This
period is generally regarded as the greatest in the history of English
Literature. Historically, we note in this age, the tremendous impetus
received from the Renaissance from the reformation & from the
exploration of the new world.
It was marked by a strong national
spirit, by patriotism, by religious tolerance, by social content, by
intellectual progress & by unbounded enthusiasm.
Such an age
of thought, feeling & vigorous action, finds its best expression in
the drama; & the wonderful development of the drama, culminating.
Though the age produced some of the excellent prose works, it is
essentially an age of poetry; & the poetry is remarkable for its
variety, its freshness, its youth & romantic feeling.
Characteristic Features of Elizabethan Age :
1. Revival of Interest in Greek Literature
The ardent revival in the study of Greek literature brought a dazzling
light into many dark places of interest. The new classical influences
were a great benefit. They tempered & polished the earlier rudeness
of English Literature.
2. Abundance of Output
The Elizabethan
age was rich in literary productions of all kinds. Singing is impossible
when one’s hearts undeclared & at any moment one may be laid
prostrate.
Not till the accession of Queen Elizabeth, did a
better state of things began to be. In the Elizabethan age, pamphlets
& treatises were freely written. Sometimes writers indulged in scurrilous abuses which were of personal character.
But on the whole, the output of the literature was very wide, &
after the lean years of the preceding epoch, the prodigal issue of the
Elizabethan age is almost embarrassing.
3. The New Romanticism
The romantic quest is, for the remote, the wonderful & the
beautiful. All these desires were abundantly fed during the Elizabethan
age, which are the first & the greatest romantic epoch (period).
According to Albert, “there was a daring & resolute spirit of
adventure in literary as well as the other regions, & most important
of these was an un-mistakable buoyancy & freshness in the strong
wind of the spirit. It was the ardent youth of English Literature &
the achievement was worthy of it.”
4. Translations in Elizabethan Age
The Elizabethan age witnessed translation into English of several
important foreign books. Many translations were as popular as the
original works.
Sir Thomas North translated Plutarch’s Lives & John Florio translated Montaigne’s Essais.
No less popular were the translations in poetry. E.g. Metamorphoses by
Arthur Golding, Arisoto Orlando Furioso by Sir John Harrington, Tasso’s
Terusalom Liberata by Richard Carew.
5. Spirit of Independence
In spite of borrowings from abroad, the authors of this age showed a spirit of independence & creativeness.
Shakespeare borrowed freely, but by the alembic of his creative imaginations, he transformed the dross into gold.
Spenser introduced the ‘Spenserian Stanza’, & from his works, we got the impression of inventiveness & intrepidity.
On the whole, the outlook of the writers during the age was broad & independent.
6. Development of Drama
During the Elizabethan Age, drama made a swift & wonderful leap
into maturity. The drama reached the splendid perfection in the hands of
Shakespeare & Ben Jonson, though in the concluding part of the age,
particularly in Jacobean Age, there was a decline of drama standards.
Popularity of Poetry Poetry enjoyed its hey-day during the Elizabethan age. The whole of the age lived in a state of poetic fervour.
Songs, lyrics & sonnets were produced in plenty, & England
became nest of the singing birds. In versification, there was a marked
improvement.
Melody & Pictorialism were introduced in poetry by Spenser.
7. Prose and Novel
For the first time, prose rose to the position of first rate importance.
“Even the development of poetical drama between 1579 A.D. -1629 A.D.,
is hardly more extraordinary than the sudden expansion of English prose
& its adaptation to every kind of literary requirement.”
The dead weight of the Latin & English prose acquired a tradition & universal application.
English Novel made its first proper appearance during this age
Source : Information Collected from (Sarita Sarita )
English being the International Language has gone through a lot of transition in terms of its application, usage and cultural contextualization.In spite of all of these, it still soars high and used widely all over the world.In recent years, the teaching and learning of ELF/ESL has gone through certain changes, specially how it should be taught and learned.....Below are the Recent Trends of Teaching and Learning of ELF/ESL as listed by The TESOL President,Deena Boraie.
8 Current Trends in Teaching and Learning EFL/ESL
Trend 1: Change in the Goal of Teaching English
In my opinion, there are two key changes in the purpose of teaching English. Firstly, as Penny Ur (2009) noted the goal is “to produce fully competent English-knowing bilinguals rather than imitation native speakers.” As I mentioned in a previous blog, the purpose is not to aspire to become native speakers of English, because we are already native speakers of our own L1, but to focus on English as a means of communication. Secondly, English is not viewed as an end in itself but as a means to learn content such as science and mathematics. Content and language integrate learning (CLIL) is an approach where the English teacher uses cross-curricular content and so the students learn both the content and English.
Trend 2: Early Start in Teaching English
Many countries have started teaching English in earlier grades at school. For example, since 2011, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam have been introducing English from Grade 4. Also in 2011, Japan introduced English in the primary stage, and, in 2012, Dubai introduced English in the KG stage instead of Grade 1.
Trend 3: Change in the Approach to Teaching Culture
Both the local or native and international culture dominate in English language classes. There is less focus on teaching the culture of native speakers of English unless there is a specific purpose for doing so.
Trend 4: Changing View of an English Teacher
It is increasingly being recognized that the quality or effectiveness of teachers is determined by their linguistic, teaching, and intercultural competence rather than their being a native speaker of English.
Trend 5: Change in Teaching Content and Test Design
Teachers use a range of local texts or English translations of literature in the classroom. The use of L1 as appropriate as well as the use of a variety of accents in listening activities or tests are encouraged in English language classrooms.
Trend 6: E-Learning
Because of the proliferation of tablets and smart phones, I believe that textbooks will disappear in a few years. Furthermore, the access to knowledge in terms of flexibility and mobility has changed drastically.
Trend 7: Strategic Teaching and Learning
Teaching in English language classes focuses on fostering student thinking as well as language content, outcomes, and learning activities. There are significant and complex student-teacher interactions inside and outside the classroom. The gamification of learning is emerging as a way to make language learning more engaging and relevant to the younger generation.
Trend 8: Teachers as Life-Long Learners
In a knowledge-based society and to remain competitive and employable, teachers are expected to engage in continuous professional development or professional learning activities from the beginning to the end of their careers. As with any other profession, teachers are also expected to assume greater responsibility for their own professional learning, continually developing their knowledge and skills.
Life will be easier if there are fewer languages in the world.
Nothing is sweeter than expressing what you feel inside. This thirst for expression can only be met through the medium of language. In my opinion, too many languages spoil the sport, the fewer is the better.
At first, let us consider how confusion is created through multi-language culture. It is impossible for a man to learn everything in one life time. Learning a language takes time, special effort, and special skill. None can acquire everything at one time. While too many are running for survival, where is the time to spend for learning an additional language? Besides, learning a language requires developing special skills therefore extra fund needs to be invested. It is hard to invest additional dowry unless you are rich enough to spare. For example, I had to learn basic English in order for me get into my university. It took me six months, and good chunk of money in order to get a remedial certificates. It was painful and unfortunate to wait such a long time investing the little funds I had. It wasn’t the best thing for sure.
Who wouldn’t love to see the varieties and this applies to languages also. We got to the flip the coin to see the other side too. Having a second option to anything is always attractive if you only have the ability to go for it. The idea to learn a second language is always rewarding yet it is not feasible due to shortage of means and time. On other hand, focus on one language can enable one to be master of it. In addition, learning multiple languages along with the tits of bits of each culture from which it originated is complicated as each tongue has its own peculiar features. For example, in order to master Hindi language, you also need to know how this language is used in various situations, not only that but also how people of different age group are to be addressed differently. You can be sure, this is a tedious job.
To conclude, I would like to mention that skills of various languages may have so much demand at the present time, yet learning one is better than having confusion over many. Besides, it will make the world like a village where everyone would speak in the same tongue meaning nothing dissimilar.
Pablo Neruda, celebrated Chilean poet, diplomat and politician, died on 23 September 1973, twelve days after the violent rightwing coup which overthrew the government of his friend Salvador Allende. As a way of recalling Neruda, we bring to readers excerpts from the lecture he delivered on 13 December 1971 after he received the Nobel Prize for Literature . . .
My speech is going to be a long journey, a trip that I have taken through regions that are distant and antipodean, but not for that reason any less similar to the landscape and the solitude in Scandinavia. I refer to the way in which my country stretches down to the extreme South. So remote are we Chileans that our boundaries almost touch the South Pole, recalling the geography of Sweden, whose head reaches the snowy northern region of this planet.
I did not learn from books any recipe for writing a poem, and I, in my turn, will avoid giving any advice on mode or style which might give the new poets even a drop of supposed insight. When I am recounting in this speech something about past events, when reliving on this occasion a never-forgotten occurrence, in this place which is so different from what that was, it is because in the course of my life I have always found somewhere the necessary support, the formula which had been waiting for me not in order to be petrified in my words but in order to explain me to myself.
During this long journey I found the necessary components for the making of the poem. There I received contributions from the earth and from the soul. And I believe that poetry is an action, ephemeral or solemn, in which there enter as equal partners solitude and solidarity, emotion and action, the nearness to oneself, the nearness to mankind and to the secret manifestations of nature. And no less strongly I think that all this is sustained - man and his shadow, man and his conduct, man and his poetry - by an ever-wider sense of community, by an effort which will for ever bring together the reality and the dreams in us because it is precisely in this way that poetry unites and mingles them. And therefore I say that I do not know, after so many years, whether the lessons I learned when I crossed a daunting river, when I danced around the skull of an ox, when I bathed my body in the cleansing water from the topmost heights - I do not know whether these lessons welled forth from me in order to be imparted to many others or whether it was all a message which was sent to me by others as a demand or an accusation. I do not know whether I experienced this or created it, I do not know whether it was truth or poetry, something passing or permanent, the poems I experienced in this hour, the experiences which I later put into verse.
From all this, my friends, there arises an insight which the poet must learn through other people. There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song - but in this dance or in this song there are fulfilled the most ancient rites of our conscience in the awareness of being human and of believing in a common destiny.
The poet is not a "little god". No, he is not a "little god". He is not picked out by a mystical destiny in preference to those who follow other crafts and professions. I have often maintained that the best poet is he who prepares our daily bread: the nearest baker who does not imagine himself to be a god. He does his majestic and unpretentious work of kneading the dough, consigning it to the oven, baking it in golden colours and handing us our daily bread as a duty of fellowship. And, if the poet succeeds in achieving this simple consciousness, this too will be transformed into an element in an immense activity, in a simple or complicated structure which constitutes the building of a community, the changing of the conditions which surround mankind, the handing over of mankind's products: bread, truth, wine, dreams.
The mistakes which led me to a relative truth and the truths which repeatedly led me back to the mistakes did not allow me - and I never made any claims to it - to find my way to lead, to learn what is called the creative process, to reach the heights of literature that are so difficult of access. But one thing I realized - that it is we ourselves who call forth the spirits through our own myth-making.
Our original guiding stars are struggle and hope. But there is no such thing as a lone struggle, no such thing as a lone hope. In every human being are combined the most distant epochs, passivity, mistakes, sufferings, the pressing urgencies of our own time, the pace of history.
It is today exactly one hundred years since an unhappy and brilliant poet, the most awesome of all despairing souls, wrote down this prophecy: "A l'aurore, armés d'une ardente patience, nous entrerons aux splendides Villes." "In the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid Cities."
I believe in this prophecy of Rimbaud, the Visionary. I come from a dark region, from a land separated from all others by the steep contours of its geography. I was the most forlorn of poets and my poetry was provincial, oppressed and rainy. But always I had put my trust in man. I never lost hope.
In this way the song will not have been sung in vain.
Language is a means of communication. It is God’s specific gift to mankind. Without language human civilization would have remained impossibility. Language is unique and also ubiquitous in nature. It is present everywhere in our thoughts and dreams, prayers and meditations, relation and communication and also in our rituals. Language can be divided into two groups- ordinary language and literary language.
Ordinary language is the day to day usage of language by common people. Literary language is the language used by the poets, writers and scholars. A common person can understand the ordinary language very well, but it is quite difficult to convey the proper meaning of the literary language. A person should concentrate on structure as well as on the implied meaning of word and sentence in order to retrieve the proper meaning of the literary language. We can say literary language is a deviant type of language, because a writer uses various devices of diction in order to make the language quite different from the common use of language.
Man’s greatest possession and the fact that differentiate him from all other created being is language. So language plays a vital role in communication. The communication of meaning thus becomes a very important part of a language. We can hardly think of human existence without use of language. Our language is inextricably bound up with our humanity. To be human is to use language, and to talk is to be a person. As biologist and author Lewis Thomas remarks in The Lives of a cell (1974, p.89).
“The gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life. Language is, like nest-building or hive-making, the universal and biologically specific activity of human beings. We engage in it communally, compulsively, and automatically. We cannot be human without it; if we were to be separated from it our minds would die, as surely as bees lost from the hive.” Thus language becomes an inseperapable part of human existence.
Meaning of Language:
The English word ‘language’ seems to have been derived from the Latin word, ‘Lingua’ which implies ‘tongue’. French term, ‘langue’ and ‘parole’ also bear the impression on language. Language is the entire complex of phenomena associated with human vocal and auditory communication of emotions and ideas. It includes the first cries of the baby, the most rudimentary forms of human speech and all connections with physiology, psychology, History etc. It appertains to individual and society.
Definitions of Language:
A language is considered to be a system of communicating with other people using sounds, symbols and words in expressing a meaning, idea or thought. This language can be used in many forms, primarily through oral and written communications as well as using expressions through body language.
Language is defined as means of communication and social control. Some definitions of language are given below.
“A language I a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group operates and interacts”.
-Block and Trager.
“Language is a set of human habits, the purpose of which is to give expression to thoughts and feelings”
-I.J. Jesperson
“Language maybe defined, “as an arbitrary system of vocal symbols by means of which human beings, a member of a social group and participants, in culture, interact and communicate”.
-Ecyclopaedia Britannia
There are two types of language that is Ordinary language and literary language. Ordinary language is the uses of language in day to day communication and conversation. Such as in advertisement, instructions etc. Literary language is used in the literature and it has special diction such as poetry, drama, fiction etc.
Differences between Ordinary Language and Literary Language.
Language with its different varieties is the subject matter of socio-linguistics. Language can vary not only individual to individual but also from literariness to ordinariness. The following difference can be listed between the ordinary language and literary language.
Obscurity or Vagueness :-
Literary language has the feature of obscurity and vagueness as well as abstract thoughts and expressions are bound in literary language. Such vagueness and abstractions generally not found in ordinary language. Ordinary language bears the feature of clarity and explicitness. Literary language is especially a poetic language. It is very difficult to understand.
e.g. “My vegetable love could grow vaster than empires and slower”
- Andrew Marvell’s Poem. (‘To His Coy Mistress)
“ Lend me your ears”-‘Julius Caesar’ – By Shakespeare
But ordinary language is plain and clear. The above kinds of speeches are hardly used. Ordinary language is very easy to understand.
Terseness and Rhythm :-
Literary language is marked with brevity as it generally uses terse expressions. It means that more information is given in a small context. Sometimes literary language abounds with latent thoughts.
e.g.“Woods are lovely dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep.”
By- Robert Frost.
Another example can be from Shakespeare’s Play ‘ As you like it’. This song is so mellifluous and terse and rhythmic.
“Under the green wood tree”
On the other hand ordinary language doesn’t follow the terseness. In ordinary language precision and brevity is not maintained for all the times. Circumlocutions, twiddling, babblings talks can be found in ordinary language.
Ambiguity :-
Ambiguity is the remarkable feature of literary language. Possibility of multiple meanings can be found in literary language. On the other hand, lucidity and directness are the striking feature of ordinary language. In it ideas and thoughts are conveyed in a straightforward way. .The thoughts and ideas are expressed in complicated manner in literary language which is not easily understandable. It always possesses some deeper meaning than what it appears at the surface or at denotative level.
e.g. “The child is the father of man”
-‘The prelude’ - By Wordsworth.
The above line has multiple interpretations such as:-
1)There are many things which can be learned by children.
2)Children are always closer to God than men etc.
Some critics uses the term “multiple meaning” and ‘Plurisignation’. The term ‘freudened’ is the fusion of ‘frightened’ and ‘ Freud’.
Thus the literary language bears the note of ambiguity. On the other hand, generally ordinary language doesn’t bear any note of ambiguous expression.
4.Deviant Language :-
Literary language is described as deviant use of language. Because various devices of diction are used by writer in order to make the language different from the ordinary use of language. But the ordinary language has no deviation; it is as the way people use in their normal communication. Because ordinary language is used by the ordinary people. And the use of ordinary language is a spontaneous process and automatic. In literary language deviations are made for two main reason- searches for novelty and to remove the restrictions of normal language. The deviation of literary language can be at different level like phonological, morphological etc. The following is an example of syntactic or linguistic deviation.
e.g. ‘A grief ago’
The above is special and deviant paradigm.
The normal paradigm would be:
A minute or day or year or month ago.
Here is another example of syntactic deviation which also considered as inversion.
e.g. Much have I traveled in the realms of gold.
AuxSMVO
Thus deviations of different kinds make the literary language different from the ordinary language.
5. Creativity and Novelty:-
Literary language has a high degree of creativity and novelty. The term creativity refers to the artistic originality of idea or innovativeness. It is much associated with poetry, literary prose etc. Each literary piece is another’s own creation and it bears extra-ordinary characteristics. But ordinary language is devoid of such creativity and novelty. No deliberate attempt is made to bring the novelty in ordinary language.
E.g. The word ‘Tenderlicious’ was used for the first time in Cadbury chocolate advertisement. This word is the product of creativity as it is the blending of two words ‘tender’ and ‘Delicious’.
Butterlicious = Butter + Delicious(Advertisement of Amul)
The ‘Toddler shop” instead of ‘Baby shop’ or Kid’s shop or children’s shop. The word ‘Toddler’ indicates the verb ‘toddle’ which means the working of baby or newly born child.
Such creativity and novelty is not found in ordinary language.
G.M. Hopkins in his poem he has depicted the ‘Sea’ with three adjectives.
1) Unchilding 2) unflattering 3) Widow-making.
In this way Hopkins has shown the novelty or newness by giving such novel and bizarre attributes to the ‘sea’.
6. Metre and Rhyme:-
In poetic language sometimes we have various types of metre. It means that in poetic language there is deliberate use of metre. But in ordinary language there is no use of metre.
E.g., “Tiger, tiger burning bright”
Here we have Trochee.
In literary language rhymes get much importance. Poetic language is mainly based on rhymes to have the poetic effect.
E.g. “Oh, from this time forth
My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth”
In ordinary discourse or speech the speaker doesn’t intend for rhymes or rhyme scheme.
7) Indeterminacy:-
Indeterminacy is a special characteristic of literary language, especially of poetic language. Because of indeterminacy language of literature cannot be regarded as erroneous but it is considered as a graceful feature of literary language.
E.g. ‘My vegetable love could grow
Vaster than empires and more slow”
The above lines are from Marvell’s poem. Here Marvell wants to indicate that his love is evergreen and grows as fast as vegetable grows.
The meaning of given literary work depends on the reader because its interpretations changes from reader to reader. Another example is cited as follows
e.g. The Child is the father of man – ‘Prelude’
The principle of defeated expectancy works to a great extent in literature. The writer deliberately deviates the norms and rules and puzzles the readers. Thus sometimes indeterminacy can be a planned activity.
Example. ‘Et tu brute” (Julius Caesar)- By Shakepeare
“Petal on the wet black bough” – Ezra Pound
Here the word ‘Petal’ is used as a verb and not as noun or adjectives and so the meaning changes. The meaning of ‘petal’ here is to be comfortable to relax.
8.Esthetic Function:-
Literary language has esthetic function. It is the heightened form of expression. Ordinary language on the other has informative function. Literary language always appeals to your mind better. It gives us a sense of joy when we understand it.
9.Complexity :-
Literary language is syntactically complex language in order to heighten the
effect of that work of art. But ordinary language is some what free from such
Complexities.
E.g. “Colorless green ideas sheep furiously”- Chomsky.
10.Multiple Interpretations:-
In literary language, multiple interpretations of a sentence are possible. The
Interpretations may vary by different reader. It depends on the angle of the reader, his point of view and understanding. But in ordinary language we can not find such interpretations.
E.g. If the boy can’t drink the milk boil it.
The above sentence may have different meaning and interpretations.
11.New Lexical Items :-
In literary language new lexical items are used. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, He uses a new lexical item – ‘Pandemonium’
Where the root was –Demon, but he added
Pan- means – all
ium- means-place
Thus the meaning stands as – the place of all demons. This is completely a new addition and in ordinary language such coinage of words is not done. When we used the word pandemonium it is an unusual use of language.
“Doff thy name” (Do off)
-Romeo and Juliet – by By Shakespeare
Doff means remove; this is another use of new lexical items in literary language.
The lexical deviation is another important feature of literary language. Such new lexical items are not used in ordinary language. And it is also not acceptable in ordinary language.
12.Pattern :-
There can be various patterns in literary language. In every artistic activity objects there are patterns. But ordinary language follows only suitable and prevalent patterns. Patterns can be at phonological level or in sound.
e.g. “Water, water every where and not any drop to drink”.
“The Ancient Mariner” -By S.T. Coleridge
In the above line the words ‘drop and drink’ have ‘d’as initial sound and it is repeated. This is what usually found in poetry. In the poem ‘Essay of Criticism’ By Pope.
‘To err is human
To forgive is divine”.
In these lines the patter of two clauses with same structure is used that is infinitive +V+ Adj. This is called parallelism - means partial repetition of another pattern, it is also an example of free repetition.
E.g. “water water everywhere”
From “Ancient Mariner”- By S.T.Coleridge
In free repetition the whole word is repeated like the word ‘water’s is repeated in the above line.
But in ordinary language we cannot find such type of repetition and we cannot find such
patterns.
Some grammatical features or patterns of sentences which have become outdated have also been used in both Ordinary and literary language.
e.g. ‘I know not’, ‘saw you anything’.
Poet enjoys the freedom of arranging syntactic elements in an irregular order which is technically called ‘Hyperbation’. For example ‘ cities fair’ where the adjective ‘fair’ qualifying the noun ‘cities fair’ is repeated after the noun. It is generally placed before the noun so that it becomes ‘fair cities’ in ordinary language. Jumbled clause structures have become so much part and parcel of verse literature that such a construction often goes unnoticed. We hardly find such odd structure in prose or in ordinary language.
e.g. 1) A train – band caption Eke was he.
CVS
2)Though wedded we have been.
CSV
The above lines are from Cowpor’s poem. Here he makes use of deviation of the order SVC. (Subject + verb+ complement). This makes the sentence different. This example of violent disorganization. The poet has experimented with language to achieve special effects. These experiments are certain departures from norms laid down in the grammar of everyday language.
13.Archaism :-
In literary language or in old poems, plays, we have archaic words. But in ordinary languages we don’t usually use archaic words.
E. g. ‘Thou hast thy own music’- ‘Ode to Autumn’ by Keats
‘I kissed thee ere I killed thee’- ‘Othello’ by Shakespeare.
There are other archaic words used by different literary writers, they are words like – behold, damsel, festoon, ere, off, hither, art, quoth, yonder, clad etc. But there are a few archaic words which are used both in ordinary and literary language.
e.g. ‘hereinafter’ – Legal English (Lawyers)
‘Thou’ -word in Religious English uses.
14.Figurative Nature:-
The language of literature has its own distinguishing characteristics. The most important feature of literary or poetic language is its use of various types of figures of speech. In ordinary language generally it is not possible to use figures of speech. For example, literary language has the uses of figures of speech like irony and metaphor etc. yet it has its roots in ordinary use of language.
e.g.a)“He saw sea of men” (Metaphor)
b) The bad news was a dagger to his heart (Metaphor)
c) “Drink to me the only thine eyes” – Ben Johnson (Hyperbole)
d) He has many mouths to feed (Synecdoche) etc.
Thus ordinary language and literary language differ in use of figures of speech also.
15. Unique Utterances:-
Unique utterance is a noticeable feature of literary language. The creative writer employs such words or phrases which we hardly come across.
Example:
In Lawrence’s Poem “We Die Together”
“I know the unloving factory-hand
Living dead millions is unliving me
Living dead me”.
In these lines, the utterances like ‘unloving factory hand’, ‘living dead millions’, ‘living dead me’ are really praise worthy because we hardly come across such odd combinations
Therefore there are various characteristics and features that make literary language different from the ordinary language. But all literary language has its roots in ordinary language. It can not completely detach itself from the ordinary language. Ordinary language is the source of the literary language.
Why Does Literary Language differ from Ordinary Language?
The difference between both is more delicate and less easily noticeable. If we look back over the span of English literature since Chaucer, we find that some freedom of language have been traditionally permitted in verse. Customarily poets have freely broken the rules of grammar used for ordering words in sentence. Simply speaking, writer violates the norms of literature which are laid for writing. He goes away from these norms. This is why the language used by writers becomes different from its normal use. All these writers are gifted figures. On the other hand, the norms and rules which are laid for writing are normally followed by the users of ordinary language can be called normal language.
Literary language is a deviant use of language. The deviation is the violation of linguistic norms. The deviation may be found at various linguistic levels like phonology, syntax, semantic, graphology and lexis too.
Some of the instances of how and why writers go away from conventionally laid norms in terms of deviation can be given as follows:
1.Phonological Deviation:-
This is a deviation related to sound patterns. Phonological deviation is achieved through the use of alliteration, rhyme, consonance, assonance and onomatopoeia.
Alliteration:
e.g. a) In Robert Burn’s Poem
“My love is like a red red rose”.
b) In Coleridge’s Poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’
“The Furrow followed free”
c) In Shakespeare’s Play ‘Macbeth’
“Such a Foul and fair day I have not seen”
The above examples are the fine uses of “Alliteration”. In the example 1, /l/ and /r/ are repeated in order to heighten the desired effect.
In example 2 & 3, sound /f/ is repeated.
Alliteration gives a special effect to literary language.
Rhyme :-
There are various types of rhyme. For example, Rich Rhyme, Masculine Rhyme, Feminine Rhyme, Triple rhyme, Para rhyme etc.
In Milton’s poem, ‘L Allegro’ ( Masculine Rhyme is Present)
“Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe”
In Dary Hine’s poem ‘A Present’( Rich Rhyme)
“Spring is late and I am going blind
In his dark room my neighbour draws the blind”
In A.E. House man’s Poem ( Feminine Rhyme)
“With rue my hart laden
For many a rose-lift maiden.”
Triple Rhyme :
‘Eluding / Deluding, Revision/ Division’ etc.
This kind of rhyme is used to create comic effect.
In Wilfred Owens’s Poem, ‘ Strange Meeting’ ( Para Rhyme)
Add by his smile, I knew that sullen hall
By his dead smile, I knew that we stood in hell.
Eye Rhyme :–
These are words which look as though they should rhyme from their spelling but are actually pronounced differently like ‘love’ / ‘move’, ‘though’ / ‘bough’.
Patterns of Sound.
Related to rhyme are other elements of repetition of similar or related sounds. These are consonance, assonance and onomatoepia.
Consonance :
Here linked word have their final consonantal sounds in common in ‘put- bet’, ‘will- hall’ etc.
Assonance :
This is the repetition of vowel sounds. It is also called interior rhyme. Here again only the sound is considered, not the spelling. E.g. In Keats’s poem ‘On a Grecian Urn’
“Thou will unravished Bride of quietness
Thou foster child of silence and slow time’’
Onomatopoeia:
The word name-making. This is the capability of sounds to echo through the sense of a word as in ‘swish’ or ‘plop’. In Eliot’s “The Waste Land’ has an example of this kind-
“Only a cock stood in the rooftree
Co Co roco co co rico”( Onomatopoeia)
2.Syntactic Deviation:-
Syntactic deviation can be achieved by violating the grammatical rules. i.e. Word order. Following are the examples of syntactic deviation.
E.g. in Wordsworth’s Poem ‘Daffodils’
‘Ten thousand saw I at a glance’’
Normally in English language we have the sentence pattern as SVO ( Sub + Verb+Obj). But here Wordswoth deliberately violates the norms and uses the pattern as O (ten thousand, V (saw), S (I) to achieve expected effects. The above sentence also has thematic fronting of the words “Ten Thousand”.
3.Semantic Deviation :-
Literature, especially poetry has an unusual way of expressing things.
We get pleasure from the poems through defeated expectancy. When various poetic devices are used at that time semantic deviation occurs.
E.g. In Wordsworth’s poem ‘Prelude’.
‘The child is the father of man’.
This line seems to be semantically anomalous. But to put the words in this order, Wordsworth has some intention in his mind. To explain, we can say that man as compared to child has lost all the values of society. But a child seems to be more innocent than a man. It means that a child is closer to God. Hence man should follow the way child follows.
4.Lexical or Morphological Deviation:-
Lexical deviation is found when the writer changes the order of the words or selection of words or invents new words.
E.g. In Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’
‘Doff thy name’
Here the word ‘Doff’ was coined by Shakespeare. It is the combination of ‘Do + off’ means to “throw away”, “cut off” or “remove”.
G.M Hopkins uses three adjectives to describe in one of his poems such as ‘Unfathering’, ‘Unchilding’, ‘Widowmaking’. These words have no place in a dictionary. These adjectives show the destructive power of an ocean. All these words are lexical or morphological deviations because we cannot add prefix ‘un’ and suffix ‘ing’ to a noun.
5.Graphological Deviation :-
Graphology deals with the system of writing. i.e., how the text is
Written. Usually in poetry lines are of same length but in prose lines are of different length. But it has been observed that all the poems don’t follow this rule. Thus there is a graphological deviation also. The shape of the poem and length of lines sometime adds to the meaning of the poem also thus it is important. Graphological deviation also refers to deviation of spellings, punctuation, spacing, the use of dashes, line arrangements and non-use of capitals. They contribute to the visual effect of the poem.
For Example: In the novel Tristam Shandy, to represent ‘Death’ – there is a black page.
In. D.H. Lawrence’s poem “Snake”, the lineation perhaps represents the twisting, wriggling movement of a snake.
Then in .E.E. Cummings No.3 of 73 Poems is an example of graphological deviation.
e.g.Seeker of truth
follow no path
all paths lead where
truth is
here.
In this poem we have phonological base of rhyme. According to lineation the poem ends with the statement “truth is” belongs to the previous clause and the poem has an exclamatory conclusion in the isolated word “here”.
6.Repetition :-
Repetitions means repetition of linguistic units such as words, phrases, lines, sentences etc. Refrain is an example of repetition. By repeating the same pattern, foregrounding is achieved.
There are two types of repetition.
1)Free Repetition :- In this device certain units of language are repeated,
e.g. In Coleridge’s Poem, “The Rime of Ancient Mariner”.
“Water water everywhere
And not a drop to drink”
Here the unit like words (water) has been repeated in order to achieve the desired effect.
2)Partial Repetition: In this device, a certain part of the unit is repeated.
e.g. In William Blake’s Poem-
“Tiger, tiger, burning bright.”
In this line, the phoneme /b/ is repeated.
E.g. in Coleridge’s Poem “The Ancient Mariner”.
“And not a drop to drink”
In this line the phoneme /d/ is repeated.
.
Thus there are various deviation which allows the literary language to be unique and different from the normal or ordinary language.
Conclusion:-
A scheme of language is never complete and static, because language is always being put to new uses. Some times it is resharpened, particularly for occasion where like to be emphatic. Literature, being an art establishes a relationship with the scheme of language, by using linguistic elements to build new schemes of its own, adding new rules of meter, line length, word order, choice of vocabulary to the existing rules of ordinary language. So literary language can be different and yet not different from ordinary or no-literary language.
Language plays an important role in the life of human being to communicate with other human being. Ordinary language is known as general language which is easy to understand and communicate, but literary language is somewhat difficult. Reader has to be conscious about getting the meaning of literary language because literary language has a quality of creativity and novelty. Multiple interpretations can be gained by literary language. In short reader has to get more efforts to understand literary language, where he or she doesn’t have to be more conscious is while using ordinary language.
PAPER- VII LINGUISTICS AND STYLISTICS
A
TERM PAPER ON
“ORDINARY LANGUAGE AND LITERARY LANGAUGE”
Certificate
This is to certify that Mr. Litton Prosad Mowalie has worked on the topic “ Ordinary Language and Literary Language’’ A term paper on Linguistics and Stylistics, Paper–VII in partial fulfillment of her master in English in Institute of Advanced Studies in English. The sources she cited in this work duly acknowledged in the Bibliography.
Acknowledgements
I take this priviledge to acknowledge and to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Sridhar Gokhale who inspired and provided ample materials in the class for the better understanding of the subject. It is because of his marvelous teaching, I was able to comprehend the topic and write a term paper. I would also like to express my gratitude to my classmates who have supported me with notes and books. I am indebted to Dr. Ashok Thorat for the opportunity of studying in his institute and to the librarian for the good support with books. Finally to God be the glory and honour because He has given me the courage to work hard.
Abstract
Language can vary not only from individual to individual but also from literariness to ordinariness. Figures of speech, archaism, inversions, various types of deviations, hyperbations, creativity, innovation, neologism, metre, rhyme, obscurity, implicitness, ambiguity and complexities etc. are features or factors responsible for the difference between ordinary and literary language. Because of the use of these features literary language remains more memorable and original than the ordinary language.
The main focuses on this paper are on the Ordinary Language and Literary Language. This paper is presented with an intention to focus on the differences between the ordinary language and literary language and why literary language is different from ordinary language. The paper provides ample examples of how creative writer’s use of language is different and artistic than the ordinary use of language. The whole intention of the paper is to understand the topic at a deeper level and to come out with a valid conclusion of the importance of both ordinary and literary language in linguistic and stylistic studies. I am sure anyone reads this paper will be benefited.
Bibliography
Linguistics –‘An Introduction to Language and Communication’
By- Adrian Akmajian, Richard A, Demers,
Ann K. FarmerRobert M. Harnish
( Fourth Edition)
Linguistics – by Donna Jo Napoli
‘The Origin and Development of the English Language’
By Thomas Pyles and John Algeo (Third Edition)
Leech G. (1969) ‘ A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry’- Longman
M.H. Abrams (2003) – ‘A Glossary and Literary Terms’.
Toman Asian Pvt. Ltd.
Freeman D.C. (1970) – ‘Linguistic and Literary Styles’
I am a simple man, born of a simple family. I was dust, God has pulled me out of it and set my feet on higher ground. It has been a blessing knowing the Lord. And therefore as long as I live, I want to speak of Him,His Power and Glory. There are ups and downs in my walk with Him. But Thanks be to Christ for His loving call to find rest in Him.There is none like Christ, There won't be any like Him.
