STYLISTIC DEVICES

In this part stylistic terms are listed in alphabetical order, the functions of stylistic devices are briefly described, illustrations are given. These terms may be used in the discussion to the point as well as some others of significance. This will provide a comprehensive overview of stylistic devices and their functions as a resource for those who may wish to find definitions of various terms. These definitions are drawn from the works cited.

 

Absence of punctuation marks. Itis typical of contemporary authors to break up traditional graphic designs of the preceding ages and to look for peculiar, unexpected ways of conveying their ideas. For example, T.S. Eliot wrote Defense of the Islands without any full stops and thus combined a great number of events, lives and centuries into an undivided unity. Absence of full stops in James Joyce is applied to convey a stream of consciousness: “... a quarter after what an unearthly hour I suppose they’re just getting up in China now combing their pigtails for the day well soon have the nuns ringing their angelus theyve nobody coming in to spoil their sleep except an odd priest or two for his night office the alarm clock next door at cock shout clattering the brains out of itself let me see if I can dose off 12345 what kind of flowers are those they invented like stars the wallpaper in Lombart street was much nice <…>”

Allegory is anextended metaphor through an entire speech or passage so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.In Aesop’s fables and in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, for example, the animal characters represent people. Allegories tie together themes and ideas of a broad philosophical nature and convey some kind of a moral.

“ The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches there of”. (Mattew; 13:31-32).

Allegory is not an individual, particular metaphor within a text; it is a more or less complete tale with profound abstract meaning (moral, social, religious, or political) which is discernible under its surface meaning. Allegory appeals more to imagination. One of the main features of allegory is the extended and extensive use of personifications by which various abstract ideas are conveyed (e.g. the fable of the fox and the crow).

Allegory in its most common form is also akin to antonomasia. Words denoting abstract notions are used as proper names. The most famous allegory in English is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678, 1684), an allegory of Christian salvation represented by the varied experiences of its hero. The names of pilgrims are Christian and Hopeful, the name of the giant is Despair, his wife’s name is Diffidence.

Implying something more important than it seems to denote literally, allegory is widely used in philosophical and satirical novels, for instance, Gulliver’s Travels by Swift, Mardi by Melville.

The application of allegory in fables is even more didactic. Animals, irrational or inanimate beings, for the purpose of moral instruction, act and speak with human interests and passions.

e.g. A Famished Fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised vine. She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for she could not reach them. At last she turned away, hiding her disappointment and saying: “The Grapes are sour and not ripe as I thought”.

Allegory is used:

· to enlighten the hearer/reader by answering questions and suggesting some principles;

· for the purpose of moral instruction.

 

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sound in two or more words following each other immediately or at short intervals.

e.g. For my part, I abominate all honorable respectable t oils, t rials and t ribulations of every kind whatsoever. (H. Melville)

And s ings a s olitary s ong

That w histles in the w ind (W. Wordsworth).

This device is widely used in poetry and prose:

· to achieve a melodic and emotional effect and enhance the rhythm of the sentence: The g reat, g rey, g reen, g reasy Limpopo river (R. Kipling).

· In the Old English period poets often used alliteration as there were no rhymes and words were mostly stressed on the first syllable. Alliteration was the principal structuring device unifying lines of poetry.

· Modern poets also use alliteration as a substitute for rhyme.

e.g. She left the H eaven of H eroes and came down

To m ake a m an to m eet the m ortal need

A m an to m atch the m ountains and the sea

The friendly w elcome of the w ayside w ell. (Edwin Markham).

· Alliteration can be applied as a means of creating a mood.

e.g. Hear the loud b ells –

B razen b ells!

What a t ale of t error, now, their t urbulency t ells (E.A. Poe) .

The repetition of [b] and [t] stresses a feeling of urgency.

· Alliteration is also used to emphasize certain words or a line: e.g. “…no, I never go as a passenger; nor, though I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a Captain, or a Cook”.

· Alliteration unites lexically heterogeneous words through the repetition of their initial consonant, e.g. I have been reading a sad and absorbing story in Volume 6 of the Encyclopedia Britannica. In this volume you can learn all about cricket, cotton, costume designing, crocodiles, crown jewels, and Coleridge, but non of these subjects is so interesting as the Courtship of Animals, which recounts the sorrowful lengths to which all males must go to arouse the interest of a lady (J. Thurber).

· Alliteration is widely used in literary titles (“ Posthumous Paper of the Pickwick Club”, “The Last Leaf ”), in corporate names (Coca-Cola, Rolls-Royce), in advertisements (Safe, secure, simple), in set phrases(sweet smell of success, money makes the mare go, down in the dumps), in nursery rhymes (Wee Willy Winky, Goosy, Goosy Gander). It helps to make phrases catchy.

· Alliteration can be overdone sometimes, e.g. in Biblical sermons:

One of the greatest dangers of dangling, dazzling declarations before dazed disciples desiring decisive definitions of duties is to draw distinctions dimly, distort duties decidedly, and dismiss differences deftly.

The overdone alliteration often becomes an object of parody.

 

Allusion is a reference to a fact (a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature) that the writer thinks the reader already knows. Allusions can be made to matters of general knowledge such as sports, to characters and incidents connected with well-known works of literature, Bible, to historical events and characters. e.g. Out she swept like the bad fairy at the christening. (Driddle) Allusions are based on the accumulated experience and knowledge of the writer who presupposes a similar experience and knowledge in the reader” (I.R.Galperin). Allusions are used:

· to summarize broad, complex ideas or emotions in one quick, powerful image (e.g. to communicate the idea of self-sacrifice one may refer to Jesus, as part of Jesus’ story portrays him dying on the cross in order to save mankind);

· to broaden the nominal meaning of a word or a phrase into a generalized concept. Thus, the words “ banishment ” or “ rejection ” get charged with additional significance by relating to such well-known character as Cain who was cast out of his homeland by God;

· to characterize through analogy. E.g. My poor niece. The genetic lottery had been too kind to her, and she had come up with all the winning numbers. Unlike Tom, who had inherited his shape from the Woods, Aurora was a Glass through and through<…>. Natasha from “War and Peace”, as opposed to her brother’s big-footed, awkward Pierre (P. Auster).

Anadiplosis is the repetition of the final unit of one utterance at the beginning of the next utterance.

e.g. I was home in a sleeping world, a world as harmless as a sleeping cat. (R. Chandler)