1. STYLISTICS
Key Concepts and Terms
Main Sources: Arp,T., & Johnson, G.(2009). Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound &
Sense.Tenth Edition.Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Barry, P. (2002). BeginningTheory, 2nd ed. Manchester Univ. Press.

2. WHAT IS STYLISTICS?
 the study of literary discourse from a
linguistic orientation
 explicates the message to interpret and
evaluate literary writings as works of art
 deals with expressive means which
secure the desirable effect of the
utterance

3. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF
STYLISTICS?
1. Lexical stylistics
 studies functions of direct and figurative meanings
 also the way contextual meaning of a word is realized in
the text
 deals with various types of connotations – expressive,
evaluative, emotive; neologisms, dialectal words and their
behavior in the text.

4. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF STYLISTICS?
2. Grammatical stylistics
 subdivided into morphological and syntactical:
A. Morphological s. views stylistic potential of grammatical
categories of different parts of speech. Potential of the
number, pronouns…
B. Syntactical s. studies syntactic, expressive means, word
order and word combinations, different types of
sentences and types of syntactic connections.Also deals
with origin of the text, its division on the paragraphs,
dialogs, direct and indirect speech, the connection of
the sentences, types of sentences.

5. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF STYLISTICS?
3. Phonostylistics
 phonetical organization of prose and poetic texts
 here are included rhythm, rhythmical structure, rhyme,
alliteration, assonance and correlation of the sound form
and meaning
 also studies deviation in normative pronunciation

6. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF STYLISTICS?
4. Functional S (stylistics of decoding)
 deals with all subdivisions of the language and
its possible use (newspaper, colloquial style)
 Its object - correlation of the message and
communicative situation

7. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF STYLISTICS?
5. Individual style study
 studies the style of the author
 looks for correlations between the
creative concepts of the author and the
language of his work

8. WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF STYLISTICS?
6. Stylistics of Encoding
 The shape of the information (message) is coded and
the addressee plays the part of decoder of the
information which is contained in message.
 The problems which are connected with adequate
reception of the message without any loses
(deformation) are the problems of stylistics of
encoding.

9. The Notion of STYLE

10. What is STYLE in the context of Stylistics?
 Style is primarily a quality of writing
 Today the word style has a very broad meaning.We speak
of style not only in literature but also in architecture,
painting, clothes, behaviour, music, work, and so on. In fact,
the concept of style can be applied to any kind of human
activity that may be performed in more than one way, and
also to the result of such an activity.

11. In literary discourse, STYLE is…
 the creation of language patterns over and above
those required by the linguistic code.These patterns
then bestow certain additional meanings on the
linguistic items within them over and above the code
(H. G.Widdowson, Linguistics and theTeaching of Literature)
 The very notion of style includes an aesthetic purpose.
We may not always admit or immediately notice the
aesthetic purpose.

12. I.R.Galperin’s Notion of Style
According to Ilya Romanovich Galperin (notable Russian
linguist), the term ‘style’ refers to the following spheres:
1) THE AESTHETIC FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE
It may be seen in works of art- poetry, imaginative prose,
fiction, but works of science, technical instruction or business
correspondence have no aesthetic value.
2) SYNONYMOUSWAYS OF RENDERING ONE
AND THE SAME IDEA
The possibility of choice of using different words in similar
situations is connected with the question of style as if the form
changes, the contents changes too and the style may be
different.

13. Galperin’s Notion of Style
3) EXPRESSIVE MEANS IN LANGUAGE
- are employed mainly in the following spheres – poetry,
fiction, colloquial speech, speeches but not in scientific
articles, business letters and others.
4) EMOTIONAL COLORING IN LANGUAGE
Very many types of texts are highly emotional –
declaration of love, funeral oration, poems(verses), but a
great number of texts is unemotional or non-emphatic
(rules in textbooks).

14. Galperin’s Notion of Style
5) A SYSTEM OF SPECIAL DEVICES CALLED
STYLISTIC DEVICES
The style is formed with the help of characteristic
features peculiar to it. Many texts demonstrate various
stylistic features:
She wears ‘fashion’ = what she wears is fashionable or is
just the fashion metonymy.

15. Five Styles in Present-day English (Galperin)
I. Belles Lettres
-Poetry
-Emotive prose
-The Drama
II. Publicistic Style
-Oratory and Speeches
-The Essay
-Articles

16. Five Styles in Present-day English (Galperin)
III. Newspapers
-brief news items
-headlines
-advertisements and announcements
-The Editorial
IV. Scientific Prose
V. Official Documents

17. STYLISTIC DEVICES
Figurative Language, SoundTechniques,
Structural Devices, Irony, Register

18. Tropes and Figures of Speech
 Tropes are based on the “transfer” of meaning, when
a word (or combination of words) is used to denote an
object which is not normally correlated with this word.
Examples: Metaphor (“Love is a caged bird.”)/ Metonymy
(“The pen is mightier than the sword.”)
 Figures of speech whose stylistic effect is
achieved due to the unusual arrangement of linguistic
units, unusual construction or extension of utterance.
Examples: Simile, litotes, oxymoron, antithesis...

19. Levels of Tropes and Figures of Speech
1. Phonetic devices
alliteration, assonance – f. repetition of the same sound –
(Ex:“A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and
of learning” – they produce effect of euphony )
2. Graphical (icons and graphic symbolisms)
3. Lexical – interrelation of different meaning of one
word and of connotative meanings of different words
Metaphor – t. use of words (word combinations) in
transferred meanings by way of similarity or analogy – Ex:
“Art is a jealous mistress”

20. Levels of Tropes and Figures of Speech
4. Syntactical – is based on the arrangement of
elements of the sentence
(Ex: Inversion, ellipsis, rhetorical question )
5. Lexico-syntactic – f. simile, litotes

21. Stylistic Device No. 1: Figurative Language
 In Thomas Hardy’s novel, Jude the Obscure, the
protagonist, Jude Fawley, suffers from his own folly over
the two women in his life. In Charles Dicken’s “A
Christmas Carol,” Ebenezzer Scrooge is a miserly old man.
Fawley sounds like “folly,” which means “foolishness.”
Scrooge means “miserly.”
CHARACTONYM when the name of a character has
a symbolic meaning

22. Figurative Language
 The pen is mightier than the sword.
 The Pentagon denies knowledge of the cover-up.
METONYMY is similar to synecdoche, but instead of a part
representing the whole, a related object or part of a related
object is used to represent the whole
 She was greeted by the sound of silence as she entered.
 O hateful love, O loving hate! I burn and freeze like ice!
OXYMORON is a combination of openly contradictory
words and meanings (cold war, silent scream,
hateful love). It is more “compact” than paradox.

23. Figurative Language
 Einstein is not a bad mathematician.
 Our opinions differ slightly (instead of,“Our opinions are very
different.”)
UNDERSTATEMENT an expression that is deliberately less forceful
or dramatic than the subject would seem to justify or require (litotes &
meiosis)
 If you love someone, set him free.
 True living is dying unto oneself.
PARADOX is a statement that seems to be self-
contradictory or opposed to common sense, but on close
examination, it mostly reveals some truth.

24. Forms of Understatement (Figures of Quantity)
LITOTES MEIOSIS
 a figure of speech consisting
of an understatement in
which an affirmative is
expressed by negating its
opposite, as in This is no
small problem. (American Heritage
Dictionary, 4th Ed.)
 “not unusual”
 “no mean feat”
 “not the kindest person”
 understatement used for effect
such as sarcasm or sardony. e.g.
"Charlie is not the sharpest
knife in the drawer" means that
Charlie does not even come
close to the sharpest because
he's a blathering idiot.
 can also be used to describe
mannerism and tone (e.g., a
brooding, quiet, Byronic hero
will often be understated in
action and tone)

25. Figurative Language
 “Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice…”
 And the lovers walked towards the rising sun, fearing no storm
that may be brewing in the horizon.
SYMBOL may be an object, a person, a situation, an action, a
word, or an idea that has literal meaning in the story as well
as an alternative identity that represents something else
 Love is a star to every wandering bark.
 The eyes are the windows to the soul.
METAPHOR is a direct comparison used to add descriptive
meaning to a phrase

26. Figurative Language
 That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
 To err is human; to forgive, divine.
ANTITHESIS emphasizes the contrast between two ideas.The
structure of the phrases / clauses is usually similar in order to
draw the reader's / listener's attention directly to the contrast
 Noli MeTangere contains characters, events and realities that existed
during Spanish colonization.The story may be seen as symbolic.
ALLEGORY is a story that has a second meaning, usually by
endowing characters, objects or events with symbolic
significance; expanded metaphor

27. Stylistic Device No. 2: Sound Techniques
 Full fathom five thy father lies
 Death bed beckons
 Odds and ends, short and sweet
ALLITERATION is the repetition of consonant sounds
at the beginning of words occurring in
succession
ASSONANCE is the repetition of vowel sounds in the
words occurring in succession
CONSONANCE the repetition of consonants at the
ends of words occurring in succession

28. Stylistic Device No. 3: Structural Devices
 He’s such a Romeo, that guy.
 If a face could launch a thousand ships, then where am I to go?
ALLUSION a reference, direct or indirect, to something
or someone from history or literature
 Before Hector came out to face Achilles, he bid a long, sad
farewell to his wife and expressed his dear wishes for his only
son’s future.
FORESHADOWING when the author drops clues about
what is to come in a story, which builds tension and the
reader's suspense throughout the narrative

29. Stylistic Device No. 4: Irony
 So, the world will end on the 21st of December? Great!
 Thanks for revealing our secret plan, Einstein!
VERBAL IRONY also known as “sarcasm,” this is the
simplest form of irony, in which the speaker says the
opposite of what he or she intends
 In Hugo’s Les Miserables, one wouldn’t expect Javert to kill himself
towards the end of the story, especially when Valjean is well within
his reach. (also,Twist Ending)
SITUATIONAL IRONY when the author creates a surprise
that is the perfect opposite of what one would expect

30. Stylistic Device No. 4: Irony
 In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the drama of ActV
comes from the fact that the audience knows Juliet is
alive, but Romeo thinks she's dead. If the audience had
thought, like Romeo, that she was dead, the scene would
not have had the same power.
DRAMATIC IRONY when the reader knows
something important about the story that one
or more characters in the story do not know

31. Stylistic Device No. 5: Register
DICTION is the choice of specific words to
communicate not only meaning, but emotion
as well (establishes tone)
TONE expresses the writer's or speaker's attitude
toward the subject, the reader, or herself or
himself
DECORUM the appropriateness of a work to its subject,
its genre, and its audience
MOOD the emotional color of or the prevalent emotion in a
poem or work of fiction

32. Other Stylistic Devices
LOCAL COLOR depiction of the unusual or
traditional features of a particular place
that make it interesting
MOTIF a word, phrase, image, or idea is repeated
throughout a work or several works of
literature
ANALOGY a comparison between two things that
are similar in some way, often used to help
explain something or make it easier to
understand

33. Other Stylistic Devices
PUN/ DOUBLE ENTENDRE also known as “word
play,” this refers to the use of words with double
meanings, sometimes relying on how the word is
pronounced (“homophonic pun”).
Examples: Everybody kneads flour.
Santa’s helper’s are subordinate Clauses.
A horse is a very stable animal.
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a
banana.” –Groucho Marx

34. REVIEW EXERCISES ON STYLISTIC
DEVICES
Study the given excerpts and tell what
stylistic device is at work.

35. “And so it was that later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.” (from A
Whiter Shade of Pale by Reid & Brooker)
ANSWER: ALLUSION

36. “That twenty centuries of stony sleep1
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem2 to be born?” (from The Second
Coming by William Butler Yeats)
ANSWERS: 1. HYPERBOLE; 2. ALLUSION

37. “Fair daffodils1, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising Sun
Has not attain’d his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run2.” (from To Daffodils by Robert Herrick)
ANSWERS: 1. APOSTROPHE;
2. PERSONIFICATION

38. “Parting is such a sweet sorrow…” (from
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet)
ANSWER: OXYMORON

39. “With your merc’ry mouth in the missionary1 times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like
rhymes,
And your silver cross, and2 your voice like chimes,
Oh, who do they think could bury you?”
(from Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands by Bob Dylan)
ANSWER: 1. ALLITERATION; 2. POLYSYNDETON

40. “And sweet it was to dream of fatherland,
Of child, and wife1, and slave; but evermore
Most weary seemed the sea2, weary the oar,
Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.”
(from The Lotos-Eaters by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
ANSWERS: 1. ASSONANCE;
2. PERSONIFICATION

41. “He clasps the crag with crooked1,2 hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands3…”
(from The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
ANSWERS: 1. ALLITERATION,
2. PERSONIFICATION;
3. RHYME

42. “Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise Him.” (from Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins)
ANSWER: ALLITERATION

43. “And then the clock collected in the tower
Its strength, and struck.” (from Eight O’clock by A.E. Housman)
ANSWER: PERSONIFICATION

44. “A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs…” (from Ars Poetica by Archibald MacLeish)
ANSWER: SIMILE

45. “Night is a curious child1, wandering
Between earth and sky, creeping
In windows and doors, daubing2,3
The entire neighbourhood
With purple paint.” (from Four Glimpses of Night by Frank Marshall Davis)
ANSWER: 1. METAPHOR;
2-3. PERSONIFICATION

46. “Mary had a little lamb,
You've heard this tale before
But did you know she passed her plate
and had a little more?” (Author unknown)
ANSWER: PUN/DOUBLE ENTENDRE

47. “A blind man looks back
Into the future with the
Ear-splitting whispers of
Unconcealed ghosts
Thundering silently.” (Author unknown)
ANSWERS: OXYMORON

48. “He said I was average
But was just being mean.
Invisible cows are herd
But not seen…” (by Paul Waddington)
ANSWER: PUN/DOUBLE ENTENDRE