Стилистический анализ текста. Учебное пособие

(compare with the concrete expression “that morning” in the third stanza) emphasizes the effect of non-concreteness too.

The last line “And that has made all the difference” suggests a more serious interpretation of the whole stanza and sums up all that was said before, in a generalized way. The basic combination of the concrete and the general, the local and the universal is brought out in the last two stanzas. The symbolic meaning of the poem becomes clear: Robert Frost has gone his own way in life and literature and this progress is indicated in the poem.

B. EMOTIVE PROSE:

... Mrs. General was the daughter of a clerical dignitary in a cathedral town, where she had led the fashion until she was as near forty-five as a single lady can be. A stiff commissariat officer of sixty, famous as a martinet, had then become enamored of the gravity with which she drove the proprieties four-in-hand through the cathedral town society, and had solicited to be taken beside her on the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed. His proposal of marriage being accepted by the lady, the commissary took his seat behind the proprieties with great decorum, and Mrs. General drove until the commissary died. In the course of their united journey they ran over several people who came in the way of the proprieties: but always in a high style, and with composure.

The commissary having been buried with all the decorations suitable to the service (the whole team of proprieties were harnessed to his hearse, and they all had leathers and black velvet housings, with his coat of arms in the corner), Mrs. General began to inquire what quantity of dust and ashes was deposited at the bankers’. It then transpired that the commissary had so far stolen a march on Mrs. General as to have bought himself an annuity some years before his marriage, and to have reserved that circumstance, in mentioning, at the period of his proposal, that his income was derived from the interest of his money. Mrs. General consequently found her means so much diminished that, but for the perfect regulation of her mind, she might have felt disposed to question the accuracy of that portion of the late service which had declared that the commissary could take nothing away with him.

In this state of affairs it occurred to Mrs. General that she might “form the mind”, and eke the manners of some young lady of distinction. Or, that she

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might harness the proprieties to the carriage of some rich young heiress or widow, and become at once the driver and guard of such vehicle through the social mazes...

… In person, Mrs. General, including her skirts, which had much to do with it, was of a dignified and imposing appearance; ample, rustling, gravely voluminous; always upright behind the proprieties. She might have been taken – had been taken – to the top of the Alps and the bottom of Herculaneum, without disarranging a fold in her dress, or displacing a pin. If her countenance and hair had rather a floury appearance, as though from living in some transcendently genteel mill, it was rather because she was a chalky creation altogether, than because she mended her complexion with violet powder, or had turned grey. If her eyes had no expression, it was probably because they had nothing to express. If she had few wrinkles, it was because her mind had never traced its name or any other inscription on her face. A cool, waxy, blown-out woman, who had never lighted well.

Mrs. General had no opinions. Her way of forming a mind was to prevent it from forming opinions. She had a little circular set of mental grooves or rails on which she started little trains of other people's opinions, which never overtook one another, and never got anywhere. Even her propriety could not dispute that there was impropriety in the world; but Mrs. General's way of getting rid of it was to put it out of sight, and make believe that there was no such thing. This was another of her ways of forming a mind – to cram all articles of difficulty into cupboards, lock them up, and say they had no existence. It was the easiest way, and beyond all comparison, the properest.

Mrs. General was not to be told of anything shocking. Accidents, miseries, and offences, were never to be mentioned before her. Passion was to go to sleep in the presence of Mrs. General, and blood was to change to milk and water. The little that was left in the world, when all these deductions were made, it was Mrs. General's province to varnish. In that formation process of hers she dipped the smallest of brushes into the largest of pots, and varnished the surface of every object that came under consideration. The more cracked it was, the more Mrs. General varnished it.

There was varnish in Mrs. General’s voice, varnish in Mrs. General’s touch, an atmosphere of varnish round Mrs. General’s figure. Mrs. General’s dreams

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ought to have been varnished if she had any – lying asleep in the arms of the good St. Bernard, with the feathery snow falling on his housetop.

Stylistic Analysis

The passage is an extract from Dickens' novel “Little Dorrit”. Dickens describes a certain Mrs. General, a snobbish and pretentious lady “whose task was to form the minds of the young ladies of distinction”. The character of Mrs. General is a brilliant example of Dickens' biting irony.

The ironical treatment of the subject is seen from the very first lines. Mrs. General is presented as a driver “of the carriage of proprieties”. The metaphor is sustained through the whole passage, so the reader inevitably associates Mrs. General with “the cool coach of ceremony” with a pompous and pretentious behavior that was calculated to impress the people, and thus win Mrs. General a high reputation in bourgeois society. Mrs. General and her husband acted as paragons of virtue and condemned any breach of conduct with pitiless cruelty. Their behavior is revealed through the metaphor which is prolonged involving relevant details “of their united journey”. “In the course of their united journey” Mrs. General and her husband “ran over several people who came in the way of the proprieties”, in other words they treated people ruthlessly and ruined many a reputation. It was done, however, “in a high style, and with composure”.

The first paragraph introduces Mrs. General as a lady who had “led the fashion” or metaphorically speaking “drove the carriage of proprieties”. The central image of the metaphor, that of a driver of “the coach of ceremony” is sustained through a series of contributory images as to “four-in-hand” (she drove the proprieties four in hand), “the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed”, “in the course of their united journey”, “they ran over several people”, etc.

In the second paragraph one should note a peculiar use of the word “hearse”, in its direct meaning it is a part of reality (Mr. General’s funeral), on the other hand, in the macro context it is a part of the sustained metaphor of the first paragraph (“the coach of ceremony”).

In the third paragraph the same image is further developed and enhanced through the use of the synonyms (“coach”, “carriage”, “vehicle”); note the unity of the imagery used by Dickens. All the contextual synonyms develop the same idea, that of Mrs. General’s drive “through the social mazes”.

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The choice of epithets employed by Dickens to describe this “accomplished lady” reveals his ironic attitude to her. The main idea expressed through the epithets is to show Mrs. General as an absolutely cold and indifferent woman devoid of any human feeling or emotion “a cool, waxy, blown-out woman”. The metaphoric epithet “blown-out” is humorously commented on: “who had never lighted well”.

“She was a chalky creation altogether”, “dignified”, “imposing”, “gravely voluminous”, but “upright”, utterly devoid of any expression. “If her eyes had no expression, it was probably because they had nothing to express”. The cold and lifeless qualities of Mrs. General are enhanced through the use of a hyperbole “She might have been taken – had been taken – to the top of the Alps and the bottom of Herculaneum, without disarranging a fold in her dress, or displacing a pin”.

Mrs. General’s inner qualities are in full harmony with her appearance: “Mrs. General had no opinions. She had a little circular set of mental grooves or rails on which she started little trains of other people’s opinions”. The description of Mrs. General’s method of “forming a mind” is done through a prolonged metaphor whose central image is a “circular set” of “grooves” or “rails”. It is but natural that no knowledge could be acquired under such a teacher as the “rails” led nowhere.

The other no less relevant feature of Mrs. General's method was to conceal “the impropriety” of the world. Mrs. General’s task was to get rid of it, “to put it out of sight”, “and make believe that there was no such thing”. A series of synonymic repetitions is arranged climatically ending in a prolonged metaphor which is the top of the climax: “to cram all articles of difficulty into cupboards, lock them up, and say they had no existence”.

One should note the syntactical arrangement of this paragraph: the use of epiphoric repetition in the first part of the paragraph (the word “opinion” is repeated three times which attracts the reader’s attention and brings home to him the utter stupidity and mental mediocrity of Mrs. General and the fashionable set of society in which she rules).

The next paragraph begins with the topical sentence: “Mrs. General was not to be told of anything shocking”. The author dwells on Mrs. General’s indifferent, cold and snobbish approach to life, – all human feelings and sufferings were alien to her – this attitude towards life is revealed through the syntactical SD of

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parallelism which includes two periphrastic constructions: the first based on metaphor and the second on metonymy. “Passion was to go to sleep in the presence of Mrs. General and blood was to change to milk and water”. Concluding the ironical description of Mrs. General Dickens dwells on her ability “to varnish” “the little that was left in the world, when all these deductions were made”. The metaphor “varnish” exposes Mrs. General as a false and hypocritical creature who deliberately tried to distort reality through the use of sugary lies, so that the dark and squalid aspects of life seemed quite respectable and even pleasant in her interpretation, “...she varnished the surface of every object that came under consideration. The more cracked it was, the more Mrs. General varnished it”.

The ironical effect is achieved by the use of the prolongation of the metaphor “varnish” and by the use of the repetition of the word “varnish” throughout the whole paragraph.

In the last passage Mrs. General’s method can be seen in practice. Dickens ridicules its foolish pretentiousness and snobbery.

Note the humorous effect created by the nouns “selected on euphonic principle” and forcibly joined together; the SD of alliteration adds to the humorous effect produced by the enumeration of these nouns: “papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism”.

Summing up the analysis of the character of Mrs. General which is the sub- ject-matter of the chapter one should say that Dickens brilliantly uses imagery, mostly metaphors prolonged and developed throughout the passage, which help to reveal Mrs. General’s nature. All EMs and SDs employed by Dickens are keyed to the purpose of exposing Mrs. General; her snobbery, coldness, cruelty and hypocrisy are the objects of the author’s ridicule and biting irony.

The syntactical SDs add much to the impact created by the lexical EMs and SDs. One should note the unity of thought and the passage, the apt use of parallel construction, climax and repetition.

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C. PUBLICIST STYLE

Holy oil? The faithful may yet be rewarded. A natural-gas discovery buoys Israeli oilmen. (By Elise Ackerman)

For decades, Israeli oilmen kept the faith, doggedly drilling one dry hole after the next. Most Middle East countries were blessed with copious deposits of oil, and gas, they reasoned. Why should Israel settle for milk and honey? The discovery of a productive oil field not long after-the establishment of the state in 1948 fueled visions of Israeli gushers, but as the years passed those came to be seen as pipe dreams by all but die-hard believers. International oil companies brushed off local oilmen peddling investment prospects. Even the Israeli public lost hope, scoffing at reports that high-quality oil had been recovered in December.

But the news last week that an American-Israeli consortium had struck a substantial amount of natural gas off the coast of Israel has encouraged both hardnosed investors and dreamers alike. The consortium includes two Houston-based firms: Samedan Mediterranean Sea and R&B Mediterranean, and two Israeli firms: Avner Oil Exploration and Delek Drilling. Officials said the Noa I well near the beach town of Ashkelon produced gas flows ranging from 10 to 30 million cubic feet per day in recent tests. At current gas prices the field could yield more than $25 million per year.

In the zone. After decades of failure, the Israeli oil patch is now bristling with op- timism-and derricks are likely to follow. British Gas has received a permit to search for oil and gas in the 3,860-square-mile area that makes up Israel's territorial waters. In August, Isramco, a Nasdaq-traded company that absorbed the Israeli National Oil Corp. when it was privatized in 1997, will also start drilling in the waters near the newly discovered gas well. "We are drilling deeper," says Yossi Levy, an Isramco official who has spent his life searching for Israeli oil. "We are going to the oil zone".

Experience has shown that oil fields often lie underneath gas deposits. But for Levy and other Israeli geologists, the presence of oil under Israel has long been an article of faith. "From the standpoint of geology, there are very good reasons why we should find oil in Israel," says Gdaliahu Gvirtzman, chairman of the board of Israel's Geophysical Institute. Israeli Oil Commissioner Yehezkel Druckman estimates Israel has 5 billion barrels of reserves or roughly the same amount as Indonesia. By comparison, the United States has an estimated 22 billion barrels of reserves and Saudi Arabia has an estimated 259 billion barrels.

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In the past, major international oil companies have shunned Israel to avoid offending Arab governments. The 400-plus dry holes that mock Israeli dreams of petroleum wealth were drilled by government-owned companies or by small independent wildcatters often motivated by biblical beliefs. "God has shown me that the greatest oil field in the world is in the southwest corner of the Dead Sea," declares Hayseed Stephens, a former pro-football player and independent oilman from Willow Park, Texas, who has a drilling license for the area and intends to spud a well there this fall. Stephens cites biblical passages, like God's promise to Moses, recorded in Deuteronomy, that the descendants of Joseph will be given "precious fruits ... from the deep that lurks below." He says these verses refer to oil fields.

Such beliefs, ridiculed by secular oilmen, have kept the Israeli oil industry alive. In fact, a well drilled six months ago by an Orthodox Jewish geophysicist was the first indication in many years that Israel had significant' petroleum reserves. Tovia Luskin, director of Givot Olam Oil Limited, extracted 15 barrels of high-grade oil from a test well northwest of Tel Aviv. He estimates that the underground structure could contain up to a billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Luskin also draws inspiration from Deuteronomy. But more important, he says, are extensive geological, geophysical, and paleontological studies that seem to confirm that Israel is connected to the oil-rich Paleozoic petroleum system. This system, which extends from Saudi Arabia through Iraq to Syria, is the source of most Middle Eastern oil.

The claims of Israeli oil men will soon be put to the test. Oil and gas-related shares surged last week on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and the Israeli government's approval of British Gas's exploration permit marks the first time a major international energy company will prospect in Israel. Soon everyone will know whether the faith in Israeli oil is founded on hydrocarbon riches or ordinary bedrock.

Stylistic analysis

The article under discussion is called "Holy oil? The faithful may yet be rewarded", it is devoted to the oil discoveries in the Holy Land, their scientific and biblical basis. The author doesn't just inform his readers about the event, but conducts a micro-study of the situation, its preconditions and vistas, giving his indirect evaluation of them. So the article combines the features of a newspaper article and a scientific work. It abounds in terminology,

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the vocabulary is rather formal, and the syntax is clear-cut, but some colloquial words and expressive means are used to influence the reader, make him interested, impress him and let him see the situation in the full variety. The article is informative and cognitive because the author provides us with interesting data; it's also analytical, as the analysis of the situation is carried out.

In the first paragraph the author gives the readership different opinions about Israel's being rich in oil, which has existed for long. The elation and hope of those looking for the deposits are shown by means of such words as "kept the faith, doggedly, fueled visions". The author states their motives, stressing that from the very beginning they were based on the faith, which is proved by their reasoning, and the word "blessed" "Most Middle East countries were blessed with deposits"; and the allusion to the Bible in the rhetoric question: "Why should Israel settle for milk and honey", which are multi-functional, because on the one hand, the allusion lets us understand the biblical grounds of the searches, on the other hand, it indicates what oil is considered to be for the country: its wealth, its flourishing future. And the rhetoric question with the modal verb "should" reflects the level and depth of Israel's hope and determination.

At the same time the author meticulously depicts all the problems and the mistrust the oilmen had to suffer. By means of such words as "dry hole, pipe dreams, lost hope, scoffing at reports, die-hard believers" the correspondent makes us feel the pessimism with which the attempts to find deposits collided. But the use of the Past Indefinite Tense indicates that the history of the problem is being described, while the present day situation may be different.

The correspondent proves to be knowledgeable, adducing the exact dates (1948, December), he depicts the process in its chronology. The whole article seems to be built on contrasts. The first one is optimism-pessimism in the initial paragraph, which ends up with the indication of the deepest plight of the project, when even the Israeli public didn't believe any more. While the second one, apart from the conjunction "but", suggesting a contrast in its essence, tells the reader of the recent discoveries. The author mentions that they encouraged "both nard-nosed investors and dreamers". Stressing such a uniting power of the discoveries the correspondent reveals what a great piece of news they are.

He resorts to the Present Perfect or Present Simple and shows that the present day of the country is very promising. This idea is supported by the de-

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scription of the American-Israeli cooperation. The names of the firms are given, and they together with some figures (30 million cubic feet, $25 million) sound very encouraging, they may also be interesting to the readers. But already in these lines we can see that the correspondent avoids promising any definite vistas. He mentions that those are just test results and while speaking about the figures he underlines that he adduces somebody's opinion. The use of the Subjunctive Mood - "the field could yield" - also stresses the uncertainty of the situation and the writer's being aware of that. Still he can't help depicting the scale of the works. The function of the omniscient author is to reveal what an outburst of economic activity was caused just by a suspicion of oil deposits in the Holy Land. The dynamics mentioned is supported by the brisk, accurate style of writing, the first reflection of which is the nominative sentence - in the zone; and the use of the Continuous Tense (bristling, drilling) and the Gerund (searching). At the beginning of the paragraph the long-term failure is again opposed to the success, and we can feel the difference between these 2 periods due to the phrase "bristling with optimism". But still the correspondent is rather evasive in sharing that optimism due to the construction are likely saying that "derricks are likely to follow". The 3rd paragraph has a frame construction "in the zone", and within it the real situation is given in detail.

Further on the author of the article tries to show the bases of the searches, and immediately he contrasts experience and scientific data to the biblical beliefs. We can suppose that the author also relies more on the science than on the faith. It is depicted in the initial sentence of this block which begins with allusions to the experience. He cites the words of geologists, serious specialists, and they really sound rather convincing. Due to them and the comparison carried out, the readers can understand the amount of the reserves and the vistas of their processing.

The biblical beliefs described below are priorities of wildcatters, and this word makes us suspect the author of the criticism of the faith-based discoveries. Criticism can also be seen in the word "shunned", which makes us see the underlying motives of Israel to look for the own oil as well, i.e. economic independence from Arab governments. This paragraph abounds in passages from the Bible, judging by which we can better grasp why those people believe in the Holy Oil.

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But the author can't but note that such beliefs have lead to the present day situation, because they have kept the industry alive. Beliefs are opposed to the secular world, and the correspondent describes a compromise variant of the Orthodox Geologist, who doesn't reject the role of the faith, but also enumerates geological, geophysical, paleontological studies, which are more important. His words are full of scientific terms and facts and they stress his priorities.

The final paragraph is the formulation. The author depicts certain perspectives for Israel due to the exploration of oil and gas fields. At the same time the author doesn't draw some definite prospects, he leaves the answer to the tests and the last sentence still makes the readership doubt. This uncertainty can be found even in the title, where a rhetoric question and the modal verb "may" are used. The subtitle also sounds dubious, because the word "buoy" presupposes that there is a long way ahead.

The article provides us with facts, but not with apprehensions. If even hinted at, they are too slight. The implication is that the faith will save the man, but science is our future

D. SCIENTIFIC STYLE Language teaching procedures

What I want to do in this paper is to suggest ways in which we might make use of the learner's existing knowledge and experience in designing language teaching procedures which, by a process of gradual approximation, will guide him towards an ability to handle English discourse. More specifically, I want to consider the case of a learner who needs English for reading textbooks which are necessary for him in following an academic course of study at college level. But I also have a more general purpose. This is to provoke discussion on what I see as a basic problem .in language teaching pedagogy: how to reconcile the necessarily contrived nature of teaching procedures with the need to prepare learners for the reality of actual communication.

Language teaching methodology in the past has not been notable for its recognition that learners have knowledge and experience which they can bring to bear on their task in acquiring another language. Often the assumption has been that the teacher is presenting something entirely new and the learner is actively discouraged from associating it with what is already familiar to him by transfer-

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