gregoriou, has taken taglines of various
movies, chat-up lines and advertising slogans. Hence it is the foregrounding that persuades
people to do things, go ahead and involve in conversation with a person or to watch a film.

Deviation: Refers to an encounter with something different from what is expected or different
from regulations of some kind. In other words when a text deviates from already set norms, this
concept is termed as deviation.

Deviation can be of following certain types: External, Internal, Morphological, Phonological,

Grammatical, Semantic, lexical etc.

External Deviation: When a text deviates from norms set outside it in relation to its context,
that deviation can be termed as ‘external.’ to refer a few examples: – Tagline of the film Naked
Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult (1994) – ‘From the Brother of the Director Ghost’ •
(Unexpected/unique and uninformative) • Mocking its own film in relation to other, where
director’s success is a way of drawing attention. – Tagline of the film House of Wax (2005).

Internal Deviation: On contrast to ‘external deviation’, there is ‘internal deviation.’ – ‘External

deviation’ is the deviation from ‘primary norms’ whereas ‘internal deviation’ is the deviation
from ‘secondary norms.’

Primary norms are culture, language, society, etc. specific. – Secondary norms are specific to an
individual. Like, when somebody writes according to his own particular style and then, he, at
some points, deviates from his own writing style. “…the text has itself set.” – ‘Internal
deviation’ is thus based on some sort of parallelism/repetition.

Examples of Internal Deviation:

Tagline from the film A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – “A tale of murder, lust, greed, revenge, and
seafood” Grammatically paralleled but semantically internal deviance can be seen.
Tagline from the film Arachnophobia (1990) – “Eight legs, two fangs, and an attitude” –
Grammatically paralleled but semantically internal deviance is obvious. – Tagline from the film
Army of Darkness (1992)

Deviation in Discourse Structure:

Autobiographies: Written on behalf of a real-life in first person narration.

Dramatic plays: It takes the form of fictional conversation among imagined characters.

Text that deviates from the sort of discourse situation that is expected of them can be said to
deviate ‘discoursally.’

The tagline from Armageddon (1998) “Earth It was fun while it lasted”

The tagline for Independence Day (1996) (“Earth Take a good look, it could be your last”)

‘Earth’ being directly addressed, and this is done as if a disaster is actually truly about to strike.
The above Armageddon and Independence Day taglines address the movie’s fictional earth-
living beings instead

Grammatical Deviation: As Short stated that due to a large number of grammar rules in English,
Grammatical deviation can be at certain levels: –

Syntactical: unusual order of words, Taglines are usually in non-standard grammatical form.

Morphological: word morphemes in unusual isolation or unusual combination. “Are you from
Tennessee because you’re the only ten I see – It has also a phonological deviation?

Tagline from Christmas Vacation (1989) – “Yule crack up” – Phonologically and semantic
deviation is obvious.

Semantic Deviation: Meaning relations that are paradoxical or logically inconsistent,

metaphors. The tagline from The Big Lebowski’s (1998) – ‘Her life was in their hands. Now her
toe is in the mail’. Life is not a physical entity to be handed in someone’s hand – The tagline
from The Erin Brockovich (2000) – ‘She brought a small town to its feet and a huge corporation
to its knees.’ – Metaphorical in the sense she conquered it all!

Lexical Deviation – Lexical deviation has two forms: Neologism; inventing a new word – Tagline
from The Chicken Run (2000) – ‘Escape or die frying’ – Conversion; Conversion of a word from
one grammatical category to another or use of a word in such a context where it does not
belong. – Gremlin 2: The New Batch (1990) tagline – ‘Here they grow again’
 Graphological Deviation: Any strangeness of the written form would be classified as a form of
‘Graphological deviation. ‘Strangeness of the written form means: Arrangement of the words
on the printed page – Use of punctuation – Spacing, capitalization, etc. – For example: The
buffalo soldiers (2001) – “war is hell… but peace is f*#!%!! Boring.” – Unconventional spellings –
Graphologically deviant but grammatically parallel (subject + verb + complement)

Phonological Deviation: Irregularities in the way in which words are pronounced fall under
phonological deviation. Alliteration, assonance and rhyme are not only classes of deviation but
also of parallelism as Short has stated. -The tagline from The Truman Show (1998) – On the air.
Unaware. – The tagline from The Volcano (1997) – The coast is toast – The tagline from
Redneck Zombies (1987 – ‘They’re tobacco chewin’, gut chompin’, cannibal kinfolk from hell!’
To sum up deviation we came across number of deviations and we noted that analyzing
deviations, it didn’t occur alone rather number of deviations and sometimes even parallelism
took place simultaneously.

Parallelism: “The introduction of extra regularities, not non-regularities in the language.” –

Parallelism is categorized into the following: Grammatical, Phonological, and Semantic.

Kinds of Parallelism: Repetition on the level of grammar is called grammatical parallelism.

Repetition on the level of sound is called phonological parallelism. For Example: The Alien vs.
Predates (2014) – ‘whoever wins, we lose’ – Phonological and grammatical parallelism can be
observed here. Assonance is there /i/ and alliteration of /w/ sound. – Parallel clauses; pronouns
followed by intransitive verbs.

Meaning repetition can be termed as semantic parallelism. The repetition of actual world is
called lexical parallelism – The Wayne’s World (1992) – “You will laugh, you’ll cry. You will hurl.”
Lexically and grammatically parallel – Movie goers encounter a schema disruption here.
‘Hurling’ is an atypical and undesirable effect in response to watching a film; hence the tagline
being externally deviant in mockingly suggesting it is an attractive one.

Parallelism has the power not just to foreground parts of a text for us but also to make us look
for parallel or contrastive meaning links between the parallel parts. – Tagline from The
Terminator (1984) – ‘The things that won’t die, in the nightmare that won’t end’ –
Grammatically and lexically paralleled. Structures as well as words are repeated. It is the
repetition of structure (‘the A that won’t B, in the C that won’t D’) that invites readers to find
meaning relations between the A and C pairing (‘thing’ and ‘nightmare’) and also the B and D
pairing (‘die’ and ‘end’).This results in a near-synonymous reading of ‘thing’ as something
frightening and ‘end’ as something inevitably negative. The words ‘thing’ and ‘end’ do not in
themselves necessarily carry negative associations; it is the parallelism that forces them to carry
meanings aligned with the words ‘nightmare’ and ‘end’ respectively, thereby making the tagline
suitable for the action thriller genre.

Lecture# 09 - Stylistic analyses Date: 10-6-20

Definition: Stylistic analysis in linguistics refers to the identification of patterns of usage in
speech and writing. Stylistic analysis in literary studies is usually made for the purpose of
commenting on quality and meaning in a text.

Not only [is style] not a science but [it is] a version of fiction – a narrative form – tied to the
literary trope of synecdoche in which one feature is an ingredient in all the others.” -Berel Lang

I DIED FOR BEAUTY BUT WAS SCARCE – Emily Dickson

Levels of stylistics analysis: There are seven levels of stylistic analysis

 Phonological level  Graphological level

 Grammatical level  Discourse level
 Semantic level  Lexical level
 Pragmatic level

Phonological level: (organization of sounds in a language)

It has two types: segmental feature & supra-segmental feature

Segmental feature Supra-segmental feature

Phonological units of the language, such as A given feature that is limited to a particular
vowels and consonants, are of very short segment but may also be longer
duration.
Sound symbolism Stress
Assimilation Rhythm
Allusion Intonation
Repetition of sound ( alliteration/ assonance)
Grammatical level: (the form, positioning and grouping of the elements that go to make up
sentences)

2 THINGS

Descriptive Evaluate
If it makes a descriptively adequate grammar If it has an interaction between participants
available for each language putting forward the feelings, attitudes etc. of a
speaker or writer to be perceived by a hearer
or reader

Semantic level: (meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and sentence structure)

Important areas of semantic:

• Denotation & connotation
• Ambiguity
• Synonyms, antonyms & hyponyms

Pragmatic level: (is concerned with characterizing the behavior of language users [as
performance)

Deixis, presupposition, implicature, speech act

Deixis: is expressed in English by way of personal pronouns, demonstratives, and tense.

Implicature: is an account for what the speaker can imply, suggest or mean, as distinct from
what the speaker literally say.

Presupposition: is what the speaker or the writer assumes that the receiver of the message
already knows.

Speech: is an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a
listener.

Graphological level: (It describes patterns of writing that distinguish the writer's style, for
example capitalization, punctuation, spacing and so on.)

The graphology of each language has its own units, in English we have:

Paragraph sub – sentence

Orthographic sentence orthographic word and letters.

Discourse level: (Natural or responsible connection in context of text)

In context may consist of only one or two words as in stop or no smoking.

Can also be used to refer to particular contexts of language use, and in this sense it becomes
similar to concepts like genre or text type. For example, we can conceptualize political
discourse (the sort of language used in political contexts) or media discourse (language used in
the media)

Lexical level: (of or relating to words or the vocabulary of a language as distinguished from its
grammar and construction.)
  Slang, archaism, Neologism and
Jargons  Kinds of noun( abstract & concrete
 Lexical Idioms nouns)
 Static verb  Word types (Pun words, Nonce
 Word inclination words, Deviant words )

Lecture # 10 - Stylistic analysis of “The Sun Rising” Date: 17-6-20

John Donne as a poet: John Donne, the Founder of Metaphysical School of Poetry lyrics and
a mixture of strong emotions and thought with learned imagery and striking conceits as well as
great psychological insight and subtlety of thought development. He used paradoxical imagery,
hyperbole and conceit in their poems, looks for a connection between emotional and mental
concepts. He extracts the images from all sources of knowledge, sciences, philosophy, and
geography. In addition, love, religion and nature are the common subjects of metaphysical
poetry.

Summary: Popularity of “The Sun Rising”: John Donne, a great English poet, wrote ‘The Sun
Rising’ also known as ‘The Sunne Rising’. It was first published in 1633. The poem speaks about
two lovers who are disturbed by the rising sun. It illustrates that the speaker does not want
anyone to bother him while they are together.

“The Sun Rising” As a Representative of Love: The poem reflects the speaker’s

boundless adoration for his lover. The poem begins when the speaker, lying in bed with his
lady. He scolds the rising sun, asking why it is irritating them through curtains and windows. He
asks the sun to go and bother those who start their work early in the morning. To him, it should
not interfere with the speaker’s time with his lover. He also challenges the strong sparkling
sunbeams by saying that he could eclipse them merely by closing his eyes. He compares his
beloved to every country in the world as if she means a whole world to him. Thus, his whole
world is compressed in that bedroom. Therefore, he commands the sun to do its job by keeping
them warm.

Major Themes in “The Sun Rising”: Authority of love, nature, and God’s creation are the
major themes of this poem. Throughout the poem, the speaker develops this idea that his love
is grand that even the universe itself exists within their pure relationship. He considers himself
as the ruler of the universe, and in doing so, he beautifully portrays the entire world into his
small bedroom. He challenges the authority of the sun by claiming that it cannot exercise
its power in the lover’s domain. To him, it should go away and disturb others. In the end, he
commands the sun to warm them in their bed.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “The Sun Rising”

Literary devices are tools that the writers use to enhance the intended impact of their writing.
They also enable the readers to interpret the writer’s message. Donne has also used some
literary devices in this poem to make it superb.

The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been analyzed below.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the
sound of /oo / in ‘Busy old fool, unruly sun’ and the sound of /o/ in ‘Love, all alike, no season
knows nor clime’.

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick
successions. For example, the sound of /th/ in ‘Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride’.

Apostrophe: An apostrophe is a device used to call somebody or something from afar. Here,
the poet has used an apostrophe to call the sun to express his feelings. For example, “Busy old
fool, unruly sun.”

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example:
the sound of /t/ in “In that the worlds contracted thus” and the sound of /l/ in “Busy old fool,
unruly sun.”

Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break;
instead, it continues to the next line. For example,

“Whether both th’Indias of spice and mine

Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.”

Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For
example, “Busy old fool, unruly sun”, “Through windows and through curtains call on us” and
“This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.”

Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to non- human things. The poet has
personified the sun throughout the poem.

Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical question is a sentence that is posed to make the point clear.

For example: “Why shouldst thou think?”, “Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?” and
“Through windows, and through curtains call on us?”

Symbolism: Symbolism is a use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic
meanings different from their literal meanings. Sun symbolizes powerlessness, whereas the
room is the symbol of the universe.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Sun Rising”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry.

Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For

Example, “sun/run”, “clime/time”, “thus/us” and “think/wink.”

Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABBACDCDEE rhyme scheme.

Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem, with each
having ten lines.

Analysis of the poem

Form: Three stanzas, each ten lines long, make this an unusual aubade (a dawn love poem).
With irregular line length and regular rhyme scheme of abbacdcdee it is a bit of a hybrid.

The first four lines build up the argument, sonnet-like, the next four consolidate and the final
couplet concludes. The meter (metre) is also varied, lines having anywhere from four to six
beats, iambs mixing with anapaest and spondee to produce a stuttering uncertain rhythm.

Syntax: Short, sharp clauses, longer sentences and plenty of punctuation bring energy and
emotion to the speaker's voice, and help deliver the arguments and images in a dramatic,
depthful manner. Take the final couplet in the third stanza:

Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;

This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere.

Simplicity itself, with pauses that allow the reader to take in the conclusion, yet, typically of
Donne, he throws in an image to catch us off guard - the bed is rectangular, the room likewise,
but sphere suggests a spherical shell, one in which a celestial body might orbit in a fixed
relationship.

Tone: The speaker is initially affronted by the presence of the sun and wastes no time in
berating the intrusion, questioning its appearance at a time when love is the priority, and love is
not to be influenced or regulated by the course of a pedant.

You can picture the lovers being disturbed by bright sunshine streaming in at dawn - the
equivalent of someone shouting. All they want to do is continue their sleep. Who wouldn't be
annoyed?

The speaker's tone does shift as the poem progresses. In the second stanza all the heat has
dissipated and there is a more thoughtful approach as the speaker attempts to persuade the
sun that his lover has the power to blind him.

In the end the speaker suggests that the lover's bed and room is a microcosm of the solar
system, so the sun is invited to revolve around them.

Metaphysical conceit: The first possible extended metaphor I saw was that Donne and his
lover were lying in bed, and Donne feared that someone would walk in on them: the
unwelcome intruder here is not a human being, but the sun, which, and here’s the conceit,
Donne treats as a person.

Lecture # 11-Analysis of “The happy prince” Date: 24-6-20

The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde, is a wonderful allegory, typical of 19th century English
fiction. It contains social injustice, redemptive power of love and the loss of innocent. The
Happy Prince is the statue of a prince who had lived his entire life without knowing sorrow. The
ornate statue is stunning and is encrusted with sapphires, a ruby, and gold leaf. In death, The
Happy Prince despairs of the suffering of his people. In the end, he is left completely bare and
the Mayor orders him pulled down, but he and the Swallow are united in heaven with God.

Summary: High over the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. It was an
amazing statue and was extremely respected indeed. The statue of Happy Prince looked simply
like an angel. One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His companions had left to
Egypt a month and a half before however; he had remained behind, for he has adoration for a
most excellent Reed. Throughout the day it flew and during the evening time, he arrived at the
city.

There he saw the statue of The Happy Prince. He landed just between the feet of the Happy
Prince. As he was going to sleep a huge drop of water fell on him. He gazed upward and saw the
eyes of the Happy Prince filled with tears. The Happy Prince told the Swallow that he didn’t
have an inkling what tears were, for he lived in the royal palace. So he lived and passed on and
the people set him at the tall column wherefrom can see all the misery and ugliness of the city.
Swallow promised to live on with Happy Prince. Little Swallow did persistently whatever Happy
Prince directed.

He helped the poor mother with ruby from the top of Happy Prince’s sword. Then helped the
young fellow completing his play for the theatre with the valuable sapphire, that was, Happy
Prince’s eye and after this, he provided the little match girl with another sapphire from his
second eye. The little Swallow could not perform such work anymore as Happy Prince has
turned absolutely blind. But the Prince insisted him to continue the job. The Prince told the
little Swallow please help the hungry and poor people. He said, “I am secured with gold; you
should take it off leaf by leaf and offer it to the needy people.” The little Swallow removed the
gold leaf by leaf, until the prince looked very dull and grey.

Time passed by and the Swallow realized he was going to die. Swallow says goodbye to the
Happy Prince and died at his feet. Also, the greedy Mayor of the town thought that the statue
of The Happy Prince is no longer beautiful without the jewels and orders for the prince to be
melted down. God sent his blessed messenger to acquire the two most valuable things in the
city. The Angel carried them to Heaven.

Points of analysis: Major Characters

The Happy Prince: The main character in this story. The Happy Prince is both the protagonist of
this story and its namesake. Once a sheltered prince who led a life of pleasure, the Happy
Prince was turned into a gilded statue upon his death and placed upon a pedestal overlooking
his town. The Prince is described as exceedingly beautiful with golden skin, sapphires for eyes,
and a ruby on his sword-hilt. Although his external beauty impresses everyone around him, he
sees that beauty as only skin-deep; his true worth lies in his compassion for his townspeople
and his willingness to sacrifice for them. The Happy Prince suffers, however, due to his
sympathy for all of the misery he can see from his high perch. The “happiness” of this name is
thus ironic, as the Prince describes having only experienced a false happiness in his previous life
of pleasure, when he was ignorant of the true misery surrounding him. The Prince is ultimately
a Christ-like figure, looking over humanity and sacrificing his life to alleviate their pain.
Descriptions of the Prince also allude to classical understandings of wisdom and mentorship.
The figure of the Prince, with his eloquent rhetoric and affinity for morally upstanding behavior,
represents classical Greek and Roman ideals—in particular, the relationship that he develops
with the younger Swallow alludes to classical mentor/mentee relationships.

The Swallow: The 2nd protagonist of this story. He is a polite bird. He is the prince’s messenger.
He is on a journey to Egypt to join his friends for winter. He fails to go together with them
because he falls in love with the reed, who then turns out not to be worth his stay. When he
passes by the statue of the Happy Prince, he decides to take a break. Seeing the Happy Prince
weep for the poor people, he agrees to be his messenger and help him give out his precious
ruby, sapphires, and gold leaves to those in need. He also accompanies the Happy Prince and
tells him stories for many days. However, after he finishes all those tasks, the weather has
become so cold that he has no strength to fly any further. He dies at the feet of the Happy
Prince.

 Minor characters:
The Reed: She decides not to accompany the swallow, who has been courting her,
breaking his heart. She is too close to her home and cannot bear the thought of leaving
thus the swallows courtship was in vain.

The Town Councilors: They are greedy and obsessed with their public images they
cannot understand the humanity of dead prince and of a little bird but they are too busy
in their daily pursuits to increase their money, rank and power.

The Poor Woman: Her son is ill. She struggles as a seamstress to make enough money to
take care of him. She receives that ruby from the hit of the prince sword.

The Young Playwright: He is starving and struggling to complete a play but he is unable
to concentrate because his he is so hungry. He receives the frost sapphire eye.
Little Match Girl: She drops the matches that she is supposed to sell, and is crying
because she knows that she will be beaten by her father when she will return to home
without the matches or any money. She receives sapphire eye.

The Mayor: He orders that the statue must be turn down. He wants the metal to be
made into the statue of himself.

Setting - Time and Place: High above the city, the river, at the city, in the winter,
between the feet of the Happy Prince, in the Palace of Sans-Souci. Six week after the
Swallow’s friends move to Egypt, last summer.

Occupation and daily manner:

The Happy Prince: He is a statue. He was so happy and perfect.
The Swallow: He is a bird and he just wants to travel and explore.
Town’s councilor and The Mayor: Both of them decide that the statue is no longer
beautiful and destroy it.

Emotional Conditions and Attitudes:

The Happy Prince: Even though he was a statue, he still has good thought to help others,
so he asks the Swallow to become his messenger.
The Swallow: He is a kind-hearted bird; he wants to be the messenger because he can’t
bear seeing the prince was crying.

Plot - Exposition: There was a prince; he had everything in his life. He had not seen any
sorrows. The Prince is determined to help people in any way he could.

Complication/Rising Action: There were so many miseries but the Prince couldn’t do
anything because he was dead and now he lived in a statue. There was the Swallow that
became his messenger to help people.

Climax: After all the jewelries that came from the statue run out, its people thought that
the statue is no longer beautiful. The Swallow died because of the weather and the
statue of the Happy Prince is melted down by The Mayor and Councilor’s people. The
Happy Prince’s lead heart was thrown away by them.

Falling Action: God asked The Angel to find them.

Resolution: The Angel brought back the dead Swallow and the lead heart of The Happy
Prince, God was happy and said that the Swallow now can sing in paradise garden
forevermore and the Happy Prince shall praise forever in the city of gold.
Point of view: This short story uses omniscient point of view. The narrator knows all
of the thoughts, motives and feelings of each character. “What! is he not solid gold?”
said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.

Literary Devices - Use of Simile: In simile one object is likened to the other to enrich
an image.
Simile: His hands are like withered leaves. “He looks just like an angel,”

Personification: the writer personified the statue of happy prince and swallow, as living
human beings major and councilor symbolize the hypocrisy of Victorian age. They talk
with each other like human because they feed the misery of living Creature which
human being is ignoring.

Alliteration: the repetition of the beginning sounds of neighboring words Swallow,

Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt?

Symbolic Title: This story also has symbolic title, the title of the story is “The Happy
Prince” but inwardly he is not happy. He feels sorrow, pity for the common people so,
he is not happy as title is symbolic.

Theme - Love: The compassion of the statue for other people and the bird’s swallow
depicts great sensitive feelings. The prince gives away everything to help people, and
the swallow and prince share a fantastic love bond.

Sacrifice: While the prince gives away his ruby, eyes and gold leaves, the little swallow
sacrifices his life to serve humanity. The bird did not reach Egypt to meet its
companions, instead stayed with the prince in harsh cold weather and at last died at the
feet of the statue.

Appearances can be deceptive: This story has a great lesson to teach as it portrays a
statue coated in gold but basically it is made up of lead. The appearance was grand but
when all gold coating came off, the statue looked ugly. Another thing associated with it
is that the prince was happy when he was alive and enjoyed his wealth but the time he
saw human beings suffering, he was saddened by the poverty and pain around him.

Exploitation and hypocrisy of the ruling class of society: This theme is vibrant in the
story as the Mayor and his members of office judged the statue and chose to pull it
down as they thought it looked ugly. Also, the happy prince lived in his palace not
knowing the misery of human beings as he never bothered to look beyond the huge
walls of his palace. The rich live lavishly and the poor are not treated well. e. True

Friendship: The prince in the story shares a great bond of friendship and respect with
the little swallow. Whatever the prince commands, the swallow follows the orders
 religiously. The friendship they had was so true and loyal that they were put in heaven
together.

Moral Values: 1. there will be good rewards for those who feel for the poor and make
sacrifices to remove miseries and sufferings of other people.
2. The outward beauty doesn’t mean a lot; the real beauty is in the person’s heart which
has the deep feelings and the ability to feel the sorrow and hardship of other.

Lecture # 12-Analysis of “The Road Not taken” Date: 1-7-20

Introduction: Style is a primary aspect of any literary piece of writing. It gives unique
recognition to the writer. The idea or thing discussed by many other writers, by using stylistic
devices and dignified style a writer presents the same idea or thing with new colour, meanings
and dimensions. Therefore style is the basic thing which gives uniqueness to every writer. The
word stylistics is derived from style. Stylistics is a branch of Linguistics which deals with
different styles. It refers to the study of appropriate use of words or language in a sentence or
writing. Widdowson (1975) defines stylistics as “the study of literary discourse from a linguistic
orientation”. He (1975) says that the link between literary criticism and linguistics is stylistics.
Style has different meanings for different people. According to Carter (1989) style is generally
depends on linguistic levels. Due to these levels every text and writing is different from the
others, hence every genre is different. Haynes (1989) is of the view that the study of style is the
study of distinctions; looking at what was said against what might have been said. Style can also
be called as variety. In various contexts, style refers as the manner of expression. Due to
multipurpose field of style, it is used according to one‘s field of study.

Adejare (1992) makes this clear when he said that style is an ambiguous term. Lawal (1997)
however, describes style as an aspect of language that deals with choices of diction, phrases,
sentences and linguistic materials that are consistent and harmonious with the subject matter.
He added that it involves the narrative technique of a writer in terms of choice and distribution
of words and character. Lawal (1997) also added that it may be reckoned in terms of the
sociolinguistic contexts and it may also be reckoned or analyzed on linguistic, semantic and
even semiotic terms.

Style: The general meaning of style is ‘manner or mode’ but the literary meaning of style
refers how a writer’s thoughts take the shape of words. The style has variety of meanings
throughout the history in and outside the literary text. It is observed by many critics that the
term style is generally used without knowing its meaning. According to Leech (1969) style is the
way in which something is spoken, written or performed. It refers to use of words, sentences,
structures and speaking style. Personality of the writer is connected with his particular style. It
reveals that how a person effectively and beautifully depicts his ideas and thoughts. It describes
the way of person's speaking and writing. It is derived from the Latin word "elocutio" which
means "style" and means "lexis" in Greek. Leech and Short (1981) is of the view that the word
style has an uncontroversial meaning. Style depends on the context for a given purpose for
which the language is being used. Birch (1989) believes that both language and style cannot
moves beyond a limit on the supremacy of words. He strongly believes that these words
contain specific meanings which differs it from the ordinary language. Leech and Short (1981)
also said that it is the selection of the words from a grand linguistic vocabulary.

Style is involved in both, spoken and written, literary and nonliterary types of language but it is
particularly associated with written form of the literary texts. Leech and Short (1981) further
elaborates that style is the dress of thoughts. It is the way of the writer to convey the message
to the readers. It is upon the writer that how he makes his text understandable that the
meanings are conveyed. Style or stylistic variations may also be analyzed in linguistic terms for
example sentence types, phonological devices, lexical varieties, morphological varieties,
rhetorical terms, semantic terms, and even semiotic terms and utterance. Oloruntoba-Oju
(1999) believes that “style is almost synonymous with variety; it refers in a simple way to the
manner of expression, which differs according to the various contexts”. Styles probably vary
according to place, time, individuality and modality.

The style of Robert Frost in ‘The Road not Taken’ is based on a search for understanding of
things that are apparently hidden from the view. The selection of roads is a simple matter but
the poet does not know where his selection leads him in future. Frost uses the simple words
and phrases but through irony, antithesis, symbolism and metaphors, the poem takes the
deeper meaning. The ordinary meanings of the poem are different from the intended
meanings. This ambiguity gives a sense of mystery to Robert Frost’s work that is difficult to find
in ordinary works of literature.

Stylistics: Literally stylistics means the study of style and the methods used in written
language. Every critic and scholar defines stylistics in his own way. According to Freeman (1971)
stylistics is a sub-discipline which started in the second half of the 20th century. According to
Leech and Short (1981) stylistics is the (linguistic) study of style, is rarely undertaken for its own
sake, simply as an exercise in describing what use is made of language. According to them the
main objective of stylistics is to discover the meanings and appreciate the linguistic
characteristics of the text. Short and Candlin (1989) said that stylistics is a linguistic approach to
the study of the literary texts. Widdowson (1975) defines stylistics the study of literary
discourse from a linguistic orientation which differs stylistics from the literary criticism and
considers linguistics as its linking technique. Carter (1988) has of same view that stylistics is a
bridge (link) discipline between linguistics and literature. Stylistics is the study of those devices
used in language such as rhetorical terms and syntactical devices that are used to create
expressive or literary style. Therefore, Stylistics is that study which touches both literary
criticism as well as linguistics as its morphological structure suggests. According to Widdowson
(1975) stylistics expresses means whereas language and literature as a subjects.

Levels of Stylistic Analysis: Following are the five levels of stylistics analysis. By using these
levels, we analyze any given piece of text.
Phonetic Level: It is an analysis of sounds; we study the features and possible function of
sounds in phonetic level.

Phonological Level: Basically this level deals with the study of sound patterns of a given
language, rules of pronunciation, the rhyming scheme and utterance of the word in the
sentence. Lodge (2009) is of the view that phonology is the study of linguistic systems,
specifically the way in which sound represents differences of meaning in a language.
Phonological devices are rhyme elements, alliteration, consonance and assonance.

Graphological Level: Crystal and Davy (1969) said that graphology is the analogous study of a
languages writing system or orthography as seen in the various kinds of hand writing or
topography. These are the formalized rules of writing. In short it deals with the systematic
formation, structure and punctuation in the sentence.

Grammatical Level: It discusses syntactic and morphological levels. Morphological level deals
with the construction of the word by adding prefixes and suffixes to the root words. The main
aim of this level is to study and analyze the words, internal structure of sentences and their
formation. To find out foregrounding and the deviation, clauses, phrases, words, nouns and
verbs are to be distinguished.

Lexico-Syntax Level: It is the group of two dissimilar words, lexis and syntax. The term lexis
means the vocabulary used in a language or in any writing for any purpose. Syntax means
sentence construction, how words combine together to make phrases and sentences. So, it is
used in the construction of the sentence as stylistics is used in literary style. Lexico-Syntactic
patterns may be obtained through various means which include unusual or inverted word
order, omission of words and repetition. According to Tallerman (1998) Lexico-Syntactic choices
are obtained through devices such as piling of usual collocates, unusual collocates, archaic
words, particular parts of speech, metaphor, simile, oxymoron etc.

Title of the poem: The title of the poem is the key to its understanding. The road not taken
is a suitable title as the whole poem circles around it. We can justify the title in two ways. If the
title is “The Road Less Travelled”, it means that the poet selects the less frequented road and
that has made all the difference. He rejects the majority of choice and chooses an adventurous
road for journey of his life. But if we focus on the title “The Road Not Taken" it means that the
poet is repenting on why he has opted the less frequented road. The poet justifies his decision
by saying "i will be saying this with a sigh" also supports this.

Another interpretation of the poem is that Robert Frost had not taken any of the stated roads.
Rather, he selects the middle path or does not choose any road for him as the title of the poem
suggests. Frost himself warned "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem – very
tricky". The fact is that there may be many interpretations of the title due to the
multidimensional nature of literature. According to Aristotle history deals with what happens,
but poetry deals with what may happen.
Biography of the poet: Robert Frost was born in 1874 in San Francisco, California. He
moved to New England (Massachusetts) as a child after his father’s death. Frost suffered from
financial and economic difficulties until he decided to move to England (United Kingdom) when
he was 38 years old. By doing this, he managed to publish his work overseas, becoming popular
in America. He then returned in 1915, at the age of 41 and one year later wrote his masterpiece
“The Road Not Taken”. The poem theme has many themes including indecision, which can be
related to Robert Frost’s age at the time he wrote it. He is reflecting on the many choices he
made throughout his life, and wondering how different would his life be if he had made other
decisions (by taken other road). Another interpretation, due to some symbolisms in the poem
suggests that Frost felt that his life was ending, therefore reflecting on his lost opportunities.

Theme of the poem: The poem “The Road Not Taken” is written by Robert Frost and one of
the prettiest poems in the English language. In this poem he relaxes meter to gain a more
conversational tone. It revolves around the main theme of making choice in the life. The poet in
the poem is travelling and comes at the spot from where road is divided into two. Here he has
to decide which path he has to adopt for travelling for future of his life. He confused at this
point and it is difficult for him to decide. The destination of both the roads is unknown. But the
poet has to choose one of them. One road is looked that it is frequently used by others and it is
trodden path. So he decides to choose the less trodden path. At this confused state one
moment, he thinks one way is better, the next, both paths are about the same. Leaves cover
both roads equally. No one on this morning has yet taken either road, for the leaves lie
undisturbed. The poet remains committed to his decision to take the road he had previously
selected, saying that he will save the other road for another day. He observes, however, that he
probably will never pass this way again and thus will never have an opportunity to take the
other road.

In years to come, he says that he will be telling others about the choice he made. While doing
so, he will sigh either with relief that he made the right choice or with regret that he made the
wrong choice. Whether right or wrong, the choice will have had a significant impact on his life.
Though the main theme of the poem is the right choice of direction or road for life but there
are many other sub themes which are as follows:

(a) Decision/indecision
(b) Individualism
(c) Caution
(d) Commitment
(e) Accepting a Challenge
(f) Dreams, Hopes, and Plans in life
(g) Man and the Natural World
(h) Exploration
(j) Ambiguity

“The Road Not Taken” – Narrative and Lyrical Poem

 A narrative poem usually contains elements such as a plot, characters, conflict and a
setting. All these elements are found in this poem. So, “The Road Not taken” is a
narrative poem. The narrator describes the poem in first person point of view by using
“I” which helps the readers to know and understand all the thoughts and actions of the
poet. "The Road Not Taken" is a lyrical in nature in which the poet expresses his strong
feelings and emotions by using the power of imagination.

Methodology: Stylistic analysis of the poem “The Road Not Taken” of Robert Frost will be
carried out. The lexico- syntactic patterns and choices, phonological, graphological and
morphological levels of analysis are going to form the basis of the analysis.

Diction or Choice of Words: The poetic language is different from the ordinary
language. The poetic language normally deviates from general rules of the language.
According to Wordsworth all good poetry is “spontaneous flow of powerful feelings”
(Wordsworth, 1989).Words are the same but their arrangement is different from prose
etc.
Diction means choice and use of words and phrases to express thoughts, feelings and
emotions, especially in literature and poetry. The diction of this poem is very expressive
to discuss the narrative in detail. Although the poem is clearly symbolic in nature, lines
are mostly? The poet develops the idea of indecision with colloquial words.

In line 3, stanza 1, Frost writes “long I stood”, this suggests that the poet is in chaos for
making up his mind for right choice. In line 2, stanza 2, he writes, “And having perhaps
the better claim”, the word perhaps proposes that he is not certain in his choice. In line
4, stanza 2, he writes, “Though as for that the passing there” this again shows the
confused state of the poet. In line 5, stanza 3, he writes “I doubted if I should ever come
back.” the word “doubted” means he is just not sure. In the last stanza the poet repeats
the word “I.” “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I—I took the one less traveled
by.” This repetition communicates a sense of indecision on the part of the poet. He does
not announce his choice with surety.

Syntax or Grammatical Structures: There are many grammatical devices used in the
poem to create the poetic effects. In the first three lines of the stanza one, ‘and’ is
repeated at the beginning of each of the lines. The repetition of ‘and’ highlights the idea
that poet’s mind is occupied by many thoughts i.e. selection of the road. This poem is a
mixture of tenses as the poet moves forwards and backwards over time.

All the verbs used in the poem (finite verbs) are in the past tense, except for the verbs in
the first and last lines of the last stanza, i.e. ‘shall be telling’ and ‘has made’ of the
present tenses. This indicates the poet’s personal or self-reflection on what he did or
selected in the past and on what has resulted in. Thus, it contributes the idea that
choice is inevitable but he never knows what his choice means until he has lived it.
Taking the grammatical structures into our consideration when analyzing poem, has
revealed that the linguistic features of a poem have something to do with the meaning
of the poem itself. It seems that the poet knows that people look back over their lives
and want to say that they have taken the right path. He also knows that few people
want to admit that they are wrong or they at least chose a path that might lead them to
better life.

The frequent use of commas reflects the sense of wandering. They emphasize the
pauses for thought and reflection. The semi-colon at the end of the first stanza makes
an end stopped line and stresses the strictness of the decision being made. At the end of
line 8 again semi colon is used to highlight that the poet will select the less travelled
road but at the same time he admits they are ‘really about the same’. The exclamation
mark at the end of third line of stanza three introduces a note of distress.

The last line of the third stanza is a complex one and depicts negative doubt of the poet
that can he come back at this place where the road is diverged in his life. The first line of
last stanza is in the future tense. Here the main clause comes first suggestive of either
sadness or regret. The first line comes again in last stanza and uses a hyphen to create a
pause to make it more expressive before taking the final decision.
Paradox: The paradox of this poem is that the poet has the choice to select one of the
roads that are equally fair. Obviously he is unable to travel both roads at the same time
even though he wants to. It is a simple matter to just select the road. However, the poet
made this situation paradoxical because he decides to take the road less travelled by,
even though they are both equally fair.

Irony: This poem focused on the selection of the road out of two. The irony is that the
poet chooses the one that is less travelled and says “that has made all the difference”.
Although before this, he has said that both the roads are equally fair and worn. They
looked like the same. Moreover the selection of road in life (to lead life) is not the
problem of the poet alone; everybody has to go in this process in his life that how they
want to lead their lives.

Ambiguity: An important theme that can be identified in Robert Frost’s poem is the
ambiguous nature of what appears and what is actually envisioned. Another important
consideration that gives rise to ambiguity in “The Road Not Taken” is the priority of
word ‘road’ over ‘path’ as one visualizes a path to be less travelled and the road to be
much more travelled.

Rhyme Scheme: This poem consists of four stanzas. All stanzas comprise five lines. Each
line composed by iambic tetrameter (unstressed syllable is followed by the stressed
one). The rhymes are end rhymes which are perfect rhymes (wood, stood and could)
and slant rhymes (both and undergrowth). Each stanza of "The Road Not Taken" has the
pattern of the rhyme scheme: ABAAB, CDCCD, EFEEF, and GHGGH pattern. The same
rhyme scheme pattern is repeated in all the four stanzas.
Rhythm and Meter: The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABAAB, CDCCD, EFEEF and
GHGGH. The rhythm is iambic (an unstressed beat followed by the stressed beat) and
each line has eight syllables (four stressed and four unstressed). The meter used for this
poem is mostly loose iambic tetrameter. Tetrameter means that it has four feet per line
(tetrameter).

To create dramatic effect, breaking the patterns to produce different tones and flow
within the poem, Robert Frost used unconventional metrical structure in “The Road Not
Taken”. In this poem Anapest and Dactyl are added within the iambic tetrameter.
Anapest and Dactyl are considered variations of iambic meter. Robert Frost himself
remarked that “there are only two meters in English, strict and loose iambic." Frost said,
"Meter alone is too limited and monotonous to convey meaning through sound
(www.frostfriends.org/meter.html). The possibilities fortune from the dramatic tones of
meaning struck across the rigidity of a limited meter are endless." The loose iambic
included some of the other types of meter like spondee.

Stylistic devices: Multiple stylistic devices are used in Robert Frost's poem “The Road
Not Taken”. Detail is as follows:-
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound within a line of poetry. The
assonance creates a rhythm to the poem. This poem has many repetitions as highlighted
below:-
In the first line of stanza one: two roads diverged in a yellow wood, the sound “O” is
repeated in "roads" and "yellow". In line no 3, “A” sound is repeated in And be one
traveler, in line 4, “O” sound is repeated in looked, could and in line 5, “E” sound is
found in where, bent. In stanza two: assonance plays an important role in the stanza.
Frost uses many short as in words such as was, grassy, wanted, passing, as, that, having,
and had. In stanza three: the rhyme of stanza three also represents "A" assonance with
an alternation between long and short As. Assonance “I” is also repeated (I doubted if I
should ever come back). In stanza four, “I” and “A” sounds are repeated.

Cacophony: It is the use of harsh sounds such as “Ts”, “Ks” and “Chs” to add meaning
and foreshadows the coming an unpleasant event in the poem. But in this poem these
sounds do not add the meaning. The cacophonies in this poem are “t” and “tt”.

Consonance: In this poem overall “w” “th” and “f” sound are repeated at many places in
the poem. In stanza four: there is "ll" and "g" consonance in this stanza. See shall,
telling, all, and repetition of ages along with diverged.

Alliteration: In stanza two, line 3, "wanted wear" is alliteration. Ws in the beginning of

both words produce beautiful effect on the reader.In the same way in stanza 3, line 3, in
“first for” f is alliteration.
Onomatopoeia: The word ‘sigh’ in stanza four emphasizes the poet’s
depression/sadness/happiness for the consequence of the decision he made.

Imagery: Robert Frost uses different images to describe the atmosphere and
surrounding of the scene for the reader to understand and know the correct situation of
problem. First line of stanza one:-
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”
First and second line of stanza three:-
“And both that morning equally lay” and “In leaves no step had trodden black”. The
images used in the above three quoted lines help the readers to visualize and know the
current situation of the poet. There is also a little bit of auditory or sound imagery when
the poet sighs.

Personification: In stanza two, line 3:- “Because it was grassy and wanted wear”
“Wanted wear” is a personification because “wanted” is a human quality.
Personification is the giving of human characteristics to non-human/non-living things. As
we know that a road cannot have a desire to want wear. Thus personifies the path,
giving it desires.

Antithesis: Robert Frost uses antithesis while deciding which road he wants to travel. He
wants to travel both but realizes it's impossible because he can travel on one road at a
time. The second stanza is showing antithesis. Frost, in this stanza is saying that one
road is better than the other because it is less travelled. Then he says that the both
roads are equally worn and travelled. This fits the definition of antithesis.

Metaphor: Following are the different metaphors which are used by the poet in this
poem to make the thoughts more effective and expressive:-

Road as a Metaphor: The whole poem is a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech

in which a word or phrase is applied to a person, idea, or object to which it is not
literally applicable. The poet is, therefore, comparing the paths in life to the choices one
must make when reaching a cross roads. The poem speaks of the actual choices in life as
roads one must choose to take. Metaphorically, the roads simply represent choices in
life. The roads diverged is a metaphor describing the turning points in life when people
have the opportunity to decide and choose a path in their life.

The metaphor of the road is used throughout the poem. The fork in the road is used as a
metaphor throughout the poem; therefore it is an extended metaphor. In line 1, the
roads diverged’ is a metaphor describing the turning points in life when people have the
opportunity to decide and choose a path in their life. In line 6, the poet thinks about one
road, but takes another.
Here Robert frost used this is a metaphor for meditation of his choices before deciding.
In lines 4-5 the road is used as a metaphor for the future. We can see the consequences
of our choices and decisions in near future just like the poet. In lines 13-15, the poet
wants to travel on both the roads but he is unable to travel both at a time. Once he
selected the road, then he is unable to come back again to this place. Here road is used
as a metaphor for a decision that changes everything. In lines 18, the recurrence of the
first line takes us back to the beginning of the extended metaphor (two roads). In line
19, one of the roads is selected which is less travelled which has made all the difference
and this choice has changed the life of the poet.

Nature as a Metaphor: Nature is also used as a metaphor in the poem. In line 1, the
woods are yellow means that is autumn season or a metaphor of making decisions in
the old age. In line 5, the woods are thick enough and a road can disappear in the
undergrowth. Metaphorically, the undergrowth represents the future of the poet is
unclear. The poet used the lines 7-8 not only represents nature, but they are also
metaphor for a decision that is made by only few people like the poet. In lines 11-12,
metaphor of morning, leaves and steps are used. Next day, in the morning, the leaves
equally covered both the roads and no road is travelled but they are looking equal. This
situation confused the poet in better decision making. Before this, the poet has
mentioned that one road is less travelled. In line 18, the first line is repeated again (Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I) here shows that the nature is still important to the
poet.

Symbolism: It is a stylistic device used by the poets/writers to give deeper meaning and
reference. A symbol is an object or action that represents something else and more than
its literal meanings. In this poem following symbols are used to enhance the effect of
the poem:-

Road: The road symbol is most important symbol which symbolizes the journey of Life.
However, it signifies not only journey but also the destination. According to the poet,
sometimes the journey itself is the destination. The road that is caught in the
undergrowth indicates entanglement with obstacles. “Two roads diverged” perhaps
represent the strongest symbolism used in the poem where on surface it may seem that
Frost is talking about a division in the road, but in reality he is talking about choices
people face in their lives. The road that is gone in the undergrowth symbolizes muddle
with difficulties.

Comparing Choices: The concept of two choices is a thought provoking as one. By

presenting the two choices he may be implying that one is wrong and the other right or
that one is superior to the other or one is traditional while the other is special one. One
choice is considered default and natural; the other unnatural and deviant.

Woods: The image of woods signifies ‘indecision’ as the poet is lost searching for
answers. The image of 'woods' has represented indecision in Frost's other poems too.
The yellow color of the woods points to the season of autumn. Autumn is symbolic of
incipient decay and stagnation. The poet also experiences a sense of stagnation as he
cannot progress forward to make a decision.

Decision Making Process: The line "Somewhere ages and ages hence" symbolizes that
the problem to decide the right path not only difficult for present time but it will also be
difficult for future generations. The difference of time and space gives the poem a
universal touch. "And looked down one as far as I could:" signifies that poet does not
choose the path blindly but he meditates and thinks deeply while taking decision. It
means that according to the poet it is not just a routine and common matter. The future
life depends on one’s decision. The words "Way leads on to way” symbolizes the poet's
confusion.

Sigh: Robert Frost ends the poem with a sigh which implies that the decision taken by
him may be wrong or right. But his decision has made all the difference in his life (And
that has made all the difference).

Meaning: There are two types of meaning which helps the reader to understand the
true meaning of the poem. They are as follows:-

Denotation in the Poem

Road: A long hard and smoothed surface made for travelling and transportation, way,
path
Wood: A large area of trees
Difference: Dissimilarity
Passing: Going by
Traveler: A person or thing that travels
Yellow: Yellow trees, Name of a color
Diverged roads: Forked or separated roads
Dark woods: Thick forest

Connotation in the Poem

Road: Decision; choice, carrier, path of life
Wood: Maze; difficulty
Difference: Strange, new, not right
Passing: Instantaneous; not fixed
Traveler: Lost, tired
Yellow: Autumn, old age, irresolution, madness, sickness
Diverged roads: Much greater and more distinct parting, difference
Dark woods: Fear or lack of knowledge, difficult to find way

Analysis: The poem “The Road Not Taken” is written by Robert Frost and is basically a
lyric, having four quatrains, each quatrains contains five lines. The basic pattern of
rhythm is loose iambic tetrameter. Robert Frost deviates from the traditional pattern.
According to Leech, the rules are made to be broken and if the poem has the same
rhythm till the end than it becomes deadly (Leech, 1969).

The poem is very interesting and the reader feels himself facing the situation instead of
the poet. An average reader can easily understand that the variation in rhythm. The
change in the rhythmic pattern causes the effectiveness in the poem. The stress on the
words attracts the reader‘s attention. In the book, ‘Linguistic Guild to English Poetry‘,
Leech differentiates poetic language with common language. He writes ―poetic
language may violate or deviate from the generally observed rules of the language in
many different ways, some obvious, some subtle (Leech, 1969).

The poet starts the poem dramatically. He stands at place where two roads are leading
to the yellow woods. The images and metaphors make the scene very easy to
understand the situation of the poet. The poet is facing the challenge of selection one of
the roads for his life. The poet wants to travel both the roads but he is helpless in front
of his desire. It is understood that one person at a time travel on one road. The poet
tries to tell his position where he is standing and to depict his mental distress.

This choice making problem is not the problem of the poet but decision making is a
challenging affair for every human being. In practical life everyone has to face the same
situation like the poet and everyone is bound to take decision. Before accepting this
challenge, everyone feels himself in the situation of confusion, chaos, hesitation and
indecisive like the poet. Choice making in life demands fair attention, insight, knowledge
and intellect. By taking all the possible measures and using intellect, it is not necessary
the choice and selection is right, it may be wrong (I shall be telling this with a sigh). In
this way the problem of the poet becomes the problem of everyone. So, we can say that
“The Road Not Taken” is a poem contains universal theme and problem (Somewhere
ages and ages hence).

Findings: The poem “The Road Not Taken” describes the selection or choice of the
road for his life. The poet is standing at the place where road is diverged into two. The
situation becomes very serious when the poet finds it difficult to decide that which the
road out of two, he can opt for his future life. By using different stylistics devices, the
poet successfully describes his point of view. Stylistics devices give deeper meaning to
any literary piece of writing like this poem and stylistic analysis helps to dig out the
hidden meaning. The poet used simple words and phrases to make it understandable
and to clarify his intentions. By using different metaphors, symbols and images, the poet
makes the poem more effective to convey his message.

Scope of the study: Stylistic analysis is conducted through the use of the following
levels of analysis: lexico- syntactic patterns, diction, phonology, graphology and
morphology. Analysis conducted using the stylistic elements in each of the above
mentioned levels, it would provide be helpful to future researchers in a related field.

Limitation of the study: The poetry is a multi-meaning literary genre and every
reader can extract meaning according to his own understanding, literary taste, religion,
society, social status and background knowledge. It is also very difficult to know the
exact context and factors that affect the thoughts of the poet at the time of poem
creation. We have tried our best to explore the true meaning and various possible
themes given in the poem. However, it is true that there is always a room for
improvement. It is possible that some aspect of the poem may be remained unfolded.

Conclusion: From the stylistics analysis, we find out that the poem is very carefully
constructed and brings to mind the act of trying to balance something not given over
easily to being balanced. The poem is not so much about making a decision but about
the art of indecision. The poet cannot easily reach a conclusion about what he is actually
seeing before him, let alone a rational decision about which route to take. He
repeatedly contradicts himself in his assessment, even after he has apparently made his
decision. He cannot know that he has actually taken the road less travelled by because
he has no idea of what lies along the other road. Likewise, he has no evidence that all
will end well. He expects a positive outcome though he still does not know what exactly
the outcome will entail.

Finally, interpretations need not be the same for everyone. There need not be a logical
reason for what the poet meant. Also, only the poet himself will know what the poem
truly means. It is rather what we perceive that makes a poem. Therefore, there can be
hundreds of interpretations and everyone may be right. Interpretations should never be
stated as fact, especially in instances where so many different views are possible. Now
we have analyzed the poem stylistically, it has, in some extent, proved that by using a
systematic analytical technique like stylistics, we have tried our best to make our
interpretation as clear as possible. In other words, it is some ways towards convincing
that stylistics is a useful tool for anybody interpreting literary texts.

Lecture # 13 - Analysis of “The Last word” Date: 8-7-20

Introduction: The article aims to explore and investigate that how particular choices
made by the writer contribute to create particular meanings. The story selected for the
purpose of stylistic analysis is ‘The Last Word’ by Dr. Abdur Rashid Tabassum, who is the
first winner of the Patras Bukhari Award for English Literature instituted by Pakistan
Academy of Letters. Munawar S. Khalid (2009, November 02) remembers him as one of
the outstanding Pakistani literary authority who has written more than three dozen
books in English, Persian and Urdu.
The story under consideration for the purpose of present analysis is from his book of
short stories ‘A Window to the East’ , for which he received award along with cash prize
from the President of Pakistan in 1983.

Literature Review: What is stylistics?

Stylistics is a branch of applied linguistics, originated as a way of applying linguistic
models to literary text. Widdowson (1975) defines it as “the study of literary discourse
from a linguistic orientation”. According to Short and Candlin (1989) stylistics is an
approach to the analysis of literary texts using linguistic description.

However, the term has been a controversial one as there are a number of approaches
and orientations which the analyst may adopt. These varied approaches, as Wales
(1989) observes, are “due to the main influences of linguistics and literary criticism”.
While Widdowson (1975) is of the view that stylistics is a link between the disciplines
literary criticism and linguistics, David Crystal (1980) sees stylistics as a part of linguistics
which “studies certain aspects of language variation”. In this sense stylistic analysis
tends to explore and explain the particular choices made by the writer/author in the
selection of words and sentence structure. In other words the style employed by the
author serves to present a particular emotion and meaning. Leech and Short (2007) also
explain style as the way of the writer to convey message to the reader.

Stylistic Analysis: Traditionally stylistic analysis was seen as a way of exploring the
meaning of literary text but now it has gone beyond this structuralistic approach and
moved towards a more pragmatic orientation to “link choices in text to social and
cultural context” (Thornborrow & Wareing, 1998). According to this view an author
makes certain choices in relation to the particular context.

This does not imply that the trend of exploring the meaning in stylistic analysis has
changed altogether. Along with the discovery of meaning, stylisticians have started
taking interest in the ways in which features of text: particular choice of words are
viewed in relation to the context in which it is produced and received.
Though different in their approach, all these research works are aimed towards the
same goal i.e. to study and explore the choices made by the writers and how these
choices create the effect that writer wishes to communicate to the readers. These
choices can create deviations in the text by employing the stylistic feature and
characteristics of some other genre.

Methodology: The study involves the stylistic analysis of a short story The Last Word
by Dr. A. R.Tabassum with the aim of looking at the writer’s choice of language. The
analysis is carried out following the heuristic checklist of linguistic and stylistic
categories presented by Leech and Short (2007). The checklist provides a ‘systematic
basis’ for the collection of relevant linguistic data from the text for the purpose of
stylistic evaluation and offers four levels for analyzing the linguistic choices made by the
writer, in terms of style. These levels include the lexical categories, grammatical
categories, figures of speech and context and cohesion. Leech and Short (2007) point
out that while the list itself is selective one, leaving out a lot of detail but it allows the
reader to reach the significant and relevant features of the text through linguistic
survey.
This study will be focused on the level of figures of speech, taking into consideration the
grammatical, lexical and phonological schemes. The grammatical and lexical schemes
will be searched in form of parallelism, anaphora and lexical repetitions. The
phonological patterns of rhyme such as alliteration, consonance, assonance and rhyming
words will be discussed under the heading of phonological schemes.
In order to show the literary relevance of the linguistic choices made by the writer, the
discussion is winded up discussing the story in terms of metaphor, allegory and
personification.

About the story: Point of view: The story is narrated by first- person narrator, who is
also the protagonist of the story. The thoughts, actions and dialogues of other
characters are conveyed to us by the narrator’s point of view. The narration is in fact in
form of a farewell speech. The narrator is speaking in such manner as if he is connecting
with his listeners and as if he knows how they think and feel. Following instances from
the text serve best to illustrate this point.
“Mates and friends! You are whispering in each other’s ears. I know what you mean.
“Let me tell you something however incredible it may sound.”
“Mates and friends! Now don’t wink at each other ominously.”

Characters: All the characters are nameless. There is a gardener who is addressing his
fellow gardeners as he is departing from the garden. The fellow gardeners are very
much concerned about the journey which the protagonist is going to undertake because
“the way is long and full of uncertainty” and the protagonist is disfigured and weak
however he advises them not to worry about him and get back to work because “the
gardener is hard to please”. This certainly indicates the presence of a supervisor.

Then there is the “sweet-heart”, who is calling the gardener to accompany her to some
unknown destination where he would be rewarded with his wage of love.

Finally there are the beauties of the garden who will live in the ‘eternal songs’ of the
gardener when he is gone.

Allegory: The story is allegorical and metaphorical one as it contains two levels of
meaning.

At surface level there is a gardener taking leave from his fellows before leaving the
garden. This leave taking is in form of an address, but the language used is clearly not
suited to a gardener. The garden is used as a metaphor for the world. So at a deep level
it is the farewell speech of a man leaving the world.

The phases of the sun are the metaphor for the different phases of man’s life as in:

“Mates and friends! Today at dawn the nightingale sang a sweet and melodious song
which, I know, was a message from my sweetheart calling me back. As the sun rose
high, the lovely drops of the dew, precariously balanced on the thorns of the rose bush,
beckoned me to follow them to her and then they ominously left the bush. Now the sun
is on the decline.”

Analysis: Grammatical and lexical schemes: Parallelism and anaphora

The story contains various parallel structures. The story contains parallelism on the
phonemic, word and syntactic levels. Anaphora occurs where many successive clause or
sentences start with the same word or clause. Following instances of anaphora and
parallel syntactic structure are found in the text, which are in big proportion if we
consider the total length of the story.

“Here is my shovel, here is my basket, and here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat
and dirt.”
“Why have you dropped your scythes from your hands in despair? Why has sweat dried
suddenly on your forehead? Why have you turned pale?”
“His body is disfigured with bruises and wounds and his heart is bleeding. His hair is
unkempt, his face is not given a wash and his skin is sunburned.”
Worry you not if the way is long and full of uncertainty, the night is dark, and I disfigured
and weak.”
“I moaned. I screamed.”
“She paused. She pondered.”
“I could not scan the dust on your face, could not gauge the depth of your wounds,
could not hear the beats of your aching heart, and could not feel the bruises you had.”

Repetition:
There is a lot of repetition of certain phrase, clauses and words
Mates and friends!
I must depart from you
My sweetheart has called me back.
Besides the phrase and clauses mentioned above, certain nouns are frequently
repeated. These are:
Dust, bruises, wounds, dark, storm, heart, despair, night, sweetheart, beauty, sun,
garden, song
Verbs like sigh, sobbed and loved are also repeated time and again. Modal auxiliaries
must, will and should are also frequently used.
There are certain other devices which are made use of by the writer in abundance.
These are:
i. Rhetoric questions:
Protagonist also makes use of the technique of rhetoric questioning, which is an
important feature of speech.
“Why have you dropped your scythes from your hands in despair? Why has sweat dried
suddenly on your forehead?
Why have you turned pale?”

ii. Apostrophes: The protagonist has also made a frequent use of apostrophes, such as
Mates and friends!
O rose!
O tulip!
O narcissus!
O beauties of the garden!

Phonological schemes: Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely

occurring words is called alliteration. The text under study displays numerous instances
of alliteration.
‘......and here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat and dirt.’
‘Why has sweat dried suddenly on your forehead?’
‘During the last watches of the last night while lying in my dark room....’
‘Then she smiled and said to me:’
‘You are exactly what I wanted you to be.’
‘....the nightingale sang a sweet and melodious song.
‘.........beauty of my man.
‘......the lovely drops of dew......
“And the dark and stormy night is drawing nigh.......’

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds in closely occurring

words. Following instances of assonance are found in the text.
.....and here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat and dirt.
“And the dark and stormy night is drawing nigh.......’

Consonance: There is repetition of‘s’,‘t’ and ‘d’ sounds in these lines.

...... his skin is sunburned.
‘......and here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat and dirt.’
‘Why has sweat dried suddenly on your forehead?’

Rhyme: “Then she smiled and said to me:

You are exactly what I wanted you to be.”

Findings
The writer has made use of apostrophes and rhetorical questioning to give the story
form of a speech. In fact the whole story is an address to the mates and friends and the
beauties of the garden. ‘Mates and friend’ is repeated 5 times.
There are a lot of sound repetitions in the story. The writer has made abundant use of
sound devices in a compact way.
He has made selection of such words and organized them in such way that different
sound devices are incorporated within the stretch of a single sentence. One such
instance is
‘......and here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat and dirt.’
In this sentence there is repetition of the initial consonant sounds ‘d’ and ‘s’ in dusty and
dirt and smeared and sweat. Then there is repetition of ‘er’ sound in shirt and dirt.
There can also be noticed the repetition of‘t’ sound in dusty, shirt, sweat and dirt. Hence
in this sentence writer has made use of alliteration, assonance and consonance all at the
same time.

Discussion:
The story works at two levels of meaning. At one level there is a gardener who is
addressing his fellow gardeners before his departure. At the deeper level the story is a
farewell speech in a metaphorical way. The actions of all the other characters in the
story are made known to us solely from the speech of the protagonist, as he goes along
narrating that what they are doing and what they are saying and what they are thinking.
Thus, by using this technique, the writer achieves two ends. Firstly, all the action is
conveyed to the reader in a very economical way. Secondly, a strong bond between the
protagonist and the other characters in the story is rendered, where all the other
gardeners are worried for the protagonist and the protagonist too is well aware of their
concerns, without them addressing him directly, and he is consoling them saying that he
has to go now but they must keep the garden in order, and take care of the beauties of
the garden, as he is a great admirer of them and that they will remain in his eternal
songs. The ‘eternal songs’ might be the reference to the works of the writer himself. In
this way it can be said that the writer is referring to himself as the gardener who has
always admired and ‘loved beauty as a whole’, and that even though he would be gone
but his songs will remain forever. The sweetheart is the personification of death and the
beauties of the garden are the things or values cherished and valued by the writer.

Conclusion:
The use of apostrophes and rhetorical questions has given the story the form of an
address, which apparently is delivered by a gardener, on his departure from the garden,
to his fellow gardeners. However the language used by him is not suited to a gardener
as it is very formal and eloquent and full of musicality. The use of rhyming, alliteration,
consonance and assonance is made to create a musical sound pattern. These evidences
show that the address is actually the consolatory speech of someone who is about to
leave the world and the address is made in an allegorical way. In this way the garden is
the metaphor for the world and the different phases of the sun mentioned by the
protagonist are the different phases of man’s life.