Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Define the style of the extract, prove your point of view.

2. State a) the basic theme; b) the central idea of the letter.

3. Decide what prevails in the text - description or narration; what per­son (l^s,/3^rd) presentation the text is and how it influences the reader's per­ception of the idea.

4. Does the text have a simple, or complex, or intricate plot?

5. Is the setting of the events realistic/ historical/ fantastic/ exotic/ rural?

6. Prove whether the interrogative sentence is a rhetoric question or not.

7. Are the phenomena in the text described as long in duration, constant, or reccurent? How is this realised in the sentence structure? Is the sentence simple or composite? Is enumeration homogeneous or heterogeneous? Are the enumerated components joined by means of asyndeton or polysyndeton? What is the stylistic effect of this?

8. Determine whether there is or there is not any text segmentation.

9. Decide and explain whether the tone of the text is formal/ semiformal/ informal/ conversational/ casual/ sympathetic/ cheerful/ vigorous/ serious/ humorous/ mock-serious/ lyrical/ dramatic/ excited/ agitated/ passionate/ im­passive/ detached/ matter-of-fact/ dry/ impartial/ melancholy/ moralising/ unemotional/ pathetic/ sarcastic/ ironical/ sneering/ bitter/ reproachful, etc.

10. Enumerate and prove by illustration what of these phonetic stylistic devices the text contains: a) onomatopoeia (direct or indirect?), b) allitera­tion, c) assonance, d) rhyme, e) rhythm. What are they used for?

11. Define the rhythm of the text.

12. Say whether all the enumerated components present onomatopoeia. What is the stylistic function of this?

13. What stylistic effect does the adjective "quiet" have in the text? What stylistic device(s) is/are represented in this element?

14. Decide if the text has the climax and the denouement.

15. In conclusion, explain how the expressive means and stylistic devic­es characterize the protagonist and the situation.

Theoretical items for independent personal consideration

1. The text communicative pragmatic aim. The category of addressing.

2. Anthropocentrism, modality, and "point of view" in the text.

Literature recommended

1. Долинин К. А. Интерпретация текста (фр. яз.). - М., 1985. - С. 181-283.

2. Домашнев А. И. и др. Интерпретация художественного текста (нем. яз. ). - М., 1989. - С. 52-114.

3. Кухаренко В. А. Интерпретация текста. - М., 1988. - С. 133-188.

4. Мороховский А. Н., Воробьева О. П. и др. Стилистика английс-кого язика. - К., 1991. - С. 227-234.

5. Пелевина Н. Ф. Стилистический анализ художественного тек­ста. - М., 1980. - С. 187-206, 234-237.

Independent personal work 5

Morphological and Graphic Expressive Means, Etc.

Item 1

Sometimes we'd have the whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark - which was a candle in a cabin window - and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two - on a raft or a scow, you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened - Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many. Jim said the moon could a laid them; well, that looked kind of reasonable, so I didn't say nothing against it, because I've seen a frog lay most as many, so of course it could be done. We used to watch the stars that fell, too, and see them streak down. Jim allowed they'd got spoiled and was hove out of the nest.

From Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Define the theme of the extract.

2. Analyse the way and form of presentation - whether the passage is the 1^st/ 3^rd person narration/ description. What is the author's role?

3. Characterise the stylistic value of the following morphological items within the text: the superlative degree form: "we 'd have the whole river all to ourselves for the longest time"; the pronoun "you"; the number catego­ry in "Yonder was the banks and the islands", "they was made..., was hove out of the nest"; the infinitive form: "we used to lay on our backs", "I've seen a frog lay"; expression of correlation: "it would have took too long to make so many", "the moon could a laid them", "of course it could be done"; the double negation: "I didn't say nothing"; double ex­pression of the same syntactic component: "from one of them crafts", "Jim he allowed...". What are those grammatical forms among the mentioned ones that speak of a) the pragmatic intention, b) emotional state, c) educa­tional background of the narrator? Specify.

4. Point out and comment on the stylistic functions of a) detachment, b) asyndeton, c) repetition.

5. Characterise the following metaphors: "the sky, up there, all speck­led with stars"; "the moon could a laid them"; "they'd got spoiled and was hove out of the nest".

6. Define the tone of the piece, the narrator's character, and the idea expressed in the text.

---

Item 2

"E was blinded up 'Eeps way*, sir. Come out o' St. Dunstan's fit f nothin', not a man's work. Weaves mats, or something like that. Course, 'e 's got 'is pension, but what I always ses is, what's a pension to a man what's lost 'is sight? See 'im walkin' past 'ere last week, with 'is ole mother 'olding 'im by the arm t' guide 'im, an' lookin' up at 'im pitiful like. Give me a turn it did, 'im with 'is scarred face - good-lookin' young feller 'e was too once -and 'er leadin' 'im along like a child. Gives up all 'er life to that boy, she does. But she ain't many years for this world, crackin' up fast, she is, and then what's goin' t' look after 'im?'

*'E was blinded up 'Eeps way - Він втратив зір у боях поблизу Іпра (Ypres [i:pr] - Іпр - бельгійське місто, у районі якого рімці влітку 1917 року вперше застосували ядовитий газ, який отримав назву іприт).

From Richard Aldington's The Lads of the Village

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. State the theme and the idea expressed in the extract.

2. Define the form of presentation, its tone, and the narrator's attitude.

3. Characterise the sentence structure and syntactic stylistic peculiari­ties of the extract.

4. Say whether the following questions can be considered rhetoric: "what's a pension to a man what's lost 'is sight?"; "and then what's goin' t' look after 'im?"

5. Point out and analyse cases of morphological transposition. State their function.

6. Enumerate the instances and state the stylistic function of the numer­ous illusions and orthography graphons.

7. Characterise lexico-semantic peculiarities of the following: "Give me a turn it did"; "leadin' 'im along like a child"; "Gives up all 'er life to that boy"; "But she ain't many years for this world, crackin' up fast, she is".

8. Decide whether there is/ are any image(s) disclosed in the extract.

Item 3

The Salmon is ever bred in the fresh Rivers (and in most Rivers about the month of August) and never grows big but in the Sea; and there to an incredible bigness in a very short time; to which place they covet to swim, by the instinct of nature, about a set time: but if they be stopp'd by Mills, Flood­gates or Weirs, or be by accident lost in the fresh water, when the others go (which is usually by flocks or shoals) then they thrive not.

And the old Salmon, both the Melter and Spawner, strive also to get into the Sea before Winter; but being stopped that course, or lost, grow sick in fresh waters, and by degrees unseasonable, and kipper, that is, to have a bony gristle, to grow (not unlike a Hawks beak) on one of this chaps, which hinders him from feeding, and then he pines and dies.

From Izaak Walton's The Complete Angler

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Define the theme disclosed in the extract.

2. Decide and explain whether the subject matter is presented in realis­tic/ historical/ fantastic/ or exotic setting.

3. Characterise stylistic properties of the capitalized and italicized nouns.

4. Analyse syntactic stylistic peculiarities of the extract.

5. Decide whether the extract can be considered an article.

6. Point out and analyse the instances of morphological transposition.

7. Explain what lexico-semantic stylistic devices are observed in the fol­lowing: "not unlike a Hawks beak".

8. Say whether there is any internal/ external conflict, image(s), and what idea is expressed in the extract.

Item 4

The Soul selects her own Society -

Then - shuts the Door -

To her divine Majority -

Present no more -

Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing

At her low Gate -

Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling

Upon her Mat -

I've known her - from an ample nation -

Choose One -

Then - close the Valves of her attention -

Like Stone -

by Emily Dickinson

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. State what idea is expressed in the poem.

2. Analyse the rhyme and rhythm of the piece.

3. Characterise the text segmentation and punctuation. Suggest and ex­plain the division of the poem into sentences.

4. Say what images are presented in the poem and why so many words within the lines are capitalized.

5. Is there any conflict described in the poem? Specify.

6. Characterise a) the types and stylistic functions of the metaphoric expressions; b) the role of the author in the poem.

7. Name the stylistic device and define its pragmatic stylistic function: "Like Stone". Analyse what type of context is specified by this expression.

8. Decide what pragmatic and stylistic effect must have been aimed at by the author in placing a dash even in the end of the poem.

Theoretical items for independent personal consideration

1. Functional stylistic paradigm of the text.

1. Functional semantic paradigm: texts-descriptions, texts-narratives, texts-reflection, texts-dialogues, polylogues.

2. Compositional structural paradigm of the text.

3. Individual paradigm of the author.

---

Literature recommended

1. Борисова Л. В. Практическое пособие по интерпретации тек­ста. - Минск., 1987. - С. 10-27, 47-63, 64-79.

2. Долинин К. А. Интерпретация текста (фр. яз.). - М., 1985. - С. 143-180.

3. Домашнев А. И. и др. Интерпретация художественного текста (нем. яз.). - М., 1989. - С. 115-156.

4. Кухаренко В. А. Интерпретация текста. - М., 1988. - С. 90-132.

5. Пелевина Н. Ф. Стилистический анализ художественного тек­ста. - М., 1980. - С. 184-228.

6. Разинкина Н. М. Функциональная стилистика английского язи­ка. - М., 1989. - С. 98-122.

Independent Personal Work 6

Set Expressions, Etc.

• Idioms

Identify any idioms in these statements.

• She used to let her hair down after a few drinks.

• The sideboard was priceless and very beautiful.

• John and Marlene hit it off right from their first meeting.

• Well, I never understood why there was a smoking ban in the waiting room.

• Well I never! What a lovely surprise to see you here.
  Sometimes we have fish and chips for supper.

Item 1

He was disappointed with Rome. It was still beautiful indeed, but without his father to say 'Here Gibbon* must have heard the monks singing in the Ara Cceli*,' or 'Here's the rostrum - let's see how much we can remember of the Catiline oration*,' the ruins and the churches had somehow lost their charm. And the charm had gone too from Roman life. Cars hooted through the nar­row streets, the old restaurants had vanished in a wholesale demolition, a pinchbeck Americanism had taken the place of the old lazy dignity. The beg­gars had gone, but so had the friendliness and simplicity. Under official en­couragement the age-old society of Judas appeared to have taken on a new lease of life; the Eternal City swarmed with.intellectual English, neo-Thomists* possessed of small Latin and less Greek, and with homosexual peers in violet cassocks. But worst of all, a strange feeling of moral oppressiveness hung over the town. It was unpleasant to feel that he was probably being watched, that an imprudent phrase might involve him in disagreeable results.

*Gibbon - англійський історик Едуард Гіббон (1737-1794), автор багатотомної праці "Історія занепаду та руйнації Римської імперії" (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).

*Ara Cceli (італ. ) — назва стародавньої церкви, яка з середини XIII століття належала чоловічому монастирю.

*the Catiline oration — найвідоміша в історії Стародавнього Риму промова в сенаті консула Ціцерона, який звинувачував Катіліну у змовницькій діяльності, спрямованій на повалення республікансь­кої форми правління (І cm. до н. є. ).

*neo-Thomists - прибічники нео-томізму, реакційної філософсь­кої течії, яка передбачала перегляд учення Фоми Аквінського для відповідності сучасним умовам. Св. Фома Аквінський (XIII cm. ) -представник середньовічної схоластики, учення якого є офіційною доктриною католіцизму.

From Richard Aldington's Meditation on a German Grave

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Define the subject matter of the extract and the form of its presentation.

2. Characterise the tone of the piece, and analyse what predetermines the atmosphere - the person-image or the city-image?

3. Explain what exactly the author contrasts through the expression "It [Rome] was still beautiful indeed, but..." and the following description.

4. Define, judging by the quotations, what must have been the protago­nist's first consideration.

5. Point out allusions and specify their source.

6. Analyse the stylistic effect of linking repetition within the following: "the ruins and the churches had somehow lost their charm. And the charm had gone too from Roman life."

7. Enumerate those items of situation in Rome which are disclosed in parallel constructions. Is there any kind of climax or contrast? Specify.

8. Characterise all metaphoric and metonymic expressions used in the extract as to their types and functions.

9. Whose attitude obviously prevails in the text - the author's, or the character's? Explain you point of view.

Item 2

I will always remember how staggered I was when an American col­league said that I was as blind as a bat. Although no native speaker of English would give the term a moment's thought, in Ukrainian folklore bats are always associated with evil, and because of this I was deeply shocked. After a few seconds of reflection, I could see that it is really no worse than being as blind as a mole (our Ukrainian equivalent). In another instance, I was un­pleasantly surprised by the words of my Harvard friend who said that I work like a beaver. Personally unacquainted with any beavers in Ukraine, I, of course, could not appreciate that this was a really complimentary compari­son. My friend, no less a workaholic than me, would probably be greatly surprised if I compared him - a very substantial man weighing more than 200 pounds - to a little bee, which is exactly what we would say in Ukrainian.

---

From Oksana Zabuzhko's essay When in Rome... in Panorama

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. What is the subject matter of the extract?

2. Define the style and the types of context observed in the narration.

3. How many cases of English-Ukrainian phraseologic discrepancy are described in the text? Point out and translate all the set expressions.

4. Was the author's experience pleasant or unpleasant to her? Is this exactly reflected in the tone of the narration? Characterise the tone.

5. Analyse the syntactic and lexical stylistic properties of the extract.

6. What idea is expressed in the extract?

Item 3

He spoke with homicidal eloquence, keeping the game alive with genial and well-judged jokes. He had a Sergeant to assist him. The Sergeant, a tall sinewy machine, had been trained to such a pitch of frightfulness that at a moment's warning he could divest himself of all semblance of humanity. With rifle and bayonet he illustrated the Major's ferocious aphorisms, including facial expression. When told to "put on a killing face", he did so, combining it with an ultravindictive attitude. "To instil fear into the opponent" was one of the Major's main maxims. Man, it seemed, had been created to jab the life out of Germans. To hear the Major talk, one might have thought that he did it himself every day before breakfast.

Afterwards I went up the hill to my favourite sanctuary, a wood of ha­zels and beeches. The evening air smelt of wet mould and wet leaves; the trees were misty-green; the church bell was tolling in the town, and smoke rose from the roofs. Peace was there in the twilight of that prophetic foreign spring. But the lecturer's voice still battered on my brain. "The bullet and the bayonet are brother and sister." "If you don't kill, he'll kill you."

From Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Define the theme and the idea disclosed in the extract.

2. Characterise the type and stylistic effect of the subject matter presen­tation.

3. How many and what logical parts can the extract be divided into? What is the stylistic function and tone peculiarity of each part separately and in connection?

4. Analyse a) the setting (realistic/ historical/ fantastic/ exotic/ rural); b) the approximately obvious span of time the extract covers; c) the kind of narrative flow (straight/ complex/ circular/ frame-like).

5. What stylistic device the writer resorts to in order to name the war representing characters - Sergeant, Major? What impressions of the charac­ter of the protagonist do you derive from this passage?

6. Define the type and stylistic contextual essence of the expressions "put on the killing face", "to instil fear into the opponent", "The bullet and the bayonet are brother and sister", "If you don't kill, he'll kill you" rendered in inverted commas in the extract.

7. Analyse stylistic functions of other expressive means and stylistic de­vices within the extract.

8. Make a conclusion of the character of the writer.

Item 4

'Oh dear!' said Grimes despondently, gazing into his glass.'Oh, Lord! oh, Lord! That I should come to this!'

'Cheer up, Grimes. It isn't like you to be as depressed as this,' said Paul.

'Old friends,' said Grimes - and his voice was charged with emotion -'you see a man standing face to face with retribution. Respect him even if you cannot understand. Those that live by the flesh shall perish by the flesh. * I am a very sinful man, and I am past my first youth. Who shall pity me in that dark declivity to which my steps inevitably seem to tend? I have boasted in my youth and held my head high and gone on my way careless of consequence, but ever behind me, unseen, stood stark Justice with his two-edged sword.' *

More food was brought them. Mr Prendergast ate with a hearty appetite.

'Oh, why did nobody warn me?' cried Grimes in his agony.'I should have been told. They should have told me in so many words. They should have warned me about Flossie, not about the fires of hell. I've risked them, and I don't mind risking them again, but they should have told me about marriage. ' [...]

*Those that live by the flesh shall perish by the flesh - вислів Граймса утворений за аналогією з біблейським: all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Євангеліє від Матфея, 26, 52)

^Justice with his two-edged sword - на увазі у давньогрецькій міфології богиня помсти Немезіда, зображувана із двосторонньо гострим мечем — символом помсти.

From Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. The extract describes despair of one of the characters because of his forthcoming marriage. Analyse the tone of the piece - whether (and in what part exactly) it is formal/ semiformal/ informal/ conversational/ casual/ sym­pathetic/ cheerful/ vigorous/ serious/ humorous/ mock-serious/ lyrical/ dra­matic/ excited/ agitated/ passionate/ impassive/ detached/ matter-of-fact/ dry/ impartial/ melancholy/ moralising/ unemotional/ pathetic/ sarcastic/ ironical/ sneering/ bitter/ reproachful, etc. Specify your consideration.

2. Explain how the exclamations and allusions (point them out) made by the protagonist in the extract, as well as his friend's words and his own judge­ment of himself, characterise him.

3. Analyse stylistic functions of other expressive means and stylistic de­vices within the extract.

4. Make a conclusion of the style and the idea disclosed in the extract.

---

Theoretical items for independent personal consideration

1. The problem of intertextual relations. Intertextuality and its types.

2. Intertextuality and the problem of the text comprehension.

Literature recommended

1. Долинин К. А. Интерпретация текста (фр. яз.). - М., 1985. - С. 63-99.

2. Домашнев А. И. и др. Интерпретация художественного текста (нем. яз. ). - М., 1989. - С. 115-156.

1. Кухаренко В. А. Интерпретация текста. - М., 1988. - С. 79-89.

3. Разинкина Н. М. Функциональная стилистика английского язн-ка.-М., 1989.-С. 98-122.

Independent personal work 7

Overall Stylistic Analysis

Item 1

A winter morning; a sombre and secluded library; leather bound unread, unreadable books lining the walls; below the windows, subdued, barely per­ceptible, like the hum of a mowing machine in summer on distant lawns, the sound of London traffic; overhead, in blue and white plaster, an elegant Adam ceiling*; a huge heap of glowing coal in the marble fireplace; a leather topped, mahogany writing-table; the pen poised indecisively above the foolscap -what more is needed to complete the picture of a leisured litterateur embark­ing upon his delicate labour?

Alas! too much. An elderly man has just entered, picked up a French novel and glanced at me resentfully. This is not my library. Nor, in the words of a French exercise, are these my pens, ink or paper. I am in my Club, in the room set aside for silence and heavy after-luncheon sleep. It is three days past the date on which I promised delivery of copy. Leisured litterateur my foot.

'Eats well, sleeps well, but the moment he sees a job of work he comes over queer.' That is my trouble, an almost fanatical aversion from pens, ink or paper.

*Adam ceiling — стеля у стилі Адама; на увазі неокласичний стиль англійської архітектури, названий за ім'ям архітектора Роберта Адама (1728-1792).

From Evelyn Waugh's General Conversation: Myself...

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Analyse the theme and the idea disclosed in the extract.

1. Define the way of the subject matter presentation, and the notion "author" of the piece.

2. How many and what logical parts can the extract be subdivided into?

2. Characterise the tone of the extract utterances. What lexical expres­sive means help to identify it?

3. Analyse the types and functions of the syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices observed in the extract.

4. Explain what is expressed in the repetition of the following enumerat­ed objects: "pens, ink or paper" and the phrase "leisured litterateur."

5. Analyse pragmatic stylistic essence of the quotation: "Eats well, sleeps well, but the moment he sees a job of work he comes over queer." What are the other means characterising the protagonist? What image is created through them?

6. What is the compositional and pragmatic correspondence between the first and the subsequent paragraphs? Specify the stylistic essence of the rhetoric question "what more is needed to complete the picture of a lei­sured litterateur embarking upon his delicate labour?" and the elliptical answer "Alas! too much." Make a conclusion about the author's judgement of the profession of a writer.

Item 2

It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping in­visible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine tonight in the snouting, velvet dingles) or blind as Captain Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows' weeds. And all people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now.

From Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood

Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. Say what can be considered the subject matter of the extract.

2. What tone prevails in the piece?

3. Analyse the syntactic and compositional arrangement of the three utterances within the extract.

4. What are the stylistic functions of simile and detachment in the second sentence? What effect is produced by the second instance of simile contain­ing allusion?

5. Point out all cases of alliteration observed in the text and analyse whether they serve any pragmatic function.

6. Characterise the types and stylistic functions of all metaphoric ex­pressions used in the extract. What image is created by their means?

Item 3

It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood it was a town of unnat­ural red and black like the painted face of a savage. It was a town of machin­ery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of buildings full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.

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