Стилистический анализ текста. Учебное пособие

How does the symbolism relate to the other elements of the work, such as character or theme?

Setting: the place where the action happens.

What does the locale contribute to the work? Are scene shifts significant? Form: the shape or structure of the work.

What is the form? (For example, a story might divide sharply in the middle, moving from happiness to sorrow.) What parts of the work does the form emphasize, and why?

Theme: the main idea, the gist of what the work adds up to. How might the theme be stated?

How do the parts of the work develop the theme? Appeal: the degree to which the story pleases you.

What do you especially like or dislike about the work? Do you think your responses are unique or common to most readers? Why?

Analyzing fiction (emotive prose, poetry, drama)

The "Questions for a literary analysis" on pages ( 49-51) will help you think about any work of literature, including a story or novel, and find a topic to write on. The questions below provide additional material for thinking about fiction.

Questions for analyzing fiction

-What happens in the story? Summarize the plot (the gist of the happenings). Think about what your summary leaves out.

-Is the story told in chronological order, or are there flashbacks or flashforwards? On rereading, what foreshadowing (hints of what is to come) do you detect?

-What conflicts does the work include?

-How does the writer reveal character—for instance, by explicit comment or by letting us see the character in action? With which character(s) do you sympathize? Are the characters plausible? What motivates them? What do minor characters contribute to the work?

-Who tells the story? Is the narrator a character, or does the narrator stand entirely outside the characters' world?

-What is the setting, the time and place of the action? What does it contribute to the work?

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-Do certain characters or settings seem to you to stand for something in addition to them—that is, are they symbolic?

-What is the theme—that is, what does the work add up to? Does the theme reinforce values that you hold, or does it challenge them?

-Is the title informative? Did its meaning change for you after you read the

work?

Analyzing poetry

Two types of essays on poetry are especially common. One is an analysis of some aspect of the poem in relation to the whole for instance, the changes in the speaker's tone or the functions of meter and rhyme. The second is an explication, a line-by-line (sometimes almost word-by-word) reading that seeks to make explicit everything that is implicit in the poem. Thus an explication of the first line of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (the line goes "Whose woods these are I think I know") might call attention to the tentativeness of the lines ("I think I know") and to the fact that the words are not in the normal order ("I think I know whose woods these are"). These features might support the explanation that the poet is introduc- ing—very quietly— a note of the unusual, in preparation for the experience that follows. Although one might conceivably explicate a long poem, in practice explication is confined to short poems or to short passages from long poems.

Questions for analyzing poetry

-What parts interest or puzzle you? What words seem especially striking or unusual?

-How would you describe the poem's speaker (sometimes called the persona or the voice)? (The speaker may be very different from the author.) What tone or emotion do you detect—for instance, anger, affection, sarcasm? Does the tone change during the poem?

-What is the structure of the poem? Are there stanzas (groups of lines separated by space)? If so, how is the thought related to the stanzas?

-What is the theme of the poem: what is it about? Is the theme stated or implied?

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- What images do you find—evocations of sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell? Is there a surprising pattern of images—say, images of business in a poem about love? What does the poem suggest symbolically as well as literally? (Trust your responses. If you don't sense a symbolic overtone, move on. Don't hunt for symbols.)

Analyzing drama

Because plays—even some one-act plays—are relatively long, analytic writing on drama usually focus on only one aspect of the play, such as a character's responsibility for his or her fate or the function of a single scene. The analytical writing's introduction usually indicates what the topic and thesis are and why the topic is of some importance. The conclusion often extends the analysis, showing how a study of the apparently small topic helps to illuminate the play as a whole.

Questions for analyzing drama

The "Questions for a literary analysis" on pages (49-51) will help you think about any work of literature, including a play, and find a topic to write on. The following prompt provides additional questions for thinking about drama.

-Does the plot (the sequence of happenings) seem plausible? If not, is the implausibility a fault? If there is more than one plot, are the plots parallel, or are they related by way of contrast?

-What kinds of conflict are in the play? How are the conflicts resolved? Is the resolution satisfying to you?

-How trustworthy are the characters when they describe themselves or others? Do some characters serve as foils, or contrasts, for other characters, thus helping to define the other characters? Do the characters change as the play proceeds? Are the characters' motivations convincing?

-What do you make of the setting, or location? Does it help to reveal character or them?

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Questions and assignments for analyzing publicist texts

1.Give a summary of the text.

2.Define the type of the text: is it philosophic, critical, humorous, scientific, and educational? What is the message of the story? What is its aim? What is its impact on the reader? Is it expressed directly or implicitly?

3.What is the general tonality of the text? What sets the mood of the story? Is it neutral, business-like, emotional? How is it conditioned by the aim of the text, its pragmatic function?

4.Note lexical, syntactic and semantic peculiarities of the text.

Note the use of verb tense forms, means of expressing subjects in sentences, choice of vocabulary, and use of epigrammatic statements.

5.What can you say of the imagery of the text? What is its function? What images does the author draw and why? What means does the author use to make the text more readable and emotional?

6.What does the use of the first person singular add to the general tone of the text? 5. Why does the author consider the subject of the text from various angles, giving different types of information: introductory, descriptive, background, illustrative, generalizing? Give examples of different types of information.

7.What is the function of the quotations in the text?

8.Speak on the composition of the text, noting the correlation between various types of information. How does the author pass over from general assumptions to concrete facts? Speak on the graphical segmentation of the text. Try to find the reasons for the division of the text into paragraphs. What are the key words and phrases in each paragraph?

9.Comment on the ending of the text. How is it related to the title? Can you make any general conclusions to the relationships between the ending of the text and its title?

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Questions and assignments for analyzing scientific prose

1.What is the article under analysis devoted to?

2.What method characteristic of scientific style lies in the basis of the ar-

ticle?

3.What can you say about the composition of the article?

4.What is the author’s basic postulate? How does the author present it?

5.How does the author prove his ideas in the argumentative part of his

work?

6.What does he formulate in the concluding part of the article?

7.What sentence patterns prevail in the article?

8.What can you say about the diction of the article, its style?

Points for the analysis of business documents

Business letters as a form of special speech is an essential part of communication. It carries the principal functional language elements for realizing the communication art:

1)syntax (e.g. expressing a polite request using will or would in the interrogative form of a sentence)

2)attitudes (requests, acknowledgement, gratitude, regret, favor, etc.),

3)modality (probability, possibility, desire, etc.),

4)guide words that enable the writer to connect his ideas, concepts, thoughts, etc. (e.g. As to, in comparison with, in respect of, etc.)

Each letter-writer has a characteristic way of writing, his style of writing. The routine of official, business, professional letters requires certain accepted idioms, phrases, patterns which are found in general use today.

Letter-writing is not the same as casual conversation. It bears only the same powers of thoughts, reflections and observations as in conventional talk, but the form may be different. What makes the letter attractive and pleasing is not always the message of the letter; it is often the manner and style in which the message is written. For example, “I wish to express to you my sincere appreciation for your note of congratulation” or “I am sincerely happy that you were elected President of the Biological Society”. As you see such formulations show the attitude of the writer, his respect and sincerity.

The language of business, professional and semi-professional letters is formal, courteous, tactful, concise, expressive, and to the point. In the case of

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“scientific correspondence” the majority of letters bear mostly a semi-official character and are concerned with different situations associated with scientific activities concentrated around the organization of scientific meetings( congresses, workshops, etc., the arrangement of visits, invitation, publication, the exchange of scientific literature, information, etc.. Letters of this kind have a tone of friendliness, politeness, naturalism. Modern letters are not exaggerated, overburdened, outmoded with time-worn expressions. The key-note is simplicity. Modern letter tends towards using the language of conversational style.

The parts of a letter are these: a) heading, b) address, c) salutation, d) body, e) complimentary ending, f) signature.

The body of a typical business, official or professional letter covers generally three major aspects:

1)The introduction which states the business that letter concerns (if necessary, reference is made to previous correspondence),

2)The discussion which takes up the matter,

3)The conclusion of the letter which gives the letter a friendly, sincere

ending.

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MODULE II. TEXTS FOR PRACTICING STYLISTIC ANALYSIS.

2.1. SAMPLES OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

A. POETRY

1.THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

1.Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

2. Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

3.And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

4.I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

(R. Frost)

Stylistic Analysis

The poem “The Road not Taken” is casual in its subject-matter, describing a particular place at a particular time: once while travelling alone the poet stopped at a fork in the road, undecided which path to take. Finally he chose one because it seemed a little less frequented.

In analyzing this poem we must point out its three main features: 1) the effect of striking concreteness and simplicity; 2) the impression of a melancholy meditating tone; 3) the implication suggested by the poet as the ultimate stylistic effect.

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These three peculiarities are linked and interwoven to produce a joint impression, the EMs and SDs of the poem are aimed at achieving the desired effect.

The poet describes a particular autumn wood: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, and two paths: one – “bent in the undergrowth”, the other “was grassy and wanted wear”: All the facts consistently presented in the poem stress the concreteness of the image (the third stanza):

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.

The poet consistently refers to himself as a traveller in a definite wood described precisely one autumn day (the first stanza):

And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, ...

SDs, used in describing the picture, are aimed at arousing a concrete image: epithets “yellow”, “grassy”, metonymical periphrasis “wanted wear” and “no step had trodden black” suggesting paths which are seldom used.

A careful and inclusive analysis must consider linguistic items at various levels, as all stylistically significant features form a complex.

The meditative tone of reminiscence is established from the very first. The most important factor in achieving this effect is a phonetic SD: a peculiar rhyming scheme a b a a b which suggests a slow melancholy intonation. The stanza of the poem consists of five lines, lines 3 and 4 having the same rhyme as line 1 produce a peculiar effect of sound anadiplosis. This sound (or rhyme) anadiplosis stresses the impression of a slow movement of thoughts. Three instances of the repetition of the conjunction “and” (polysyndeton) in the first stanza add to the serene and pensive tone of the poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth...

The poem is written in iambic meter in which the unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one. The line consists of four iambic feet, so the meter is called iambic tetrameter and is graphically represented thus:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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We find a number of irregularities (rhythmic modifiers) in the metrical pattern of the poem which are quite common in English verse. The rhythmic modifiers of spondee and rhythmic inversion break to some extent the metrical pattern of the poem and help the poet to create the impression of lively colloquial English.

Spondee (a feet of two stressed syllables) occurs in the first line of the first stanza (the 1st foot):

_ _ _ _

Two roads diverged ...

and in the fourth line of the last stanza (the 3rd foot):

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I took the one less travelled by, ...

Rhythmic inversion (the intrusion of a trochee) occurs in the second line of the last stanza twice (in the 1st and 2nd feet):

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Somewhere ages and ages hence: ...

Enjambment or run-on-line (the transfer of a part of a syntagm from one line to the following) is also a violation of the requirements of the verse according to which the line must be a more or less complete unit in itself. Enjambment occurs a number of times in the poem, some instances are acutely felt, as in the following lines (the first stanza):

And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could ...

The lines seem to be torn into two halves, the second half running on to the next line.

The impression of colloquial intonation of reminiscence is mainly created in the poem through enjambment. The pause in the middle of the line (see the third lines in the first and the last stanzas) makes the tone of the lines natural and meditating. The combination of the SDs of enjambment and anadiplosis (the repetition of the pronoun “I” at the end of the line and at the beginning of the next line) in the last stanza produces the impression of a kind of afterthought uttered quite naturally after a pause:

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, ...

The compositional structure of the poem is based on framing: the line “Two roads diverged in a wood ...” occurs in the first and the last stanzas and adds to the effect of the plain meditative tone of the poem too. Lexical EMs and SDs emphasize the melancholy tone of the poem. Note the emotionally colored word “sorry” in the first stanza, the interjection and the exclamatory sentence in the third stanza “Oh, I kept the first for another day!”, the emotionally colored “with a sigh” in the fourth stanza – all contribute to the same effect.

The meditative tone of the poem and its melancholy coloring seem incongruous with the simple particular fact imparted by the poet. The tone and the emotional coloring suggest deeper ideas.

The meaning of some lines gives us the key to the ideas that lie beneath the surface. The two lines in the third stanza differ from the preceding stanzas in their wording:

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

If we compare the pairs of synonyms occurring in the first stanza and in this stanza: “road” – “way”, “travel” – “come”, we shall notice that in the third stanza, the words are more abstract than their corresponding synonyms in the first stanza. These pairs of synonyms suggest the combination of the local and the universal – a concrete road in a yellow wood and a way in life. The last stanza rings as a definite conclusion:

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Note the repetition of the line “Two roads diverged in a wood...” with a slight change (the word “wood” is not modified by the epithet “yellow”); the synonymic repetition: “I took the one less travelled by” which sounds like a more general statement if we compare it with the metonymical periphrases occurring in the preceding stanzas “wanted wear” and “In leaves no step had trodden black”. These language peculiarities of the last stanza make it devoid of the impression of concreteness. The use of the trite hyperbole “ages and ages hence”

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