Part-2 Applied Stylistics

Approaches to the Study of Literature

When we use the word ’reading1 we usually think of it as receiving
information fn source. We often want that information to be clear with an
exact meaning. A warning piece of dangerous machinery or a recipe both
need to be clear and precise. How< literary text we often use the word
’readings’, in its plural form. This suggests that thes mean different things to
different people, or that we can hold different meanings in our u same time.
We often say of a word, phrase or even a whole text ’it could mean this, but o
hand it might mean something else’. Or even, ’I think it means both of these
things’.

Many things can influence our readings of texts.

A list might include:

• the historical period in which the text is being read

• the experiences that the reader brings to the text

• whether the reader has read the text before

• the gender of the reader

• the social and political beliefs of the reader.

• the context in which the text is being read

• the need to interpret the text for performance Context of Literature

Literary criticism is primarily concerned with discussing individual works of

literati most important thing is to read and reread the books you are studying
trying to decide what 1 about and how they work. An awareness of the larger
context into which any work fits can h understand the individual text. There
are two contexts in which a text is to be seen.

1. Generic Context

2. Historical Context

Generic Context: or Genre means a type or class of literature such as Poetry,

Drama and j but earlier epic, tragedy, comedy and satire were taken genres
but they now fall in sub genres the 18th century, genres were fixed entities.
The advantage is that they tell us what kind of te are reading. The writer also
chooses a mode to write in for example, if the writer writes poefc will choose
either, elegy or sonnet as his mode and likewise if he wants to write Drama,
hi choose comedy or tragedy etc. for much of author’s originality lies in what
he adds to the estabJj conventions and patterns of the genre and mode within
which he is working. Every woj literature has generic context and in addition,
Historical context too. New Critics disregard g approach and take the rext as
autonomous body of investigation. Recent critics like Northrop favors to judge
literature in its totality in terms of different genres.

Historical Context: It belongs to a particular periods. Writers at a given time

tend to h similar concerns and often-similar values. A awareness of the
historical context of a writer, ti should tell you what you can expect to
encounter in. So generic and historical information is vita understand
literature in true perspectives.

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515

Two Aspects of Literary Study

Such a study of Literature as that for which the present effort is designed
includes two purposes, contributing to a common end. In the first place (I),
the student must gain some general knowledge of the conditions out of which
English literature has come into being, as a whole and during its successive
periods, that is of the external facts of one sort or another without which it
cannot be understood. This means chiefly (1) tracing in a general way, from
period to period, the social life of the nation, and (2) getting some
acquaintance with the lives of the more important authors. The principal
thing, however (II), is the direct study of the literature itself. This study in turn
should aim first at an understanding of the literature as an expression of the
authors’ views of life and of their personalities and especially as a portrayal
and interpretation of the life of their penods and of all life as they have seen
it; it should aim further at an appreciation of each literary work as a product
of Fine Art, appealing with peculiar power both to our minds and to our
emotions, not least to the sense of Beauty and the whole higher nature. In
the present book, it should perhaps be added, the word Literature is generally
interpreted in the strict sense, as including only writing of permanent
significance and beauty. Substance and Form

The most thoroughgoing of all distinctions in literature, as in the other Fine

Arts, is that between (1) Substance, the essential content and meaning of the
work, and (2) Form, the manner in which it is expressed (including narrative
structure, external style, in poetry verse-form, and many related matters).
This distinction should be kept in mind, but in what follows it will not be to our
purpose to emphasize it.

.General Matters

First and always in considering any piece of literature a student should ask
himself the estion already implied: Does it present a true portrayal of life-of
the permanent elements in all > and in human nature, of the life or thought
of its own particular period, and (in most sorts of oks) of the persons, real or
imaginary, with whom it deals? If it properly accomplishes this main ose,
when the reader finishes it he should feel that his understanding of life and of
people has en increased and broadened. But it should always be remembered
that truth is quite as much a atter of general spirit and impression as of literal
accuracy in details of fact. The essential question [ not, Is the presentation of
life and character perfect in a photographic fashion? but Does it convey !
underlying reatitiesl

Other things being equal, the value of a book, and especially of an author’s
whole work, is \ proportional to its range, that is to the breadth and variety of
the life and characters, which it I presents.
A student should not form his judgments merely from what is technically
called the dogmatic point of view, but should try rather to adopt that of
historical criticism. This means that he should take into account the
limitations imposed on every author by the age in which he lived. If you find
that the poets of the Anglo-Saxon ’Beowulf have given a clear and interesting
picture of the life of our barbarous ancestors of the sixth or seventh century
A. D., you should not blame them for a lack of the finer elements of feeling
and expression which after a thousand years of civilization distinguish such
delicate spirits as Keats and Tennyson.

It is often important to consider also whether the author’s personal method is

objective, which means that he presents life and character without bias; or
subjective, coloring his work with his personal tastes, feelings and
impressions. Subjectivity may be a falsifying influence, but it may also be an
important virtue, adding intimacy, charm, or force.

Further, one may ask whether the author has a deliberately formed theory of
life; and if so how
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A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AND S

it shows itself, and, of course, how sound it is.

Intellect, Emotion, Imagination, & Related Qualities

Another main question in judging any book concerns the union which it
shows: ( Intellectual faculty, that which enables the author to understand and
control his mat< present it with directness and clearness; and (2) of the
Emotion, which gives warmth, ent and appealing human power. The relative
proportions of these two faculties vary greatly in different sorts. Exposition
(as in most essays) cannot as a rule be permeated with so much as narration
or, certainly, as lyric poetry. In a great book the relation of the two facultie
course properly correspond to form and spirit. Largely a matter of Emotion is
the Personal S] of the author for his characters, while Intellect has a large
share in Dramatic Sympathy, whe author enters truly into the situations and
feelings of any character, whether he personally li or not. Largely made up of
Emotion are: (1) true Sentiment, which is fine feeling of any si which should
not degenerate into Sentimentalism (exaggerated tender feeling); (2) Hun
instinctive sense for that which is amusing; and (3) the sense for Pathos.
Pathos differs from 1 in that Tragedy (whether in a drama or elsewhere) is the
suffering of persons who are struggle against it, Pathos the suffering of those
persons (children, for instance) who are helpless victims. Wit, the brilliant
perception of incongruities, is a matter of Intellect a complement of Humor.

Imagination and Fancy

Related to Emotion also and one of the most necessary elements in the
higher foi literature is Imagination, the faculty of making what is absent or
unreal seem present and rea revealing the hidden or more subtile forces of
life. Its main operations may be classified under heads: (1) Pictorial and
Presentative. It presents to the author’s mind, and through him to the i of his
readers, all the elements of human experience and life (drawing from his
actual experiei his reading). 2. Selective, Associative, and Constructive. From
the unorganized material brought clearly to the author’s consciousness
Imagination next selects the details which ca turned to present use, and
proceeds to combine them, uniting scattered traits and incidents, pei from
widely different sources, into new characters, stories, scenes, and ideas. The
characters of’ Marner,’ for example, never had an actual existence, and the
precise incidents of the story r took place in just that order and fashion, but
they were all constructed by the author’s imagine out of what she had
observed of many real persons and events, and so make, in the most signifi
sense, a true picture of life. 3. Penetrative and Interpretative. In its subtlest
operations, furl Imagination penetrates below the surface and comprehends
and brings to light the deeper fo and facts-the real controlling instincts of
characters, the rea’ motives for actions, and the relati of material things to
those of the spiritual world and of Man to Nature and God.
Fancy may for convenience be considered as a distinct faculty, though it is
really the ligh partly superficial, aspect of Imagination. It deals with things not
essentially or significantly tr amusing us with striking or pleasing suggestions,
such as seeing faces in the clouds, which van almost as soon as they are
discerned. Both Imagination and Fancy naturally express themselv often and
effectively, through the use of metaphors, similes, and suggestive condensed
language, painful contrast to them stands commonplaceness, always a fatal
fault.

Idealism, Romance, and Realism

Among the most important literary qualities also are Idealism, Romance, and
Realism, philosophical theory that suggests that external world is created by
the mind. Realism, in the broa sense, means simply the presentation of the
actual, depicting life as one sees it, objectively, withoi such selection as aims
deliberately to emphasize some particular aspects, such as the pleasant o
attractive ones. (Of course all literature is necessarily based on the ordinary
facts of life, which wi
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517

call by the more general name of Reality.) Carried to the extreme, Realism
may become loble, dealing too frankly or in unworthy spirit with the baser
side of reality, and in almost all this sort of Realism has actually attempted to
assert itself in literature. Idealism, the tendency isite to Realism, seeks to
emphasize the spiritual and other higher elements, often to bring out spiritual
values which lie beneath the surface. It is an optimistic interpretation of life,
looking for it is good and permanent beneath all the surface confusion.
Romance may be called Idealism in realm of sentiment. It aims largely to
interest and delight, to throw over life a pleasing glamor; it lerally deals with
love or heroic adventure; and it generally locates its scenes and characters in
.nt times and places, where it can work unhampered by our consciousness of
the humdrum alines of our daily experience. It may always be asked whether
a writer of Romance makes his world seem convincingly real as we read or
whether he frankly abandons all plausibility. The presence or absence of a
supernatural element generally makes an important difference. Entitled to
special mention, also, is spiritual Romance, where attention is centered not
on external events, which may here be treated in somewhat shadowy
fashion, but on the deeper questions of life. Spiritual Romance, therefore, is
essentially idealistic.

Dramatic Power

Dramatic power, in general, means the presentation of life with the vivid
active reality of life character which especially distinguishes the acted drama.
It is, of course, one of the main things to be desired in most narrative; though
sometimes the effect sought may be something different, as, for instance, in
romance and poetry, an atmosphere of dreamy beauty. In a drama, and to
some extent in other forms of narrative, dramatic power culminates in the
ability to bring out the great cnses with supreme effectiveness.

Characters

There is, generally speaking, no greater test of an author’s skill than his
knowledge and presentation of characters. We should consider whether he
makes them (1) merely caricatures, or (2) type characters, standing for
certain general traits of human nature but not convincingly real or especially
significant persons, or (3) genuine individuals with all the inconsistencies and
halfrevealed tendencies that in actual life belong to real personality. Of
course in the case of important characters, the greater the genuine
individuality the greater the success. But with secondary characters the
principles of emphasis and proportion generally forbid very distinct
individualization; and sometimes, especially in comedy (drama), truth of
character is properly sacrificed to other objects, such as the main effect. It
may also be asked whether the characters are simple, as some people are in
actual life, or complex, like most interesting persons; whether they develop,
as all real people must under the action of significant experience, or whether
the author merely presents them in brief situations or lacks the power to
make them anything but stationary. If there are several of them it is a further
question whether the author properly contrasts them in such a way as to
secure interest. And a main requisite is that he shall properly motivate their
actions, that is make their actions result naturally from their characters,
either their controlling traits or their temporary impulses.

Structure

In any work of literature there should be definite structure. This requires, (1)
Unity, (2) Variety, (3) Order, (4) Proportion, and (5) due Emphasis of parts.
Unity means that everything included in the work ought to contribute directly
or indirectly to the main effect. Very often a definite theme may be found
about which the whole work centers, as for instance in ’Macbeth,’ The Ruin of
a Man through Yielding to Evil. Sometimes, however, as in a lyric poem, the
effect intended may be the rendering or creation of a mood, such as that of
happy content, and in that case the poem may not have an easily expressible
concrete theme.
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A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AND S

Order implies a proper beginning, arrangement, progress, and a definite

ending. In including all stories whether in prose or verse and also the drama,
there should be traceat of Action, comprising generally: (1) an Introduction,
stating the necessary preliminarie! Initial Impulse, the event which really sets
in motion this particular story; (3) a Rising Act Main Climax. Sometimes
(generally, in Comedy) the Main Climax is identical with the C sometimes
(regularly in Tragedy) the Main Climax is a turning point and comes near the
E the story. In that case it really marks the beginning of the success of the
side which victorious at the end (in Tragedy the side opposed to the hero) and
it initiates (5) a Fallinc corresponding to the Rising Action, and sometimes of
much the same length, wherein th side struggles to maintain itself. After (6)
the Outcome, may come (7) a brief tranq Conclusion. The Antecedent Action
is that part of the characters’ experiences which precc events of the story. If
it has a bearing, information about it must be given either in the Intro or
incidentally later on. Sometimes, however, the structure just indicated may
not be folli story may begin in the middle, and the earlier part may be told
later on in retrospect, or incic indicated, like the Antecedent Action.

If in any narrative there is one or more Secondary Action, a story which might
be sej from the Main Action and viewed as complete in itself, criticism should
always ask whet] Main and Secondary Actions are properly unified. In the
strictest theory there should essential connection between them; for
instance, they may illustrate different and p contrasting aspects of the
general theme. Often, however, an author introduces a Secondary merely for
the sake of variety or to increase the breadth of his picture-in order to
present a section of society instead of one narrow stratum or group. In such
cases, he must genera judged to have succeeded if he has established an
apparent unity, say by mingling the characters in the two actions, so that
readers are not readily conscious of the lack of real stru unity.

Other things to be considered in narrative are: Movement, which, unless for

special rec should be rapid, at least not slow and broken; Suspense; general
Interest; and the que: whether or not there are good situations and good
minor climaxes, contributing to the interest whether or not motivation is
good, apart from that which results from character, that is wh events are
properly represented as happening in accordance with the law of cause and
effect« inexorably governs actual life. But it must always be remembered that
in such writing as Coi and Romance the strict rules of motivation must be
relaxed, and indeed in all literature, eve Tragedy, the idealization,
condensation, and heightening which are the proper methods ol require them
to be slightly modified.

Descriptive Power

Usually secondary in appearance but of vital artistic importance, is the

author’s powe description, of picturing both the appearance of his characters
and the scenes which make background and help to give the tone of his work.
Perhaps four subjects of description may distinguished:

External Nature. Here such questions as the following are of varying

importance, according the character and purpose of the work: Does the
author know and care for Nature and frequer introduce descriptions? Are the
descriptions concrete and accurate, or on the other hand purpoa general
(impressionistic) or carelessly superficial? Do they give fine variations of
appearance a impression, such as delicate shiftings of light and shade and
delicate tones of color? Are th powerfully sensuous, that is do they appeal
strongly to the physical senses, of sight (color, light, ai movement), sound
(including music), smell, taste, touch, and general physical sensation? How
gre is their variety? Do they deal with many parts of Nature, for example the
sea, mountains, plain
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519

;, and clouds? Is the love of external beauty a passion with the author? What
is the author’s toward Nature--(l) does he view Nature in a purely objective
way, as d mass, of material igs, a series of material phenomena or a mere
embodiment of sensuous beauty; or (2) is there m or mysticism in his
attitude, that is-does he view Nature with awe as a spiritual power; (3) is he
thoroughly subjective, reading his own moods into Nature or using Natuie
chiefly for the ion of his moods? Or again, does the author describe with
merely expository purpose, to the background of his work clear?

Individual Persons and Human Life: Is the author skilful in descriptions of

personal •ance and dress? Does he produce his impressions by full
enumeration of details, or by iphasis on prominent or characteristic details?
How often and how fully does he describe scenes human activity (such as a
street scene, a social gathering, a procession on the march)?

How frequent and how vivid are his descriptions of the inanimate background
of human hfebuildings, intenors of rooms, and the rest? 4. Does the author
skilfully use description to create the general atmosphere in which he wishes
to invest his work-an atmosphere of cheerfulness, of mystery, of activity, or
any of a hundred other moods? Style

Style in general means ’manner of writing.’ In the broad sense it includes

everything pertaining to the author’s spirit and point of view-almost
everything which is here being discussed. More narrowly considered, as
’external style,’ it designates the author’s use of language Questions to be
asked 11. regard to external style are such as these: Is it good or bad, careful
or careless, clear and easy or confused and difficult; simple or complex; terse
and forceful (perhaps colloquial) or involved and stately; eloquent, balanced,
rhythmical; vigorous, or musical, languid, delicate and irative; varied or
monotonous; plain or figurative; poor or rich in connotation and poetic
suggestiveness; beautiful, or only clear and strong? Are the sentences mostly
long or short; periodic loose; mostly of one type, such as the declarative, or
with frequent introduction of such other as the question and the exclamation?
The manner of expression of a particular writer, iuced by choice of words,
grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of
language use. Some general styles might include scientific, ornate, plain,
emotive. Most writers have their own particular styles.

fay
Most of what has thus far been said applies to* both Prose and Poetry. But in
Poetry, as the iture especially characterized in general by high Emotion,
Imagination, and Beauty, finer and lore delicate effects are to be sought than
in Prose. Poetry, generally speaking, is the expression of deeper nature; it
belongs peculiarly to the realm of the spirit. On the side of poetical
expression Isuch imaginative figures of speech as metaphors and similes, and
such devices as alliteration, prove especially helpful. It may be asked further
of poetry, whether the meter and stanza structure are appropriate to the
mood and thought -and so handled as to bring out the emotion effectively;
and iwhether the sound is adapted to the sense (for example, musical where
the idea is of peace or quiet uty). If the sound of the words actually imitates
the sound of the thing indicated, the effect is ;ed Onomatopoeia. Among
kinds of poetry, according to form, the most important are: (1) farrative,
which includes many subordinate forms, such as the Epic. (2) Lyric. Lyric
poems are iressions of spontaneous emotion and are necessarily short. (3)
Dramatic, including not merely drama but all poetry of vigorous action. (4)
Descriptive, like Goldsmith’s ’Deserted Village’ and Tennyson’s ’Dream of Fair
Women.’ Minor kinds are: (5) Satiric; and’ (6) Didactic.

Highly important in poetry is Rhythm, but the word means merely ’flow,’ so
that rhythm belongs to prose as well as to poetry. Good rhythm is merely a
pleasing succession of sounds. Meter, the distinguishing formal mark of
poetry and all verse, is merely rhythm which is regular in certain
A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AND

fundamental respects, roughly speaking is rhythm in which the recurrence of

stressed syllables feet with definite time-values is regular. There is no proper
connection either in spelling meaning between rhythm and rime (which is
generally misspelled ’rhyme’). The adjective from ’rhythm’ is ’rhythmical’;
there is no adjective from ’rime’ except ’rimed.’ The word Verse’in general
sense includes all writing in meter. Poetry is that verse which has real literary
merit ’ very different and narrower sense Verse’ means ’line’ (never properly
’stanza’).

Classicism and Romanticism

Classicism describes the style, historical period, or quality of a work of art,

literature, or music; the terms originally were associated with the aesthetic
achievements of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. However, they
have come to have much broader meanings and applications, Strictly
speaking, a classic is any ancient Greek or Roman literary work of the first or
highest quality- for example, the works of the Greek dramatist Sophocles and
the Roman poet Virgil. In a broad sense, the term classic is applied to
anything accepted either as a model of excellence or as a work of enduring
cultural relevance and value.

Romanticism, a movement in the literature of virtually every country of

Europe, the Unif States, and Latin America that lasted from about 1750 to
about 1870, characterized by reliance the imagination and subjectivity of
approach, freedom of thought and expression, and idealization of nature. The
term romantic first appeared in 18th-century English and ori meant
”romancelike”-that is, resembling the fanciful character of medieval
romances.

Inspiration for the romantic approach initially came from two great shapers of
thought, Fi philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and German writer Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe.

Rousseau established the cult of the individual and championed the freedom
of the hi spirit; his famous announcement was ”I felt before I thought.” The
preface to the second Lyrical Ballads, by English poets William Wordsworth
and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was prime importance as a manifesto of literary
romanticism. Here, the two poets affirmed importance of feeling and
imagination to poetic creation and disclaimed conventional literary and
subjects. Two of the most important contrasting ten lencies of style in the
general sense Classicism and Romanticism. Classicism means those qualities
which are most characteristic of best literature of Greece and Rome. It is in
fact partly identical with Idealism. It aims to express inner truth or central
principles of things, without anxiety for minor details, and it is by largely
intellectual in quality, though not by any means to the exclusion of emotion.
In o form, therefore, it insists on correct structure, restraint, careful finish and
avoidance of all ’Paradise Lost,’ Arnold’s ’Sohrab and Rustum,’ and Addison’s
essays are Modern examples Romanticism, which in general prevails in
Modern literature, lays most emphasis on independence and fulness of
expression and on strong emotion, and it may be comparatively careless of
form Tie Classical style has well been called sculpturesque, the Romantic
picturesque. The virtues of the Classical are exquisiteness and incisive
significance; of the Romantic, richness and splendor. The dangers of the
Classical are coldness and formality; of the Romantic, over-luxuriance,
formlessness and excess of emotion.

There are two distinct tendencies in English literature: All work of literature
before the II century was largely classic in nature. The distinctive symptoms
of classicism are: belief in emphasis on the civilized, modern and
sophisticated mode of live for man as a social interest in urban society,
preoccupation with human nature, realistic recognition of impersonal
objectivity, interest in public themes and order and ideals of formality and
tendencies to the great Greek and Roman works of Literature. Romanticism
is: belief in feeling and imagination, emphasis on the ancient mode of life,
extreme subjectivity, private themes and emphasis on individual. In short,
Classicism teaches us social integrity and formalism while
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF UTEATURE 521

Romanticism teaches us escapism.

The distinctive qualities of Classicism and Romanticism are the following:

Classicism:

1.1. Belief in reason

. Stress on the civilized, modern and sophisticated mode of life

3. Interest in urban society j(. Preoccupation with human nature p. Love for
mundane actuality f. Satirical tendency B. Expression of accepted moral truth
9. Realistic reconition of things . Belief in good and evil - classicism is more of
practical nature.

iticism: J. Belief in feelings, imaginations and intuition

2. Emphasis on the primaive, medieval and natural modes of life

3. Aesthetic and spiritual value of nature . Faith in progress

. Popularity of image and symbols - it is more of imaginative nature.

Critical Approach to Poetry

[The process of analyzing a poem

The elements of analysis discussed below are designed to help you identify
the ways in which [ poetry makes its meaning, especially its ’parts’; they do
not give a sense of how one goes about ! analyzing a poem. It is difficult to
give a prescription, as different poems call on different aspects of I poetry,
different ways of reading, different relationships between feeling, i mages
and meanings, I and so forth. My general advice, however, is this:

1. look at the title

2. read the poem for the major indicators of its meaning -- what aspects of
setting, of topic, of \ voice (the person who is speaking) seem to dominate, to
direct your reading?

3. read the ending of the poem -- decide where it ’gets to’

4. divide the poem into parts: try to understand what the organization is, how
the poem proceeds, and what elements or principles guide this organization
(is there a reversal, a climax, a

I sequence of some kind, sets of oppositions?)

5. pay attention to the tone of the poem - in brief, its attitude to its subject,
as that is revealed ; in intonation, nuance, the kind of words used, and so
forth.

6. now that you’ve looked at the title, the major indicators of ’topic’, the
ending, the [ organization, the tone, read the poem out loud, trying to project
its meaning in your reading. As you f gradually get a sense of how this poem
is going, what its point and drift is, start noticing more about
1 how the various elements of the poetry work to create its meaning. This
may be as different as the

kind of imagery used, or the way it uses oppositions, or the level of realism or
symbolism of its use of
• the natural world.

Reading poetry well is a balance among and conjunction of qualities:

experience, attention,

engagement with the qualities which make the poem resonant or compelling,
close reading of i structure and relationships. It’s an acquired talent, you have
to learn it. When you do, however, : more and more meaning, power and
beauty start leaping out at you. ; Elements of Analysis

Here then are some questions to apply to your analysis in order to see how
the poem is making
A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AN1

its meaning: they cover genre, the speaker, the subject, the structure,
setting, in statements, the sound of the poetry, language use, mtertexruality,
the way the reader it the poem, the poem’s historical placement, and
ideology or ’world-view’

1. What is the genre, or form, of the poem?

Is it a sonnet, an elegy, a lyric, a narrative, a dramatic monologue, an epistle,
an epic many more). Different forms or genres have different subjects, aims,
conventions and at love sonnet, for instance, is going io talk about different
aspects of human experience ii ways with different emphases than is a
political satire, and our recognition of these atf form o. genre is part of the
meaning of the poem.

2. Who is speaking in the poem?

Please remember thai if the voice of the poem says ”I”, that doesn’t mean it
is the auta speaking: it is a voice in the poem whicfi speaks, The voice can be
undramatized (it’s just a doesn’t identify jiieif), or dramatized (the voice says
”I”, or the voice is clearly that of a p persona, s dramatized character).

Identify the voice. What does the voice have to do with what is happening in
the poem, its attitude, what is the tone of the voice (tone can be viewed as
an expression of attitude involved in the action ;r reflection of the poem is the
voice? What is the perspective or ’point i of the speaker*’ The perspective
can be social, intellectual, political, even physical - there an different
perspectives, but they all contribute to the voice’s point of view, which point
of view how the world of the poem is seen, and how we respond,

3. What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the poem

What, that is to say, is it apparently ’about’? Start with the basic situation,
and move to coi any key statements; any obvious or less obvious conflicts,
tensions, ambiguities; key relation! especially conflicts, parallels, contrasts;
any climaxes or problems posed or solved (or not sol the poem’s tone; the
historical, social, and emotional setting.

4. What is the structure of the poem?

There are two basic kinds of structure, formal and thematic.

Formal structure is the way the poem goes together in terms of its
component parts: if there parts -- stanza’s, paragraphs or such ~ then there
will be a relation between the parts (for instai the first stanza may give the
past, the second the present, the third the future).
Thematic structure, known in respect to fiction as ’plot’, is the way the
argument presentation of the material of the poem is developed. For instance
a poem might state a problem eight Lines, an answer to the problem in the
next six; of the eight lines stating the problem, foi might provide a concrete
example, four a reflection on what the example implies. There may well b
very close relations between formal and thematic structure. When looking at
thematic structure, yoi might look for conflicts, ambiguities and uncertainties,
the tensions in the poem, as these give deai guides to the direction of
meanings in the poem, the poem’s ’in-tensions’.

5. How does the poem make use of setting?

There is the setting in terms of time and place, and there is the setting in
terms of the phy world described in the poem.

In terms of the physical world of the poem, setting can be used for a variety
of purposes. A t might be described in specific detail, a concrete, specific,
tree; or it might be used in a more I way, to create mood or associations, with
say the wind blowing mournfully through the willows; or| might be used as a
motif, the tree that reminds me of Kathryn, or of my youthful dreams; 01 it j
be used symbolically, as for instance an image of organic life; or it might be
used allegorically, i
’PROACHES TO THE STUDY OF LITEATURE

523

representation of the cross of Christ (allegory ties an image or event to a

specific interpretation, a ie or idea; symbols refer to broader, more
generalized meanings). Consider this a spectrum, specific, concrete, to
abstract, allegoriraliconcrete - tonal -- connotative - syMolic -

meal

How does the poem use imagery?

”Imagery” refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kirdf. Ci s, is
the image” of the physical setting, described above. The other kind is images
as figures of speech, such as metaphors. iese figures of speech extend the
imaginative range, the complexity and comprehensibility of the ;. They can
be very brief, a word or two, a glistening fragment of msighi, a chance
connection int a blaze (warming or destroying) of understanding; or they can
be extended analogies, such as Donne’s ’conceits’or Milton!? epic similes.

7, Are there key statements or conflicts in the poem that appear to be

central to its

meaning?

Is the poem direct or indirect in making its meanings? If there are no key
statements, are there or central symbol, repetitions, actions, motifs (recurring
images), or the like?

8, How does the sound of the poetry contribute to its meaning?

J_, Pope remarked that ”the sound must seem an echo to the sense”: both the
rhythm and the fwnd of the words themselves (individually and as they fit
together) contribute to the meaning.

9, Examine the use of language.

I What kinds of words are used? How much and to what ends does the poet
rely on connotation, irthe associations that words have (as ”stallion” connotes
a certain kind of horse with certain sorts gfuses)? Does the poem use puns,
double meanings, ambiguities of meaning?

10, Can you see any ways in which the poem refers to, uses or relies
on previous

rating?
This is known as allusion or intertextuality. When U-2’s Bono writes ”I was
thirsty and you flssea my lips” in ”Tnp Through Your Wires,” the meaning of
the line is vastly extended if you kro^v tot this is a reference to Matthew
25:35 in the Bible, where Jesus says to the saved in explanation of what they
did right. ”I war th’Tty and you wet my lips ”

1! What qualities does the poem evoke in the reader?

What sorts of learning, experience, taste and interest would the ’-’deal’ or
’good’ reader of this poem have? What can this tell you about what the poem
’means’ or is about? The idea is that any node of art calls forth certain
qualities of response, taste, experience, value, from the reader, and in i sense
’forms’ the reader of that particular work. This happens through the subject
matter, the style, He way the story is told or the scene set, the language, the
images, the allusions, all the ways m Ach we are called by the text to
construct meaning. The theorist Wayne Booth calls the reader as evoked or
formed by the text the ”implied reader.”

12. What is your historical and cultural distance from the poem?

What can you say about the difference between your culture’s (and sub-
culture’s) views of the mrld your own experiences, on the one hand, and
those of the voice, characters, ana world of the joem on the other? What is it
that you might have to understand better in enter to experience tLe jcem the
way someone of the same time, class, gender and rece might have
understood it? Is it jossible that your reading might be different from theirs
because of your particular social (race, ;ender, class, etc.) and historical
context? What about your world governs the way you see the world ithe text?
What might this work tell us about the world of its making?
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A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AND STYLIJ

13. What is the world-view and the ideology of the poem?

What are the basic ideas about the world that are expressed? What areas of
human experie are seen as important, and what is valuable about them?
What areas of human experience or cla; of person are ignored or denigrated?
A poem about love, for instance, might implicitly or explic suggest that
individual happiness is the most important thing in the world, and that it can
be gaii principally through one intimate sexually-based relationship -- to the
exclusion, say, of problems social or political injustice, human brokenness and
pain, or other demands on us as humans, might also suggest that the world is
a dangerous, uncertain place in which the only sure,ground meaningfulness is
to be found in human relationships, or it might suggest on the other hand tb
human love is grounded in divine love, and in the orderliness and the value of
the natural wor with all its beauties. What aspects of the human condition are
foregrounded, what are suppresse in the claims that the poem makes by
virtue of its inclusions and exclusions, certainties an uncertainties, and
depictions of the way the natural and the human world is and works? For a
brif elaboration of the concept of ideology, see my page on the subject.
Analyzing fiction

The analysis of fiction has many similarities to the analysis of poetry. As a

rule a work of fiction is a narrative, with characters, with a setting, told by a
narrator, with some claim to represent ’the world’ in some fashion.

The topics in this section are plot, character, setting, the narrator, figurative
language, the way reality is represented, the world-view.

1. Plot.

As a narrative a work of fiction has a certain arrangement of events which are

taken to have a relation to one another. This arrangement of events to some
end - for instance to create significance, raise the level of generality, extend
or complicate the meaning -- is known as ’plot’, Narrative is integral to
human experience; we use it constantly to make sense out of our experience,
to remember and relate events and significance, and to establish the basic
patterns of behaviour of our lives. If there is no apparent relation of events in
a story our options are either to declare it to be poorly written or to assume
that the lack of relation is thematic, mean to represent the chaotic nature of
human experience, a failure in a character’s experience or personality, or the
lack of meaningful order in the universe.

In order to establish significance in narrative there will often be coincidence,

parallel or contrasting episodes, repetitions of various sorts, including the
repetition of challenges, crises, conciliations, episodes, symbols, motifs. The
relationship of events in order to create significance is known as the plot.
2. Character.
Characters in a work of fiction are generally designed to open up or explore
certain aspects of human experience. Characters often depict particular traits
of human nature; they may represent only one or two traits - a greedy old
man who has forgotten how to care about others, for instance, or they may
represent very complex conflicts, values and emotions. Usually there will be
contrasting or parallel characters, and usually there will be a significance to
the selection of kinds of characters, and to their relation to each other. As in
the use of setting, in fact in almost any representation in art, the significance
of a character can vary from the particular, the dramatizatiori’of a unique
individual, to the most general and symbolic, for instance the representation
of a’Christ figure’.

3. Setting.
Narrative requires a setting; this as in poetry may vary from the concrete to
the general. Often setting will have particular culturally coded significance ~
a sea-shore has a significance for us
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF LITEATURE

525

different from that of a dirty street corner, for instance, and different
situations and significances can lie constructed through its use. Settings, like
characters, can be used in contrasting and comparative rays to add
significance, can be repeated, repeated with variations, and so forth.

(The Narrator.

A narration requires a narrator, someone (or more than one) who tells the
story. This person or will see things from a certain perspective, or point of
view, in terms of their relation to the {events and in terms of their attitude(s)
towards the events and characters. A narrator may be , outside the story,
telling it with an ostensibly objective and omniscient voice; or a narrator

be a character (or characters) within the story, telling the story in the first
person (either central characters or observer characters, bit players looking
in on the scene). First-person characters may te reliable, telling the truth,
seeing things right, or they may be unreliable, lacking in perspective or idf-
knowledge. If a narration by an omniscient external narrator carries us into
the thoughts of a character in the story, that character is known as a
reflector character, such a character does not bow he or she is a character, is
unaware of the narration or the narratorVA^n omniscient, external narrator
may achieve the narrative by telling or by showing, and she may keep the
reader in a relation of suspense to the story (we know no more than the
characters) or in a relation of irony (we mow things the characters are
unaware of).

n any case, who it is who tells the story, from what perspective, with what
sense of distance or

iess, with what possibilities of knowledge, and with what interest, are key
issues in the making |tf meaning in narrative. For a fuller discussion, see my
page Narrative point of view: some [considerations.

5, Figurative language.

As in poetry, there will be figurative language; as in drama, this language

tends to be used to characterize the sensibility and understanding of
characters as well as to establish thematiq and

continuities and significance. • ,

Representation of reality.

’ Fiction generally claims to represent ’reality1 (this is known as

representation or mimesis) in way; however, because any narrative is
presented through the symbols and codes of human ig and communication
systems, fiction cannot represent reality directly, and different itives and
forms of narrative represent different aspects of reality, and represent reality
in it ways. A narrative might be very concrete and adhere closely to time and
place, ting every-day events; on the other hand it may for instance represent
psychological or or spiritual aspects through symbols, characters used
representatively or symbolically, ibable events, and other devices. In addition
you should remember that all narrative requires ion, and therefore it requires
exclusion as well, and it requires devices to put the selected lents of
experience in meaningful relation to each other (and here we are back to key
elements as coincidence, parallels and opposites, repetitions).

World-view.

As narrative represents experience in some way and as it uses cultural codes

and language to so, it inevitably must be read, as poetry, for its structure of
values, for its understanding of the , or world-view, and for its ideological
assumptions, what is assumed to be natural and proper, narrative
communication makes claims, often implicitly, about the nature of the world
as the itor and his or her cultural traditions understand it to be. The kind of
writing we call literature” I tends to use cultural codes and to use the
structuring devices of narrative with a high degree of itionality in order to
offer a complex understanding of the world. The astute reader of fiction will
aware of the shape of the world that the fiction projects, the structure of
values that underlie the
526

A HANDBOOK OF STYLE AND STYLIST!)

fiction (what the fiction explicitly claims and what it implicitly claiJis tb,r .ugh
its codes and il ideological understandings); will be aware of the distances
and similarities between the world of th fiction and the world that the reader
inhabits; and will be aware of the significances of the selection and exclusions
of the narrative in representing human experience.

Analysis of Prose in Fiction

Someone is always speaking in a novel - whether it is a narrator who is not a

character withii the fiction, or a character within the narrative. Consequently
both the particular ideas, attitudes, feelings perspectives of that speaker, and
the concerns and attitudes of the novel as a whole, will be presented through
the prose The analytical reader needs to understand what information is
conveyed and how it is conveyed. The following is a guide to some things to
look for, and contains’

A. prose: the language; sentence structure; imagery and setting; discourse

features.

B. characterization

C. genre and tradition A. The Passage as Prose.

1. The language:

a. What kind of language is used? Here are some possibilities: Is the language

i. abstract or concrete language ii. language of emotions or of reason in.

language of control or language of openness

b. What are the connotations of the language? How much language is

connotative? What areas of expenence, feeling, and meaning are evoked?
When Conrad writes that a gate was ”a neglected gap,” we have to take
notice, as a gate is not ordinarily a gap, nor is the issue of neglect or care
usually applied to gaps. Conrad intends to imply, to connote, certain qualities
through his language use.

c. How forceful is the language (see also imagery and sentence structure)?

d. what aspects of feeling are supported or created by the sound of the

language^ i. by the vowel and consonant sounds ~ soft or hard long or
short

ii by how *he words go together - e.g. smoothly, eliding so that one slides
into the other, or separated by your need to move your mouth position.
2. Sentence structure: Meaning is created by how the sentences sound, by
how they are balanced, by tae force created by punctuation as well as by
language: <•

3. by the stresses on words, and the rhythm of the sentence •

4. by the length of the sentence

5. by whether the sentence has repetitions, parallels, balances and so forth

6. by the punctuation, and how it makes the sentence sound and flow.

7. Imagery and setting: Images and use of setting can tell you a great deal
about a charac a narrator, a fictional work:

a. Imagery as figurative language: what sort of metaphors, similes and

analogies does speaker use, and what does that tell you about their outlook
and sensibility?

b. Images as motifs: are their recurring images? What ideas or feelings are
aroused by them, what people or events are brought to mind by them?
I APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF UTEATURE

527

c Imagery as setting: How is the setting used? To create a sense of realism?

To create mood? | To represent or create a sense of states of mind or feelings?
To stand for other things (i.e. symbolic for allegorical ~ as for instance
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcroft Grange in Wuthering Heights [might be
said to stand for two ways of viewing the world or two different sociological
perspectives, I and jungle in Heart of Darkness might be said to stand for the
primeval past ”Sr for the heart of [ humankind)?

8. Discourse features

a. how long does the person speak*

b. are the sentences logically joined or disjointed, rational or otherwise

ordered, or disorderly?

c. what tone or attitude does the talk seem to have?

d. does the speaker avoid saying things, deliberately or unconsciously

withhold information, [ communicate by indirection?

e. to what extent and to what end does the speaker use rhetorical devices
such as irony?

B, Characterization The idea here is that the various features of the prose,
above, will support features of characterization which we can discuss in
somewhat different terms.

1. What ideas are expressed in the passage, and what do they tell you about
the speaker?

2. What feelings does the speaker express? What does that tell you about
them? Are their feelings Consistent?

3. Does the character belong to a particular character type or represent a

certain idea, value, quality or attiturf”?

4. What is the social status of the character, and how can you tell from how
they speak and what they speak about?

5. What is the sensibility of the speaker? Is the person ironic, witty, alert to
the <j^od or attuned to evil in others, optimistic or pessimistic, romantic or
not romantic (cynical, or lealistic?).

6. What is the orientation of the person - how aware are they of their owrl and
others’ needs, and of their environments?
7. How much control over and awareness of her emotions, her thoughts, her
language does the speaker hav??

8. How does the narrator characterize the character through comment or

through description? C. Genre & Tradition

Different traditions and genres tend to use language and characters and
setting and plot differently, and this may show in individual passages. Is it a
satire, a comedy, a tragedy, a romance? Is it a novel of social comment, an
exploration of an idea? (There are more kinds) Is it in a certain sub-genre like
a detective novel, science fiction, etc.? Is it an allegory or a satire, is it
realistic or more symbolic? How does this genre, sub-genre or tradition tend
to use setting, characters, language, mood or tone? Doe’s this one fat in?

University Questions

1. Discuss the principles involved in the study of literature.

2. Discuss various approaches to literature.

3. How will you approach to analysis of poetry?

4. What are the principles in analyzing prose?

5. Discuss major tendencies in literarture.