2.2. Denotation and Connotation in Imaginative Literature

Linguistic elements in an act of speech constitute an interrelation of their denotative and connotative meanings. The prevalence of one or the other depends on the sphere of human activity in which communication takes place. Each sphere has its own mode of expression, though the linguistic element in all of them may be more or less the same. Whatisdifferent is theselectionand thecombination of linguistic elements. Selection and combination of linguistic elements are conditioned mainly by theaim andcontent of communication [5, p. 15].

A linguistic element within the text of imaginative literature is ambiguous (i.e. has more than one meaning, so that it’s not clear what is intended), because it occurs in two types of contexts at once: in alinguisticcontext (i.e. in a certain sequence of words which condition the realization of its denotative meaning) and in anaestheticcontext (i.e. in the context of the given literary work, which conditions the realization of its connotative meaning) [5, p.16].

Generally speaking, the obvious plane of the literary work (its theme and its plot) is usually expressed in word denotations, while the implied plane (the author’s attitude and his message) is found in word connotations.

3. Literary text as poetic structure

3.1. Verbal and Supraverbal Layers of the Literary Text

Every literary text consists of words, which are combined into phrases, phrases into sentences, sentences into paragraphs; paragraphs make up larger passages: chapters, sections, and parts. All these represent the verbal layerof the literary text.

At the same time a text of imaginative literature has another layer, which gradually emerges out of these verbal sequences. These word sequences represent a series of events, conflicts and circumstances in which characters of the literary work happen to find themselves; i.e. they make a composition, aplot, agenre, and astylethat create animageof reality, through which the author conveys hismessage, his vision of the world. Plot, theme, composition, genre, style, image and the like make thesupraverbal (poetic)layerwhich is, nevertheless, entirely revealed in verbal sequences [5, p. 25]. Thus the supraverbal and verbal layers of the text are inseparable from each other.

The cohesion of the two layers constitutes the poeticstructure of the literary text. There is nothing in the literary work that is not expressed in its poetic structure. It is the whole of the poetic structure that conveys the author’s message. One element (component) of the poetic structure is as important as any other is.

All the components of the poetic structure compose a hierarchy, an organization of interdependent layers. The basic unit of the poetic structure is the word (because all the layers of the structure, i.e. the syntactic, the semantic, the rhythmical, the compositional, the stylistic are expressed in words) [5, p. 26].

3.2. Principles of Poetic Structure Cohesion

Each literary work is a unique instance of imaginative representation of reality. However, imaginative representation has its own principles(known as aesthetic principles) which connect all elements of the literary text and help to constitute a world complete in itself [5, p.27].

Principle of Incomplete Representation. In re-creating an object or phenomenon of reality the author selects only the most characteristic features, i.e. a literary image represents features that are most characteristic of an object. Thus, in depicting an image the author makes a selection: he picks out apart(or parts)which can stand for the whole.

All images in a literary text, those of people, events, situations, landscapes, etc. are incompletely represented. This is conditioned at least by two factors:

1. The linguistic factor. Verbal representation of the whole image would demand innumerable pages of writing in which the image itself might inevitably dissolve;

2. The aesthetic factor. As literature transmits aesthetic information, to achieve this aim it must first of all stir up the reader’s interest. One way of doing it is to make the reader use his perceptive abilities and fill in for himself the incompletely represented fragments of the whole [5, p.28].

The degree of incompleteness depends on the genre of the literary work as well as on the individual manner of the writer. It is greater in lyrical poems and smaller in epic works.

The part selected to represent the whole is a poetic detail. Its function is eithertotypify orto individualizethe image [5, p.29]. For instance, inA Painful Caseby J. Joyce the author, while portraying Mrs. Sinico, gives prominence to her eyes. He does not only speak about their colour but carefully depicts the way they gazed, the work of the pupils and the impression they produced:

“Their gaze began with a defiant note, but was confused by what seemed a deliberate swoon of the pupil into the iris, revealing for an instant a temperament of great sensibility. The pupil reasserted itself quickly, this half disclosed fell again under the reign of prudence, and her astrakhan jacket, … struck the note of defiance more definitely.” [1, p. 36]

This poetic detail makes the image of Mrs. Sinico peculiar, and as it is supposed that the person’s eyes reveal his nature, we may suggest that J. Joyce aimed at disclosing Mrs. Sinico’s nature through this description.

Principle of Analogy and Contrast. Analogy and contrast are known as universal principles of cognition. Analogyreveals the essenceof a phenomenon,discovers the similar and contrastivein different phenomena. In literature analogy/contrast is a way of imaginative cognition. The author contra- and juxtaposes images of real life and that way reveals the good and the evil, the beautiful and the ugly, justice and injustice of life [5, p. 31].

Thus in A Painful CaseJ. Joyce depicts his main characters in contrast; though both of them were lonely, Mrs. Sinico was desperate to rid of it, while Mr. Duffy carefully guarded it [1, p. 34-42].

Principle of Recurrence. Poetic structure of the text is so modeled that its certain elements, which have already occurred in the text, appear again at definite intervals. These recurrent elements may be a poetic detail, an image, a phrase, or a word. Its function is to give the text adynamic flow, or to represent the leitmotif of the literary work, expressing the author’s message [5, p. 33].

For example, in A Streetcar Named Desireby T. Williams to show the sudden change in Blanche’s emotional state the author recurrently mentions that the woman hears polka music, which for her is associated with her husband’s suicide. The more Blanche’s mental state changes to disorder the louder and more frequent the music becomes. [58]