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A Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

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A Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 22, Issue 6, Ver. 6 (June. 2017) PP 67-79 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org A Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 Dr. Wisam Khalid Al Shawa Al Quds Open University Palestine ABSTRACT: Stylistics as a science tries to analyze the choice of words, the pattern of the sentence and the figurative language that a poet uses in his poetical works in order to reinforce and emphasize the ideas and sentiments he wants to convey to the readers. This paper aims to analyze Shakespeare's sonnet 130 "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun" from the perspective of stylistic analysis. The analysis is made under the aspects of Graphlogical, Grammatical, Syntactical, and Phonological patterns. Troops and schemes are also described that are present in the poem. This analysis is helpful in understanding the basic concept of sonnet , the structure and style of Shakespeare’s poetry, and his themes, views, and treatment of love. Though this poem is personal in tone and mood but its ideas are somewhat strange. The poem is simple but the theme is universal. Shakespeare conveyed his theme by using different stylistic devices. Keywords: Stylistics, Shakespeare, lyric, graphological level, phonological level, morphological level. I. INTRODUCTION Style is popularly referred to as ‘dress’ of thought. It describes the way of person's speaking, writing and his emotions or thoughts. Leech and Short (1981) is of the view that the word ―style has an uncontroversial meaning. It is a way in which language is being used in a given context for a given purpose. Haynes (1989) believes that the study of style is the study of distinctions: looking at what was said against what might have been said. Style is almost synonymous with variety. Style refers in a simple way to the manner of expression which differs according to the various contexts. Lawal (1997) described style as an aspect of language that deals with choices of diction, phrases, sentences and linguistic materials that are consistent and harmonious with the subject matter. The term ''style" is widely used in literature to signify literary genre. Thus, we speak of classical style, realistic style, the style of romanticism. A poet's style is of great significance in order to understand the meaning of any given text by him/her because it deals with content and form. Style in poetry is the literary element that describes the ways that the poet uses words to convey meaning , emotions, tone in his poem. Style describes how the author describes events, objects, and ideas. Also words are usually chosen for sound as well as for meaning. The arrangement of these words in a verse line, as well as the arrangement of lines in the whole poem both contribute heavily to a poet's style. Learning about a poet's style is referred to as stylistic. Stylistics is a science that provides us with the necessary background to understand and appreciate the literary work. Widdowson (1975) mentions that the study of literary text which shows linguistic orientation is stylistics. He defines stylistics as the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation. Carter (1989) believes that style is generally depends on linguistic levels. Due to these levels every text and writing is different from the other, hence every genre is different. According Turner (1975) stylistics is described as a field of linguistics which puts emphasis on the changes in complex uses of language. Bradford (1997) thinks that stylistics is a fallacious topic. Bradford (1997) says that stylistics is “an elusive and slippery topic every contribution to the vast multifaceted discipline of literary studies will involve an engagement with style”. Verdonk(2002) defines stylistics as “the analysis of distinctive expression in language and the description of its purpose and effect”. The poem to be analyzed in this paper is one of the most memorized sonnets ever written by William Shakespeare "My Mistress Eyes are nothing Like the Sun". The aim behind choosing this great sonnet for the data analysis is its usefulness in order to understand Shakespearean sonnets and because it is different somehow from the other sonnets in its ideas. The following is sonnet 130 that is the focus of the stylistic analysis: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; DOI: 10.9790/0837-2206066779 www.iosrjournals.org 67 | Page A Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare Research problem: It is noted that many researchers tries to study several poems written by Shakespeare but the stylistic analysis of Shakespeare's "My Mistress' eyes are Nothing Like the Sun" has not been done before. So this paper will address itself to analyzing this sonnet stylistically and examining the uniqueness of stylistics as it combines both linguistics and literary studies within a literary work. It also addresses itself to examining how words are put together in transforming the poet's message to the reader. Research Questions 1.How to explore the poem at graphological level? 2. How to explore the poem at grammatical level? 3.How to analyze the poem at morphological level? 4.How to assess the poem at phonological level? 5. How to evaluate the language devices that has been integrated in the poem? Objectives 1.To investigate the poem at graphological level. 2. To investigate the poem at grammatical level 3.To investigate the poem at morphological level. 4.To examine the poem at phonological level. 5. To evaluate how language devises has been integrated in the poem. Scope of the study This study shall be stylistic and the analysis will be conducted through the use of the following levels of analysis: graphological, morphological, phonological and lexico-syntactic levels. Justification Shakespeare's sonnet 130 is a distinguished and beautiful poem and it addresses a universal theme that can be applicable to any time, it is rich in meaning and exuberant. Shakespeare's style and choice of words have made the researcher to embark on this study. This paper will be of great benefit to the learners of English language and literature and those who are interested in the field of stylistics. Level of Stylistic Analysis The following are five levels of stylistics that we use them in order to analyze the literary text: 1. Phonetic Level: It is an analysis of sounds; we study the features and possible function of sounds in phonetic level. 2. Phonological Level: It is the study of the sound patterns of a given language; the formal rules of pronunciation, the rhyming scheme and utterance of the word in the sentence. 3. Graphlogical Level: It is the analogous study of a language‘s writing system. It deals with the systematic formation, structure and punctuation in the sentence. 4. Grammatical Level: in this level both the syntactic and morphological levels are discussed. The main aim of this level is to study and analyze the words, internal structure of sentences and their formation. 5. The Lexico-syntax level: It is the study of the way in which individual words and idioms tend to pattern in different linguistic context; on the semantics level in terms of stylistics. The poet and the Poem William Shakespeare: The Poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of the most brilliant and famous distinguished English playwright, actor and poet. He produced most of his best work between 1589 and 1613. He contributed heavily to the humanity and to the development of theatre in the late 16th century. Shakespeare is universally considered to be the greatest writer and dramatist in the English literature. He wrote154 sonnets and 38 plays. Shakespeare's plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in DOI: 10.9790/0837-2206066779 www.iosrjournals.org 68 | Page A Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. The plays contain songs of various types thus illustrating Shakespeare's genius in musicality and humor. In his poems he talked about the themes of love, beauty, death, decay and the inevitable passing of time. Distinguished Features of Shakespeare’s Poetry Shakespeare wrote his earlier plays in the traditional style of the time. He relied heavily on using lengthy and sometimes exaggerated metaphors and narcissisms. His style often sounded imperious and pretentious. His sonnets are written in simple way simply because most of them are about love. Introduction to the poem My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun by William Shakespeare is seen as an anti-metaphorical sonnet, unlike the other famous sonnets of the Elizabethan Age. It stands apart from most of his sonnets for its mocking voice, use of satire and even its strange ideas. In this sonnet William Shakespeare forms an argument against conventions to flatter one’s lover with praise of her beauty as well as make comments about the way that love between two people can be expressed and interpreted. He uses the example of a woman who is not physically perfect or even beautiful in order to emphasize and stress the idea that love is deeper and more important than these superficial and trivial comparisons about body beauty.
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