MA-Linguistics-and-Stylistics-Semester-II-munotes

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PHONETICS –CONSONANTS
Unit Structure:
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Consonants
1.1.1 Plosives
1.1.2 Affricates
1.1.3 Fricatives
1.1.4 Lateral
1.1.5 Continuant
1.1.6 Nasals
1.1.7 Semi -vowels
1.2 Exercise
1.0 OBJECTIVES:
This unit aims to familiarise the le arners with the phonetic
symbols of consonants ,t h e i r three term labels and their effects .
The unit also tries to explain phonological patterns like alliteration
and clustering of consonants and their effects.
1.1 CONSONANTS
There are 44 sounds in Englis h; 24 consonants and 20
vowels, of which 12 are pure vowels and 8 are diphthongs.
24 consonants are divided into : 6 Plosiv es, 2 Affricates, 9
Fricatives, 1Continuanat, 1 Lateral, 3 Nasals and 2 Semi vowels.
The consonant sounds are described on the basis of three term
labels.
They are :
1.State of Vocal chords (voiced and voiceless)
2.Place of articulation: (bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, postalveolar
etc.)
3.Manner of articulation. (plosives, affricates, fricatives, nasals
etc,)
1.1.1 Plosives :Plosive sound is articulated with a stricture of
complete oral closure and sudden release.munotes.in

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21./p/ as in : pain,pen,predict (in the beginning)
temple, ke pt( i n t h e m i d d l e )
cap,l ap,l ip (atthe end)
cape,t ape(in the end where ‘e’ is not realised)
Three -termlabel: voiceless bilabial plosive
2./b/ as in : bat,ball,bait,bus (in the beginning)
about, ta ble, ca ble (in the middle)
cab,n ab, crab(atthe end)
tube, cube(in the end where ‘e’ is not realised)
bubble(in the beginning and middle)
Three -termlabel: voiced bilabial plosive
3./t/ as in : time, tea,test (in the beginning)
stand, s tyle, s top (in the middle)
cat,b at,b r a t(atthe end)
fate,state, crea te(in the end where ‘e’ is not realis ed)
Three -termlabel :voiceless alveolar plosive
4./d/ as in : dull,deep, dog (in the beginning)
student, a ddict, cre dit (in the middle)
threa d,b ed,b ad(atthe end)
trade,m ade,r ide(in the end where ‘e’ is not realised)
Three -termlabel :voiced alveolar plosive
5./k/ as in : kite,kitten (in the beginning)
crow, cow(in the beginning where ‘c’ is pronounced as /k/)
track,b ack,l uck(in the end where ‘ck’ is pronounced as /k/)
ink,l i nk,b l i n k(atthe end)
Three -termlabel :voiceless velar p losive
6./g/ as in : gait,gum,gun (in the beginning)
smuggle, dra gon, ma gnet (in the middle)
dig,w ig,b ig,r ag,b ag(atthe end)
Three -termlabel: voiced velar plosivemunotes.in

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3Effects of plosives: plosives are strong sounds; the y indicate
strength, power, determination and emotional outburst.
1.1.2 Affricates :Affricate sound is articulated with a stricture of
complete oralclosure and slow release.
7./t∫/a si n: chain, chair,chalk (in the beginning where ‘ch’ is
pronounced as/t∫/)
prea cher, tea cher (in the middle where ‘ch’ stands for /t∫)
church(in the beginning and end where ‘ch’ stands for / t∫/)
catch,b atch, ske tch(in the end where ‘tch’ stands for / t∫/)
capture, na ture (in the middle where ‘t’ sta nds for / t∫/)
Three -termlabel: voiceless palato -alveolar affricate
8./dʒ/a si n: jam,jump, juggle (in the beginning where ‘j’ stands
for /dʒ/)
judge(In the beginning where ‘j’ and in the end where‘dge’ stands
for / dʒ/)
bridge, smu dge (inthe end where ‘dge’ stands for / dʒ/)
Three -term -label: voiced palato -alveolar affricate
Effects of affricates: They create a dragging effect, indicating
heavy movement, laziness, reluctance and unsteady movement.
1.1.3 Fricatives : Fricative sound is a rticulated with a stricture of
close approximation.
9./f/ as in: finish, fine,fanatic (in the beginning)
faithful (in the beginning and middle)
profit, shi ft, left( i n t h e m i d d l e )
life(atthe end where ‘e’ in not realized)
phonetics, physics (in the beginning where ‘ph’ stands for /f/)
photogra ph(in the beginning and end where ‘ph’ stands for /f/)munotes.in

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4Three -termlabel :voiceless labio -dental fricative.
10./v/ as in: van,voice, vehicle (in the beginning)
river,movement (in the middle)
cave,l ive,l ove (atthe end)
Three -term label: voiced labio -dental fricative
11.//a si n : throw, thought, thin (in the beginning)
method, pa thetic (in the middle)
teeth,path,b r e a dth(atthe end)
Three -term label: voiceless dental fricative
12./ð/ as in: the,then, al though (in the beginning)
mother, bo ther (in the middle)
bathe, clothe (atthe end where ‘e’ is not realized)
Three -termlabel: voiced den tal fricative
13. /s/ as in: simple, soak, soft (in the beginning)
rest, wri st, crisp( i n t h e m i d d l e )
class,b r a ss,g r a ss (atthe end)
psychology (in the beginning where ‘ps’ stand sfor /s/)
scene, scent (in the beginning where ‘sc’ stand sfor /s/)
city,cinema, cent (in the beginning where ‘c’ stands for /s/)
box,p a r a d o x,f ox (atthe end where ‘x’ stands for /k/ and /s/)
Three -termlabel: voiceless alveolar fricative
14. /z/ as in: zip,zebra, zone (in the beginning)
puzzle, si zzle, di zzy( i n t h e m i d d l e )
fiz,q u iz(in the end)
bree ze, size,p r ize(atthe end where ‘e’ is not realized)munotes.in

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5trees,b e e s(atthe end where ‘s’ stands for /z/)
season, rea son (in the middle where ‘s’ stands for /z/)
becau se,p a u se(atthe end where ‘s’ stands for /z/ and ‘e’ is not
realized)
Three -termlabel: voiced alveolar fricative
[*when ‘s’ is added as a suffix to words ending with voiceless
consonants, it is pronounce d as /s/ as in: cats, bricks, caps, bits
.etc.
* when it is added to words ending with voiced consonants, it is
pronounced as /z/ as in theplural forms like: dogs, crabs, roads
.etc.
* when ‘s’ is added to words ending in vowels, it is pronounced as
/z/ as in plural forms like bees, trees .etc.]
15./∫/a si n : sharp, shake, shoe (in the beginning)
fashion (in the middle)
rush,f l ush, crush(atthe end)
passion, man sion, deci sion (in the middle where ‘s’ stands for / ∫/)
rotation, cap tion (in the middle where ‘t’ stands for / ∫/)
Three -term label: voiceless palato -alveolar fricative
16./ʒ/a si n: pleasure, mea sure (in the middle where ‘su’ stands
for /ʒ/)
usual, ca sual (in the middle where ‘su’ stands for / ʒ/)
azure (the middle where ‘zu’ stands for/ ʒ/)
genre (in the beginning where ‘g’ stands for / ʒ/)
Three -term label: voiced palato -alveolar fricative
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
17./h/ as in: hat,house, hen (in the beginni ng)
mahogany, be hind, be hest (in the middle)munotes.in

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6Three -term label: voiceless glottal fricative
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
Effects of fricatives: In general, fricatives indicate friction,
movement, life and mechanical s ounds. The sound /s/ is a sibilant
which indicates softness, sleep, silence, whisper and easy
movement. /z/ is a buzzing sound which indicates busy movement,
the sound of insects and mechanical sounds. And, /h/is a guttural
sound which indicates roughness , animality and primitiveness.
1.1.4 Lateral: Lateral sound is articulated with a stricture of
complete closure in the centre vocal tract.
18./l/ as in: learn, lost,laugh (in the beginning)
although, a lmost, me lt( i n t h e m i d d l e )
girl, curl,p e a r l,l a t e r a l(atthe end)
smell,f all,w ill,w ell (atthe end where ‘ll’ stands for /l/)
para llel(in the middle and end)
style,w h i le,f ile (atthe end where the ‘e’ is not realized)
Three -term label: voiced a lveolar lateral
Effect of lateral sound: /l/ is a lulling, calming sound; it induces
sleep. It indicates a gentle flow a ndalso a rolling and soothing
effect s.
1.1.5 Continuant:
19. /r/ as in: riddle, rule,rest,row (in the be ginning)
arrogance, t ree, cu rrent (in the middle)
write,wrong, wriggle (in the beginning where ‘wr’ stands for /r/)
Three -term label: voiced post -alveolar continuant
Effects of continuant: it indicates heavy friction, violence,
roughne ss, and a mechanical and irritating sound.
[*Rules governing the pronunciation of ‘r’:
‘r’ is always pronounced when it is followed by a vowel or
diphthong. Eg: trim, drop, train, try .etc.munotes.in

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7‘r’ is never pronounced when it is followed by a consonant. Eg:
party, purpose, shirt, certain, purple etc.
‘r’ is never pronounced at the end of the word. Eg: car, fur,
warrior, star, tailor, stare, blur etc.
Final’r’will be pronounced if the next word begins with a vowel.
Eg: fair enough, car and bus, care of .etc.]
8.1.6 Nasals: Nasal sound is articulated with a stricture of
complete oral closure.
20. /m/ as in: mango, mat,major, magnet (in the beginning)
ambulance, a mour, co mmon (in the middle)
balm,arm, calm,c a r r o m(atthe end)
dame,g ame,f ame,t ame(atthe end where the ‘e’ is not realized)
Three -termlabel :voiced bilabial nasal
21 /n/ as in: neat,naughty, negotiate(in the beginning)
annoy, ca nine, be nd (in the middle)
perma nent(twice in the middle)
bun,h en,s p u n,m an(atthe end)
swine,l ine,p ine, crane(atthe end where ‘e’ is not realized)
knight, knot,knowledge (in the beginning where ‘kn’ stands for /n/)
pneumonia (in the beginning where ‘pn’ stands for /n/)
Three -termlabel :voiced alveolar nasal
22/ŋ/ as in:angst (in the middle)
sing,b r ing, spru ng,wing (atthe end)
singing,clinging,r inging(in the middle and end)
Three -term label: voiced velar nasal
Effects of nasals: They are high pitch sounds; they indicate high
emotional content –shrill joy or melancholy.
1.1.7 Semi -vowels:
23/j/ as in: yes,yawn, yell,yellow (in the beginning)munotes.in

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8unique, university (in the beginning where ‘u’ stands for /j/)
music, f usion, d uty(in the middle where ‘u’ stands for /j/)
beauty(in the middle where ‘ea’ stands for /j/)
Europe, eunuch, euphoria (in the beginning where ‘eu’ stands for
/j/)
/j/)does not come at the end of words
Three -termlabel: voiced palatal semi -vowel
24/w/ as in: wine,waste, well (in the begin ning)
awake, s wine, t wist (in the middle)
quick, q uality, q ueen (in the middle where ‘u’ stands for /w/)
Three -termlabel: voiced velar semi -vowel
[*/w/ never comes at the end of the words]
Effects of semi -vowels: They indic atesmooth movement, gliding
sound and a sense of wonder.
1.2.EXERCISE
Identify the consonants in the following words
Example: nation: /n/ / ∫// n /
1.Music
2.Fellow
3.Trouble
4.Punish
5.Gate
6.Ground
7.Reason
8.Pleasure
9.Weathermunotes.in

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910.Tropical
11.Psychology
12.Remote
13.Zebra
14.Uniform
15.Purpose
16.Tragedy
17.Politics
18.Perfume
19.Merit
20.20.Sober
21.Divine
22.Theory
23.Avoid
24.Basic
25.Cream



munotes.in

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102
PHONETICS –VOWELS AND
TRANSCRIPTION
Unit Structure :
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Pure Vowels
2.1.1 Front vowels
2.1.2 Back v owels
2.1.3 Central vowels
2.2 Diphthongs
2.2.1 Front Gliding Diphthongs
2.2.2 Centering diphthongs
2.2.3 Back Gliding Diphthongs
2.3 Weak forms of vowels
2.4 Exercise
2.0 OBJECTIVES :
The primary objective of this unit is to familiarize the readers
with the phonetic symbols of vowels and diphthongs. It also aims to
make them understand the effects of vowels and diphthongs in
poetry. Another objective is to help the learners in transcribing the
given lines of poetry into phonetic script.
2.1PURE VOWELS
There are 20 vowels in English and they are divided into 12
pure vowels and 8 diphthongs.
*Pure vowels: They are divided into: 4 front, 5 back and 3 central
vowels.
2.1.1 Front vowels :
1./i:/as in eat,eagle(in the beginning where ‘ea’ stands for /i: /)
heap, leaf, read(in the middle)
sea(atthe end)
eel (in the beginning where ‘ee’ stands for /i:/)munotes.in

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11deep, seep, keep(in the middle)
tree,bee,f ree,see(atthe end)
Three -term label: front close unrounded vowel
2./I/or /i/ as in : it,ill,inn (in the beginning)
pin, sit, wit( i n t h e m i d d l e )
merr y, (Atthe end where ‘y’ stands for / I/)
Three -term label: front unrounded vowel just above half close
3. /e/ as in : egg,ever,emblem (in the beginning)
set, bet, better, s ettle (in the middle)
Three -term label: frontunrounded vowel between half open and
half close
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
4. /æ/ as in : apple, annual, anguish (in the beginni ng)
rat, battle, p arrot (in the middle)
Three -term label: front unrounded vowel just below half open
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
Effects of front vowels: /i:/ and / I/ are shrill, high pitch edsounds.
They indicate high emotional content. /i:/ and /æ/ are long vowels;
they stretch the syllables, slow down the rhythm and make the
poem melodious. / I/ and /e/ are short vowels; they hasten the
rhythm and convey a sense of hurry and quick movement.
2.1.2 Back vowels :
5. /U:/or /u:/ as in : ooze(in the be ginning where ‘oo’ stands
for /U :/)
boost, root, loot(in the middle)
zoo,too(atthe end)
route, thr ough (in the middle where ‘ou’ stands for / U:/)
two(in the end where ‘wo’ stands for / U:/)munotes.in

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12cute, br ute, (in the middle where ‘u’ stands for / U:/)
Three -term label: back close rounded vowel
6. /U/or /u/ as in : sh ook, took, book (in the mi ddle where
‘oo’ stands for /U /)
could, w ould (in the middle where ‘ou’ stands for / U/)
put( i n t h e m i d d l e where ‘u’ stands for / U/)
do,to(in the end where ‘o’ stands for /U /)
Three -term label: back rounded vowel just above half close
[*this sound does not come at the beginning of English words]
7. /כּ:/a s i n : awe(in the beginning where ‘aw e’ stands for /כּ:)/
saw,law(atthe end where ‘aw’ stands for / כּ:/
short, th orn, m ortal (in the middle where ‘o’ stands for / כּ:)/
court(in the middle where ‘ou’ stands for / כּ:)/
caught, n aughty (in the middle where ‘au’ stands for / כּ:)/
Three -term label : back rounde dv o w e lb e t w e e nh a l fo p e na n dh a l f
close
8. /כּ/or /ɒ/as in : on,of,opera (in the beginning)
cot, got, pot, (in the middle where ‘o’ stands for / כּ)/
Three -termlabel: back rounded vowel just above open
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
9. /ɑː/a si n: ask,arc,art,arm(in the beginning where ‘a’ and
‘ar’ stand for/ ɑ:/)
start, dance, dem and (in the middle)
star,far,car(atthe end where ‘r’ is not pronounced)
our( i n t h e b e g i n n ing where ‘ou’ stands for /ɑː/)
power(in the middle where ‘ow’ stands for / ɑː/)
Three -term label: back open unrounded vowel .munotes.in

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13Effects of back vowels: They hold back expressions and
emotions. / U:/, /U/, /כּ:/a n d / כּ/a r e r o u n d v o wels; they have high
resonance. They are sonorous sounds which make the poem
musical. / U:/, /כּ:/a n d/ ɑ:/ are long vowels. They stretch the
syllables, slow down the rhythm and make the poem melodious. /u/
and /כּ/ are short vowels. They hasten the rhythm and convey a
sense of hurry and quick movement.
2.1.3 Central vowels :
10./ə:/or /3:/ as in : earth,earn(in the beginning where ‘ear’
stands for / ə:/)
yearn( i n t h e m i d d l e )
urge,urn(in the beginning where ‘ur’ stands for / ə:/ )
turn, curve, dist urb( i n t h e m i d d l e )
fur,b lur(atthe end)
shirt, fir,mirth(in the middle where ‘ir’ stands for / ə:/)
swerve, s erve (in the middle where ‘er’ stands for / ə:/)
Three -term label: central unrounded vowel between half open
and half close
11./ə/ as in :above, among, (in the beginning where ‘ a’ stands
for /ə/)
fantasy (in the middle)
conduct (v), c onfuse (in the middle where ‘o’ stands for / ə/)
bother,f a t h er,m a t t er(atthe end where ‘er’ stands for / ə/)
error,t e r r or(atthe end where ‘or’ stands for / ə/)
Three -term label: central u nrounded vowel just below half open
12.//a s i n : utter, umbrella, usher (in the beginning where ‘u’
stands for / /)
shut, rush, br ush, adj ust (in the middle)
blood, flood(in the middle where ‘oo’ stands for / /)
Three -term label: central unrounded v owel just above open.
[*this sound never comes at the end of English words]
Effects of central vowels: /ə:/ is a long vowel; it stretches the
syllables, slows down the rhythm and makes the poem melodious.munotes.in

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14/ə/ is a short vowel; it hastens the rhythm and conveys a sense of
hurry and quick movement. / / is a strong vowel; it indicates
emphasis and punch.
2.2DIPHTHONGS
*Diphthongs are vowel glides. There are 8 diphthongs divided into:
3 front oriented, 3 centering and 2 back oriented diphthongs.
2.2.1 Front Gliding diphthongs :
1)/eI/or /ei/ as in: ate,ace,ape(in the be ginning where ‘a’ stands
for /e I/)
state, gr ape, r ate (in the middle)
aim (in the beginning where ‘ai’ stands for /e I/)
raid( i n t h e m i d d l e )
stay,lay, clay(in the end where ‘ay’ stands for /e I/)
2)/aI/or /ai/ as in: ice,I,island, isle (in the be ginning where ‘I’
and ‘is’stand for /a I/)
kind, file, m ind, m ike (in the middle)
eye(in the beginning where ‘eye ’ stands for /a I/)
sky(in the end where ‘y’ stands for /a I/)
bye(in the end where ‘ye’ stands for /a I/)
buy(in the end where ‘uy’ stands for /a I/)
3)/כּI/or /כּi/as in: oil,ointment (in the beginning where ‘oi’
stands for / כּI/
soil, toil, foil( i n t h e m i d d l e )
oyster (in the beginning where ‘oy’ stands for / כּI/)
boy,joy,coy (atthe end)
Effects of front g liding d iphthongs :
All these diphthongs end in / I/,that is ,a t the front of the
mouth. /e I/, /aI/a n d/ כּI/ are front oriented diphthongs. They are
expressive sounds. They are also shrill, high pitch sounds which
indicate high emotional content. They fun ction as long vowels. Theymunotes.in

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15stretch the syllables, slow down the rhythm and make the poem
melodious.
2.2.2 Centering diphthongs :
4)/Iə/or/iə/as in: ear,earring (in the beginning where ‘ea’
stands for / Iə/)
clear,dear,tear (atthe end where ‘r ’ is not pronounced)
custod ian (in the middle where ‘ia’ stands for / Iə/
5)/eə/ as in: air(in the beginning where ‘ai’ stands for /e ə/)
fairly (in the middle)
heir (in the beginning where ‘h’ is silent and ‘ei’ stands for /e ə/)
bare,ware (in the end where ‘are’ stands for /e ə/)
careful (in the middle)
aeroplane (in the beginning where ‘ae’ stands for /e ə/)
questionn aire( in the end where ‘aire’ stands for /e ə/)
6)/uə/ as in: poor(in the end where ‘ oor’ stands for /u ə/)
sure (in the end where ‘ure’ stands for /u ə/)
tour(in the end where ‘our’ stands for /u ə/)
during (in the middle where ‘u’ stands for /u ə/)
Effects of Centering Diphthongs :
/Iə/, /eə/ and /uə/ are centering diphthongs. The y indicate
circular movement like the flight of the birds. They have the effects
of short vowels and they hasten the rhythm.
2.2.3.Back Gliding D iphthongs :
7)/au/as in: out, ounce (in the beginning where ‘ou’ stands for
/au/)
proud, sound, loud( i n t h e m i d d l e )
owl (in the beginning where ‘ow’ stands for /au/)
browse, b owl( i n t h e m i d d l e )
now,cow(in the end)munotes.in

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16plough (in the end where ‘ou’ stands for /au/ and ‘gh’ is silent)
8)/əu/or/əʊ/as in: open, over (in the beginning where ‘o’ stands
for /əu/)
home, st one, foam( i n t h e m i d d l e )
go,so (in the end)
follow,b i l low(in the end where ‘ow’ stands for / əu/)
Effects of Back Gliding Diphthongs :/au/ and / əu/ are the back
oriented diphthongs. They hold back the feelings. They are also
sonorous sounds which make the poem musical. They also serve
as long vowels. They stretch the syllables, slow down the rhythm
and make the poem melodious.
2.3. WEAK FORM S
*Weak forms :All grammatical words like auxiliaries and
prepositions, in connected speech undergo a change in
pronunciation. In connected speech, their weak forms are used.
Words Normal Weak form
Have /hæv/ /həv/
Has /hæz/ /həz/
Had /hæd/ /həd/
And /ænd/ /ənd/
Been /bi:n/ /bin/
Was /wכּ:z/ /wəz/
That /ðæt/ /ðət/
2.4EXERCISES
A)Identify the pu re vowels in the following words:
Eg: Teacher/i:/./ ə/
1.Carry
2.Wanted
3.Privilege
4.Worldlymunotes.in

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175.Ransack
6.Lovely
7.Custard
8.Clueless
9.Successful
10.Parted
11.Presume
12.History
13.Jackfruit
14.Cleanliness
15.Procurement
16.Calculate
17.Personality
18.Pendulum
B)Identify the diphthongs in the following words:
Eg:Clear / Iə/
1.Warehouse
2.Most
3.Air
4.Aim
5.Mice
6.Poor
7.Paste
8.Peer
9.Ridemunotes.in

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1810.Proud
11.Sound
12.Raid
13.Care
14.Waste
15.Nice
16.Were
Q1 A. Transcribe the first four line of the poem by providing the
phonetic symbol s.
Little Lamb who made thee
/lɪtl̩læm hu ːmeɪdð iː/
Dost thou know who made thee
/dst ða ʊnəʊhuːmeɪdð iː/
Gave thee life &bid thee feed.
/ɡeɪvðiːlaɪfənd bɪdðiːfiːd/
By th e stream & o’er the mead;
/baɪðə striːmənd əʊəːðə miːd/
Gave thee clothing of delight,
/ɡeɪvð iːˈkləʊðɪŋ əv dɪlaɪt/
B. Give three term labels to any 5 consonants of the poem.
/l/-(voiced alveolar lateral)
/m/-(voiced bilabial nasal)
/b/-(voiced bilabial plosive)
t/-(voiceless alveolar plosive)
/h/-(voiceless glottal fricative)munotes.in

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19c). Give three term labels of any 5 vowels or diphthongs
/ɪ/-(front unrounded vowel. just above half close)
/æ/-(front unrounded vowel just above open)
/Uː/-(back close rounded vowel)
/iː/-.
(front closeun rounded vowel)
/ə/-(central unrounded vowel just below half open)
2.
Q1 A. Transcribe the first four line of the poem by providing
phonetic symbol so fc onsonants and vowels.
Ohwhat can ail thee, knight -at-arms,
/əʊwɒtkən eɪlð iː/naɪtətɑ:mz/
Alone and palely loitering?
/ələʊnənd peɪlli lɔɪtərɪŋ /
The sedge has withered from the lake,
/ðə sedʒhəz wɪðəd frəm ðə leɪk/
And no birds sing.
/ənd nəʊbəːdz sɪŋ /
Oh what can ail thee, knight -at-arms,
/əʊˈwɒtkən eɪlð iː/naɪtətɑ:mz?
B. Give three term labels to any 5 consonants of the poem.
/p/-(voiceless bilabial plosive)
/b/-(voiced bilabial plosive)
/t/-(voiceless alveolar plosiv e)
/d/-(voiced alveolar plosive)
/k/-(voiceless velar plosivemunotes.in

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20C.
/ɪ/-Give three term labels of any 5 vowels
(front unrounded vowel. just above half close)
/iː/-(front close rounded vowel)
/ɑː/(back open unrounded vowel)
/ɔː/(back rounded vowel between half open and half close)
/ə/(central unrounded vowel just below half open)
Q3A. Transcribe the first four line of the poem by providing
phonetic symbol
Sweet is true love tho' giv'n in vain, in vain;
/ swi ːtɪzt r uːlʌvˈðəʊgivnɪnveɪn/ɪnv eɪn/
And sweet is death that puts an end to pain:
/ənd swiːtIz deθ ðət ˈpUts ən end tə peɪn/
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I.
/ˈaɪnəʊnɒtwɪtʃɪzˈswiːtə / nəʊ/nɒtˈaɪ/
Love, art thou sweet? then bitter death must be:
/lʌv/ɑːtðaʊswiːt/ð e n ˈbɪtə deθ məst bi/
B. Give three term labels of any 5 consonants of the poem
/p/-(voiceless, bilabial, plosive)
t/-(voiceless, alveolar, plosive)
/d/-(voiced alveolar plosive)
/l/-(voiced alveolar, lateral)
/s/-(voiceless a lveolar fricative)
c). Give three term labelso fany 5 vowels
/ɪ/(front unrounded vowel. just above half close)
/ʊ/(back rounded vowel just above half close)
/iː/(front close rounded vowel)
/uː/(back close rounded vowel)
/ə/(central unrou nded vowel just below half open)munotes.in

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21Exercise
1.a)Transcribe the first four line of the poem by providing the
phonetic symbol s.
b)Give three term labels for any five consonants
c)Give three term labels for any three vowels or diphthongs
Piping down the valleys wild
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me.
‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’
So I piped with merry cheer.
‘Piper, pipe that song again,’
So I piped : he wept to hear.
‘Drop the pipe, the happy pipe,
‘Sing the son gs of happy cheer,’
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
2.a)Transcribe the first four line of the poem by providing the
phonetic symbol s.
b)Give three term labels for any five consonants
c)Give three term labels for any three vowels or di phthongs
Sweet are the thoughts that the savour of content –
The quiet mind is richer than a crown;
Sweet are the nights in ceaseless slumber spent –
The poor estate scorns fortunes angry frown
Such sweet content, such minds, such sleep, such b liss,
Beggars enjoy when princes off do miss.
The homely house that harbours quiet rest,
The cottage that affords no pride nor care,
The mean, that ‘gress with country music best,
The sweet consort of Mirth’s and Music’s fare,
Obscured life set s down a type of bliss;
A mind content both crown and kingdom is.

munotes.in

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223
STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF POETRY AND
POETIC DEVICES
Unit Structure :
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Poetic Devices and Figures of Speech
3.2.1 Alliteration
3.2.2 Allusion
3.2.3 Ambiguity
3.2.4 Antithesis
3.2.5 Bathos
3.2.6 Chiasmus
3.2.7 Conceit
3.2.8 Epic Simile
3.2.9 Epigram
3.2.10 Hyperbole
3.2.11 Irony
3.2.12 Metaphor
3.2.13 Metonymy
3.2.14 Onomatopoeia
3.2.15 Paradox
3.2.16 Symbol
3.2.17 Synecdoche
3.2.18 Graphological Features
3.2.19 Sense Devices
3.2.20 Sound Devices
3.2.21 Structural Devices
3.3 Sample Analysis
3.4 Exercise
3.0OBJECTIVES
The basic objective of this unit is to enable the learners to
make a stylistic analysis of poetry and to introduce them to poetic
devices and figures of speech .munotes.in

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233.1INTRODUCTION
A stylistic analysis of poetry is an attempt to understand a
the work in the context of the linguistic devices and the literary
devices which it deploys. This would mean that the analysis will
take into account the graphological features like the sentenc es,
punctuation etc, sense devices such as images, metaphors etc.,
sound devices consonant cluster, alliteration etc and structural
devices such as contrast, inversion, tautology etc.
3.2POETIC DEVICES AND FIGURES OF SPEECH
Poetic Devices can be classif ied into the following broad headings:
a)Structural Devices: Contrast/Antithesis, Illustration, Repetition,
Enjambment, Climax, Anti -climax, Rhetorical Question,
Transferred Epithet, Tautology and Foregrounding.
b)Sense Devices: Simile, Metaphor, Personifica tion, Apostrophe,
Hyperbole, Irony, Euphemism, Metonymy, and Synecdoche.
c)Sound Devices: Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Rhyme/Rhyming
Pattern or Scheme, Assonance, Pun and Rhythm.
Graphological, Orthographic and Punctuational Deviations could
also be commen ted upon as Poetic Devices.
3.2.1Alliteration :
Alliteration is the name for repeating sounds in words. The
repeated sound is usually at the beginning of words. "Dressy
daffodils" is an example of alliteration because both the words
begin with /d/. Allit eration is like rhyming, but inalliteration the
rhyming comes at the front of the words instead of the end. Thus,
thecommencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word,
group edeither with the same consonant sound or sound group
(consonantal allite ration), as in from stem to stern, orthe
commencement of two or more words of a word group with the
same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid .
Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants
with similar properties ( labials ,dentals ,e t c . ) or even the unwritten
glottal stop that precedes virtually every word -initial vowel in the
English language ,a si nt h ep h r a s e" Apt alliter ation's artful aid"
(despite the unique pro nunciation of the "a" in each word).
Alliteration still seems to maintain an important, though
perhaps more subtle, part in contemporary English poetry. Books
aimed at young readers often use alliteration: for example
comics/cartoons and characters have a lliterative names like Beetlemunotes.in

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24Bailey ,Donald Duck ,Mickey Mouse ,a n dt h e Fabulous Furry Freak
Brothers .Assona nceandconsonance are types of alliteration.
3.2.2Allusion :
An allusion is a literary device that stimulates ideas,
associations, and extra information in the rea der's mind with only a
word or two. Allusion means 'reference'. An allusion may be drawn
from history ,geography, literature, or religion. More correctly, an
allusion is a figure of speech that makes a ref erence to, or
representation of a place, event, lit erary work, myth, or work of art,
either directly or by implication. M.H. Abrams defines allusion as "a
brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to
another literary work or passage". It is left to the reader or hearer to
make the connection, especially when the allusion seems to be a
passing or casual reference. But there is more possibility that the
allusion points to an incidental mention of something, either directly
or by implication.
3.2.3Ambiguity :
Ambiguity is the pro perty of being ambiguous, where a word,
term, notation, sign, symbol, phrase, sentence, or any other form
used for communication, is called ambiguous if it can be interpreted
in more than one way. Ambiguity is different from vagueness, which
arises when th e boundaries of meaning are indistinct. Ambiguity is
context -dependent: the same linguistic item (be it a word, phrase,
or sentence) may be ambiguous in one context and unambiguous
in another context. For a word, ambiguity typically refers to an
unclear ch oice between different definitions as may be found in a
dictionary. The lexical ambiguity of a word or phrase consists in its
having more than one meaning in the language to which the word
belongs. "Meaning" hereby refers to whatever should be captured
bya good dictionary. For instance, the word “bank” has several
distinct lexical definitions, including “financial institution” and “edge
of a river”. The context in which an ambiguous word is used often
makes it evident which of the meanings is intended.
3.2.4Antithesis :
Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite") is a counter -
proposition and denotes a direc tcontrast to the original proposition.
In setting the opposite, an individual brings out of a contrast in the
meaning (e.g., the definition ,interpretation ,o r semantics )b ya n
obvious contrast in the expression .S o m eo t h e re x a m p l e so f
antithesis are:
A) Man proposes, God disposes.
B) Give everyman thy ear, but few thy voice.
C) Many are called, but few are chosen.
Inrhetoric ,i ti sa figure of speech involving the bringing out
of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words ,munotes.in

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25clauses ,o r sentences , within a parallel grammatical structure. In
religious philosophy, hell the antithesis of Heaven; disorder is the
antithesis of order. It is the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas,
usually in a ba lanced way. Antithesis is also a rhetorical figure of
speech, often used in both poetry and prose, especially by poets
like Pope, Dryden, and Shakespeare, and prose writers like
Johnson and Gibbon. For instance: Not that I loved Cæsar less, but
that I love dR o m em o r e (William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar, Act 3,
scene 2, 22). And,
My only love sprung from my only hate. (Romeo and Juliet :
Juliet, when she finds Romeo is a member of the Montague family
and therefore an enemy of her).
3.2.5Bathos :
Bathos mean sdepth . It originally referred to a particular type
of bad poetry , but it is now used more broadly to cover any
ridiculous artwork or performance. More strictly speaking, bathos is
unintended humour caused by an incongruous combination of high
and low. If the contrast is intended, it may be described as
Burlesque ormock -heroic .It should not be confused with pathos,
which is general storytelling directed to the emotions, usually
sadness.
As the combination of the very high with the very low, th e
term was introduced by Alexander Pope in his essay “Peri Bathous,
Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry” (1727). On the one hand, Pope's
work is a parody in prose of Longinus' “Peri Hupsous (On the
Sublime)” in which he imitates Longinus's system for the purpo se of
ridiculing contemporary poets, but, on the other, it is a blow Pope
struck in an ongoing struggle against the "dunces."
3.2.6Chiasmus :
Av e r b a lp a t t e r n( at y p eo f antithesis )in which the second
half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts
reversed. A good example is "You forget what you want to
remember, and you remember what you want to forget." (Cormac
McCarthy, The Road ,K n o p f ,2 0 0 6 ) ,a n d" F a i ri sf o u l ,a n df o u li s
fair." (William Shakespeare, Macbeth I.i)
3.2.7Conceit :
In literature, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a
complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. By
juxtaposing, usurping and manipulating images and ideas in
surprising way s, a conceit invites the reader into a more
sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison. Extended
conceits in English are part of the poetic idiom of Mannerism,
during the later sixteenth and early seventeenth century.munotes.in

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26In English literature, the term is generally associated with the
17th century metaphysical poets, an extension of contemporary
usage. In the metaphysical conceit, metaphors make a much more
purely conceptual, and thus tenuous, relationship between the
things being compared. Helen G ardner observes that "a conceit is a
comparison whose ingenuity is more striking than its justness" and
that "a comparison becomes a conceit when we are made to
concede likeness while being strongly conscious of unlikeness." An
example of the latter would be George Herbert's "Praise" in which
the generosity of God is compared to a bottle which ("As we have
boxes for the poor") will take in an infinite amount of the speaker's
tears.
An often -cited example of the metaphysical conceit is the
metaphor from Joh n Donne's "The Flea" in which a flea that bites
both the speaker and his lover becomes a conceit arguing that his
lover has no reason to deny him sexually, although they are not
married:
“ Oh stay! three lives in one flea spare
Where we almost, yea more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage -bed and marriage -temple is.”
3.2.8Epic Simile :
Also called Homeric simile, an epic simile is an extended
simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to
intensify th e heroic stature of the subject and to serve as
decoration. An example from The Iliad follows:
“As when the shudder of the west wind suddenly rising
scatters across the water, and the water darkens beneath it, so
darkening were settled the ranks of Achai ans and Trojans in the
plain .”
Homeric simile, also called epic simile, is a detailed
comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length. The
word "Homeric" is based on the Greek author, Homer, who
composed the two famous Greek epics, The Ili adand The
Odyssey . Many authors continue to use this type of simile in their
writings. The typical Homeric simile makes a comparison to some
kind of event, in the form "like a ____ when it ______." The object
of the comparison is usually something familia r to the audience,
such as an animal or the weather. The Iliad , for instance, contains
many such similes comparing fighting warriors to lions attacking
wild boars or other prey.
3.2.9Epigram :
Any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely expressed is
an epigram. It is a brief, clever, and usually memorable statement.munotes.in

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27Derived from the Greek: epi -gramma, which means, "to write on –
inscribe", the literary device has been employed for over two
millennia. In English literature, the short couplet poem was
dominated by the poetic epigram and proverb, especially in the
translations of the Bible and the Greek and Roman poets, William
Shakespeare's sonnets, William Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”,
Byron’s“Don Juan”and Alexander Pope’s“An Essay on Man”. It
began to be used in a witty, pointed manner. Eg:
“I am His Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?” —Alexander Pope
3.2.10 Hyperbole :
“Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
Then another thousand, then a second hundred,
Then still ano ther thousand, then a hundred” –Catullus
Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an exaggerated or
extravagant statement to create a strong emotional response. As a
figure of speech, it is not intended to be taken literally. Hyperbole is
frequently used for humour, as for instance, “his brain is the size of
a pea”. In literature, it stands for exaggeration, for instance in “was
thisthe face that launched a thousand ships”.
Hyperbole is used to create emphasis. It is a literary device
often used in poetr y, and is frequently encountered in casual
speech. It is also a visual technique in which a deliberate
exaggeration of a particular part of an image is employed. An
example is the exaggeration of a person's facial feature in a political
cartoon.
3.2.11 Irony :
Irony implies the use of words to convey a meaning that is
the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!”
when I said I had to work all weekend. In literature, it stands for a
technique of indicating, through character or p lot development, an
intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly
stated. In contemporary writing, it stands for a manner of organizing
a work so as to give full expression to contradictory or
complementary impulses, attitudes, etc ., especially as a means of
indicating detachment from a subject, theme, or emotion. The origin
of the word goes back to the early 1500s from the Latin īrōnīa
which mean dissimulation, sarcasm, or understatement. Some
common types of irony are: verbal iron y, situational irony, dramatic
irony, tragic irony, Socratic irony, irony of fate (cosmic irony), etc.
3.2.12 Metaphor :
It is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to
something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest amunotes.in

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28resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” It occurs when
something used, or regarded as being used, to represent
something else: emblem or symbol. The origin of the word can be
traced back to the mid -1500s, from the Latin metaphora or Greek
metaphorá which means ‘a transfer’. The Philosophy of Rhetoric
(1936), by I. A. Richards, reports that metaphor is in two parts: the
tenor and the vehicle . The tenor is the subject to which attributes
are ascribed. The vehicle is the subject whose attributes are
borrowed. Other writers employ the general terms, ground and
figure, to denote tenor and the vehicle.
If we consider the All the world's a stage monologue from As
You Like It : “ All the world’s a stage,/ And all the men and women
merely players;/ Th ey have their exits and their entrances ;” (William
Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7), "the world" is compared to a
stage, describing it with the attributes of “the stage”; "the world" is
the tenor, and "a stage" is the vehicle; "men and women" is a
seconda ry tenor, "players" is the secondary vehicle.
3.2.13 Metonymy :
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one word or phrase
is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such
as "crown" for "royalty"). It is also the rhetorical strategy o f
describing something indirectly by referring to things around it, such
as describing someone's clothing to characterize the individual. It
originates from meta , "change" and onoma ," n a m e " .Ag o o d
example of metonymy is the common saying “The pen is might ier
than the sword ”, in which the pen is an attribute of thoughts that are
written with a pen; the sword is an attribute of military action. Or,
“We await word from the crown ”, by which we mean the
king/queen.
3.2.14 Onomatopoeia :
Onomatopoeia is used to describe words that look like the
sound they are describing. For example, in ‘when you rattle a jar of
dry beans ...,’ the word 'rattle' describes the sound, and it makes
the sound when you say the word. Similarly in‘a balloon will pop ...,’
the word 'pop ' makes the sound the balloon does.
An onomatopoeia or onomatop œia is a word that imitates or
suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Onomatopoeia
(as an uncountable noun) refers to the property of such words.
Common occurrences of onomatopoei as include animal noises,
such as "oink" or "meow" or "roar". Onomatopoeias are not
universally the same across all languages; they conform to some
extent to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the
sound of a clock may be ‘tick tock’ in E nglish. However, Poe made
the phrase “tintinnabulation” famous to suggest the same sound.munotes.in

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293.2.15 Paradox :
It is a statement or proposition that seems self -contradictory
or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth, or a statement
contrary to comm only accepted opinion. It may also describe any
person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory
nature.
The paradox as a literary device has been defined as an
anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of
striking exposi tion or unorthodox insight. It functions as a method of
literary analysis which involves examining apparently contradictory
statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to
explain their presence.
Literary or rhetorical paradoxes abound in the works of
Oscar Wilde and G. K. Chesterton. Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne,
Borges, and Chesterton are all concerned with episodes and
narratives designed around paradoxes. Statements such as Wilde’s
“I can resist anything except temptation” and Chester ton’s “spies do
not look like spies” are examples of rhetorical paradox. Further
back, Polonius’ observation in Hamlet that “though this be
madness, yet there is method in’t” is a memorable third.
3.2.16 Symbol :
A symbol is something such as an object, p icture, written
word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by
association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red
octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres
may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for n umbers. The
word "symbol" came to the English languageby way of Middle
English, from Old French, from Latin, from the Greek sýmbolon ,
meaning "together" and "a throw", having the approximate meaning
of "to throw together".
The psychologist, Carl Jung, wh o studied archetypes,
proposed an alternative definition of symbol, distinguishing it from
the term "sign". In Jung's view, a sign stands for something known,
as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted this with symbol,
which he said would stand for something that is unknown and that
cannot be made clear or precise. An example of a symbol, in this
sense, is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called "self".
3.2.17 Synecdoche :
It is a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole
or the who le for a part, the special for the general or the general for
the special, as in ‘ten sail’ for ‘ten ships’ or ‘a Croesus’ for ‘a rich
man.’ It had originated in the late 1300s from the Latin synekdoch ,
that means “the act of receiving from another”.munotes.in

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30The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an
important aspect of a fictional character: for example, a character
might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the
eyes, which come to represent the character. Also, sonnets and
other fo rms of love poetry frequently use synecdoche to
characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather
than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in
the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often
described part by part, from head to toe.
Where a part refers to the whole:"White hair" for an elderly
person; "A pair of hands" referring to a worker.
Where a whole thing is used to refer to a part of it: "The city"
passing a law, meaning that the local government has passed a
law; or a "country being at war", when only its representative
army is fighting.
A general class name used to denote a specific member of that
or an associated class as for instance, ‘truck’ for any four -wheel
drive vehicle.
A specific class name used to refer to a general set of
associated things, eg:‘thermos’ for any kind of vacuum flask for
holding a hot drink.
Using the material a thing is made of to refer to that thing:
eg:"willow" for cricket bat, ‘plastic’ for credit card.
3.2.18 Graphologi cal Features
These features include the set of punctuation marks and the
conventions of text positioning (such as headlines and indents),
which are used to organize text by identifying sen tences,
paragraphs, and other written units.
3.2. 19 Sense Devices
These poetic devices include all images and figures of
speech discussed above which appeal to the senses.
3.2. 20 Sound Devices
These devices include phonological patterns, rhyme
scheme, rhythm and pun.
3.2.21 Structural Devices
These are the techniques such as refrain, tautology and
contrast.
Some poetic techniques and their effects on style:
1.Assonance: it is the repetition of sounds in adjacent words. It
creates auditory images. It als o creates musical effect.
Alliteration can be of two types –assonance and consonance.
Assonance is close repetition of vowels and diphthongs and thismunotes.in

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31makes the poem more melodious while consonance creates
consonant clusters. They add emphasis.
2.Parallelis m:It is made of lines beginning with similar sentence
structures. It indicates regularity, monotony and repetition. They
are mnemonic; something that makes it easy to memorize.
3.Metaphor: (indirect comparison) It is a figure of speech in which
one object is identified with another. It makes the poem more
descriptive. It adds to the pictorial effect and also creates
ornamental language.
4.Simile: (direct comparison) It is a figure of speech in which one
object is compared to another. It makes the poem more
figurative.
5.Personification: It adds human touch and interest to inanimate
features.
6.Imagery: There are five types of images: visual, auditory,
olfactory, tactile and gustatory. Images are word pictures and
they make direct appeal to human senses.
7.Use of verbs: Verbs are normally distinguished as stative verbs
and dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs indicate movement. If a
poem has these verbs, the poem becomes action packed and
lively. Stative verbs indicate either past or a static situation or
even a mental st ate.
8.Refrain: It is a repetition of line. It has mnemonic function and
creates a musical effect. It also creates a particular mood.
3.3SAMPLE ANALYSIS
Question :Attempt a stylistic analysis of the given text with special
reference to the linguistic cho ice made by the poet.
Sweet is true love tho' giv'n in vain, in vain;
And sweet is death that puts an end to pain:
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I.
Love, art thou sweet? then bitter death must be:
Love, thou art bitter; sweet is death to me.
OL o v e, if death be sweeter, let me die.
Sweet love, that seems not made to fade away,
Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay,
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I.munotes.in

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32I fain would follow love, if that could be;
I needs must follow death, who calls for me;
Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.
Answer:
The given extract of verse is an expression of death -wish of
the speaker who states that if he cannot enjoy the sweetness of
love, he would rather die. The poem plays out the theme of love
and death as mutually connected experience –both representing
sweetness and bitterness at once. The basic argument in the poem
is that love in its bitterness, if unrequited ,is asworse as death.
A stylistic analysis of this verse would help one to locate at a
number of poetic and linguistic devices and the ways in which they
reinforce the themes of love and death. The linguistic devices
include graphological features and punctuations while the poetic
devices include structural devices, sense devices and sound
devices.
Graphological features of the given text can be analysed
minutely. The given verse is made of twelve lines which are
arranged in four ter cets. These twelve lines make five sentences.
Such a small number of sentences in comparison to more lines
would indicate that there are many complex sentences in the verse ,
with plenty of subordinate clauses. Large number of subordinate
clauses indicates frequent modification of statements and a
complex thought process which caught between love and death.
The verse also has five periods (full stops) , one exclamation mark
and one question mark in addition to four semi -colons, two colons
and fourteen commas. Periods, exclamatory mark and question
mark indicate a variety in sentence structure ranging from
statements to interrogative sentences. Commas, colons and semi -
colons indicate achopped rhythm and a corresponding mental
situation. The verse also has deviations from normal spelling rules
in words such as“tho’ ‘giv’n ’a n d ‘ vain”. These experiments with
spelling defami liarise the words and concepts. The extract does not
have hyphenated words or even word breaking. However, first letter
of every line is in the upper case (capital) and the first letters of
every sentence is also in capital. These capital letters create a
predictable pattern in the poem to g ivea visual appeal in print.
The given extract also has a large number of poetic devices
which makes it densely figurative. These poetic devices can be
seen in almost all the lines. The extract has employed structural
devices such as contrast, inversion, tautology and enjambment.
The contrast as a device is used throughout the poem structur ally,
by placing love and death in sentences. For instance, in the first
sentence that runs into five lines, not only love and death are
contrasted but also sweetness and bitterness. The extract also hasmunotes.in

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33ample instances of inversion, in the expressions like “then bitter
death must be/ sweet is death to me”. Here the word order is
changed to foreground ‘bitter ’and‘sweet ’.T a u t o l o g yo r repetition of
expression is another structural device. The line ,for instance, “I
know not which is sweeter, no, not I ,”i sr e p e a t e da sar e f r a i nt o
create th e mood of confusion of the lover .“ L e tm ed i e ”i sa n o t h e r
sentence repeated which emphasises the death wish. “I follow, I
follow” in the last line is another instance of tautology which
indicate s the mindless submission to death.
The extract is also rich in the use of poetic devices that give
sensory details. These devices include personification, me taphor,
and apostrophe. Love is personified in line four in the expression –
“Love, are thou sweet?” Death is also personified when it is
addressed as ‘sweet death ’in line 8. Metaphor too abound sthe
poem. The first line identifies love with sweetness and the second
line identifies death with sweetness. In line 8, human life is
identified with clay, while line 11 identifies speaker with a follower of
death. Apostrophe is another device used repeatedly in the poem.
In the second stanza , for instance, in lines4, 5 and 6, love is
addressed directly to create a sense of dialogue with the same.
Similarly ,in the next stanza love and death areaddressed directly
in the line 7 and 8 as “sweet love” and “sweet death” respectively.
The given verse also has a rich patterning of sounds. Such a
pattern includes alliteration, rhyme scheme, pun and rhythm.
Alliteration a close repetition of sounds can be seen in expressions
like “vain, in vain” (line 1), “loveless clay” (line 8) and “follow love”
(line 10). In the last two examples, the consonant is repeated
closely. The extract also has clear rhyme scheme –aab, ccb, ddb,
ccb. Pun is another phonological feature in the poem with the
words ” know”, “no” are interchanged in the line 3 and line 6 to
intensify the dilemma o f the speaker. /l/ and /s/ are the lulling and
soothing sound which indicates the comfort of love. /s/ is a sibilant
which indicates softness, silence and comfort associated with
sweet love. The verse is composed in iambic rhythm –(unstressed
followed by stressed) which sounds pleasing to ears.
3.4EXERCISE
Question :Attempt a stylistic analysis of the given textswith special
reference to the linguistic choice made by the poet s.
1.The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;munotes.in

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34Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for th at the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be t elling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
2.Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all a t once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never -ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
Ig a z e d --and gazed --but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
munotes.in

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354
NARRATOLOGY
Unit Struc ture :
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Features of a Narrative
4.1.1 Action
4.1.2 Character and characterization
4.1.3 Dialogue
4.1.4 Epiphany
4.1.5 Narrator
4.1.6 Plot
4.1.7 Point of View
4.1.8 Narrative Techniques
4.1.9 Setting
4.1.10 Theme
4.2 Speech and Thought Presentations in Prose Narratives
4.3 Conclusion
4.0 OBJECTIVES
The basic objective of this unit is to familiarize the readers
with the elements and techniques of a narrative. It also aims to eqip
them with the basic tools in the analysis of a n arrative.
4.1 FEATURES OF A NARRATIVE
A prose narrative is usually made of the following features
and element:
4.1.1Action :
Whatever happens to the characters during the course of
telling the story is called “action”. All narratives, however, do not
depend on action as the main ingredient: stories can be merely the
descripti onof feeling or circumstance.
Aclear understanding of the nature of action is of course
only one part of the foundations of narrative theory. Not all
descriptions of action would be called narratives: a psychological or
sociological description of behaviour and social interaction ofmunotes.in

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36individuals or groups is not quite likely to be called a narrative. In
order to qualify as the main focus of a story or a narrative, action
must have some necessary qualities. Firstly, action is usually
something that relates to the speech act of telling. Secondly,
narratives also contain descriptions of circumstances, objects,
mental properties or processes of agents, etc. Finally, it should be
stresse d that the relationship between the structure of action and
the study of theories of action is problematic: in telling a story about
some (real or fictitious) events and actions, we partially describe
some actions, often transforming them permanently accor ding to
our inferences from observed human behaviour. Moreover, our
insight in tothe structure of action depends on our mental
processes of perception and thinking, and hence, on our discourse
about action. Thus ,the study of action is associated with prob lems
of linguistics, semantics, logic and the philosophy of language.
4.1.2 Character and characterization :
Characterisation is the process of conveying information
about characters in narrative or dramatic works of art or everyday
conversation. Character s may be presented by means of
description, through their actions, speech, or thoughts. Characters
are the persons presented in works of narrative or drama who
convey their personal qualities thro ugh dialogue and action by
which the reader or audience understands their thoughts, feelings,
intentions and motives. Characters either remain stable in their
attitudes throughout a narrative (static characters or flat characters)
or undergo personal devel opment and change, whether through a
gradual process or a crisis ( dynamic characters or round
characters).
As suggested above, there are certain character types:
round characters, flat characters, stock characters, archetypal
characters, iconic characters , main characters, secondary
characters, active characters, static characters, cardboard
characters, viewpoint characters, sympathetic characters,
unsympathetic characters, focal character, marginal characters,
confidantes, foils, narrators, protagonists a ndantagonists. Some of
the major types are discussed here.
Aflat character, also known as a type,i sd e f i n e db ya
single quality without much individualizing detail. Around
character is a complex individual incapable of being easily defined.
The degree to which characters are given roundness and individual
complexity depends upon their function in the plot –some only
need to be seen at a distance, like strangers or acquaintances,
rather than known intimately. Even fully rounded characters can
often be seen as developments of types, like Shakespeare's
Falstaff, who derives in part from the Vice of the medieval morality
play and in part from the boastful soldier of Roman comedy. Thesemunotes.in

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37often become stock characters . The distinction between flat and
rounded characters, while useful, should not obscure the fact that
there is a continuum of levels of character development; many
characters will fall between the two poles, lightly sketched, or even
caricatured.
Two methods of characterization often distinguished are
those in which the author shows without comment a characters'
words and actions, implying rather than describing their traits; or
tells the reader directly about the characters explicit ly, even
intrusively guiding the audience's understanding of characters
through commentary and evaluation. Modern narrative tends to
develop character indirectly by showing, whereas many nineteenth
century novelists chose to explain their characters direct ly, by
telling –but there are brilliant exceptions in each period. Often,
characterization can be further enhanced by the use of a metaphor
which can give visible shape to a character. This is when the
character becomes an icon or a symbol ,a sH a m l e ti sa n icon of
disengagement or procrastination, so characteristic of youth.
Focalization is a technique used in characterization. It
happens when one narrator or the number of points of view think or
talk about one character. Further, focalization can be done either in
first person narrative or omniscient narrative. The character who is
at the centre of the narrative is called the focal character. It need
not be the narrator all the time. For instance, in Joseph Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness ,t h en a r r a t o ri sM a r l ow, but the focal character is
Kurtz.
4.1.3 Dialogue :
Dialogue is a literary form with its chief historical origins as
narrative, in classical Greek literature, in particular in the ancient art
of rhetoric, the most notable examples being the dialogues o fP l a t o .
Its everyday counterpart is a conversational exchange between two
or more people. Having lost touch almost entirely in the 20th
century with its underpinnings in rhetoric, the notion of dialogue
emerged significant in the works of cultural critics such as Mikhail
Bakhtin and Paulo Freire and theologians such as Martin Buber, as
an existential alternative to counter social alienation in mass
industrial society.
In a short story or a novel, dialogue takes the action forward,
reveals character and in tention, helps in characterisation and
description of setting. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice much of
Darcy’s character is revealed by the dialogue exchanged by the
Bennett family. In all the Sherlock Holmes stories, the reader has
advance informat ion of action through the dialogues of Holmes and
Watson. Dialogue reveals the setting and the society, and gives a
clear idea of the societal norms of the times, as in Dickens’ novels,munotes.in

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38as well as the philosophy of the novelist, as in George Eliot’s or
Tolstoy’s or Dostoyevsky’s novels.
4.1.4 Epiphany :
The origin of the term is ina Christian festival, observed on
January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the
gentiles in the persons of the Magi, Twelfth -day. Its religious
connotation is an a ppearance or manifestation, esp ecially, of a
deity, whereas in fiction it means a sudden, intuitive perception of
or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually
initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or
experien ce. Thus an epiphany, following from the ancient Greek
epiphaneia, “manifestation, striking appearance” is the sudden
realization or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of
something. The term is used in either a philosophical or literal
sense to signify that the claimant has new information or
experience, often insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper or
numinous foundational frame of reference.
The word's secular usage may owe some of its popularity to
James Joyce, who expounded on its meaning through Stephen
Hero, the protagonist and the novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man (1916). Referring to those times in his life when
something became manifest, a deep realisation, he would then
attempt to write this epiphanic realisat ion in a fragment. Joyce also
used epiphany as a literary device within each short story of his
collection ,Dubliners (1914) as his protagonists came to sudden
recognitions that changed their view of themselves or their social
condition and often sparking a reversal or change of heart.
4.1.5 Narrator :
The narrator is someone who tells, or is assumed to be
telling the story in a given narrative. In modern analysis of fictional
narratives, the narrator is the imagined ‘voice’ transmitting the
story, and is distinguished both from the real author (who may have
written other tales with very different narrators) and from the implied
author (who does not recount the story, but is inferred as the
authority responsible for selecting it and inventing a narrator for it).
Often, the "narrator" is a character developed by the author,
especially for the purpose of relating events to the audience. The
experiences and observations related by the narrator are not
generally to be regarded as those of the author, though in some
cases (especially in non -fiction), it is possible for the narrator and
author to be the same person. In first person point of view, the
narrator is participant, an actual character in the story, while in
second and third person points of view, the na rrator is
nonparticipant, only an implied character, a sort of omniscient ormunotes.in

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39semi -omniscient being who does not take part in the story but only
relates it to the audience.
The narrator is one of the three entities responsible for story -
telling of any kind .T h eo t h e r sa r et h ea u t h o ra n dt h ea u d i e n c e ;t h e
latter called the "reader" when referring specifically to literature.
The author and the audience both inhabit the real world. It is
the author's function to create the universe, people, and events
within the story. It is the audience's function to understand and
interpret the story. The narrator exists within the world of the story
(and only there —although in non -fiction the narrator and the author
can share the same persona, since the real world and the w orld of
the story may be the same) and present it in a way the audience
can comprehend.
The concept of the unreliable narrator (as opposed to
"author") became more important with the rise of the novel in the
18th century. Until the late 1800s, literary cr iticism as an academic
exercise dealt solely with poetry (including epic poems like The Iliad
and Paradise Lost , and poetic drama like Shakespeare’s). Most
poems did not have a narrator distinct from the author. But novels,
with their immersive fictional w orlds, created a problem, especially
when the narrator's views differed significantly from that of the
author.
The unreliable narrative voice involves the use of a non -
credible or untrustworthy narrator. This mode may be employed to
give the audience a d eliberate sense of disbelief in the story or a
level of suspicion or mystery as to what information is meant to be
true and what is false. This unreliability is often developed by the
author to demonstrate that the narrator is psychologically unstable;
has an enormous bias; is unknowledgeable, ignorant, or childish;
or, is perhaps purposefully trying to deceive the audience.
Unreliable narrators are usually first person narrators. Examples
include Holden Caulfield in the novel ,The Catcher in the Rye ,a n d
Humbert in the novel ,Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
The narrator, in a prose fiction, can be an insider or an
outsider. An insider is a narrator who is familiar with the characters
and the setting. An outsider, as in the narratives of Kafka and
Camus are str angers to both characters and setting.
4.1.6 Plot:
Any discussion of plot must begin with the drawing of crucial
distinction between plot and narrative. E. M. Forster formulated the
difference most memorably. He observed that if we write “The king
died, and the queen died,” we have a narrative, but if we write,
instead, “The king died, and the queen died of grief,” then we havemunotes.in

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40a plot. The second assertion has established a link of cause
between the two events. The making of connections or designs is
theessence of storytelling. Narrative is what is told; plot is how the
material is shaped to affect the reader. Narrative is simply a record
of what happened. For narrative to become a plot itmust reveal its
meaning in human terms. Events only become interes ting, which is
to say relevant to our understanding of life, when we see their effect
upon people, or in the case of fiction, upon characters. This is not
to say, however, that the writer always explains the connection of
events to lives. That task is quit eo f t e nl e f tt ot h er e a d e r ;i ti st h e
puzzle that we try to solve as we read that draws us more deeply
into the world of the story. The writer may, indeed, deliberately
present a narrative sequence in such a way that it makes the
reader to assemble it into ap l o t .
The writer may also choose to tell several stories at once,
making use of parallel plots or subplots. An intricate, complicated
plot is known as an imbroglio, but even the simplest statements of
plot can have multiple inferences, such as with s ongs in the ballad
tradition. Plot is often designed with a narrative structure, storyline
or story arc that includes exposition, conflict or rising action and
climax, followed by a falling action and resolution.
4.1.7Point of View :
Narrative point of vi ew (also point -of-view or viewpoint)
describes from which grammatical person's perspective the story is
perceived.
i)First person narrative
The first person narrative makes it necessary that the
narrator is also a character within his or her own story, so that the
narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character as
"I" (or, when plural, "we"). Oftentimes, the first person narrative is
used as a way to convey directly the deeply internal, otherwise
unspoken thoughts of the narrator.
The narrator can be the protagonist (e.g., Gulliver in
Gulliver's Travels ), someone very close to him who is privy to his
thoughts and actions (Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes), or an
ancillary character who has little to do with the action of the story
(Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby ). A narrator can even be a
character relating the story second -hand, such as Lockwood in
Wuthering Heights .
ii)Second person narrative
Probably, the rarest mode in literature (though quite common
in song lyrics) is the secon d person narrative mode in which the
narrator refers to one of the characters as "you", therefore making
the audience feel as if he or she is a character within the story. Themunotes.in

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41second person narrative mode is often paired with the first person
narrative mod e in which the narrator makes emotional comparisons
between the thoughts, actions, and feelings of "you" versus "I".
Often the narrator is, therefore, also a character in his or her story,
in which case it would technically still be employing the first per son
narrative mode.
Perhaps, the most prominent example of this mode in
contemporary literature is Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City .
Another notable example of the second person narrative mode is
Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller .
Second person narration can be a difficult style to manage.
But when it is done well, this type of narration allows (or forces) the
reader to imagine him or herself within the action of the novel. One
possible (and frequently exploited) effect of the sec ond person is a
strong accusatory tone which can be achieved, if the narrator
condemns or expresses strong feelings about the actions of the
focal character (“you”). This technique can also be used effectively
to place the reader in unfamiliar, disturbing, or exciting situations.
For example, in his novel Complicity , Iain Banks uses the second
person in the chapters dealing with the actions of a murderer.
iii)Third person narrative
Third person narration provides the greatest flexibility to the
author an d thus, is the most commonly used narrative mode in
literature. In the third person narrative mode, each and every
character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they",
but never as "I" or "we" (first person), or "you" (second person). In
third person narrative, it is necessary that the narrator is merely an
unspecified entity or uninvolved person that conveys the story, but
not a character of any kind within the story being told. Third person
singular (he/she) is overwhelmingly the most common type pronoun
in third person narrative, although there have been successful uses
of the third person plural (they), as in Maxine Swann's short story
"Flower Children." Even more common, however, is to see singular
and plural used together in one st ory, at different times, depending
upon the number of people being referred to at a given moment in
the plot. Sometimes, in third person narratives, a character would
refer to himself in the third person e.g., "(Character name) would
like to come with you" .
iv)Third person omniscient view
Historically, the third person omniscient perspective has
been the most commonly used; it is seen in countless classic
novels, including works by Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, and George
Eliot. This is a tale told from the point of view of a storyteller who
plays no part in the story but knows all the facts, including the
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42v)Multiple -person view
Sometimes, an author use smultiple narrators, usually all of
them telling stories in the first person, as for example, William
Faulkner's novels As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury are
told in am i x t u r eo f the first and third persons.
vi)Alternating person view
Sometimes, an author moves back and forth between a
more omniscient third person narrator to a more personal first
person narrator. This mode is found in the novel ,The Poisonwood
Bible.
4.1.8 Narrative Techniques :
i)Epistolary narratives which were very common in the early
years of the novel, generally consist of a series of lette rs written by
different characters, and necessarily switching when the writer
changes; the classic books Pamela by Samuel Richardson and
Dracula by Bram Stoker, both take this approach as does Robert
Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island which switches between third
and first person, as do Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Vladimir
Nabokov's The Gift .
ii)Stream of consciousness
A stream of consciousness gives the (almost always first
person) narrator's perspective by attempting to replicate the thought
processes (as opposed to simply the actions and spoken words) of
the narrator -character. Often, interior monologues and inner desires
or motivations, as well as pieces of incomplete thoughts, are
expressed to the audience (but not necessarily to other charact ers).
Examples of stream of consciousness include the multiple
narrators' feelings in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury
andAs I Lay Dying ,O f f r e d ' so f t e nf r a g m e n t e dt h o u g h t si nM a r g a r e t
Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale ,a n dt h ed e v e l o p m e n to ft h e
narrator's nightmarish experience in Freddy Mercury’s (Queen's) hit
song, “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
4.1.9 Setting :
In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything
in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and
mood for a story . Setting has been referred to as story world or
milieu to include a context (especially society) beyond the
immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may
include culture, historical period, geography, and hour. Along with
plot, character, t heme, and style, setting is considered one of the
fundamental components of fiction. A setting has a key role in plot,
as in man vs. nature or man vs. society stories. In some stories, the
setting becomes a character itself. In such roles, setting may be
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43Settings may take various forms: it may be a constructed
world, a fantasy world, a fictional country, a future history, an
imaginary world, a mythical place, a parallel universe like planets in
science fiction, o r a Utopia. Some novelists who have written
memorable ‘place novels’ or region -specific novels are Thomas
Hardy who created his Wessex, Arnold Bennett and his Clayhanger
novels, O’Henry and his New York stories, and R.K. Narayan’s
Malgudi . The term "settin g" is often used to refer to the social milieu
in which the events of a novel occur, as for instance, Russia during
the Napoleonic wars in Tolstoy’s War and Peace ,o rR o h i n t o n
Mistry’s Such a Long Journey set in postcolonial India of the 1970s.
4.1.10 Theme :
Atheme is the main idea of an essay, paragraph, or a book.
Along with plot,character ,setting ,a n d style , theme is considered
one of the fundamental compone nts of fiction .T h e m e so f t e n
explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather
than stated explicitly. A theme is often described as the universal
statement or feeling, one is le ft with after closing the book. Often,
the theme is expressed through a motif –a motif can be something
that recurs to develop the theme in a novel. The motif can be an
idea, an object, a place or a statement. The buzzard in Faulkner’s
As I Lay Dying thatconveys death and decay. A motif differs from a
theme in that a theme is an idea set forth by a text, where as a
motif is a recurring element which symbolizes that idea.
In a skilfully crafted tale, thematic patterning may be
arranged so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea
which disparate events and disparate frames have in common. This
device dates back to the framing circumstance used in One
Thousand and One Nights , Boccacio’s Decameron and in
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales .Am o t i fi si m portant because it allows
one to see main points and themes that the author is trying to
express, in order that one might be able to interpret the work more
accurately.
4.2 SPEECH AND THOUGHT PRESENTATIONS IN
PROSE NARRATIVES
Narratives are also speech acts i.e. they are composed of
techniques like direct speech, indirect speech and free indirect
speech .
Free indirect speech is in a halfway house position, not
claiming to be a reproduction of the original speech, but at the
same time it is a more indire ct rendering of the original.Typically,
the reporting clause is omitted, but the tense and pronoun selection
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44Eg. (Direct Speech) He said, “I’ll come back here to see you again
tomorrow.”
(Indirect Speech) He said that he wo uld return there to see her
again the following day.
(Free Indirect Speech) He would return there to see her again the
next day.
Such instances occur in the context of sentences of narrative
report. In a novel ,free indirect speech is seen with a number of
features both positive and negative indicating freeness. Eg. Mr.
Shepherd, the lawyer’s speech in Persuasion (Jane Austen)
‘Then I take it for granted,’ observed Sir
Walter, ‘that his face is about as orange
as the cuffs and capes of my livery.’
Mr Sh epherd hastened to assure him,
that Admiral Croft was a very hale,
hearty, well -looking man, a little weather -
beaten, to be sure, but not much; and
quite the gentleman in all his notions and
behaviour; –not likely to make the
smallest difficulty about term s;–only
wanted a comfortable home, and to get
into it as soon as possible; –knew he
must pay for his convenience; –knew
what rent a ready -furnished house of that
consequence might fetch; –shouldnot
have been surprised if Sir Walter had
asked more; –had in quired about the
manor; –wouldbe glad of the deputation,
certainly, but made no great point of it; –
saidhe sometimes took out a gun, but
never killed; –quitethe gentleman.
(Austen: 326)
Free indirect speech is more self -effacing. In the above
example, ‘th at’, and the subject are not repeated. These negative
syntactic indications are reinforced by colloquial lexical forms, and
the dashes indicate that we are getting only snatches of the
conversation. Thus, we are presented with a form which has
indications of an intervening narrator but also some flavour of the
original speech. The chopping of the speech brings out the parallels
in the form of stunts about the admiral, as if to underline the
inexhaustibility of the lawyer’s store of eager reassurances. These
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45Shepherd, allowing room for us to feel that his persuasiveness is
for his own benefit than for others.
Thus, we not only get a flavour of the character’s words but
also of the narrator by ass uming an intervening position between
the character and reader .T h ew r i t e r makes the free indirect speech
extremely useful for casting an ironic light on what the character
says.
The pronoun and tense selection of free indirect speech is
appropriate to t he form of narration in which the free indirect
speech occurs. Eg. Bleak House (chapter 11) –an o v e lw r i t t e ni n
the narrative present has examples of free indirect speech.
“Name, Jo. Nothing else that he knows
on. Don’t know that everybody has two
names. Never heard of such a think.
Don’t know that Jo is short for a longer
name. Thinks it long enough for him.He
can’t find no fault with it. Spell it? No. He
can’t spell it.”
Here it is the use of third person pronouns and the
appropriate markings on the verbs that make for free indirect
speech. Otherwise, there are many features of directness –the
passage contains responses to questions, echo questions and
idiosyncratic spellings to indicate Jo’s idiolect. The omission of
questions indicate the rapidity of the cross questioning, and it
presents only one side of the piece of interrogation, as if it were a
monologue. This also makes the interchange ironic.
Thirdly, free indirect speech also can be seen in the first person
mode:
Hardly had the Farlows gone than a
blue-chinned cleric called –and I tried to
make the interview as brief as was
consistent with neither hurting his
feelings nor arousing his doubts. Yes, I
would devote all my life to the child’s
welfare. Here, incidentally, was a little
cross that Charlotte Becker had given
me when we were both young. I had a
female cousin, a respectable spinster in
New York. There we would find a good
private school for Dolly. Oh, what a
crafty Humbert! ( Lolita ,p3 2 9 )
The narrator, Humbert Humbert is unknown t o anyone else,
murdered Lolita’s mother to gain complete control of the stepmunotes.in

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46daughter and seduce her.Hence, ‘Yes, I would devote all my life to
the child’s welfare’ must be a Free Indirect version of Humbert
Humbert’s words to the cleric.
Effect of Free I ndirect Speech
1] Irony –Free indirect speech is normally viewed as a form where
the authorial voice is interposed between the reader and what the
character says, so that the reader is distanced from the character’s
words.
2] Highlighting and back grounding of speech according to the role
and attitude of characters by controlling the light and shade of
conversation. In this manner, our sympathies can be channelised
towards one or a set of characters as in the court room scene in
ATale of Two Cities
3] Blurs the boundaries between character and narrator, so much
so that it comes very close to regular speech.
4] Restores freedom to the oral storyteller and liberates narratives
from the fidelity to character’s words required by the use of speech
punct uation.
5] Provides an escape from an omniscient narration; total
disclosure of the contents of character’s minds (which is boring and
implausible)
6] Escape from the boringly one -voiced telling of an external, dull
distant narration.
7]Free indirect speech is a move towards perceptive/ intrusive/
aligned understanding and disclosure of characters, not the strait
jacket of total perception/ intrusion.
8]It is an ambiguous mixture of proper narrative and proper speech
or thought.
9]Free indirect spee chdoes not fit into any one speaker/ speech
situation. Its problematic nature means it is fore grounded.
Authorial and Narrative Voices
Booth distinguishes between the real author and the ‘implied
author’. The author is the biographically and biologicall yr e a lw r i t e r .
Biographic author (Real author) –one who has his political, social
and other views.
Implied author :
1] Story teller (point of view) –Nelly Dean in Wuthering Heightsmunotes.in

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472] Confessional narrator –use of ‘I’ and constantly talking to the
reader eg., Gulliver, Huckleberry Finn
4.3CONCLUSION
In analysing a narrative, the learner is expected to
understand the techniques of characterization, point of view, action
and the identity of the narrators. The learner will have to get them
through the linguistic devices such as the pronouns, speech act
and tense used in the narrative.
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485
ANALYSIS OF PROSE NARRATIVES
Unit Structure :
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Pointers for Analysis
5.2 Sample s of Analysi s
5.3 Exercise
5.0 OBJECTIVES
This u nit aims to impart the learners with the basic skills in
analyzing prose narratives. Further, the unit also has the objective
of giving adequate practice in analyzing different types of
narratives.
5.1 POINTERS FOR ANALYSIS
1.Features of the narrator: Narr ator could be either an omniscient
one, who knows everything including the thoughts and feelings
of the characters, giving an insider perspective, or a complete
stranger giving an outsider perspective using first person
narrative. The age, gender, race, at titude of the narrator can be,
in such cases, derived from the context.
2.The point of view: whether first person, second person or
omniscient as discussed in the previous chapter .
3.Action: whether description or recollection.
4.Setting: the physical backgro und, cultural or political
background –whether it isobvious or implied in the narrative.
5.Characterization: focal character , round characters, flat
characters, peripheral characters , focalization etc.
6.Dialogue :they catch the direct exchange between the
characters
7.Tense of the narrative: usually past tense but use of present
tense indicates fresh memory, adds drama suggesting
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498.Speech situation: the use of direct speech, indirect speech or
free indirect speech
5.2SAMPLE ANALYSES
Sample 1:
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:
Remembering with great difficulty why I had come, I went
over to one of the stalls and examined porcelain vases and
flowered tea sets. At the door of the stall a young lady was t alking
and laughing with two young gentlemen. I remarked their English
accents and listened vaguely to their conversation.
‘O,I never said such a thing!’
‘O, but you did!’
‘O. but I didn’t !’
‘Didn’t she say that?’
‘Yes, I heard her.’
‘O, there’s a…. fib! ’
Observing me, the young lady came over and asked me
did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not
encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of
duty. I looked humbly at the great jars that stood like eastern
guards at eithe r side of the dark entrance to the stall and
murmured:
‘No, thank you.’
The young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went
back to the two young men. They began to talk of the same subject.
Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder.
Questions:
a)Who is the narrator? Is the narrator distinct from the author?
What linguistic factors helped you decide?
Ans.) The narrator is a character introduced by the author in this
specific case and the narrator introduces the other charac ters and
the setting of the narrative. The narrator is distinct from the author
as it the narrator who creates the fictional world in the narratives
and this imagined world need not be the world of the author. The
narrator provides a first person perspecti veand it is indicated by
the use of first person pronouns like ‘I, me’ and also the reference
to other characters as ‘she’ and ‘they’. The narrator seems to be an
outsider because the narrator does not know the names of the
characters and the narrator not ices the difference in the accents of
the characters. The narrator also seems to be advanced in age as
he refers to other people as ‘young lady’ and ‘young gentlemen’.munotes.in

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50b)Whose point of view is being expressed? Give linguistic
evidence for your answer.
Ans.) The point of view used in the narrative is that of thefirst
person narrator . It is through the eyes and consciousness of the
narrator that the readers see the events and the conversation. The
point of view is indicated in the expressions such as, ‘I went over’, ‘I
remarked’ and ‘I looked’. The verbs like remarked and looked
indicate the narrator’s perspective.
c)What picture of the characters emerges? From whose point of
view are they being depicted? Argue your position using
linguistic evidence.
Ans.) There are four characters depicted in the narrative. The
narrator is the focal character because the narrator tries to explain
his feelings, thoughts and observation. The narrator seems to be an
outsider, maybe a foreigner because he notices the difference i n
the accents of other people. Narrator could be old as he repeatedly
uses the adjective ‘young’ while referring to the other characters.
Three more characters are presented in the narrative from the point
of view of the narrator. These three flatcharacte rs–al a d ya n dt w o
gentlemen –are probably friends as they talk and laugh. Their
actions and body language indicate a casual conversation. They
also use colloquial expression –‘fib’. The lady seems to be the
shop keeper because she comes to attend tothe narrator and asks
if he wants to buy something. She also seems to be a bit conscious
in the presence of the narrator, as she keeps glancing at him over
her shoulder.
d)What information do you get about the setting of the
conversation?
a)
Ans.) The conversa tion takes place at the entrance of one of the
stalls. It is unusually dark and the narrator indicates it in the
expression, ‘the dark entrance’. The entrance also has two huge
jars which are described as ‘eastern guards’. The setting also
indicates that t he characters are standing and talking and hence
their conversation is not at all that serious. It also indicates that the
conversation could be a brief one. The setting is described more in
its physical attributes and the readers are not given any clear
information of the cultural or historical background.
Sample:2
Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
I am sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of her house.
She was facing me from a hammock she made when her first baby
was born. My mother was rocked on that hammock. I was rockedon
that hammock, and when I brought my daughter as a baby tomunotes.in

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51Abuela’s sun -browned arms, my porcelain pink baby, and she was
rocked to a peaceful sleep, too. Abuela sits there and smiles as the
breeze of a trop ical November brings the scent of her roses and
herbs to us. She is proud of her garden. In front of the house, she
grows flowers and lush trailing plants; in the back, where the
mango tree gives shade, she has a herb garden. From this patch of
weedy -looki ng plants came all th e remedies of my childhood, for
anything from a sore throat to menstrual cramps. Abuela had a
recipe for every pain that a child could dream up, and she brought it
to your bed in her own hands smelling of the earth. For a moment I
amcontent to sit in her comforting presence. She is rotund now –a
small -boned, browned -skinned earth mother –with a big heart and a
temper to match. My grandfather comes to stand at the screen
door. He has forgotten how the latch works. He pulls at the knob
and moans softly, rattling it. With some effort, Abuela gets down
from the hammock. She opens the door, gently guiding the old man
to a chair at the end of the porch. There he begins anew his
constant search for the words he needs. He tries various
combina tions, but they don’t work as language. Abuela pats his
hand and motions for me to follow her into the house. We sit down
at opposite ends of her sofa. She apologises to me as if for a
misbehaving child.
“He’ll qui et down,” she says.” he does not like to be ignored.”
I take a deep breath in preparation for my big lecture to
Grandmother. This is the time to tell her that she has to give up
trying to run this house and take care of others at her age. One of
her daughters is prepared to take her in. Grandfat her is to be sent
to a nursing home. Before I can say anything Abuela says ,“Mi
amor , would you like to hear a story?”
I smile,surprised at her offer. These are the same words that
stopped me in my tracks as a child, even in the middle of a tantrum.
Abue la could always entrance me with one of her tales.
I nodded. Yes, my sermon could wait a little longer, I thought.
“Let me tellyou an old, old story I heard when I was a little girl.”
Questions:
a)Who is the narrator? Is the narrator distinct from the au thor?
What linguistic factors helped you decide?
The narrator, in the given passage, could be a character
even though a personal point of view is used .The narrator is
distinct from the author as it the narrator who creates the fictional
world in the narr atives and this imagined experience of growing up
in Abuela’s house under her care need not be the personal
experience of the author. Further, the narrator is also one of the
characters in the narrative, being a member of the family. Themunotes.in

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52extract has a firs t person narrator and it is indicated in the use of
first person pronouns like ‘I’,’my’ and ‘me’. It is also indicated by the
reference to the other characters Abuela, grandfather and
grandmother . The narrator is also an insider as she knows the focal
character and her family members well.
b)Whose point of view is being expressed? Give linguistic
evidence for your answer.
Ans.) The narrator’s point of view is expressed in the passage. It is
through the eyes and consciousness of the narrator that the
readers see the setting, characters and action. The point of view is
indicated in the expressions like, ‘she is facing’, ‘she is proud’, ‘my
grandfather comes ,’apart from the first person pronouns used .
Verbs like ‘pulls’, ‘comes’, ‘opens’, ‘grows’ indicate the presence of
narrator’s consciousness in describing these actions of other
characters .
c)What picture of the characters does the point of view construct
for the reader? Argue your position using linguistic evidence.
Ans.) The point of view constructs three characters. The first
character is that of a narrator which is constructed through her
interiority and thought process .S h ei st h eg r a n d d a u g h t e ro fA b u e l a .
She was born and brought up in Abuela’s house. Her gender is
indicated in the expression ‘menstrual cramps’. She is also a
mother because she refers to her ‘porcelain pink baby’. The
narrator is also very affectionate towards her grandmother and she
even remembers her grandmother’s scent. The details and the
record of her mental process make her a rounde d character.
Abuela is the focal character. She is portrayed as an old woman b ut
who is extremely hardworking , independent and affectionate. Her
garden, herbs and her affection for her husband indicate her traits.
She also loves her granddaughter immensely as it is indicated in
the expression, ‘ mi Amor’ . She is also a great story teller as she
offers: “let me tell you an old old story I heard when I was a little
girl”. The third character is that of the grandfather who is too old
and suffers from memory lap ses. This is indicated in the
expression, ‘he has forgotten how the latch works’. Probably, he
has forgotten language as he searches for words. The narrator also
refers to peripheral characters. Her baby and her mother are these
characters. They are not apart of the action but they are referred to
in the expression ‘my mother’ and ‘my porcelain pink baby’.
d)What is the dominant tense used in the passage? Is this usual
for a story? Comment on its effect.
Ans.) The dominant tense used in this passage is pre sent tense
with many verbs like ‘grow’, ‘comes’, ‘pulls’, ‘gets down’, ‘pats’ etc.
It is not very usual to have a story in the present tense. Generally,munotes.in

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53stories are narrated in the past tense, as they refer to an event in
the past. The timeframe of a narra tive is always past. However, in
this case, the use of present tense shows that the memory of the
narrator is very fresh. Is also indicates her emotional intimacy with
the focal character of whom she writes the story.
Sample 3:
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:
Sally stood on the gravel path, thinking. She tried to think
extra hard about being alive so as to forget that she would not be
alive forever. But it was impossible. As soon as she concentrated
on being alive now, the thought of dying also came into her mind.
The same thing happened the other way around: only by conjuring
up an intense feeling of one day being dead could she appreciate
how terribly good it was to be alive. It was like two sides of a coin
that she ke pt together turning over and over. And the bigger and
clearer one side of the coin became, the bigger and clearer the
other side became too.
You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to
die, she thought.
It’s just as impossible to realise you have to die without thinking
how incredibly amazing it is to be alive.
Questions:
a)Who is the narrator –the author or the character? What
linguistic factors helped you decide?
Ans.) The narrator is an omniscient one who knows the character
and her thoughts and feelings. The omniscient point of view is
expressed through the words like Sally, she, and her. It is also
implied in the us e of verbs like thinking, tried, to think , kept turning
etc, which indicate omniscient n arrator’s access to the th ought
process of the characters. The narrator is not necessarily the
author as the fictional world presented in the narrative need not be
real life experience of the author. There are no clear indications of
autobiographical accounts in the extract.
One c an assume that it is the narrator who creates/depicts the
setting and the character. However, t here are also no linguistics
factors which indicate that the author is a character. The use of
reported speech / indirect speech indicates the narrator’ sa t t e m p t s
to create a character directly. The narrator is also an insider who is
very familiar with the focal character Sally and her feelings.
b)What is th e nature of the protagonist’s character? Comme nt on
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54Ans) The fo cal character or the protagonist is Sally who is depicted
as a thinking person . She is described as one who stops on her
path to think over life and death. Her preoccupation seems to be
about two extreme concepts –life and death. She is also unable to
keep one thought from the other. This indicates the psychological /
philosophical confusion in her basic nature and the rounde .
Linguistically, her nature is indicated with the repeated use of words
like thinking, think, thought turning, realistic etc. which indicate a
mental process then action.
The modality for bringing out her character is largely a direct one.
The narrator directly describes Sally and her thought process from
the outsider. It is indicated in the expressions like “ Sally stood on
the gravel path” , “she tried to think” , which indicate the directness
of character’s delineations. However in the second paragraph there
is a shift in the modality. The narrator uses free direct speech in
the two sentences, to make the readers reveal her thoughts
directly. The readers understand the character through her direct
expressions and this mode of characterization is indirect.
c)What is the nature of the development or action in the passage?
Answer:
Ans) There is hardly any development in the passage. A tt h e
physical level the protagonist stands at one place, the rest of the
passage is about the reflections of the character. The narrative gets
into the mental process of the character. Her thoughts too are
trapped between two points –life and death. Fina lly she comes to
the realization that she cannot think about life and death
repeatedly. The protagonist tries to avoid thinking about death by
thinking about life. Finally she comes to the realization that she
cannot think about life and death separately. The only development
probably is from a reflection to realization. This is indicated
linguistically by repeated use of words. In the first part of the
narrative and the verb to realize last sentence, the expressions
“over and over”, “two sides”, “the other side” etc. indicate her
psychological confusion.
Sample 4
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:
I had then decided that I would simply obey the elders in our
family. Such a girl you might think from an unsubmissive girl like
me, was an acquiescence to defeat. Well, you may take it the way
you like. I don’t care a fig about what you think of me. I consider
you just a zero. How can I magnify you believing myself? Who the
hell are you! This is how I think right from the beginning and I still
adhere to it. I had, thus, made up my mind to behave exactly the
way my people wanted to behave. I would never offend them even
if I had to behave like a mute slave. Sheer obedience? Initially, I
found it extremely difficult, it had to be. What else would happen tomunotes.in

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55a woman who had wasted the best of her life with hopes in crass
‘Bhampak’, utter nonsense of the movements for the social change
and things like that. These things just keep you engaged, attending
one meeting or the other, participati ng in campus debates and
discussions, listening to intellectual discourses and delivering
lectures, taking out morcha, shouting slogans. Sheer ‘Bhampak’.
You just can’t do things normally.
Questions:
A.Who is the narrator? Whose point of view is being exp ressed in
this passage? What linguistic factors help you to decide?
The narrator in the given extract is not the author. The narrator is
the protagonist or the focal character who makes use of first person
pronouns like ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘My ’throughout the p assage. The
narrator is also very intimate and casual with the reader. This is
indicated in the use of the second person pronoun ‘ you’ to address
the readers. The point of view used is that of the focal character. It
is through the eyes and the consciousne ss of th is character that the
reader see her past, her campus life and her decision to change.
B.What insight do you get into the personality of the character(s)?
What is the method of characterization?
The given extract has one focal character and some ma rginal
characters .The focal character is the girl who is probably a woman
now who describes herself as unsubmissive girl. She also seems to
be very frank and direct in her approach to readers .T h i si s
understood in her complete transparency with the reade rs. It is also
understood when she describes her past life as ‘sheer Bhampak ’.
She is also very casual, friendly and at some times intimidating with
the readers. The same approach is revealed in the conversational
tone that she uses , especially in the expr ession like ‘well’ and ‘what
else would happen’. She is fairly informal and it is indicated in the
interactive features like the questions she puts across to the
readers. She is also self -critical though confident. This is evident in
her assessment of the past.
The method of characterization is indirect. The author
explores the thoughts and feelings of the character to make her
reveal her attitudes and character . Readers make an assessment
of her personality by interpreting her thoughts, words and
expressi ons.
C.Comment on the narrative strategies employed by the author to
secure narratee’s attenti on.
The author uses variety of narrative strategies to secure the
attention of the narratee. Firstly, one can note the disarming
directness in the tone with the n arrator addressed as ‘you’ in amunotes.in

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56friendly informal way. Secondly, the tone is very confessional with
the narrator repeatedly revealing her past and admitting her
mistakes. This is indicated in the honest expressions like ‘an
unsubmissive girl like me’ and ’sheer Bhampak‘ . Another narrative
strategy is in intimidating and challenging the reader with the
expressions like ‘I consider you just zero’ and ‘who are you .’Yet
another device is the use of interactive conversational tone that
makes the narratee and i nsider byaskingthe questions like ‘how
can I magnify you belittling myself ?’ and ‘what else would happen?
These questions actively engage the narrate himself /herself in the
process of telling the story .The second person narrative mode in
which the narr ator refers to narrate as "you" makesthe audience
feel as if he or she is a character within the story. It is paired with
the first person narrative mode in this extract and the narrator
makes comparisons between the thoughts, actions, and feelings of
"you" versus "I"
5.3 EXERCISE
1)Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
‘Robert,’ Miss Freshwater’s niece called down from the
window of the dismantled bedroom, ‘when you have finished that,
would you mind coming upstairs a minute? I wan t to move a trunk’.
And when Evans waved back from the far side of the
rumpled lawn where he was standing by the bonfire, she closed the
window to keep out the smoke of slow -burning rubbish –old
carpeting, clothes, magazines, papers, boxes –which hung about
the waists of the fir tree and blew towards the house. For three
days the fire had been burning, and Evans, red -armed in his shirt -
sleeves and sweating along the seams of the brow, was prodding it
with a garden fork. A sudden silly tongue of yellow f lame wagged
out: some inflammable pieces of family story –who knew what?
Perhaps one of her aunt’s absurd summer hats or a shocking year
of her father’s day dream accountancy was having its last fling. She
saw Evans pick up a bit of paper from the outskir ts of the fire and
read it. What was it? Miss Freshwater’s niece drew back her lips
and opened her mouth expectantly. At this stage all family privacy
had gone. Thirty, forty , fifty years of life were going up in smoke.
Questions:
a)Who is the narrator –authoror the character? Which linguistic
factors helped you decide?
b)What is the setting of the passage? What insights does it
provide about the protagonist’s character?
c)Consider whether the description in the passage is objective or
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572)Read the following passage and answer the questions given
below:
Miranda leans against the sink, crosses her arms over her
chest, and takes a deep breath. When absolutely nothing is going
right, it means you started out o nt h ew r o n gf o o t .S oi t ’ sg o n n ab e
wrong foot after wrong foot unless you go back and straighten it
out. This day began all wrong ’cause she’s acting like a stranger’s
coming, and George ain’t no stranger. She’s never laid eyes on
him, but that means less than nothing. She knew this boy. Knew
him from the first call in New Orleans and the last four years ain’t
brought no surprises. He’s strong willed, dead set in his ways,
proper to a fault, as Daddy would say, and he worships the ground
Baby Girl walks on –without being about to admit none of it. And
since you wouldn’t let a dog see this trailer, the state it’s in, clean
up this mess, go rake your yard, and pick yourself a few peaches
for a cobbler.
a)Who is the narrator? Is the narrator distinct from the a uthor?
What linguistic factors helped you decide?
b)Whose point of view is being expressed? Give linguistic
evidence for your answer.
c)What picture of the characters does the reader get? From
whose point of view are they being depicted? Argue your point
using linguistic evidence.
d)What is the dominant tense used in the passage? Is this usual
for a story?
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586
INTRODUCTION TO ACADEMIC WRITING
Unit Structure :
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Basics of Academic Writing
6.0 OBJECTIVES
Basic objective of this unit is to update the students with the
conventions and styles of academic writing. It also aims to
famil iarize the students with the basics of writing good, well -
structured answers.
6.0BASICS OF ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic writing includes the organizing the ideas in an
answer ,writing of descriptive answers, writing effective essays and
paragraphs. It nee ds a good understanding of cohesion, rhetorical
structure, thesis statement and clarity of expression. Techniques
and areas that would improve academic writing are as follows:
Cohesion
Cohesion belongs to the area of text controls: text
segmentation and t heir binding.
At e x ti sa group of sentences that are notjust a random
collection of sentences but asequence of sentences that are
implicitly or explicitly bound together.
The formal connectivity is a two way event:
i) forged by meaning
ii) formal mar kers –syntactic markers
Eg: Linear connectivity between 2 sentences as seen in –The
princess loved the hunter. But she could not marry him.
i) ‘She’ and‘ him’provide c ross reference
ii)‘But’p r o v i d e s linkage
Cross reference –It includes various means which language uses
to indicate the ‘same thing’ asb e i n gr e f e r r e dt oo rm e n t i o n e di n
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59Linkage –It is the use of overt connectors: coordinating
conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and linking adverbials
Methods of Cross -reference
1]Definite Reference:
a) Personal pronouns: he, she, it, they
b) Definite article: the
c) Deictics: this, that, these, those
d) Implied: same, different, other, else, such
2]Substitution:
Proforms such as one, ones, do, so –they substitute for
other linguistic expressions.
3]Ellipsis:
Omission or deletion of elements whose meaning is
understood because it is uniquely recoverable from the context .
4]Formal repetition:
It includes r epeated use of an expression –morpheme,
lexical item, proper name, phrase etc.
5]Elegant variation:
Use of an alternative expression (not a pronoun or
substitution) as a replacement for an expression in the context.
Types of Linkage
1] Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but, both…and, neither…nor,
either …or
2] Linking adverbials: for, so ,yet, however, therefore, meanwhile.
To illustrate this obligatory working of cohesion, we can choose a
part of the description of the Marabar Caves in E.M. Forster’s A
Passage to India (Ch 12):
Only the wall ofthe circular chamber has been
polished thus (1). The sides of the tunnel are left
rough, they impinge as an afterthought upon the
internal perfection (2). An entrance was necessary,
so mankind made one (3).But elsewhere ,deeper in
the granite, are there certain chambers that have no
entrances (4). Chambers never unsealed since the
arrival of the gods (5). Local report declares that
theseexceed in number those that can be visited, as
the dead exceed the living –four hundred of them ,
four thousand ormillion (6).Nothing is inside them ,
they were sealed up before the creation of pestilence
or treasure; if mankind grew curious and excavated,
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60or evil (7). One of them is rumoured within the
boulder that swings on the su mmit of the highest of
the hills ;ab u b b l e -shaped cave that has neither
ceiling nor floor, and mirrors itsown darkness in
every direction infinitely (8). If theboulder falls and
smashes , the cave will smash too –empty as an
Easter egg (9). The boulder b ecause of its
hollowness sways in the wind, and even moves when
a crow perches upon it: hence its name and the
name of its stupendous pedestal :t h eK a w aD o l( 1 0 ) .
19
The passage provides examples of the kinds of cohesion we have
listed:
A: Cross -referenc e
1.Definite reference
(a)personal pronouns: (2) They (co -referring to ‘the sides’); (6)
them (co -referring to ‘chambers’); (10) it (co -referring to ‘the
boulder’) etc.
(b)the definite article: (9) ‘the boulder’ (co -referring to ‘the boulder
that sw ings on the highest of the hills’); ‘the cave’ (co -referring to ‘a
bubble -shaped cave’) etc.
(c)deictics: (1) thus; (6) these; those.
(d)implied: (4) elsewhere (ie. in a different place from that already
mentioned); deeper (ie. deeper than this).
2.Substitution: (3) one (= ‘an entrance’).
3.Ellipsis: (6) four thousand (= four thousand of them); or million
(= four million of them); etc.
4.Formal repetition: (1) chamber, (4) chambers; (7) nothing,
nothing, nothing; (6) exceed, exceed; (9) smash, sma sh, etc.
5.‘Elegant’ variation: (1) the wall –(2) the sides; (9) empty –(10)
hollowness; (8) swings –(10) sways; (8) the highest of the hills –
(10) its stupendous pedestal.
Cross Reference has 2 uses
1] device for repetition of meaning
2] repetitio n of reference –simple, elegant
However, cohesion also allows us to condense our
messages, thus avoiding the repeated expression o rrepeated
ideas: This is called reduction .
Example (1) Use of 3rdperson pronounsmunotes.in

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61Eg:The boys wanted to scale the wall near their college. Hence,
they made elaborate plans. At night, they attempted their first effort .
Ittook them two hours.
(2) Semantic repetition can be reduced by substitution or ellipsis
Eg:Local reports declare that the dead exceed in number those
that can be visited as the dead {exceed do (reduction)} the
living.{formal repetition substitution ellipsis}
Use repetition only ifstylistic decisions warrant it.
Choose between formal repetition and elegant repetition.
Formal repetition can however give e mphasis or emotive
heightening to the repeated meaning. Eg. Nothing, nothing
would be added
Returning to Forster, we may note that the last two
paragraphs of A Passage to India provide another impressive
example of repetition (this time combined with pro nominal
reduction):
{50} ‘Why can’t we be friends now?’ said the
other, holding him affectionately. ‘ It’s what I
want. It’s what you want .’
But the horses didn’t want it –they swerved
apart; the earth didn’t want it , sending up rocks
through which riders must pass single file; the
temples, the tank, the jail, the palace, the birds,
the carrion, the Guest House, that came into
view as they issued from the gap and saw Mau
beneath: they didn’t want it , they said in their
hundred voices, ‘ No, not yet ,’ and th e sky said
‘No, not there .’
Linkage:
In modern fiction, there is a tendency to dispense with logical
connections between sentences and instead rely on inferred
connections. However, when used, linkages provide a well sign -
posted discourse.
Example :
Merc ythen revealed the business to the
maidens that were of the house, and inquired
of them concerning him, forthey did know him
better than she. So they told her, that he was a
very busy young man, and one that pretended
to religion; butwas, as they feared ,as t r a n g e r
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62Nay then, said Mercy, I will look no more on
him; forI purpose never to have a clog to my
soul.
Prudence then replied that there needed no
great matter of discouragement to be given to
him, her continuing soas she had begun to do
forthe poor would quickly cool his courage.
(John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress ,D e n t
1943; p 243)
Part of the archaic flavour of this passage, for a modern
reader, comes from the abundance of linking words (italicized). We
should not ignore purely historical explanations for this (the
influence of the Bible of Bunyan’s style is one factor), but at the
same time, we should observe the stylistic value of linkage which is
to make the text into a logically articulated discourse; li ttle is left to
the reader’s imagination. Bunyan’s fiction, as an allegory, is
answerable less to any principle of realistic illusion than to the
transcendent principle of Christian doctrine; in this sense, Mercy’s
coyness towards Mr Brisk is inexorable. T he connectives, too, give
the style an inexorable quality: they steer the reader along a well -
signposted road.
Modern fiction is characterized by its absence, that is, they
are characterized by inferred linkage –simple juxtaposition not
overt signals.
Semantically, linkage is arranged on a scale of
cohesiveness : most cohesive signals ( therefore) , which show
explicit relation between two clauses, that of reason. And is a
vague connective; a general purpose link in that it says that two
ideas have a posi tive connection, and leaves the reader to work out
what it is.
At the end of the scale is inferred linkage, leading to
inference in the interpretation of fictional texts.
The sides of the tunnel are left rough, they
impinge as an afterthought upon the i nternal
perfection.
Nothing is inside them, they were sealed up
before the creation of pestilence or treasure…
The implied connection between the clauses could be made
explicit in the first case by so, and in the second case by because .
But these connec tives would over determine the relation between
the two ideas, which is happily left vague, so that the connection
between them is imaginatively registered, like an electric spark
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63Example: Stream of Consciousness technique used by James
Joyce in Ulysses
For a more extreme manifestation of this tendency, it is
natural to turn to the stream -of-consciousness prose of James
Joyce. This passage of interior monologue is from the Hades
episode of Ulysses :
Whores in Turkish graveyards. Learn anyth ing if
taken young. You might pick up a young widow
here. Men like that. Love among the
tombstones. Romeo. Spice of pleasure. In the
midst of death we are in life. Both ends meet.
Tantalizing for the poor dead. Smell of frilled
beefsteaks to the starving g nawing their vitals.
Desire to grig people. Molly wanted to do it at
the window. Eight children he has anyway.
(Penguin, 1978, p 110)
Connections in this case cannot be made by a simple
conjunction or adverb such as so, because etc.
The associative gap becomes large as the sentences are
often syntactically and cohesively incomplete: N oun Phrases lack
verbs, personal pronouns have no co -referent.
Joyce captures the working of the consciousness at level
below that of complete verbalization, and just as t he impulses of the
mind lack logical articulation, so also does Joyce’s prose.
Thelearners are expected to know how to formulate a thesis
statement or the controlling idea while writing an essay. He/she
also needs to link sentences and ideas using proper markers and
link-words. Besides, the student should be able to clarify
statements and ideas using supporting details, illustrations and
quotes. Finally, he/she has to maintain the link between various
paragraphs by linking them thematically and structural ly.
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647
ANALYS ISAND EDITING OF ACADEMIC
WRITING
Unit Structure :
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Analysi so fS t u d e n t ’sWriting
7.1.1 Sample 1
7.1.2 Sample 2
7.2 Exercise
7.0OBJECTIVES
Primary objective of this unit is to help the learners analyze
certain sa mples of students’ writing so as to make them understand
the structural and linguistic flaws in them. The unit also aims to
improve the writing skills of the learners by making them aware of
the possibilities of improving cohesion, sentence structures and
style.
7.1 ANALYSI S OF STUDENT ’SWRITING
7.1.1Sample1 :
Rewrite the following piece of student writing and answer the
questions below:
Amitav Ghosh is the most prominent name in Indian English
writing today. From The Circle of Reason to The Glass Palac eh e
has built an impression that will ensure him a permanent place in
the hall of literary fame. A deep sense of history, contemporary
politics and human destiny inform his writings and characterize the
writer and the man. His non -fictional writings illum inate his fictional
work and his personality in significant ways –be they his anguished
and perspicacious essays on the anti -Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984 and
the competitive nuclearisation of India and Pakistan through
simultaneous explosions in the summer of 1998, his stern letter to
the Commonwealth Foundation withdrawing his book from
nomination for the prize. These actions of his never fail to provoke
and stimulate the reader and bring him to a new awareness of
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65#Q u e s t ions:
Q1. Formulate the thesis statement for the above text. How
easy or difficult was it to do so? Give reasons for your
answers.
Ans. Thesis statement: Amitav Ghosh is a prominent figure in
Indian English writing with a strong literary impression, hard hitting
realism and with his non -fiction illuminating his novels.
It is very difficult to frame a thesis statement from the given
text. There are many reasons, why it is so. Firstly, there is no
central idea or a controlling idea. Secondly, there is no cl ear focus
in the given text. Thirdly, there are too many ideas in one
paragraph. Fourthly, the ideas are not classified into main and
subordinate ones. Finally, the writer doesn’t reflect a clear
organisational structure.
Q2. List the number of ideas in t he text. Are the ideas
substantiated by the author?
Ans. The ideas in the text are:
1.Amitav Ghosh is a prominent figure in the Indian English writing.
2.His writings have created an impression ,ensuring him fame.
3.Sense of history, contemporary po litics, and human destiny are
thecharacteristic features of his writings .
4.His non -fictional writings explain his novels.
5.The subject of his non -fiction includes anti -Sikh riot, competitive
nuclearization of India and Pakistan and his disagreement with
the common wealth foundations.
6.His actions create a strong sense of reality for the readers.
The ideas are not clearly substantiated by the author. In fact,
ideas can be substantiated only with the help of supporting details
such as, quotes, illu strations and evidence. Such details are
missing in the given text. For instance, the first sentence states that
Amitav Ghosh is the most prominent Indian English writer.
However, this idea is not illustrated in the entire text and instead ,
the rest of thesentences deal with his themes, novels and non -
fiction. Similarly, the third sentence, spells out the themes of
history, contemporary politics and human destiny. However, the
writer provides no instances from Ghosh’s text to substantiate
these themes.
Q3.I sthetext coherent? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans. The text is not at all coherent for various reasons. In fact, the
text becomes coherent only when sentences and ideas are logically
and linguistically linked. Such linking is accomplished with the help
of markers (link words), pronoun s, referencing and ellipsis. In the
given text, however ,one finds no such linguistic device whichmunotes.in

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66ensures cohesion. For instance, the first sentence gives the idea
that Ghosh is the most prominent figure in the Indian English
Writing, the second sentence states that his novels have created an
impression of lasting fame. However, these two ideas are not
logically or linguistically connected, as for instance, the second idea
cannot be considered as an illustration or an e laboration of the first
idea. Similarly, the third sentence enlist s the themes in Ghosh’s
fiction w hile the fourth sentence deal with his non -fictional works.
These two ideas are not linked with markers. Another error in
cohesion is due to the improper us e of pronouns. For instance, in
the last sentence the pronoun ‘these’ doesn’t carry a clear
reference. It could be mistaken for his novels, his non -fictional
works or his political activism. Yet another problem in the text is in
not using ellipsis. For ins tance, the first two sentences reflect the
same idea and they appear redundant. The second sentence could
have referred to the first idea with a pronoun without being
repetitive.
7.1.2 Sample2 :
Read the following thesis statement and introductory
paragr aphs and answer the questions given below:
If any author ever set out to write a book with the intention of
rallying readers around a cause, that author was Ayn Rand, and
that book is The Fountainhead .
The Fountainhead is a thesis novel. It illustrates a point. All
common fictional ingredients are there –strong narrative, well
defined characters, complex plot –but they are all subordinate to
the idea that controls the novel: the absolute supremacy of the
individual over the mob. Thus, the cult it inspir ed could be called
the cult of sanctified selfishness, for Rand’s individualists are totally
convinced that they come first, that they know what is best for
them, and that what is best for them is necessarily best for those
beneath them. To continue to mak et h i sp o i n tt h r o u g h o u tt h en o v e l ,
to keep the reader’s mind constantly focused on it, and to make the
idea stick, Rand manipulates all the techniques of fiction to that
end.
Thus, situations are contrived in which the individual is pitted
against the mob , characters make embarrassingly revealing
speeches about their motivation, every plot device imaginable are
employed –and the reader / convert is seduced into a more than
willing suspension of disbelief. Rand’s critics say that she cannot
write, but one senses in such an indictment more of a political than
a literary posture; for surely the enduring success of The
Fountainhead –not to mention the enormously popular
AtlasShrugged –cannot be attributed to her philosophy alone. Hermunotes.in

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67style may be somewhat ove rwrought and her characters cardboard,
but she is a genious at plotting, and she know show to tell a story.
Literary history is strewn with forgotten thesis novels that
had their day and then became embalmed in literary history. If The
Fountainhead had been written by Upton Sinclair, for example, one
doubts that it would still be on the shelves. The Fountainhead is a
thesis novel that has become a curiosity largely because it has not
suffered the fate of most thesis novels. Its detractors aside, part of
the novel’s enduring popularity must be attributed to its literary
strengths. However, whatever literary strengths it has are not
enough to account for the unique impact The Fountainhead has
exerted on readers since its publication.
Questions:
Q1. What is t he focus of the text? Formulate a thesis statement
for the text.
Ans. Thesis statement: Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead is a popular
thesis novel with a strong message, sound philosophy, effective
style and good plot.
There is no clear focus in the given tex t and hence it is very
difficult to formulate a thesis statement. The difficul ty arises due to
many reasons. Firstly, there is no controlling idea. For instance, the
readers may think that the main idea could be Ayn Rand’s theme,
philosophy or techniques. Secondly, the ideas are not classified
into main and subordinate ones. Thirdly, there is no clear
organisational structure in the text. All these factors smudge the
focus and hence the given text has no clear thesis statement.
Q2. Enlist the main ideas in the passage. Are the ideas s uitably
developed and clarified ?
Ans. The main ideas of the text are :
1. Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead inspires readers for a cause .
2. It is a thesis novel with a strong message .
3. It has all the traditional elements of a ficti on.
4. It is a cult novel with the message of sanctified selfishness .
5. The situations in her novel and techniques put individuals against
the mob .
6. The criticism raised against Rand are political than literary.
7.She is good at story telling and plot construction .
8. The Fountainhead is still read by masses
9. The popularity of the novel is based on its literary merits.munotes.in

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68The ideas are neither suitably developed nor clarified. In
fact, ideas can be developed by elaborating the statement which is
not d one in the given text. For instance, the first sentence gives the
idea that Rand’s novel moves people around the cause. However
the text doesn’t explain how it is done.
Similarly, ideas are not well clarified. In fact ideas are
clarified with the help of quotes, illustrations and pieces of
evidence. Such supporting details are missing in the given text. For
example, the first sentence of the second paragraph claims that the
Fountainhead is a thesis novel. However, the writer doesn’t provide
instances or si tuations from the novel which would illustrate this
point.
Q3. Is the text coherent? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans. The text is not very coherent. In fact, cohesion in a text is
achieved with the help of devices like markers, referencing ,the use
of pronouns and ellipsis. The text also becomes coherent when
sentences and ideas are linguistically and logically linked. These
features are missing in the given text. For instance, the first
sentence states that The Fountainhead rallies its readers andthatit
is a thesis novel. These two ideas are not linked with any marker or
logic. The text also reveals improper use of markers. For instance,
the marker of conclusion, ‘thus’ is used in the middle of second
paragraph and the beginning of the third paragraph which mislead
the readers. Another problem is that the paragraphs are not linked
properly . For instance, the second paragraph deals with the idea of
thesis novel while the third paragraph deals with Ayn Rand’s style
and criticism against her. These ideas a re totally unrelated and the
paragraphs don’t reveal forward or backward referencing. However,
the author has used pronouns effectively in the text to connect
certain ideas. For instance ,the pronouns, ‘she’ and ‘her’ refer to
Ayn Rand and ‘it’refers to t he novel.
7.2 EXERCISE
1)Read the following piece of student writing and answer the
questions below:
Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is one of the most successful
plays of the twentieth century. It brought fame to Beckett and
provided the literary world wi th a new genre of drama –the absurd
drama. The play puzzled the readers, spectators and the critics
alike but yet had a unique appeal of its own. Though there are
varied interpretations to the play the fact remains that it is a
poignant expression of pess imism and despair, buried in the mind
of the twentieth century man.munotes.in

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69Waiting for Godot is the story of two tramps who wait for
Godot, a mysterious god -like figure, who obsess their minds, sends
messengers but never appears. It is often wondered whether God ot
is really god or a figment of imagination of the two tramps. Though
his existence is doubted the tramps are afraid of missing the
appointment with him. The Godot, they wait for may ultimately be a
disappointment if he came, but he seems to offer some ki nd of
hope as it is comforting for them to believe that they exist because
they are waiting for Godot to come. This futile act of waiting brings
out the absurdity of modern life.
Questions:
1. What is the central focus of the text? Formulate a thesis
statement for the text.
2. Enlist the main ideas in the passage. Are the ideas suitably
developed and clarified?
3. Is the text coherent? Give reasons for your answer.
2) Read the following paragraphs from student writing and answer
the questions given below .
The stories by James Joyce are powerful and revolutionary
in the frank sexual content (which, by today’s standards, is quite
mild) and some of the charged political and social issues. Dubliners
is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce first pu blished in
1914. the fifteen stories were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of
the Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of
the 20thcentury. The stories were written at the time when Irish
nationalism was at its peak, and a se arch for a national identity and
purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland
was jolted by various converging ideas and influences.
Dubliners is a powerful work in its own right, containing
some of the most finely wrought short sto ries in the language.
Dubliners dwells heavity on the themes of poverty and stagnation.
Joyce sees paralysis in every detail of Dublin’s environment, from
the people’s faces to the dilapidated buildings, and many
characters assume that the future will be w orse than the present.
Most of the stories focus on members of the lower or middle
classes.
In ‘The Sisters’, a young boy deals with the death of his
friend, an elderly priest who ended his life paralyzed. ‘Araby’ is a
famous story in which a youth in the throes of his first passion
hopes to win a girl’s affection by buying a gift at Araby, an
Orientalist bazaar. But when he does go to Araby, he finds nothing
but disappointment. Similarly in ‘Eveline’ a nineteen -year-old girl
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70Her means of escape is a sailor named Frank, who promises her a
new life in Buenos Aires. At the end, however, she is too frightened
to leave Dublin.
The Dublin Joyce knew was a city in decline. Belfast and
outstri pped her as the great city of Ireland, and the economy was in
shambles. Formerly fashionable Georgian townhouses became
horrible slums, with inadequate sewage and cramped living
conditions. Her ports were in decline, and chances for
advancement were slim f or the lower and middle classes.
Joyce never romanticizes poverty ,a n de x p l o r e sh o wn e e d
and social entrapment adversely affect character. He is often
deeply critical of Irish provinciality the Catholic Church and the Irish
political climate of the time. But the collection is called Dubliners ,
not Dublin. Joyce does not merely write about conditions. The real
power of Dubliners is Joyce’s depiction of the strong characters
who live and work in this distinctive and bleak city.
a)What are the major ideas expressed in the passage? Are they
suitably linked?
b)Try to form ulate a thesis statement for the given text. How easy
or difficult was it to do so? Give reasons for your answer.
c)What changes would you suggest to make it a better text?

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71Sample Question Paper
Marks: 100 Duration: 3h r s
Instructions:
1. Answer any five, selecting a minimum of two questions from
each section.
2. Figures to the right indicate fullmarks.
Section I
Q.1. Write short notes on any three of the following in about 200
words each: (20)
i.Stylistics as the Linking Component between Linguistics and
Literary Criticism
ii.Repetition and Parallelism
iii.Foregrounding
iv.Syntactic and Graphological Deviations
v.Cohesive Devices
Read the following text and attempt Question 2 and 3 given
below:
1. When it became cl ear that the landlords were really gone, she
crept out of her hiding place and lowered herself into a squatting
position beside Kalua’s unconscious body. 2. He was lying in
shadow, so she couldn’t tell whether he was breathing or not. 3.
She put out a hand to touch his chest, but only to snatch it back: to
think of touching a naked man was bad enough –and when that
man was of Kalua’s station wasn’t it almost a plea for retribution? 4.
She cast a furtive glance around her, and then, in defiance of the
world ’s unseen presence, she put out a finger and allowed it to fall
on Kalua’s chest. 5. The drumbeat of his heart reassured her and
she quickly withdrew her hand, preparing to dart back into the
poppies if his eyes showed any signs of coming open. 6. But they
remained shut and his body lay so peacefully inert that she felt no
fear in examining him more closely. 7. She saw now that his size
was deceptive, that he was quite a young man, with no more than a
faint feathering of hair on his upper lip lying crumpled in sand. 8. He
was no longer the dark giant who called her at home twice a day,
without speaking, or allowing himself to be seen: he was just a
fallen boy.
Q.2. (a) Rewrite the text dividing each sentence into clauses.
Identify the subordinate clau ses within each main clause stating the
type of subordination used. (15)
(b) Break down S5 into phrases and state the types and functions
of the main and subordinate phrase(s) used. (05)munotes.in

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72Q.3. Attempt a stylistic analysis of the above text, explaining th e
effect of the linguistic choice, especially that of clause pattern(s)
and cohesive devices made by the author. (20)
Q.4. Consider that you are about to teach the following text to an
FYBA class…
The intruder was Mrs. Heathcliff. She certainly seemed in no
laughing predicament: her hair streamed on her shoulders, dripping
with snow and water; she was dressed in the girlish dress she
commonly wore, befitting her age more than her position: a low
frock with short sleeves, and nothing on either head or ne ck. The
frock was of light silk, and clung to her, and her feet were protected
merely by thin slippers; add to this a deep cut under one ear, which
only the cold prevented from bleeding profusely, a white face
scratched and bruised, and a frame hardly able to support itself
through fatigue; and you may fancy my first fright was not much
allayed when I had had leisure to examine her.
'My dear young lady,' I exclaimed, 'I'll stir nowhere, and hear
nothing, till you have removed every article of your clothes, and put
on dry things; and certainly you shall not go to Gimmerton tonight,
so it is needless to order the carriage.'
'Certainly I shall,' she said; 'walking or riding: yet I've no objection to
dress myself decently. And –ah, see how it flows down my neck
now! The fire does make it smart.'
She insisted on my fulfilling her directions, before she would let me
touch her; and not till after the coachman had been instructed to get
ready, and a maid set to pack up some necessary attire, did I
obtain her consent for binding the wound and helping to change her
garments.
a) Attempt a content analysis of the text in about 150 words as a
preparatory note in view of your teaching. (05)
b) As you start to teach the text, you wish to make the class
learner -oriented. So instead of explaining the text, you ask the
students a series of questions so that in the process of answering
the questions, they will understand the content and the significance
of particular linguistic choices made by the author. You can also
ask the students to perform certain activities that can meaningfully
promote the teaching -learning process. (15)munotes.in

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73Section II
Read the following poem and attempt questions 5and 6 given
below:
Myheart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe -wards had sunk:
’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness, —
That thou, light -winged Dryad of the trees,
In some m elodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full -throated ease.
Q.5 a)Transcribe the first four lines of the poem providing
phonemic symbols. (10)
b)Give three term labels to any five consonants in the poem.
(05)
c)Give three term labels to any five vowels or diphthongs in
the poem. (05)
Q.6. Attempt a stylistic analysis of the above text with special
reference to the poetic devices (e.g. Alliteration, Simile, Metaphor,
Imagery etc) used by the poet . (20)
(Students are expected to show the devices they find with line
numbers/stanza numbers and write their effect/function therein.
Q.7. Read the following passage and answer the questions given
below in 6 -7l i n e se a c h .
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me
some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just
remember that all the people in this world haven't had the
advantages that you've had. "He didn't say any more but we've
always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I
understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In
consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, ah a b i tt h a th a s
opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the
victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to
detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal
person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused
of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild,
unknown men. Most of the confidences were unsought –frequently
I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostilelevity when I
realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was
quivering on the horiz on–for the intimate revelations of young men
or at least the terms in which they express them are usually
plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions. Reserving
judgments is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid ofmunotes.in

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74missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly
suggested, and I snobbishly repeat a sense of the fundamental
decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.
a) How far do you think the narrator in this passage is an
Omniscient Narrator? Substantiate your response with linguistic
evidences from the passage.
b) Whose point of view is being expressed? What linguistic factors
help you decide this?
c) Comment on the presentation of the thoughts of the character in
the passage.
Q.8. Read the following introductory passage from student writing
and answer the questions given below: (20)
Of all the crucial characters in Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static
and uni -dimensional one. She has the potential to become a tra gic
heroine –to overcome the adversities inflicted upon her –but she
does not….she instead crumbles into insanity, becoming merely
tragic. Ophelia herself is not as important as her representation of
the dual nature of women in the play. Ophelia's distin ct purpose is
to show Hamlet's warped dual view of women as callous
marauders, as also innocent and virtuous.
Hamlet’s betrayal by Gertrude becomes far more apparent with
the addition of Ophelia to the play. Hamlet's feelings of rage against
his mother can now be directed towards Ophelia, who is, in his
opinion, hiding her ignoble nature behind a guise of perfection.
Through Ophelia we witness Hamlet's growth, or de -evolution into a
man convinced that all women are scarlet in nature; that the women
who seem the most pure are on the inside black with corruption and
desire. Claudius has made Gertrude what she is, and her father
has made Ophelia the woman she is. In Act II, Polonius makes
arrangements to use the charming Ophelia to discover why Hamlet
is behaving so curiously. Hamlet is not in the room but it seems
obvious from the following lines that he has overheard Polonius
trying to use his daughter's charms to suit his devious purpose. In
Hamlet's distraught mind, there is no gray area: Polonius ruins his
daughter. And Hamlet tells Polonius this to his face, labeling him a
"fishmonger" (although Polonius cannot decipher the meaning
behind Hamlet's words).
a)Formulate a thesis statement for the above text. How easy or
difficult was it to do so ? Give reasons for your answer.
b)List the number of ideas in the text. Are the ideas substantiated
by the writer?
c)Is the text coherent? Give reasons for your answer.
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