Introduction to English Literatures

Lectures 7-8

“Cascando” by Beckett

saying againif you do not teach me I shall not learnsaying again there is a lasteven of last timeslast times of begging Morphological Figurelast times of lovingof knowing not knowing pretendinga last even of last times of sayingif you do not love me I shall not be loved Syntactic Figure if I do not love you I shall not love Phonological Figure

the churn of stale words in the heart againlove love love thud of the old plungerpestling the unalterablewhey of words Semantic Figure

terrified againof not lovingof loving and not youof being loved and not by youof knowing not knowing pretendingpretending Morphological

I and all the others that will love you Pragmatic Figureif they love you

unless they love you

Types of Rhetorical Figures 1. phonological : alliteration, assonance, consonance,

onomatopoeia("He claps the crag with crooked hands“: Tennyson, "The Eagle")

2. morphological : changing meaning at the level of words, e.g. word repetition: "Help! I need somebody/ Help! Not just anybody/ Help! You know I need someone" (Beatles)

3. syntactic figures: changing meaning at the level of sentences e.g. parallelism "Lufthansa – the more you fly"; "Beauty is truth, truth is Beauty" (Keats, "Ode to a Grecian Urn")

4. semantic at the level of meaning, e.g. metaphors, tropes ("O heavy lightness! serious vanity!" (Romeo

and Juliet)5. pragmatic at the level of language use (rhetorical manipulation):

"Hast not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" (The Merchant of

Venice)

Poetry Mind Map (Foregrounding Principles)

Lexical Rhythmic Visual(speech situation) (meter and thyme) (stanzas)

(Rhetorical Figures)

Phono Morph. Snyt. Sem. Pragma

Imagery(Metaphor, Simile, Synecdoche, Synasthesia, Metonymy)

Phonological

Alliteration: succession of same sound or same consonant group

Wild Wild West, Sea Shells SellConsonance: (pause in alliteration; intervening vowel)

Gobbets of Blubber; Son of a GunAssonance (congruence between vowel sounds)

Blind eyes

Morphological

Anaphora – Repetition of first verse or clause

I remember you as you were

I remember you as are

Epiphora – Repetition at the end of verse or clause

You came to the end of the world

Yet you didn’t know it was the end of the world

Epanalepsis– Repetition in close succession

Is it a lie, is it a truth of the lie

Why do you cry, why do you make me cry

Anadiplosis an-uh-di-ploh-sis – tail repetition

I didn’t know I made you cry

cry, I say, for I am thirsty for your tears

Polyptoton

I couldn’t cry when you cried

I lied before I knew it was a lie

Figure etymologica (Repetition of Root)

hit the hitman

Play like a player

Synonymy

I disliked the soup she declined it too

Example

Cannon to right of them, (anaphora)

Cannon to left of them, (anaphora)

Cannon in front of them (anaphora) (Canon in front – assonance)

Volleyed and thundered; (consonance)

Stormed at with shot and shell, (alliteration/consonance)

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death, (anaphora)

Into the mouth of Hell (anaphora)

Rode the six hundred (metonymy)

   (Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade")

Example

Cascando BeckettSaying again if you do not teach me I shall not learn saying again there is a lasteven of last timeslast times of begging Anadiplosis last times of lovingof knowing not knowing pretending Epanalepsis a last even of last times of sayingif you do not love me I shall not be loved Polyptoton if I do not love you I shall not love the churn of stale words in the heart againlove love love thud of the old plunger Epanalepsis pestling the unalterablewhey of wordsterrified againof not lovingof loving and not you Epiphora of being loved and not by you Epiphora of knowing not knowing pretendingpretending Anadiplosis I and all the others that will love you Epiphora if they love you Epiphora

SyntacticParallelism (succession)

Remember when we were young, we played together

Remember when we got old, we hated each other

Chiasmus kahy-az-muhs ((reversal of structure in successive clauses)

With wealth your state/ your mind with arts improve (Donne, The Canonization)

Asyndeton (succession of words or phrases)

Peel it, rip it, shout, yell, say something!

Polysyndeton (conjoining words or clauses)

Day gone by which hover and watchover what I see and I drink and think

Inversion (reversal of normal word order)

Strange fits of Passion Have I known (Wordsworth)

Hysteron proteron (reversal of logical succession of events)

I and all the others that will love you if they love you

Ellipsis (omission of words phrases verbs)

Lufthansa – the more you fly

Aposiopesis apo-saio-pesis (abrupt interrpution)

I will say it – well, why the hell should I say

Zeugma zugma (multiple application of verb)

I quit cigarettes and my love

He kicked the bucket and habit

Syntactic examplesFind out the Synonymy:

What is become of that beautiful face,Those lovely looks, that favour amiable,Those sweet features, and visage full of grace [...]“

What figure of speech is this?And he to England shall along with you."("Hamlet" by Shakespeare)

What figure of speech is this?"He knowingly led and we blindly followed."("Essay on Man" by Pope)

What figure of speech is this?"- No, you unnatural hags,I will have such revenges on you both,That all the world shall- I will do such things,-What they are yet I know not; but they shall beThe terrors of the earth."("King Lear" by Shakespeare)

SemanticSemantic figures work at the level of words and meanings

Euphemism To be under the weather (ill) passed away (dead)Gone far away (heaven) in the silent land (death)

Pleonasms (redundancy)Could you repeat that again (rather than could you say that again)

Oxymoron (contradictory, unseeming terms combined)What a good terrorist are you!I am feeling awfully good!

Paradoxon Believe me, I am a compulsive liar

Antithesis (opposite meanings balanced)Love is so short, forgetting is so longTo err is human, to forgive is divine

Simile (direct comparison)I drive like a maniac

Metaphor (indirect comparison with similar meanings)You are a machineBig problems are cold water showers, you have to get out as quickly as you get in

SemanticMetonym (ontological attribution)

Wall street is in shattersThe empire strikes back

Hyperbole (exaggeration) I am so thirsty I could drink a river!

SynesthesiaThe mind of the man has not heard, but the ear of the man hasI have a great taste for sound

Catachresis (different from oxymoron – dislodged mixed metaphors; no opposites)Take a plunge into your realityBlind mouthsEmbrace pain

PersonificationThe dish ran away with the spoonThe stone! It has a heart! How warm does it get when laid out in sun shine

Hendaid (two words in composite order)There is no rhyme or reason for his actionHe did his song and dance all over again

Paronomasia (pun)To be or not TU beAt times of woe you cannot woo

Anti-Climax (illogical succession and ending)Nearly all of my best men are dead

PragmaticRhetorical questions (answers itself)

You say we are of different faiths.

Would you believe in my God

if I meet you in the same heaven?

Apostrophe (breaking the speech and directing to a person or idea)

Has madness taken you!

Milton! would thou were here!

Oh, Death, be not proud!

Irony (opposite meaning outcome of what is intended)

For Brutus is an honourable man

So are they all, all honourable men

Water, water, every where,And all the boards did shrink ; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink

What Pragmatic Figure is this? JULIET:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,Nor arm, nor face, nor any other partBelonging to a man. O, be some other name!What's in a name? that which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet;So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,Retain that dear perfection which he owesWithout that title. Romeo, doff thy name,And for that name which is no part of theeTake all myself.

ExamplesWhat figure of speech is this?

O heavy lightness, serious vanity!Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!This love I feel, that feel no love in this—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet I.i

"Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802“ (William Wordsworth)

Earth has not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass by inversionA sight so touching in its majesty:This City now doth, like a garment, wear comparison, personificationThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie AsyndetonOpen unto the fields, and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.Never did sun more beautifully steep personification of sunIn his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; Asyndeton Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! inversionThe river glideth at his own sweet will: personification of riverDear God! the very houses seem asleep; exclamation, personificationAnd all that mighty heart is lying still! personification of heart