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‫اﻟﻣﻌهﻰ اﻻﺳﻠوﺑﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻗﺻﺎﺋد ﻣﺧﺗﺎرة ﻟﻠﺷﺎﻋرﺟون دان‬
‫اﻟﻣﻠﺧـــص‬
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Abstract
From the last quarter of the sixteenth century till the last quarter of
the seventeenth, there appeared a group of poets who were called
"The Metaphysical Poets".
Donne was the most outstanding metaphysical poet .He achieved
his recognizable place among the English poets through the stylistic
Al-Turath university college magazine ………………….. ( 68 ) ………………… Six edition
features of his poetic language. Meaning was one of these stylistic
features, Donne used in his style.
This study deals with stylistic meaning in Donne's poetry. The
research clarifies the difference between the conceptual and
connotative meaning.
The aim of the study is to analyze the types of stylistic meanings in
selected poems of Donne's poetry. Moreover, the study determines
the reasons behind these stylistic meanings.
According to the hypothesis, the researcher has focused on the
stylistic analysis to find out different types of stylistic meanings.
Finally, some conclusions are written according to the analysis.
Introduction
Semantics is the science that studies the meaning of words, phrases
and sentences. In semantic analysis, there is always an attempt to
focus on what the words conventionally mean, rather than on what
a speaker might want the words to mean on a particular occasion
(Yule, 1996:114).
It is reasonable to translate stylistic meaning mentally into nonsense or absurdity. Stylistic meaning is defined as meaning relations
which are logically inconsistent or paradoxically in some way (Short,
1996:43).
The problem of this study is to tackle the stylistic meanings in
selected poems of John Donne's poetry. This study aims at
investigating types of stylistic meanings in selected poems of John
Donne's poetry. It is hypothesized that there are differences
Al-Turath university college magazine ………………….. ( 69 ) ………………… Six edition
between the connotative meaning (stylistic meaning) and the
conceptual meaning (logical meaning).In this study, the following
procedures are adopted: 1-Carring out a theoretical study
concerning stylis c meanings in literary language. 2-analyzing
selected poems in John Donne's poetry.This study is restricted to
stylistic meaning in selected poems of John Donne's poetry. Other
kinds of stylistic analysis are not included.
1.1 -Meaning from a stylistic point of view
Stylistics is the domain where meaning assumes paramount
important. The term is applied not only to words, words
combination, sentences, but also to the manner of expression.
Meaning is what is intended to be or actually is expressed or
indicated (Chapman, 1973:40).
In stylistics, it is important to discriminate shades of meaning. The
component parts of which are called the semes(the smallest unites
of which meaning of a word consists).It is important to discriminate
between the meanings of a given word or construction in order to
understand the idea of the text. A crucial issue for stylistic studies is
the ability of a word to be polysemantic, i.e. to comprise several
lexical meanings. Every word, no matter how rich in meanings,
leaves the door open for new shades of meaning and even for
independent meanings. Stylistics takes for granted that a word has
an almost unlimited potentiality of acquiring new meanings.
Stylistics is more subjective in the perception of meaning in words
unlike other branches of linguis cs (Turner, 1973: 30).
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The interplay of different meanings produces imagery. Concrete
objects are easily perceived by the senses while abstract notions
are perceived by the mind. When an abstract notion is by the force
of the mind represented through a concrete object, an image is the
result (ibid: 31).
Lexical meaning is a means by which a word-form is made to
express a definite concept. Lexical meaning refers the mind to
some concrete concept, phenomenon, or thing of objective reality,
whether real or imaginary. Lexical meaning of any word presents a
very complicated unity consisting of connotative and denotative
meanings. Denotative (logical) meanings are connected with the
extralinguistics reality. It is the precise naming of a feature of the
idea, phenomenon, or object. The name by which one can
recognize the whole of the concept.
Connotative meaning is connected with conditions and
participants of communication.Connotation comprise three
components: emotive, expressive and stylistic. If denotation is
obligatory in any word, connotation is optional. All three
components of connotation can be acting together, or in different
combinations or can be entirely absent.
1- Emotional component of meaning can be usual or occasional. A
word possesses emotional component of meaning if it expresses
any emotion or feeling. Emotional appears on the basis of logical
meaning.
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2- The word has an expressive component in its meaning if it
underlines and enlarges on the object named by the word and
words surrounding it.
3- The word possesses stylistic meaning or is stylistically coloured if
it is typical for definite functional styles and preserves this
colouring even when used in non-typical situation of
communica on (Fowler, 1975:60).
When linguists investigate the meaning of the words in a language,
they are normally interested in characterizing the conceptual
meaning and less concerned with connotative or stylistic meaning
of words. Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential
components of meaning which are conveyed by the literal use of a
word (Yule, 1996:140).
Some of the basic components of a word like needle in English
might include thin, sharp, steel and instrument. These components
would be part of the conceptual meaning of needle. However, one
may have association or connotation attached to a word like needle
which leads to think of painful, whenever one encounters this word
(ibid: 140)
Classic theories in conceptual semantics have tended to explain
the meaning of sentences in terms of truth- condition. According to
these traditional theories, the meaning of particular sentence may
be understood as the conditions under which the preposition
conveyed by the sentence hold true. For instance, the expression
"snow is white" is true if and only if the snow is, in fact, white.
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Meanwhile, cognitive semantic theories are typically built on the
argument that lexical meaning is conceptual. That is, meaning is not
necessarily reference to the entity or relation in some real or
possible world. Instead, meaning corresponds with a concept held
in the mind which is based on personal understanding. As a result,
semantic facts like "all bachelors are unmarried males" are not
treated as special facts about our language rather than these facts
are not dis nct from encyclopedic knowledge ( earns, 2000:56).
1.2-Semantic Features
In conceptual semantics, words may also analyze in terms of
sense components, also called semantic markers or semantic
features. Semantic features help us to understand something about
the nature of language. One way, it would be as a means of
accounting for the oddness of sentences such as the following:
1- The hamburger ate the man.
2- My cat studied linguistics.
3- A table was listening to some music.
The oddness of these sentences does not derive from their
syntactic structure. According to some basic syntactic rules for
forming English sentences. All these sentences are syntactically
good.
The hamburger ate the man
NP
V
NP
This sentence is syntactically good, but semantically odd. It is odd
because the components of the conceptual meaning of the noun
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hamburger which differ significantly from these of the noun man,
especially when those nouns are used as subjects of the verb (ate)
(Yule, 1996:116).
The kinds of nouns which can be subjects of the verb (ate) must
denote entities which are capable of (eating). The noun
(hamburger) does not have this property and (man) does, hence
the oddness of the first sentence above.
Semanticists, in fact, make this observation more generally
applicable by trying to determine the crucial component of the
meaning which a noun must have in order to be used as the subject
of the verb (ate) (ibid:117).
Such a component may be as general as animate being.
Semanticists take this component and use it to describe part of the
meaning of words as either plus (+) or minus (-). So the features
become (+animate) denotes an animate being or (– animate) does
not denote an animate being.
This procedure is a way of analyzing in terms of semantic features.
Features such as: (+ animate, - animate, + human, - human, +male,male), for example, can be treated as the basic features involved in
differentiating the meaning of each word in the language from
every other world. If one was asked to give the crucial
distinguishing features of the meanings of following set of English
words (table, cow, girl, woman, boy man) one could do so by means
of the following diagram:
Table (1) Seman c features a er Yule (1988:140).
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table
cow
girl
woman
boy
man
animate
-
+
+
+
+
+
human
-
-
+
+
+
+
male
-
-
-
-
+
+
adult
-
+
-
+
-
+
From a feature analysis like this, one can say that at least part of
the basic meaning of the word (boy) in English involves the
components (+human, +male, -adult) (ibid: 117).
1.3- Stylistic meaning
A mode of expression in which words are used out of their literal
meaning or out of their ordinary use in order to add beauty or
emotional intensity or to transfer the poet's sense impressions by
comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning
familiar to the reader(Short,1996:30).
Leech (1996:60) states that there are important types of stylis c
meaning such as: 1- seman c oddity 2- transference of meaning 3honest deception.
1.4- Semantic Oddity
Semantic oddity means semantic bizarreness of expression. There
are five types of semantic oddity: pleonasm, periphrasis, and
tautology have semantic redundancy, and oxymoron and paradox
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have semantic absurdity, which entail irreconcilable of meaning or
reference.
1.5-Semantic Redundancy
1- Periphrasis: An expression which is of unnecessary length, in
that the meaning it conveys could have been expressed more
briefly, i.e. by a single word: my female grandparent (=my
grandmother) or he makes untrue statements (= he tells lies).
2- Pleonasm: An expression which is semantically redundant in
that it merely repeats the meaning contained elsewhere, either
precedes or follows it such as: (my female grandmother) or (a false
lie) (ibid: 62).
3- Tautology: A statement which is vacuous because self-evidently
true: (my grandmother is female).
1.6- Semantic Absurdity
1-Oxymoron is the yoking together of two expressions which are
semantically incompatible, so that in combination they can have no
conceivable literal reference to reality :( my male grandmother)
2-Paradox: A statement which is absurd because self- evidently
false: (my grand mother is male) (that lie is true).
1.7-Transference of Meaning
According to leech's classification, transference of meaning is
classified into four types of stylistic meaning: synecdoche,
metonymy, metaphor and simile.
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1-Snecdoche: The traditional figure of synecdoche is identified with
a rule which applies the term for the part to the whole. For
example:
(Two heads are better than one)
4- Metaphor is based on semantic properties that are inferred or that
provide some kind of resemblance. For example : (that man is a
snake)
5- Metonymy: A Figure of speech that consists in using the name of
one thing for that of something else with which it is associated.
In literature, metonymy is often overlooked because of the more
powerful effect of metaphor, but they are extremely important.
Example from Tennyson: (The sinless years).
A reference to the life of Christ; the sinless years is approximately
equivalent to the years lived by one who was sinless (ibid: 36).
6- Simile is an overt and metaphor is a covert comparison. This
means that for each metaphor, one can device a roughly
corresponding simile. A simile is generally more explicit than
metaphor. Simile can specify the ground of the comparison. For
example: (I wandered lonely as a cloud).
1.8- Honest Deception
According to leech's classification, the term honest deception is
classified into three types: 1- hyperbole (exaggeration)
2-litotes (understatement)
3-Irony
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Leech defines them as they are connected in that in a sense they
misrepresent the truth. Hyperbole distorts the truth by saying too
much, litotes by saying too little and Irony often takes the form of
saying or implying the opposite of what one feels to be the case.
Honest deception means that these three types of meanings
misrepresent the truth for not the sake of deception, but for
literary purpose (ibid: 66).
The Model Adopted and Text Analysis
2.1-The Selected Model:
The selected model is Leech's classifications of stylistic meaning,
because this model is the most suitable model for this analysis. This
model is classified into three types:
1-Semantic Oddity.
2-Transference of meaning.
3-Honest deception.
2.2- Stylistic meaning of "Death be not proud"
Death be not proud, though some have called thee,
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think thou dost overthrow,
Die not poor death nor yet canst thou kill me,
From rest and sleep which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and souls delivery,
Thou art slave to fate, chance kings and desperate men,
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And dost with poison war and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke: why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past we wake eternally,
And death shall be more, death thou shall die.
2.3-Semantic Oddity
Semantic oddity means semantic bizarreness of expression.
There are five types of semantic oddity: pleonasm, periphrasis, and
tautology have semantic redundancy, while oxymoron and paradox
have semantic absurdity, which entail irreconcilable of meaning or
reference.
2.4-Paradox
Paradox is a type of semantic absurdity. It is a statement which is
absurd, because self-evidently false.
Text no. 1
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee,
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
Death, thou shall die".
The Analysis
In Donne's poem "Death be not proud". The first quatrain states
the theme, with its central paradox that those whom death touches
do not really die. That is because of the Christian hope of
resurrection and immortality.
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2.5-Transference of meaning
Transference of meaning is classified into four types: synecdoche,
metonymy, metaphor and simile.
2.6-Synecdoche
The traditional figure of synecdoche is classified with a rule which
applies the term for the part to the whole.
Text no.2
"Rest of their bones, and souls delivery."
The Analysis
The poet used the expression "their bones" and "souls" as a
synecdoche to refer to a human being as a whole.
2.7-Metonymy
Metonymy is a substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct
for that of thing meant.
Text no.3
"From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be"
The Analysis
The poet used the idea that sleep and death allied one being an
image of the other. The expression "sleep" is used as a metonymy
of the word death.
2.8- Humanizing Metaphor
This sort of metaphor is more familiar as personification which
attributes human features to which is not human.
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Text no. 4
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and
dreadful"
The Analysis
The poet used the expression "death be not proud" suggest that
death is humanized.
Table 2 a brea down of Stylis c Meaning in "Death Be not
proud"
Types
periphrasis
pleonasm
Tautology
Oxymoron
Paradox
Frequency of
occurrence
----------------------------1
Metaphor
Synecdoche
1
1
Metonymy
1
simile
Hyperbole
Litotes
-------------------------
Causes
----------------------------A statement opposite to fact to
make emphasis
To make a comparison
Part refer to the whole as a
comparison
The poet uses a reference as a
symbol
-----------------------
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Irony
Total stylistic
meanings
--------4
--------
2.9- Stylistic meaning of "The Good Morrow"
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I,
Did, till we loved? Were we not wean'd till then?
But sucked on country pleasures childishly?
Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers?
T'was so, but this all pleasures fancies bee,
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got twas but a dream of thee.
And now good morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fears?
For love all love of others sights controules,
And makes one little room an every where,
Let sea –discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world each hath one and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts doe in the faces rest,
Where can we find two better hemispheres?
Without sharpe north, without declining west?
What ever dyes was not mixed equally,
If our two loves be one, or thou and I,
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Love so0 a like, that none doe slacken, none can die.
2.10-Transference of Meaning
2.11-Metonymy
Text no.5
"If ever any beauty I did see"
"And now good morrow to our waling soules"
"Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one."
"And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest"
The Analysis
The poet used many expressions which are used as metonymy. In
the first, line the word (beauty) is used as a metonymy for a
beautiful woman. The more interesting examples of metonymy are
developed in the third following lines:
The poet used the word (souls) as a metonymy for the word
(minds and people). He used also the word (heart) as a metonymy
for the word (mind), especially in love. He also used the word
(world) as a metonymy for the word (lover). Each lover is a world
for each other.
2. 12-Metaphor
Metaphors are fairly frequent in this poem.
Text no.6
"Were we not wean'd till then?"
"But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?"
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The Analysis
The poet used an implicit metaphor in these two lines. The state
of lovers prior to their falling in love with each other is identified
with childhood. The explicit metaphor would be "we were babies
before we loved".
Text no.7
"Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den"
The Analysis
There is another implicit metaphor in this line. It runs much in the
same way as the other. This time, the previous state of both lovers
is identified with sleep. Explicitly, "we were a sleep before we
loved".
Text no.8
"If ever any beauty I did see…was but a dream of thee"
The Analysis
This metaphor is the direct consequence of the previous line. If
the lover is a sleep, it is altogether fitting that anything he saw
should be a dream.
Text no.9
"Love makes one little room an everywhere"
The Analysis
The poet makes a comparison between the little room and the
world.
The outer world is discarded and the little room becomes an
"everywhere".
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Text no.10
"And true plain hearts do in the faces rest"
The Analysis
Sincerity is depicted as a heart "resting" on a face, no secret
intentions for the lovers. Their faces show their hearts. They are
externally and internally just as true to one anther.
Text no.11
"Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north without declining west?"
The Analysis
The lovers were called "worlds" in the pervious lines. Now the
idea is rounded off. They are not worlds. They are "hemispheres".
This adds three notions to the previous idea. First, the lovers are
not complete by themselves, so they need each other. A
hemisphere is a perfect metaphor for any incomplete thing.
Second, once the lovers are together, they form not only a
complete body, but a whole world (the word "hemisphere"
suggests half of the world). Third, the world, which they form when
they are together, is perfect. So the world, they form will have no
imperfection, no sharp north or declining west." Sharp" may stand
for quarrels between the lovers, and "declining" for the gradual
decay of love because of time.
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2.13-Honest Deception
2.14-Hyperbole
Text no.12
"Let sea –discoverers to new worlds have gone
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one"
The Analysis
The poet in these three lines used hyperbole (exaggeration). He
exaggerated to show that their love is outside the bounds of
possibility.
Table 3 a brea down of Stylis c Meanings in "The Good
Morrow"
Types
Frequency of
causes
occurrence
Periphrasis
--------------Pleonasm
----------------Tautology
---------------Oxymoron
-------------------Paradox
-----------------Metonymy
3
The poet uses a
reference as a symbol
Metaphor
6
To make a comparison
Synecdoche
------------------hyperbole
1
Literary Exaggeration
Litotes
---------------------
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Irony
Total Stylistic
Meaning
----------
----------
Conclusion
It is important to mention that there are two types of meanings:
conceptual and connotative meaning. In this research, conceptual
meaning is differentiated from connotative meaning. Conceptual
meaning is the back bone of human language that is used in every
day speech. In conceptual meaning, semantic features is the way of
analyzing meaning in terms of semantic components.
Features such as: + animate, - animate, + human, + male, - male,
for example, can be treated as the basic features involved in
differentiating the meanings from every other word.
On the other hand, poetic language is exception in which
different types of stylistic meanings are used. According to Leech's
classification stylistic meanings are classified into three types:
semantic oddity, transference of meaning and honest deception. It
is worth mentioning, that these types of stylistic meanings are
found in two poems of Donne's poetry:"The Good Morrow" and
"Death be not proud"
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