Prof. Dr. Norrick SS 2012

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Barrie Stephens
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1 Stylistics Prof. Dr. Norrick SS 2012 Interest in style goes back to ancient Greece Poetry and criticism or writing about poetry grew up together Aristotle was the first to write objectively about poetry What constitutes poetry is not writing verses (poiesis) but building a poetic structure of events (mythos) A poetic structure should be beautiful: unity, symmetry The art of making a poem character argument poetic language (lexis) 1

2 Poetic language is the realm of style The first virtue of poetic diction is to be clear,then to maintain an elevation above low life and language Elevation through: archaic, foreign, unfamiliar words, ornamental epithets, and figures, especially metaphor Aristotle: The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor... it implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars. Most impressive: 4-term analogical metaphor, e.g. the sun sheds its rays A is to B as C is to D sun rays animal shedding skin Following Aristotle Horace Ars Poetica decorum Longinus sublime : high, middle and low language Quintillian Institutio oratoria 2

3 Quintillian Metaphor is a short simile Metaphor expresses the same comparison as a simile, but it omits the words like and as Simile Achilles is like a lion in courage Achilles is as courageous as a lion Metaphor Achilles is a lion (in courage) Quintillian analyses similes and metaphors into 3 parts: Achilles is like a lion in courage Primum Secundum Tertium OBJECT VEHICLE TERTIUM Achilles is a lion in courage OBJECT VEHICLE TERTIUM Tertium often dropped in both simile and metaphor: Achilles is like a lion Achilles is a lion Also: Achilles raged like a lion in the battle Or even: Achilles raged, a lion in the battle 3

4 Part for whole: roof for 'house' Synechdoche Species for genus: ten thousand things for 'many' One for many: the foot soldier for 'infantry' Metonymy Inventor for invention: Homer for 'text by Homer' as in They read Homer daily Possessor for possession: Neptune for 'ocean' as in Neptune raged about the tiny ships Container for contents: the goblet for 'gobletfull of liquid' as in Helena drank the foaming goblet Material for object: his steel for 'his sword' as in Achilles drew his steel across the stone Modern period - "What is style?" Originally in literary theory, esp. regarding the novel "Jane Austen's style" vs other writers Then "Jane Austen's early style vs her mature style" Lexis (word counts) Grammar (nominal, passive etc) Always assumes choice, as if everything could be said some other way 4

5 "What is literature?" vs non- literature And "What is poetry?" or at least "What is poetic?" Especially as poetry became less representational, along with pictorial art: concrete poetry, surreal and dada-esque "A poem should not mean but be" New Criticism, Intentional Fallacy, Close Reading Formalist theories of poetry (e.g. Jakobson, 1960) Jakobson CONTEXT MESSAGE ADDRESSER...ADDRESSEE CONTACT CODE 5

6 Jakobson REFERENTIAL EMOTIVE POETIC CONATIVE PHATIC METALINGUAL Jakobson The poetic function projects the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection into the axis of combination (303). (Jakobson, Roman Linguistics and poetics. Essays on the language of literature. Ed. By S. Chatman & S. R. Levin, ) Jakobson combination selection 6

7 Once linguists were involved, new questions were asked: "How does poetry/poetic lg differ from other lg?" "How do we describe different styles linguistically? where style = genre, text-type, speech event etc Linguistic distinctions were introduced: spoken vs written, planned vs spontaneous, face-to-face vs mediated, monologic vs polyphonic, interactive vs front-directed vs non-reciprocal Along with linguistic notions like: register and speech act Structuralist and generative transformational linguists poeticity as violation of grammatical rules: A grief ago (Dylan Thomas) Any who lived in a pretty how town (E.E. Cummings) Socio-linguistics brings new set of questions "How does Style reflect social variables?" Social class, gender, solidarity / distance / deference Power and dominance in interaction This leads back to ancient Rhetoric and Aristotle, in its concern with persuasive speech, esp. formal features like meter, prosody, rhyme etc. and figures (metaphor, metonymy etc.) 7

8 Linguists distinguish original vs dead metaphor: face of a clock and moribund metaphor: cut into line cf. knife through the line word metaphor: the ship plowed the waves vs phrase metaphor: she's still up in the air about her decision or whole sentence: chickens come home to roost Extended metaphor in poetry From John Donne s A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat. And though it in the centre sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if the' other do. Such wilt thou be to me, who must Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end, where I begun. Extended metaphor in everyday talk From The Whitehouse Transcripts P: I think we better assume it. I think Colson- D: He is playing hard ball. He wouldn t play hard ball unless he were pretty confident that he could cause an awful lot of grief. H: Right. P: He is playing hard ball with regard to Ehrlichman for example, and that sort of thing. He knows what he s got. 8

9 Metaphor as anomaly I have measured out my life with coffee spoons And frightful a nightfall folded rueful a day Metaphor as a figurative speech act And silent was the flock in woolly fold. At the beach, my daughter's a regular fish. Metaphoric proverbs may be both true and consistent in some context, but not the one cited The early bird catches the worm. Some metaphors resist paraphrase Telecommunications are further shrinking the globe. especially metaphors in science Cyclotrons split atoms. Black holes absorb matter. Paraphrases tend to produce fewer interesting implications. 9

10 Cognitive Linguistic theories see metaphor as basic to human cognition Metaphors are necessary for our basic grasp of time, evaluation, emotions: Go back in time in the distant future before the fall Stocks dropped, then rose the Mark is above the Yen Feeling lowdown in a black mood their hot love cooled We perceive things via metaphor We cognize abstracts in terms of basics, time is money: time is precious, spend time, waste time, run out of time Again Metonymy Part for whole: Get your ass over here. Producer for product: She owns a Picasso. Controller for controlled: Napoleon lost at Waterloo. Place for institution: Moscow rejected the plan. 10

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning By John Donne

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning By John Donne By John Donne As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and some say, No: So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods,