STYLE IN LITERATURE: A STYLISTICS STUDY OF A POEM

Authors

  • Justine Bakuuro Department Of English, University Of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

Keywords:

stylistic, poetry, parallelism, foregrounding, literary technique, deviation

Abstract

This paper attempts a stylistic study of a poem. It targets to unveil the deeper underpinnings of semanticity in condensed literary pieces, particularly in poetry, as a consequence of the style employed by an author. Among other findings, the study uncovered the peculiar use of lexis and the features embedded in such peculiar use. It brings to the fore, the heavy use of deviation and parallelism in drumming home the theme of the poem. And finally, a fundamental literary feature used which is worthy of note and which the study has clearly drawn attention to in the analysis, is the foregrounding of the entire literary piece, which gives it a unique outlook. On the surface, one might not notice the effect of this literary technique but the study has meticulously pointed this out.

References

Blackmur, R. P. (1954), Language as Gesture: Essays in Poetry. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

Cummings, E. E. (1964), 73 Poems. London: Faber and Faber.

Dixit, R. (1977), ‘Patterns of Deviation in Selected Poems of E. E. Cummings.’ Unpublished

Fowler, R. (1971), The Languages of Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Leech, G. N. (1969), A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London: Longman.

Short, M. (2000), ‘Graphological Deviation, Style Variation and Point of View in Marabou

Van Peer, W. (1986), Stylistics and Psychology: Investigations of Foregrounding. Croom Helm.

E. E. Cummings Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings

Published

2017-12-06

Issue

Section

Articles