STYLISTICS

stylisticsOverview

Stylistics is a valuable if long-winded approach to criticism, and compels attention to the poem's details. Two of the three simple exercises performed here show that the poem is deficient in structure, and needs to be radically recast. The third sheds light on its content.

Introduction

Stylistics applies linguistics to literature in the hope of arriving at analyses which are more broadly based, rigorous and objective. {1} The pioneers were the Prague and Russian schools, but their approaches have been appropriated and extended in recent years by radical theory. Stylistics can be evaluative (i.e. judge the literary worth on stylistic criteria), but more commonly attempts to simply analyze and describe the workings of texts which have already been selected as noteworthy on other grounds.

Analyses can appear objective, detailed and technical, even requiring computer assistance, but some caution is needed. Linguistics is currently a battlefield of contending theories, with no settlement in sight. Many critics have no formal training in linguistics, or even proper reading, and are apt to build on theories (commonly those of Saussure or Jacobson) that are inappropriate and/or no longer accepted. Some of the commonest terms, e.g. deep structure, foregrounding, have little or no experimental support. {2} Linguistics has rather different objectives, moreover: to study languages in their entirety and generality, not their use in art forms. Stylistic excellence — intelligence, originality, density and variety of verbal devices — play their part in literature, but aesthetics has long recognized that other aspects are equally important: fidelity to experience, emotional shaping, significant content. Stylistics may well be popular because it regards literature as simply part of language and therefore (neglecting the aesthetic dimension) without a privileged status, which allows the literary canon to be replaced by one more politically or sociologically acceptable. {3}

Why then employ stylistics at all? Because form is important in poetry, and stylistics has the largest armoury of analytical weapons. Moreover, stylistics need not be reductive and simplistic. There is no need to embrace Jacobson's theory that poetry is characterized by the projection of the paradigmatic axis onto the syntagmatic one. {4} Nor accept Bradford's theory of a double spiral: {5} literature has too richly varied a history to be fitted into such a straitjacket. Stylistics suggests why certain devices are effective, but does not offer recipes, any more than theories of musical harmony explains away the gifts of individual composers.

Some stylistic analysis is to be found in most types of literary criticism, and differences between the traditional, New Criticism and Stylistics approaches are often matters of emphasis. Style is a term of approbation in everyday use ("that woman has style", etc.), and may be so for traditional and New Criticism. But where the first would judge a poem by reference to typical work of the period (Jacobean, Romantic, Modernist, etc.), or according to genre, the New Criticism would probably simply note the conventions, explain what was unclear to a modern audience, and then pass on to a detailed analysis in terms of verbal density, complexity, ambiguity, etc. To the Stylistic critic, however, style means simply how something is expressed, which can be studied in all language, aesthetic and non-aesthetic. {6}

Stylistics is a very technical subject, which hardly makes for engrossing, or indeed uncontentious, {7} reading. The treatment here is very simple: just the bare bones, with some references cited. Under various categories the poem is analyzed in a dry manner, the more salient indications noted, and some recommendations made in Conclusions.

 

Published Examples of Stylistic Literary Criticism

G.N. Leech's A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry (1969)

Laura Brown's Alexander Pope (1985)

Roy Lewis's On Reading French Verse: A Study in Poetic Form (1982)

George Wright's Shakespeare's Metrical Art. (1988)

Richard Bradford's A Linguistic History of English Poetry (1993)

Poem

The Architects

But, as you'd expect, they are very
Impatient, the buildings, having much in them
Of the heavy surf of the North Sea, flurrying
The grit, lifting the pebbles, flinging them
With a hoarse roar against the aggregate

They are composed of — the cliffs higher of course,
More burdensome, underwritten as
It were with past days overcast
And glinting, obdurate, part of the
Silicate of tough lives, distant and intricate

As the whirring bureaucrats let in
And settled with coffee in the concrete pallets,
Awaiting the post and the department meeting —
Except that these do not know it, at least do not
Seem to, being busy, generally.

So perhaps it is only on those cloudless, almost
Vacuumed afternoons with tier upon tier
Of concrete like rib-bones packed above them,
And they light-headed with the blue airiness
Spinning around, and muzzy, a neuralgia

Calling at random like frail relations, a phone
Ringing in a distant office they cannot get to,
That they become attentive, or we do — these
Divisions persisting, indeed what we talk about,
We, constructing these webs of buildings which,

Caulked like great whales about us, are always
Aware that some trick of the light or weather
Will dress them as friends, pleading and flailing —
And fill with placid but unbearable melodies
Us in deep hinterlands of incurved glass.

© C. John Holcombe 1997

 

Metre

Though apparently iambic, with five stresses to the line, the metre shows many reversals and substitutions. Put at its simplest, with:

/ representing a strong stress

\ representing a weak stress

x representing no stress, and

trying to fit lines into a pentameters, we have

 

- / x x x / - \ x / x
  But as you'd ex pect   they are ve ry
x / x x / x / x \ x x
Im pat ient the build ings, hav ing much in them
x x \ x / x x \ / / x x
Of the heav y surf of the North Sea, flurr ying
x / - / x x / x / x \
The grit,   lift ing the pebbl es, fling ing them
\ x / - / x \ x / x \
With a hoarse   roar a gainst the agg re gate

x \ x / \ x / / x x /
They are com posed of, the cliffs high er of course
\ / x \ - / x / x \  
More burd en some,   un der writ ten as  
x / x / - / - / x /  
It were with past   days   o ver cast  
x / x \ / x \ - / x x
And glit ter ing, ob du rate,   part of the
- / x x x / - / - / x x / x x
  Sil icate of tough   lives   dist ant and in tricate

- \ x / x / x \ - / x
  As the whir ring bu reau crats   let in
x / x x / x \ x / x / x
And set tled with cof fee in the con crete pal lets
x / x x / x \ x / x / x
A wait ing the post and the de part ment meet ing
x \ x / \ x / x x \ / x
Ex cept that these do not know it, at least do not
- / x / x / x / x \ x
  Seem to be ing bus y gen ER all y

\ x / x x / x \ x / x / x
So per haps it is on ly on those cloud less al most
- / x / x \ x / x x \ / x
  Vac uumed af ter noons with ti ER u pon ti ER
x / x \ / / - / x / x
Of con Crete like rib bones   packed a bove them
x / \ / x \ x / / x \
And they light head ed, with the blue air i ness
- / x x / x / x \ x / x x
  Spin ning a round and muz zy, a neu ral gia

- / x x / x x / x / x x /  
  Cal ling at ran dom like frail re lat ions a phone  
- / x x x / x / x x / x / x
  Ring ing in a dist ant of fice they can not get to
x / x / x / x x / /- \  
That they be come at ten tive, or we do these  
x / x x / x x / \ x / x /
Di vis ions per sist ing, in deed what we talk a bout
- / x / x x / x / x \  
  We, con struct ing these webs of build ings which  

- / x / \ / x / x x / x
  Caulk Ed like great whales a bout us are al ways
x / x x / x x / x / x    
A ware that some trick of the light or weath ER    
\ / x x / - / x x / x    
Will dress them as friends   plead ing and flail ing    
x / x / x \ x / x x / x x
And fill with plac id but UN bear able mel odies
- / x \ - / x x x / \ /  
  Us in deep   hint erlands of in curved glass  

Poets learn to trust their senses, but even to the experienced writer these (tedious) exercises can pinpoint what the ear suspects is faulty, suggest where improvements lie, and show how the metre is making for variety, broad consistency, shaping of the argument and emotive appeal. Though other scansions are certainly possible in the lines above, the most striking feature will remain their irregularity. Many lines can only roughly be called pentameters; Lines 16 and 17 are strictly hexameters; and lines 27 and 28 are tetrameters. In fact, the lines do not read like blank verse. The rhythm is not iambic in many areas, but trochaic, and indeed insistently dactylic in lines 9 and 10, 21 and 22 and 28. Line 27 is predominantly anapaestic, and line 3 could (just) be scanned:

 

x x / x / x x \ /   / x x
Of the heavy surf of the North Sea   flurr ying

 

Reflective or meditative verse is generally written in the iambic pentameter, and for good reason — the benefit of past examples, readers' expectations, and because the iambic is the closest to everyday speech: flexible, unemphatic, expressing a wide range of social registers. Blank verse for the stage may be very irregular but this, predominantly, is a quiet poem, with the falling rhythms inducing a mood of reflection if not melancholy. What is being attempted?

Suppose we set out the argument (refer to rhetorical and other analyses), tabbing and reverse tabbing as the reflections as they seem more or less private: {8}

 

1. But, as you'd expect,
2. they are very impatient, the buildings,

    3. having much in them of the heavy surf of the North Sea,

      4. flurrying the grit,
      5. lifting the pebbles,
      6. flinging them with a hoarse roar against the aggregate they are composed of — the

    7. cliffs higher of course, more
    8. burdensome,
    9. underwritten as it were with past days
    10. overcast and glinting,
    11. obdurate,

      12. part of the silicate of tough lives,
      13. distant and intricate as

        14. the whirring bureaucrats
        15. let in and settled with coffee in the concrete pallets, awaiting the post and the department meeting —

      16. except that these do not know it,

    17. at least do not seem to, being busy,

18. generally.
19. So perhaps it is only on those cloudless, almost vacuumed afternoons with tier upon tier of concrete like rib — bones packed above them, and

    20. they light-headed
    21. with the blue airiness spinning around, and
    22. muzzy, a

      23. neuralgia calling at random like

        24. frail relations, a

          25. phone ringing in a distant office they cannot get to, that

        26. They become attentive,

      27. or we do —

    28. these divisions persisting,
    29. indeed what we talk about, 

30. we, constructing these webs of buildings which 

    31. caulked like great whales about us, are
    32. always aware that some trick of the light or weather will dress them as friends,
    33. pleading and flailing — and 

34. fill with placid but unbearable melodies
35. us in deep hinterlands of incurved glass.

 

The structure should now be clear. Where Eliot created new forms by stringing together unremarkable pentameters, {8} this poem attempts the reverse: to recast an irregular ode-like structure as pentameters. And not over-successfully: many of the rhythms seemed unduly confined. But once returned to the form of an eighteenth century Pindaric ode, however unfashionable today, the lines regain a structure and integrity. Each starts with a marked stress and then tails away, a feature emphasized by the sound patterns. {9}

Sound Patterning

To these sound patterns we now turn, adapting the International Phonetic Alphabet to HTML restrictions:

1. But as you'd expect
u a U e e
b t z y d ksp kt

2. They are very impatient the buildings
A a(r) e E i A e e i i
th - v r mp sh nt th b ld ngz

3. Having much in them of the heavy surf of the North Sea
a i u i e o e e e(r) o e aw E
h v ng m ch n th m v th h v s f v th n th s

4. flurrying the grit
u E i e i
fl r ng th gr t

5. lifting the pebbles
i i e e
l ft ng th p b lz

6. flinging them with a hoarse roar against the aggregate they are composed of
i i e i e aw aw e A e a E A A a(r)  o O o
fl ng ng th m w th - h s r g nst th gr g t th - k MP zd v

7. the cliffs higher of course more
e i I  e o aw aw
th kl  fs h v   s m

8. burdensome
u(r)   e  e
b  d  ns  m

9. underwritten as it were with past days
u  e  i  e a i (e)r i a(r) A
nd  r  t  n z t w w p  st d  z

10. overcast and glinting
O  e(r)  a(r) a i  i
v  k  St nd gl  NT  ng

11. obdurate
o  U  A
bd  r  t

12. part of the silicate of tough lives
(a)r o e i  i  A o u I
p  t f th s  l  k  t v t  f l  vz

13. distant and intricate
i  a a i  i  e
d  St  NT nd NT  r  k  t

14. as the whirring bureaucrats
a e e(r)   i U  O  a
z th w  r  ng b  r  kr  ts

15. let in and settled with coffee in the concrete pallets
e i a e  ie i o  E i e o  E a  e
l  t n nd s  tl  d w  th k  f n th k  Kr  t p  l  Ts

awaiting the post and the department meeting
e  A  i e O a e E e E  i
w  t  ng th p  St nd th d  p  tm  NT m  t  ng

16. except that these do not know it
e  e a E U o O i
ks  pt th th  z d n  t n t

17. at least do not seem to being busy
a E U o E U E  i i  E
t l  St d n  t s  m t b  ng b  z >/td>

18. generally
e  e a E
j  nr  l

19. so perhaps it is only on those cloudless almost vacuumed afternoons
O e(r)   a i i O o O ou  e aw  O a  U a(r)   e  oo
s p  h  ps t z nl n th  z kl  dl  s lm  St v  k  md ft  n  nz

with tier upon tier of concrete like rib bones packed above them and
i E  e(r) e   o E  e(r) o o  E I i O a e  u e a
w  th t p  n t v k  nkr  t l  k r  b b  nz p  Kt b  v th  m nd

20. they light headed
A I e  e
th l  t h  d  d

21. with the blue airiness spinning around and
i e U (A)r  i  e i  i e ou a
w  th th bl r  n  s sp  n  ng r  nd nd

22. muzzy a
u  E e
m  z -

23. neuralgia calling at random like
U  a  E a aw  i a a  o I
n  r  lj k  l  ng t r  nd  m l  k

24. frail relations a
A e  A  e e
fr  l r  l  zh  nz -

25. phone ringing in a distant office they cannot get to that
O i  i i e i  a o  i A a  o e oo a

 
f n r ng ng n - d St NT f s th k n t g t t th  

26. they become attentive
A E u a e i
th b k m t NT v


27. or we do
aw E oo
- w d

28. these divisions persisting
E i i e e(r)  i i
th z d v zh nz p s St ng

29. indeed what we talk about
i E o E aw e ou
in d wh t w t k b t

30. we constructing these webs of buildings which
E o u i E e o i i i
w k nz str Kt ng th z w bs v b ld ngz wh Ch

31. caulked like great whales about us are
aw I A A e ou u a(r)
k kd l k gr t w lz b t s -

32. always aware that some trick of the light or weather will dress them as friends
aw A e (A)r a u i o e I aw e e(r) i e e a e
lw  z w th  t s  m tr  k v th l  t - w  th w l dr  s th  m z Fr  ndz

33. pleading and flailing
E  i a A  i
pl  d  ng nd fl  l  ng

34. will fill with placid but unbearable melodies
i i i a  i u u  A(r)   a  e e  O  E
f  l w  th PL  s  d b  t n  b  r  b  l m  l  d  z  

35. us in deep hinterlands of incurved glass
u i E i  e  a o i e(r) a(r)
s n d  p h  NT  l  ndz v nk v d GL  s

 

Sound in poetry is an immensely complicated and contentious subject. Of the seventeen different employments listed by Masson {10} we consider seven:

 

1. Structural emphasis

All sections are structurally emphasized to some extent, but note the use (in decreasing hardness) of

  • plosive consonants in sections 1, 5, 6, 7, 10-13, 19, 28-50; 31 and 35.

  • fricative and aspirate consonants in sections 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 19, 25, 28, 32, 35.

  • liquid and nasal consonants in sections 3, 4, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 31-35.

Also:

  • predominance of front vowels — in all sections but 6, 7, 11, 16, 17, 19 and 31.

  • predominance of vowels in intermediate positions — only sections 16 and 17 having several high vowels and section 3 low vowels.

2. Tagging of sections

Note sections 1, 7, 13 and 15.

3. Indirect support of argument by related echoes

  • Widely used, most obviously in sections 3-7, 12-13, and 15.

4. Illustrative mime: mouth movements apes expression

  • Sections 2, 6, 11-13, 19, 31 and 35.

5. Illustrative painting

  • Sections 3-6, 10-13, 15, 19 and 33.

Most sections are closely patterned in consonants. Those which aren't (and therefore need attention if consistency is to be maintained) are perhaps 8, 9, 14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 27.

Originally the poem was cast in the form of irregular pentameters. But if this is set aside in favour of the 35 sections listed above, how are these sections to be linked in a self-evident and pleasing form? A little is accomplished by alliteration:

  • f in sections 3 to 7.

  • s and t in sections 12 to 15

  • w in sections 29 to 32

And also by the predominance of front and intermediate level vowels, but these do not amount to much. Certainly we do not find that the overall shaping of the poem emphasizes the argument or content.

Sociolinguistics

Language is not a neutral medium but comes with the contexts, ideologies and social intentions of its speakers written in. Words are living entities, things which are constantly being employed and only half taken over: carrying opinions, assertions, beliefs, information, emotions and intentions of others, which we partially accept and modify. In this sense speech is dialogic, has an internal polemic, and Bakhtin's insights into the multi-layered nature of language (heteroglossia) can be extended to poetry. {11} Much of Postmodernist writing tries to be very unliterary, incorporating the raw material of everyday speech and writing into its creations. This poem seems rather different, a somewhat remote tone and elevated diction applying throughout. Let us see what's achieved by grouping under the various inflections of the speaking voice.

  • urgently confidential

    But, as you'd expect,
    cliffs higher, of course,

    that they become attentive
    or we do

  • obsessively repetitious

    flurrying the grit,
    lifting the pebbles,
    flinging them...

    burdensome,
    underwritten...
    overcast and glinting,
    obdurate

  • over-clever

    silicate of tough lives
    distant and intricate
    constructing these webs of buildings
    distracted and/or light-headed
    except that these do not know it
    at least do not seem to
    with the blue airiness spinning around
    calling at random like frail relations

  • melancholic and/or reflective

    some trick of the light or weather will dress them as friends
    pleading and flailing
    and fill with placid but unbearable melodies

The exercise hardly provides revelation. Heteroglossia is an interweaving of voices, moreover, not shifts of tone or reference. And yet there is something very odd about the opening line. Why should we expect the buildings to be very impatient? This is more than the orator's trick of attracting attention, since the animate nature of buildings and their constituents is referred to throughout the poem. To be more exact, the attitude of the inhabitants — observers, bureaucrats, architects — to the buildings is developed by the poem, and is paralleled by the tone. But why the confidential and repetitious attitude at the beginning. Why should we be buttonholed in this manner? Why the But, which seems to point to an earlier conversation, and the urgency with which that earlier conversation is being refuted or covered up?

Because the blame for something is being shifted to the buildings. What error has been committed we do not know, but in mitigation we are shown the effect of the buildings on other inhabitants. Or perhaps we are. In fact the whirring bureaucrats seem to grow out of the fabric of buildings, and we do not really know if the we, constructing these webs of buildings is meant literally or metaphorically. The poem's title suggests literally, but perhaps these constructions are only of the mind: sections 17, 20-29, 32 and 34 refer to attitudes rather than actions, and there is an ethereal or otherworldly atmosphere to the later section of the poem.

 

So we return to heteroglossia, which is not simply borrowed voices, but involves an internal polemic, {12} that private dialogue we conduct between our private thoughts and their acceptable public expression. The dialogue is surely here between the brute physicality of a nature made overpoweringly real and the fail brevity of human lives. That physicality is threatening and unnerving. If the we of the later section of the poem is indeed architects then that physicality is harnessed to practical ends. If the constructing is purely mental then the treatment is through attitudes, mindsets, philosophies. But in neither case does it emasculate the energy of the physical world. Architects may leave monuments behind them, but they are also imprisoned in those monuments (us in deep hinterlands) and hearing all the time the homesick voice of their constituents.

 

Conclusions: Suggested Improvements

The greatest difficulty lies in the poem's structure. An pentameter form has been used to give a superficial unity, but this wrenches the rhythm, obscures the sound patterns and does nothing for the argument. If recast in sections defined by rhythm and sound pattern the form is too irregular to have artistic autonomy. A return could be made to the eighteenth century Pindaric ode in strict metre and rhyme, but would require extensive and skilful rewriting, and probably appear artificial. A prose poem might be the answer, but the rhythms would need to be more fluid and subtly syncopated. Otherwise, blank verse should be attempted, and the metre adjusted accordingly.

The internal polemic is a valuable dimension of the poem, but more could be done to make the voices distinct.

Some of the shortcomings have been corrected in a new version, now entitled Office Workers.

References

1. Katie Wales's A Dictionary of Stylistics (1990), Geoffrey Leech's A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry (1969), Richard Bradford's Stylistics (1993), Stephen Ullman's Style in the French Novel (1964), and Chapters 3 and 7 of Mick Short's (Ed.) Reading, analyzing & Teaching Literature (1988).
2. Willie van Peer's Stylistics and Psychology: Investigations of Foregrounding (1986), Chapter 1 of Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan's Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics (1983) and pp. 15-18 in Wendell Harris's Literary Meaning: Reclaiming the Study of Literature (1996).
3. p. 162 of Alvin Kernan's The Death of Literature (1990).
4. Roman Jacobson's Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics in D. Lodge's (Ed.) Twentieth Century Literary Criticism: A Reader (1988).
5. Richard Bradford's A Linguistic History of English Poetry (1993).
6. Style entry in Roger Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms (1987).
7. Chapter 1 of Derek Attridge's The Rhythms of English Poetry (1982).
8. H.T. Kirby-Smith's The Origins of Free Verse (1996) and Timothy Steele's. Missing Measures: Modern Poetry and the Revolt against Meter. (1990).
9. Such phrasing is taken much further by Richard Cureton's Rhythmic Phrasing in English Verse (1992).
10. David Masson's entry Sound in Poetry in Alex Preminger's (Ed.) The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms (1974), Chapter 6 of Geoffrey Leech's A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry (1969), Clive Scott's French Verse-Art: A Study (1980) and Roy Lewis's On Reading French Verse: A Study in Poetic Form (1982).
11. Helga Geyer-Ryan's Heteroglossia in the Poetry of Bertolt Brecht and Tony Harrison in Willie van Peer's (Ed.) The Taming of the Text (1989).
12. Kathleen Wales's Back to the Future: Bakhtin, Stylistics and Discourse in van Peer 1989.

Internet Resources

1. Style and Stylistics. Robert de Beaugrande. Nov. 2003. http://www.beaugrande.bizland.com/
Style%20and%20Stylistics.htm. Illustrated introduction.
2. Literariness, Markedness, and Surprise in Poetry. Amittai F. Aviram. Apr. 2002. http://www.cla.sc.edu/ENGL/faculty/avirama/
papers/marked.html. Literariness of poetry: some observations and applications.
3. A Handshake with Halliday: The Origin of Style. John Phillips. http://www.angelfire.com/de/jwp/handshake.html. Michael Halliday’s approach and an analysis of Tennyson poem.
4. `I only said--the syntax--': Elision, recoverability, and insertion in Emily Dickinson's poetry. John Schmit. 1993. http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/ed7.htm. Close analysis of the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
5. Masculine silence: 'Epicoene' and Jonsonian stylistics. Douglas Lanier. http://www.geocities.com/magdamun/jonsonepicoene.html. Gender-orientated essay on Ben Jonson's work.
6. The Interpretation of Order. A Study in the Poetics of Homeric Repetition by Ahuvia Kahane. James V. Morrison. 1994. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1994/94.09.11.html Review of book applying stylistics.
7. The Sociolinguistics of the 'S- Word': 'Squaw' in American Placenames. William Bright. http://www.ncidc.org/bright/Squaw_revised.doc. Argues against the derogatory use of the word.
8. Designing a worldwide web-based stylistics course and investigating its effectiveness. Mick Short, Dawn Archer. 2003. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2342/1_37/
101862385/p1/article.jhtml. Includes references to general teaching of stylistics.
9. Vagrant sympathies: from stylistic analysis to a pedagogy of style. John Tinker. 2003. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2342/1_37/
101862388/p1/article.jhtml. Writers defined more by word usage than content.
10. Style. http://www.engl.niu.edu/style/archives/abs30_2.htm. Journal: abstracts free online.
11. Pragmatics and Stylistics Research Group. http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/stylist/publications.htm. A short bibliography: not online.
12. Style and Stylistics: Some Sources. Rebecca Moore Howard. http://wrt-howard.syr.edu/Bibs/Style.bib.html. Fairly general bibliography: not online.

 

© C. John Holcombe 2007.   Material can be freely used for non-commercial purposes if cited in the usual way.