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Файл:From a word to an idea. Part 1. Учебное пособие
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enclosure that is most grand and majestic made of huge and wondrous stones (all
neatly placed one on top of one another in its lower courses) which surround very
nicely the whole area of the Dome of the Rock (the region now called the Haram
esh-Sharif). In fact, it can be stated most dogmatically that Titus the Roman General
would have seen the same walls that you and I are able to observe today. The truth
is, however, when Titus viewed the ruin of the Temple and the City of Jerusalem, he
EXCLUDED those walls surrounding the area of the Dome of the Rock because
THOSE WALLS DID NOT surround the Temple Mount. The Temple and its walls
had been destroyed completely and thoroughly just as Christ said they would be.
The walls that Titus saw (and that we observe today) WERE NOT the walls around
the Temple. They were the walls that surrounded the Roman military fortress called
by Herod the "Antonia."
Extract 3.
Scotland’s diverse landscapes consist of dramatic mountains and glens,
forests and moorlands and a highly indented coastline fragmented into a diverse
range of islands that enrich our northern and western shores. There are also rolling
lowlands, fertile straths, broad estuaries and settlements. In some areas, human
activity and development has created a land use pattern, which is largely related to
the underlying natural wealth of coal, building materials and a gentler topography.
Nationally, a number of influences on the character of landscape can be determined.
These factors have combined to make a lasting physical and architectural mark on
the landscape.
Extract 4.
London brooded under a grey sky. There had been rain in the night, and the
trees were still dripping. Presently, however, there appeared in the laden haze a
watery patch of blue: and through this crevice in the clouds the sun, diffidently at
first but with gradually increasing confidence, peeped down on the fashionable and
exclusive turf of Grosvenor Square. Stealing across the square, its rays reached the
massive stone walls of Drexdale House, until recently the London residence of the
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earl of that name; then, passing through the window of the breakfast-room, played
lightly on the partially bald head of Mr. Bingley Crocker, late of New York in the
United States of America, as he bent over his morning paper. Mrs. Bingley Crocker,
busy across the table reading her mail, the rays did not touch. Had they done so, she
would have rung for Bayliss, the butler, to come and lower the shade for she
endured liberties neither from Man nor from Nature.
Extract 5.
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and
singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear
of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling
and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend
you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; "We have got plenty of
food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.
When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of
hunger - while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores
they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare
for days of need.
Task 3. Read the following extract taken from “Three Men in a Boat” by
Jerome K. Jerome and single out supra-phrasal unities. Prove that the
sentences which each supra-phrasal unity comprises are semantically and
structurally interdependent.
We pulled out the maps, and discussed plans.
We arranged to start on the following Saturday from Kingston. Harris and I
would go down in the morning, and take the boat up to Chertsey, and George, who
would not be able to get away from the City till the afternoon (George goes to sleep
at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and
put him outside at two), would meet us there.
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Should we "camp out" or sleep at inns?
George and I were for camping out. We said it would be so wild and free, so
patriarchal like.
Slowly the golden memory of the dead sun fades from the hearts of the cold,
sad clouds. Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song, and
only the moorhen's plaintive cry and the harsh croak of the corncrake stirs the awed
hush around the couch of waters, where the dying day breathes out her last.
1.2 Literary text as a poetic structure
1.2.1 An Outline
1. Verbal and supraverbal layers of a literary text
When one reads a literary text he gradually moves from the first word of it on
to the last. The words form phrases, phrases form sentences, sentences – paragraphs,
paragraphs making up larger paragraphs: chapters, sections, and parts. All these
conprise the verbal layer of a literary text.
At the same time while reading a text of imaginative literature one cannot but
see another layer emerging out of these verbal sequences. One sees that word
sequences represent a series of events, conflicts and circumstances in which
characters of the literary work happen to find themselves [11].
One sees that all these word-sequences make a composition, a plot, a genre,
and a style, that they all go to create an image of reality and that through this image
the author conveys his message, his vision of the world.
Plot, theme, composition, genre, style, images and the like make the
supraverbal (poetic) layer which is revealed in verbal sequences. The supra-verbal
and the verbal layers of the text are thus inseparable from each other [11].
Thus, the text of a literary work is not a mere linguistic entity, it is something
more involved. The involved nature of the literary text makes it entirely individual
(unique), makes it essentially unsubstitutable for any other word sequences. When
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we substitute some part of a literary text, i.e. some given word sequence for a
synonymous one, we simultaneously change the content, for the content of the
literary work is indivisible from its text. A linguistic text, on the contrary, allows of
substitution; one verbal sequence may have a sense similar to that of another verbal
sequence, consequently, one verbal sequence may stand for another [11].
E.g. «The mass-produced middle-class boys I had to teach were bad enough»
when viewed just as a linguistic entity it allows of a number of substitutions, such
as: "the boys from middle-class I had to teach were all alike", or "there was no any
personality among the boys I had to teach", etc. When this sentence is a part of a
literary text its meaning cannot be completely rendered in so many other
synonymous words. Something of the meaning will be left unconveyed. And this
something is the implication the sentence acquires from the whole of the
supraverbal layer. To understand what “the mass-produced middle-class boys” mean
in the sentence given above as part of a literary text we have to know the whole
poetic context, in this case the poetic context of the novel "The Magus" by J. Fowles
from which the sentence is taken.
The cohesion of the two layers, i.e. of the strictly verbal and the supraverbal
constitutes what is known as the poetic structure of a literary text which conveys
the author's message. The components of the poetic structure compose a hierarchy,
an organization of interdependent layers: macro- and micro-images.
The basic unit of the poetic structure is the word. Words build up microimages and micro-images (e.g. tropes) build up macro-images: images of characters,
images of nature, thing images. At the top of the poetic structure there is macroimage – an image of life depicted by the author.
The concept of unity and interdependence of elements in the poetic structure
may be illustrated by the following example. The metaphor “I could not spend my
life crossing such a Sahara” when taken by itself is nothing other than just a word-
image. But within a literary text (in this case — "The Magus") it is a unit which
along with others in the system of similes (and the latter in its turn as a unit in the
system of all tropes and figures of speech used in the novel) goes to depict the
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image of school where the main character worked after graduating from the
university. The image of school in its turn, as one of the character-images together
with all the other ones in the novel, goes to convey the author's message.
2. Principles of poetic structure cohesion
Each literary work is a unique instance of imaginative representation of
reality. Imaginative representation, however, has its own principles (known as
aesthetic principles) which cohere all elements of the literary text and render it
possible for the latter to constitute a world complete in itself. These principles are
common to all literal works [11].
Principle of incomplete representation. Wholeness in art is different from
wholeness in actual reality. The author in re-creating an object or phenomenon of
reality selects out of infinity of features pertaining to the object only those which are
the most characteristic ones. In other words, a literary image represents features that
are the most characteristic of an object, or which at least, seem such to the author
[11].
For instance, in the description of a farm house (Anderson “Loneliness”) the
following features are singled out: «The farm-house was painted brown and the
blinds to all of the windows facing the road were kept closed. In the road before the
house a flock of chickens, accompanied by two guinea hens, lay in the deep dust».
The farm-house had many other peculiarities, no doubt. But those selected very well
convey the image of the place. Moreover, they indirectly suggest the image of its
owner, a lonely and unsociable mother of the main character. Thus, the author, in
depicting an image, makes a selection: he picks out a part (or parts) which can stand
for the whole.
All images in a literary text, those of people, events, situations, landscapes
and the like are incompletely represented. At least two factors seem to condition
this:
1) the linguistic factor:
Verbal representation of the whole image is a venture which cannot or should
hardly ever be endeavoured. This would take up innumerable pages of writing in
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which the image itself would invariably be dissolved, for there is a considerable
disproportion between linguistic means of representation and the reality which is to
be represented;
2) the aesthetic factor:
Literature, as we know, transmits aesthetic information. To achieve this aim
literature must first of all stir up the reader's interest. One way to do this is to make
the reader strain his perceptive abilities and fill in for himself those fragments of the
whole which have been gapped or, as we have termed it incompletely represented,
that is, represented through a part. The part selected to fulfill such a representative
function must, indeed, have the power of stirring up the reader's imagination so as to
make him visualize the whole.
The degree of incompleteness of representation depends upon the genre of the
literary work as well as upon the individual manner of the writer. The degree of
incompleteness is greater in lyrical poems and smaller in epic works. But even in
large works of narrative prose the degree of incompleteness is considerate.
The principle of incomplete representation can be observed in the poetic
detail, which is description of an external characteristic feature of a person or a
phenomenon in order to recreate the whole description of a character or a situation.
A poetic detail can be mixed with a synecdoche which is the transference of
names based on relations between a part and a whole, because in a poetic detail we
deal with its direct meaning. A vivid characteristic feature is used synecdoche and
its main function is creating an image through a minimum amount of expressive
means. While in a poetic detail a less visible characteristic feature is foregrounded
that emphasizes an inner relation between the phenomena. While decoding a
synecdoche the words which express this stylistic device do not disappear they are
preserved in their direct meaning.
E.g. He made his way through the perfume and conversation – He made his
way through the perfumed and conversing crowd of people.
In decoding a poetic detail we don’t deal with substitution but with revealing
of the notion. E.g. in a story by W. Faulkner relationship in a family is depicted
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through a poetic detail. I stayed quiet, because Father and I both knew that Mother
would want him to make me stay with her if she just thought of it in time. So Father
didn't look at me. Mutual understanding between a son and a father (both knew) and
mother’s unreasonable demands (just thought of it in time) are shown through
insignificant details of their behaviour.
Types of a poetic detail. According to the function fulfilled by a poetic detail
in a text there are 4 types of it:
a) descriptive (изобразительная художественная деталь);
b) qualifying (уточняющая художественная деталь);
c) characterizing (характерологическая художественная деталь);
d) implicit (имплицитная художественная деталь).
A descriptive detail is used to create a visual image of a described object, as a
rule it is a part of the image of nature or a character’s portrait. Both of the last
become vivid because a detail makes the description individual, definite and
emotionally coloured.
A qualifying detail is used to create an impression of authenticity through
mentioning insignificant details of a phenomenon or a fact. It can usually be found
in dialogues or in an entrusted narrative. It is characteristic of Hemingway to
describe a character’s trip paying attention to the smallest details for example – the
names of the streets, squares, bridges or some other places which are not known to a
reader. When you read it, it is impossible for you to follow this route if you have
never been to Paris. But the main function is not to create an image of a slow of fast
trip, but to show the emotional state of the character, to show his authenticity (his
being real).
A characterizing detail is used to point out prominent features of a character.
This type of a poetic detail is found throughout the whole story. The author doesn’t
give a full-length description of a character but uses several details incidentally as if
they are known to a reader. Characterizing details can be used to give a detailed
portrait of a character (in this case each detail points out a different feature of a
character) or to point out his main feature by repeating it several times (in this case
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details are different but they have one aim). E.g. in Hemingway’s novel “50
thousand dollars” the author deliberately gives insignificant details to point out the
character’s significant feature. Firstly he points out that the boxer phones his wife
and the members of the telephone office notice that he used to send letters because
“a letter only costs two cents”, then he gives 2 dollars to a negro-masseur for his
service, though his partner is surprised by this small payment. When the boxer hears
the price of a hotel (10 dollars) he is indignant and says “That's too steep”. But
playing cards in a casino he is happy to win even 2 dollars and a half “Jack won two
dollars and a half... was feeling pretty good”. So the author applies for reiteration
of the same feature of the boxer by pointing out a number of details. And they point
out his main feature – his stinginess, his being mad of saving money though he has a
large sum of money in the bank.
An implicit detail is used to point out an external characteristic of a
phenomenon by which we can guess its inner sense. Its main function is to create
implication. E.g. In the story “Prussian officer” Lawrence uses implicit details
throughout the whole story, he doesn’t give his own judgement directly but lets a
reader understand real reasons of the officer’s passion, his arrogant aristocracy and
his inner conflict by an implicit detail which describes the relations between the
officer and his soldiers which conceal his inner conflict.
Principles of analogy and contrast. Analogy and contrast are known to be
universal principles of cognition. It is by analogy that the essence of a phenomenon
is revealed, the similar and the contractive in different phenomena discovered.
In the arts and especially in literature analogy and contrast are the ways of
imaginative cognition. The author contra- and juxtaposes images of real life and in
that way reveals the good and the evil, the beautiful and the ugly, the just and the
unjust in life.
Analogy and contrast are the organizing axis of poetic structure. They
permeate the whole text, all its components, both macro- and micro-: the character
and the event representation, the imagery, etc [11].
Analogy and contrast underline quite a number of such elements of poetic
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structure as tropes and figures of speech:
a) metaphor – …laughter played around his lips (Dickens);
b) simile – Again he looked at her, huddled like a bird that is shot and
dying (Galsworthy);
c) metonymy – Two pencils had been busy during that hour – notemaking; in the way of plans (Twain);
d) antithesis – Don't use big words. They mean so little (Wilde).
Principle of Recurrence. When we read a literary text our thought does not
run in just one, onward, direction. Its movement is both progressive and recursive:
from the given item it goes on to the next with a return to what has been previously
stated. This peculiar movement of the thought is conditioned by the fact that the
literary text represents cohesion of two layers the verbal and the supraverbal. The
supraverbal layer is not coincident with the strictly verbal layer. The verbal is direct,
linear, the supraverbal is essentially recursive.
When we begin to read a book we do not yet perceive the complexity of the
content contained in the whole of it, though the text is well understood by us. The
covered portion of the text is a part of the literary work and as such it gives us but a
rough approximation of the meaning of the whole work. This part, however,
deepens our understanding of that portion of the text, which we proceed to read.
And the newly read portion of the text adds to our perception of the whole. In this
recursive or spiral-like manner we gather the content of the literary work as a whole
[11].
Poetic structure of the literary text is so modeled that certain of its elements
which have already occurred in the text recur again at definite intervals. These
recurrent elements may be a poetic detail, an image, a phrase, a word.
The recurrence of an element may have several functions, e.g. be meaningful
in organizing a plot and giving it a dynamic tone.
Consider, for instance, the following expository passage from E.
Hemingway's “Old Man at the Bridge” and see how the recurrent phrase “old man”
organizes and frames it up [11].
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"An old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the
side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, hacks, and
men, women and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn carts staggered up the
steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push against the spokes of the
wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading out of it all and the peasants
plodded along in the ankle deep dust. But the old man sat there without moving. He
was too tired to go any farther."
A recurrent element may represent the leit-motif of the literary work,
expressing the author's message as, for instance, in "The Basement Room" by G.
Greene. The story tells about a seven-year-old boy whose parents have gone on a
fortnight's vacation leaving him in charge of the butler, Baines, and his wife, Mrs.
Baines. The boy descends into the basement room, the dwelling-place of the Baines'
and ... finds himself involved in their life, with its conflicts, its secrets and its
bitterness. Each of them, in turn, entrusts his / her secret to the boy and expects him
to keep it. The boy is entirely on the side of the butler, he hates and abhors the
butler's wife. But when it happens that the butler unintentionally causes the death of
his wife, the boy betrays him to the police, for he feels it unbearable to keep the
secret, to have the responsibility Baines has laid upon him.
The following two sets of phrases run parallel to each other at certain
intervals through the whole of the story. The first set is: "Philip began to live"; "this
is life", "this was life"; "it was life he was in the middle of;" "Philip extracted
himself from life"; "a retreat from life". And the second set: "And suddenly he felt
responsible for Baines"; "Again Philip felt responsibility"; "He would have nothing
to do with their secrets, the responsibilities they had determined to lay on him"; "he
surrendered responsibility once and for all." These two recurrent sets of phrases run
as the leit-motif of the story: living means having responsibilities, asserts the author;
when one surrender responsibilities one retreats from life [11].
It may be mentioned here in passing that it is upon the recurrent elements
(phonetic, syntactic, lexical, etc.) and their peculiar distribution within the poetic
structure that the rhythm of the text largely depends, for rhythm is repetition with
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