文体修辞学36个概念解释及例子分析(完整版)

Definition

Chapter1

1.Stylistics is an area of study which straddles two disciplines: literary criticism and

linguistics. Besides, it is directly related to literary interpretation, and make use of linguistic facts and theory.

Chapter2

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2. Style as deviance refers to the distinctiveness of a literary text resides in its departure from the characteristics of what is communicatively normal.

. p13The phrase “a grief ago” from a poem of that name by Dylan Thomas.

It violates two rules of English: a) the indefinite article a clashes syntactically with the uncountable noun grief; b) the post modifying adverb ago clashes semantically with the head word grief. The highly deviant nature of the phrase attracts much attention from the reader to itself, and thus makes it possible for the poet to express what cannot be expressed through the normal use of language.（汪洁）

3. By style as choice is meant that style results from a tendency of a speaker or writer to consistently choose certain structures over others available in the language.

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.

In writing The Eve of St. Agnes, Keats first produced the line, “As though a rose should close and be a bud again”. But when he re-read the line, he substituted the word shut for close:” As though a rose should shut and be a bud ag ain”

4. The view of style as foregrounding is a further view of style which appears to be a compromise between view of style as deviance and view of style as choice. The term foregrounding is a concept of pictorial arts, referring to that part of the composition that appears to be closest to the view.

. P19

!

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

. Auden, Epitaph on a Tyrant)

Auden could have chosen a different structure for each line, yet he limited himself to the same option. The parallel structure here draws the attention of the reader and makes him see the sematic connection between the two lines. This is a type of foregrounding.（汪洁）

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Chapter 3

5. Grammetrics: the ways in which grammatical units are fitted into metrical units such as lines and stanzas.

Is Just to Say

I have eaten

(

the plums

that were in

the ice-box

and which

,

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

）

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

It creates a pulling-forward effect. In one line, although the verb eat can either take an object or not, the absence of punctuation at the end of the line makes us expect one. Thus we are driven forward to the second line where our expectation is satisfied.(章嫣羚)

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6. Affixation: is the addition of a prefix or suffix to an item which already exists in the language.

. P46

And I Tiresias have foresuffered all. The nonce word foresuffered is coined by adding the prefix ‘fore-’ to the item ‘suffer’. The prefix ‘fore-’ conveys the meaning ‘beforehand’ and is normally reserved for joining with such items as ‘see’, ‘tell’ and ‘warn’. The novel use here, according to Leech, encapsulates a newly formulated idea: it is possible to anticipate mystically the suffering of the future, just as it is possible to ‘foresee’ and ‘foretell’ or to have ‘foreknowledge’ of the future events.(章嫣羚)

7. Graphology: the encoding of meaning in visual symbols.

^

deviation can occur in any sub-area of graphology, such as the shape of the text, the type of print, grammetrics, punctuation, in-dentation, etc.

[Thematic-fronting]

8. Marked theme: The initial unit of a clause may be called its theme. The rest of clause elements might be put in the thematic position in order to achieve certain literary effect. The theme thus produced is unusual and is therefore called a “marked “ theme.

E,g. P40

My opinion of the coal trade on that river is, that it may require talent, but it certainly requires capital. Talent Mr. Micawber has, capital Mr. Micawber has not.

(D ickens, David Copper field).

/

In the second sentence, two objects----talent and capital were placed in the front of each clause. The function of the unusual clause theme seems to be three-fold: a) it neatly knits the paragraph together and is thus a powerful device of textual cohesion, b) it serves to form a contract in meaning between the two parallel clauses, c) it gives much emphasis to the two words shifted to the initial position.（屈静华）

9. compounding:compounding is the combination of two or more items to make a single compound one. N

E,

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While I, joy-jumping, empty-eyed sang on the day my father died.( Edwin Brook)

In this sentence, joy-jumping is a compound made up on the pattern of noun + “ing” participle. This word coined from the idiom “ jump for joy” which means “jump because of joy”. The day when “my” father died cannot be a happy day. Therefore, the extension of the compound rule here on an idiom makes the situation describes in the poem much more ironical.

The word empty-eyed is also a compound. It means “on the day my father died”“ there are no tears in ‘my’ eyes”. Here, the ironical effect is further reinforced and developed.（屈静华）

10. Aphesis: the omission of an initial part of a word.

/

E,g.

Thou on whose stream, ’mid the steep sky’s commotion,

Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed, . Shelley, Ode to the West Wind) The complete form of mid’ in the line is ‘amid’.（夏莹）

:

11. Apocope: the omission of a final part of a word.

E,g.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun

I will love thee still, my dear,

!

While the sands o’ life shall run.

(Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose)

Here ,Burns has used a’ for ‘all’ ,wi’for ‘with’ and o’ for ‘of’.（夏莹）

12. Conversion: which is often described as ‘zero affixation’, is the adaptation of an item to a new grammatical function without changing its form.

*

E,g.

“I’ll Golden Bull you, you rascal!” roared the Majesty of Prussia. (Macaulay)

The noun phrase Golden Bull is turned to a verb to convey the meaning, to fight (someone) like a Golden Bull. Since Golden Bull was used as a proper noun in the preceding sentence, the conversation of it into a verb makes the passage highly cohesive. It also vividly manifests the boorishness of the Majesty of Prussia.（叶淑萍）13. Syncope: the omission of a medial part of a word.

E,g.

{

A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard

In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,

Breaking the silence of the seas

Among the farthest Hebridges.

(Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper)

。

The original form of ne’er in the first line is “never”. It’s a conventional licenses of verse composition. It changes the pronunciation of the original words so that the poet may better and more easily arrange sound patterns to achieve their intended communicative effects.（叶淑萍）

Chapter 4

14. Oxymoron: It is the yoking together of two expression which are incompatible, so that in combination they have no conceivable literal reference to reality. 矛盾修辞

False true /die merrily /a living death--------create the communicative effect

15. Paradox: It is a statement which is absurd because it is self-evidently false. 似非而是

…

Ignorance is strength. Express a certain truth or message through apparent falsehood.

16. Metonymy: It is the substitution of a word referring to an attribute of the thing that is meant,rather than the substitution of a part for the whole,or the whole

for a part. 转喻

. P65

The glories of our blood and state,

】

Are shadows,not substantial things;

There is no armour against fate;

Death lays his icy hand on kings;

Sceptre and Crown

Must tumble down

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And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked Scythe and Spade.

(Shirley,The Glories of our Blood)

Sceptre and Crown are things that kings and queens carry and wear to present their power and authority, and are therefore metonyms for kings and queens. Scythe and spade are things used by peasants or farm workers, and are therefore metonyms for peasants.（冯丹）

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17. Synecdoche:a) It is a type of transference of meaning which involves the substitution of a part for the whole. b) It can also be interpreted more broadly to include substitution of the whole for a part. 提喻

He can’t ride a wheel. A wheel substitutes the bicycle.

18. Metaphor: It is the figurative meaning is derived from the literal meaning or it is, as it were, the literal meaning. 隐喻

. P69

The frog came on the cat’s feet.

！

She is really a duck, she thought.

(Galsworthy,The Forsyte Saga)

She is a human referent and treated either as a duck.（陈沈慧）

19. Overstatement: It is termed hyperbole in traditional rhetoric. It distorts the truth by great exaggeration. It is usually used to emphasize strong feeling and to create a sentimental , satiric or comic overstatement is often metaphorical. 夸张，夸张手法

·

. P71

For she was beautiful-her beauty made

The bright world dim,and everything beside

Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade.

(Shelley)

'

The overstatement her beauty made the bright world dim expresses the speaker’s great admiration for the female figure. Actually, what the poet intends to say, put in plain terms, is that she was extraordinarily beautiful. （陈沈慧）

20. Homophony: The words that have the same pronunciation but differ in form and meaning. 同音异义词

. P77

When I am dead, I hope it may be said

‘His sins were scarlet,but his books are read.’

(Belloc, On his Books)

When we have heard these lines we would have two simultaneous interpretations of the last lexical item: the past participle of the verb 'read 'which relates to his books and the adjective 'red' relating to its hyponym scarlet in the first half of the same line.

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21. Polysemy : the ambiguity of an individual word or phrase that can be used (in different contexts) to express two or more different meanings 一词多义

. P79

Franklin:Hancock’s right. This is our passport to the gallows. But there is no backing out now. If we don’t hang together, we shall assuredly hang separately.

(Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards, 1776)

，

The playwrights here deliberately explo it the use of hang to mean both ‘put to death with a rope around the neck’ (as in punishment for a crime) and ‘remain united’ (an idiom with the word together). In this way, they have succeeded in making Franklin a witty, humorous and highly literary character, like Franklin was in person.

22. Understatement:It is the opposite of overstatement in that it misrepresents the truth by deliberately understanding it as opposed to exaggerating it. In traditional rhetoric, scholars make a distinction between two types of understatement, namely litotes[a negative construction] and meiosis. 降格陈述

. P73

(

The face wasn’t a bad one; It had what they called charm.(Galsworthy)

The face wasn’t a bad one in this context is a non-committal way of saying; the face was a very good (or charming) one.

Chapter 5

Define the following terms.

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Alliteration consonance rhyme

Onomatopoeia assonance iamb

anapaest pentameter dactyl

dimeter tetrameter trochee

)

23. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant cluster in stressed syllables.

Example: ’last but not the least ’ ‘now or never’

The best laid schemes o’ mice and men

Gang aft a-gley

(Robert Burns ,To a Mouse)

:

Alliteration is usually used to form a connection of similarity or a connection of contrast. The alliteration in To a Mouse links mice and men seems to form a connection of both similarity and contrast. Firstly, it forms a referential contrast between man, the supreme head of animal creation, and the mouse, one of the smallest and timidest, and most inconsequential of creatures. Secondly, with the help of the conjunction and, it points out a similarity between men and mouse who as this passage suggests seem to share the vulnerability of fate. The connection between the two created by alliteration seems to emphasize the point that creatures superficially different are basically the same.

24. Consonance is the repetition of the final consonant cluster in stressed syllables.

Example: P103

Nothing lovelier that that lonely call,

（

Bare and singular ,like a gull

And there notes or four ,then that was all .

It drew up from the quiet like a well ,

Waited ,sang, and vanishing ,was still .

(Jon Swan ,In Her Song She Is Alone )

,

The repeated / l / sound effectively unites the key words of the stanza: caii with gull and well with still. The / l / sound in the quoted lines and elsewhere in the poem has a lingering, almost echoing effect, which greatly reinforces the tone of the poem.

25. Rhyme is defined in Concise Oxford Dictionary as “identity of sounds between words or verse lines extending back from the end to the last fully accented vowel and not further”. The general function of rhymes is to get the texts more organized and to bestow “music” to the texts. It may also be used to achieve more significant effects. Example: P100

For I have known them already, known them all—

&

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

(T. S. Eliot, Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)

The rhyme of the last two lines is very significant. It links together the two words, afternoons and spoons which have a logical association between them. For the words are used in a context of a poem which is about a society that spends its afternoons over coffee and cakes.

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26. Onomatopoeia is ambiguous and can be interpreted in several different ways. Firstly, it refers to the use of words formed in imitation of the natural sounds associated with the object or action involved.

The other interpretation of onomatopoeia may be phrased as the recurrence of phonemes in a text unit that suggests certain natural sound which reinforce the meaning conveyed in that text unit.

Example :P104 ,

Crack came an officer’s club on his forehead .He blinked his eyes blindly a few times ,wobbled on his legs ,threw up his hands and staggered back .

,Sister Carrie)

…

The use of crack in create a vivid effect to the passage. The sound make us hear as well as see what are described.

p106.

I chatter over stony ways,

In little sharps and trebles,

I bubble into eddying bays,

}

I babble on the pebbles.

The three onomatopoeic words chatter, bubble and babble give a vivid description to the sounds and motion of the brook, they have brought great immediacy to the scene, make us feel as if we were right there by the brook. The description is further high-lighted by the recurring sounds /l/ and /b/. the sound /l/ belongs to a class of sound called liquid which is fluid-sounding and the sound /b/ is a plosive resembling the sound of the bubbles. Therefore, their repeated presence makes the text sound more bubbly and steam-like.

27. Assonance is the repetition of identical vowel or diphthong in stressed

syllables.

Example:

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Think from how many tress

Dead leaves are brought

To earth on seed or wing

(Vernon Watkins ,The Compost Heap)

The words that carry the assonance, as can be easily noticed, are: trees, leaves and seed. These words are stressed rhythmically in the lines. Interesting, we find that the meanings of there words are already associated. More significantly, there words may be said to represent the cycle of life: from the organic to the inorganic and from the inorganic to the organic. Thus, assonance not only contributes to musical quality if a literary text, but also to its meaning.

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28. Iamb is the commonest type of verse foot. It has a pattern alternating stressed and unstressed syllables beginning with an unstressed syllable.

A’/’ to mark a stressed syllable ,and a’V’ to mark an unstressed syllable.

Example:P111

In eve/ ry cry / of eve/ ry man .

*

In eve/ ry in/ fant’s cry / of fear .

,London )

In eve/ ry cry/ of eve/ ry man

In eve/ ry in fant’s cry/ of fear

、

all the letters in blue are unstressed syllables, and in red are stressed syllables, the poem begins with unstressed syllable, and alternating with stressed syllables.

29. Anapaest is a pattern in which one stressed syllable alternates with two unstressed syllables, but beginning with the two unstressed syllables.

Example:P112

The Assy/rian came down /like the wolf /on the fold .

。

(Byron ,The Destruction of Sennacherib )

The Assy rain came down like the wolf on the fold.

all the letters in blue are unstressed syllables, and in red are stressed syllables. The poem begins with two unstressed syllables, then following a stressed syllable. Then the meter keeps repeating with two unstressed syllables and a stressed syllable.

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32. Dimeter is a line of verse consisting of two metrical feet or of two dipodies.

Example:P115

∕ˇˇ∕ˇˇ

One more un / fortunate

∕ˇˇ∕

）

Weary of / breath

∕ˇˇ∕ˇˇ

Rashly i m / portinate ,

∕ˇˇ∕

Gone to her /death!

*

We can see there are two foots in each line.

is a line of verse consisting either of four dipodies (as in classical iambic, trochaic, and anapestic verse) or four metrical feet (as in modern English verse)

Example:P115

ˇ∕∕∕ˇ∕ˇ∕

]

Who fought / for free / dom, more / than life

ˇ∕ˇ∕ˇ∕ˇ∕

Who gave / up all, / to die / in strife

We can see there are four foos in each line.

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34. Trochee may be described as alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, beginning with a stressed syllable.

Example: P111

/ ˇ/ˇ/ ˇ/

Men of /England ,/wherefore /plough

/ ˇ/ ˇ/ ˇ/

&

For the /Lords who /lay ye/low

to the Men of the England)

A‘/’to make a stressed syllable, and a‘ˇ’to make an unstressed syllable.

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Chapter 6

35. Repetition: It is restricted to mean the case of exact copying of a certain previous unit in a text, such as a word, phrase or even a sentence.重复

. P132

Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!

，

Bright and yellow,hard and cold,

Molten,graven,hammer’d and roll’d,

Heavy to get and light to hold.

(Thomas Hood)

#

The word Gold is repeated four times. Reinforced by the capitalization of the first lette r of the word and the exclamation mark “!”, the word attracts much attention to itself. The repetition here shows the poet’s great intensity of feeling when talking about gold.

36. Parallelism: It means exact repetition in equivalent positions. It requires some variable feature of the pattern-some contrasting elements which are parallel with respect to their position in the pattern.平行结构

例子Not many lives, but only one have we; One, only one.(Anonymous, Only One Life)

The word one is repeated intermittently three times and the word only twice. This greatly emphasizes the fact that there is only one life for a person and suggests that one should really treasure it.

. P137

I came, I saw, I conquered. (Julius Caesar)

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试卷相关题型

Stylistic analyses

one poem give stylistic analyses

features

。

1) A Christmas Tree

Star

If you are

A love compassionate,

You will walk with us this year,

·

We face a glacial distance , who are here

Huddled

At your feet

. Burford)

p55. 4(1)

—

In the poem, graphological feature mainly is shape of the text .The shape of the poem strikes us because it is not like that of a conventional poem. We can find that the poem is about a Christmas tree, therefore, the author wrote it in the shape of a Christmas tree. The first line includes only one word ”star”, which turns into the top of the tree; from the second line to the fifth one, from” A love compassionate” to”who are here” constitute the branches and leaves. Also, ”Huddled” makes the trunk, and :At your feet” makes the root. All of the words appear in appropriate positions from top to bottom. So, seeing the poem, all the beautiful scenes of Christmas came onto our mind, especially the happiness and love. That is the main idea poetry want us to understand.

p55. 4(2)

In the poem, graphological deviation mainly includes two types: the type of print and grammetrics. The type of print is menifest in the de-capitalization of the first letter of certain words. The grammetrics is shown in the following points. First, the title of the poem does not stand clearly as the usual case. Second, one sentence runs over lines, which shows the poet intends the poem to be read as a whole and places emphasis on the unity of the discourse. It can arise the reader's expectation and interest. Third, every line of the poem creates a pulling-forward effect. It is intended to make the reader actively involve himself in reading the poem with interest, curiosity and pleasure. Eg: in the first line, 'rainbow youre a two faced sort', there is an absence of an object, which makes us expect one. Thus we are driven forward to the second line where our expectation is satisfied. But a new expectation is aroused again by the presence of the forth line 'uses', we have only to read next line.

l(a

le

·

af

fa

ll

s)

one

《

l

Iness 4(3)

The whole poem is a sentence of “a leaf falls/loneliness”. The main idea of the poem is about loneliness. The shape of the poem strikes us most unusual because it is not like that a conventional poem. When we look it carefully, we may find that the poem is consist of separated words and became a list. When we see it, with our imagination, we may feel that word “leaf” in the middle like the real leaves are falling down. And the letter out of the brackets is constituted word “loneliness”. So, when we read the poem, as if it was saying that “I am like a leaf falls lonely.”

3.the function of metaphor

1)Sunday Rain by John Uplike

The window screen

is trying to do

its crossword puzzle

but appears to know

only vertical words.

Here the writer uses personification to give the window screen human attributes. When the rain falls on the window screen, the rain drops will slide vertically down to the bottom of the screen. It is like how we do a crossword puzzle, when we work out a vertically-arranged word completely, we link all the letters.

How can rain drops DO crossword puzzle How can rain drops KNOW Apparently, the writer adds human attributes to the rain and it has special effects.

2)An Empty House

You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come:

Knock as you please, there’s nobody at home.

(Alexander Pope)

In this poem, Pope uses a type of metaphor that is “A non-human referent is given human attributes”. He gives “wit” human attributes and treats it as a human being, and “nobody” in the last sentence also refers to it. Besides, here “pate” means “brain” (or “head”), and Pope regards it as a house (or “home”) where “wit” lives. This metaphor is a satire of those people who are too silly or lazy to use their head. It tells us that there is no use to beat your pate foolishly when faced with a problem. Instead, you should use your head and think about the problem until you come up with any idea.

3) Dreams

(Langston Hughes)

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow

Written in 1926, Dreams is one of the most famous poems of Langston Hughes's. Langston Hughes, born Feb 1, 1902, is an American poet, novelist, and playwright. And he is known for his work during Harlem Renaissance. In Dreams, Hughes is advising the readers to never stop dreaming and to never give up on a dream. Though he feels the world is a very depressing place, dreams can make it wondrous and exciting. The word "life" in the poem is described by metaphor. Life, actually, is an abstraction, but poet describes it as a broken-winged bird and a barren field, which are animate. In order to tell people to insist on dreams, poet uses the broken-winged bird which cannot fly and the barren field which is frozen with snow. The two vehicles above are like life without dreams in respect of that if there’s no dream, life will have no freedom and joy, and it will be cold, dark, depressing and dim. So metaphor in Dreams makes the pale statements conveyed ironically and vividly. 4)

Ways of Composing

typewriter:

a mouthful of teeth chattering

afraid to be quiet

A pencil can lie down and dream

dark and silver silences

(Eve Merriam)

1.The poet Eve Merriam is an American poet and writer who wrote for children. Therefore, in her works, she used metaphor so often that children can understand easily.

2.Here, the metaphor function is: A non-human referent is given human attributes. (1)Typewriter is the tenor and a mouthful of teeth is the vehicle, the poet take typewriter as a mouthful of teeth to show children the appearance in a very interesting way.

(2)A mouthful of teeth is a non-human referent, but here they are "chattering", a pencil is a non-human referent, but here it can lie down and dream, the poet gives these two non-human referents human attributes to show children that what is a typewriter, how it works and if it can take the place of pencil very vividly.

5)

Fog

Carl Sandburg

The fog comes 雾来了，

on little cat feet. 踏着小猫的脚步。

It sits looking 静静地，

over harbor and city 它坐下观看，

on silent haunches 观看城市和港口，

and then moves on. 然后再重新上路。Background: In the 20th century, with the development of industrial revolution, people feel depressed in the materialistic world.

The fog represents the problems that one may have in their life. The problem can creep up you silently as a cat, linger in your life then move on. You can not control it, just like the weather..

This poem uses a metaphor to describe fog. A non-animate referent is given animate characteristics. The poet imagined fog as a little cat so that the trait of fog can be described ironically without trace come easy go and mysterious.

5Question Answer

After a term of study, I’ve learn a lot of stylistics. Stylistics is not only refer to the way how to arrange words in sentences or can see that stylistics is an area of study which straddle two discipline : literary criticism and linguistics .It takes literary discourse(text) as its object of study and uses linguistics as a means to that , we can analyze the text from different perspectives .Though the progress of ana lyse,we may find that we have done more that simply show why the text means what we knew it meant , we’re able to evaluate the value of passages,and to say why this text is good and that one is not,or why this text is better that that one, why this text has been received into the canon of major literal we can better understand the meanings and though which authors wants to express in this addition ,I also know some basic rhetorical devices used in the

writing to arrange passages more compactly and beautifully.