Stylistic Analysis of Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare
Introduction
In this paper, different perspectives of the nature of poetic language will be illustrated by using a stylistic analysis of a poem, „Sonnet 55‟, written by William
Shakespeare (see Appendix for full poem). In the stylistic analysis, the use of sound and rhythm to convey complement meaning by Shakespeare will be in focus here.
Poetic function in poem
Poetic language is a type of language that commonly found in poetry1. According to Jakobson (1960), formalists believe poetic function of language is closely connected to literariness2. There are three perspectives to look at the literariness of poem including inherency, cognitive and sociocultural.
In inherency perspective, poetic function can be found within the poem intrinsically. It focuses on writer‟s skill in manipulating the sounds, words, phrases and overall linguistic form of the poem3. This always makes the poem foregrounded in the mind of the reader which is achieved by deviation and parallelism3. This perspective will be used in this paper.
In cognitive perspective, it focuses on the engagement of readers including how the readers comprehend the poems and relate to their past knowledge and experience3. In sociocultural perspective, social and ideological factors are used to understand the role of poem in society as most of work of the literature takes particular social and historical reasons into account3. As a result, poetic can be changed over time. 1
Thornborrow, J. (2006) „Chapter 2: Poetic language‟ in Goodman, S. and O‟Halloran, K. The art of
English: Literary creativity, Palgrave Macmillan in association with The Open University.
2
Jakobson, R. (1960) „Closing statement, linguistics and poetics‟, in T. SEBEOK (ed.) Style in
Language, Cambridge MA, MIT Press, pp. 356.
3
Maybin, J. and Pearce, M. (2006) „Chapter 1: Literature and creativity in English‟ in Goodman, S. and
O‟Halloran, K. The art of English: Literary creativity, Palgrave Macmillan
In this paper, different perspectives of the nature of poetic language will be illustrated by using a stylistic analysis of a poem, „Sonnet 55‟, written by William
Shakespeare (see Appendix for full poem). In the stylistic analysis, the use of sound and rhythm to convey complement meaning by Shakespeare will be in focus here.
Poetic function in poem
Poetic language is a type of language that commonly found in poetry1. According to Jakobson (1960), formalists believe poetic function of language is closely connected to literariness2. There are three perspectives to look at the literariness of poem including inherency, cognitive and sociocultural.
In inherency perspective, poetic function can be found within the poem intrinsically. It focuses on writer‟s skill in manipulating the sounds, words, phrases and overall linguistic form of the poem3. This always makes the poem foregrounded in the mind of the reader which is achieved by deviation and parallelism3. This perspective will be used in this paper.
In cognitive perspective, it focuses on the engagement of readers including how the readers comprehend the poems and relate to their past knowledge and experience3. In sociocultural perspective, social and ideological factors are used to understand the role of poem in society as most of work of the literature takes particular social and historical reasons into account3. As a result, poetic can be changed over time. 1
Thornborrow, J. (2006) „Chapter 2: Poetic language‟ in Goodman, S. and O‟Halloran, K. The art of
English: Literary creativity, Palgrave Macmillan in association with The Open University.
2
Jakobson, R. (1960) „Closing statement, linguistics and poetics‟, in T. SEBEOK (ed.) Style in
Language, Cambridge MA, MIT Press, pp. 356.
3
Maybin, J. and Pearce, M. (2006) „Chapter 1: Literature and creativity in English‟ in Goodman, S. and
O‟Halloran, K. The art of English: Literary creativity, Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliography: Fineman, Kelly (2009) „Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare‟, Blogspot. Available from http://kellyrfineman.blogspot.hk/2009/09/sonnet-54-by-william-shakespeare.html (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Jakobson, R. (1960) „Closing statement, linguistics and poetics‟, in T. SEBEOK (ed.) Style in Language, Cambridge MA, MIT Press, pp Maybin, J. and Pearce, M. (2006) „Chapter 1: Literature and creativity in English‟ in Goodman, S Mabillard, A. (2000) „An Analysis of Shakespeare‟s Sonnet 55‟, Shakespeare Online (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Miller, A (2008) „Intro to Lit: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments‟, Blogspot. (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Poetry for Students (1999) „Sonnet 55‟, Encyclopedia.com. Available from http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2691300028/sonnet-55.html (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Shapiro, M. (1998) „Sound and Meaning in Shakespeare‟s Sonnets‟, Language, Vol 74, No C=true (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Short, M (1996) „Chapter 2: More on foregrounding, deviation and parallelism‟, EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF POEMS, PLAYS AND PROSE, Longman, pp. Short, M (1996) „Chapter 4: Sound, meaning and effect‟, EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE OF POEMS, PLAYS AND PROSE, Longman, pp 8 Short, M (1996) „Chapter 5: Rhythm and metre in the reading of poetry‟, Thornborrow, J. (2006) „Chapter 2: Poetic language‟ in Goodman, S. and O‟Halloran, K Wikipedia (2012) „Stylistics (literature)‟, Wikipedia. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylistics_(linguistics) (Accessed on 26 October 2012). Wikipedia (2012) „Sonnet 55‟, Wikipedia. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_55 (Accessed on 26 October 2012).