Ôèëîëîãè÷åñêèå íàóêè/ 3.Òåîðåòè÷åñêèå è ìåòîäîëîãè÷åñêèå ïðîáëåìû èññëåäîâàíèÿ ÿçûêà.
Ñàð³ºâà À.Á.
ÍÒÓÓ "Êϲ", Óêðà¿íà
Linguo-stylistic
peculiarities of sonnets
A sonnet, according to Soshalskay, is a short poem or a stanza,
complete in itself, with unity of substance and a
fixed form. It consists of 14 lines generally of
iambic pentametre rhyming according to a conventionally fixed scheme (often ababcdcdefef g g) [1, p. 48]. It deals with a
single emotion, sentiment or reflection which is introduced in the first part and completed in the second part. The second part, therefore, often takes the form of a reinforcement of the impression given in the first part from another point of view or some profound reflection suggested by it. “The first part of the sonnet is called the octave, the second—the sestet. The last two lines of the sestet present a conclusion drawn from the whole sonnet. These two lines are called the epigrammatic
lines of the sonnet.” [1, p. 48].
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
SONNET 33
1.
Full many a glorious morning have
I seen
2.
Flatter the mountain-tops with
sovereign eye,
3.
Kissing with golden face the
meadows green,
4. Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
5.
Anon permit the basest clouds to
ride
6. With ugly rack on his celestial face,
7. And from the forlorn world his
visage hide,
8.
Stealing unseen to west with this
disgrace:
9. Even so my sun one early morn did shine
10. With all-triumphant splendour
on my brow;
11.
But, out, alack! he was but one hour mine;
12.
The region cloud hath mask'd him
from me now;
13. Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
14. Suns of the world may stain when
heaven's sun
staineth. [2, p. 48].
Sonnet 33 is written according to
the accepted form. It is traditionally
divided into the octave and sestet with concluding
epigrammatic lines. The poet dedicates the sonnet either
to his friend or his beloved. The dominant SD of the
sonnet is the metaphor. In the opening line of
Sonnet 33 the poet introduces himself: the
presence of the poet and the expression of his feelings in the first person is typical of lyrical poetry:
1. “Full many a glorious morning
have I seen”.
The inversion (the object of the
sentence comes first) emphasizes the main image of the octave – the sun. The following three lines of the first qt train present syntactically three verbal parts of the complex object ( “I have seen a glorious morning flatter ..., kissing ..., gilding” ). The octave gives a concrete
picture of the natural phenomenon of the rising sun sometimes hidden by
clouds. The image of the sun is presented as
an active being which can "flatter", "kiss", "gild", "permi
", "steal". These verb-metaphors are aimed at personifying the image of the sun. The noun-metaphors: "an eye",
"a face", "a visage", "disgrace" ascribe
other qualities characteristic of people to the sun thereby reinforcing the impression of personification.
The analysis of the meaning and
stylistic colouring of the epithets "glorious", "sovereign",
"celestial" which are used to describe
the image of the sun shows that the sun is presented by the poet not only as a human being, but also as a powerful sovereign. The epithets "glorious", "sovereign",
"celestial" are elevated and
highly literary words and their stylistic colouring
adds to the effect of the power and might of
the sun.
“It should be noted the way the
two stylistic synonyms "face"
and "visage" are employed in the octave:
5. “Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
6. With ugly rack on his celestial face,
7. And from the forlorn world his visage hide...”
The
noun "face" is a common,
"neutral" word, the noun "visage"–its literary, poetic synonym. The poet
uses the neutral noun "face" with the elevated
epithet "celestial" thus making the combination "celestial face" sound elevated and equal in stylistic colouring to the
word "visage".
One more stylistically significant
item in the presentation of the main
image is the word "alchemy".
"Gilding pale streams with heavenly
alchemy". The words "heavenly
alchemy" are used metaphorically. “The
reader cannot properly understand the significance
of poetic images unless he considers the
factors of culture and tradition that affect the poet. The metaphor "heavenly
alchemy" reflects the medieval beliefs and
prejudices still existing in Shakespeare's time. It
is known that the chief purpose of alchemy was to change ordinary, base metals into gold. So the metaphor "alchemy" is the ultimate expression of the power of the surf
which unlike people possesses the secret of turning ordinary objects into gold.
The word “alchemy” is semantically linked with the epithet "basest"
(clouds) in the next line: "Anon
permit the basest clouds to ride".
"Basest", the superlative degree of the adjective "base", may be understood in
this line in a number of its meanings: 1) "bad, wicked"; 2)
"dishonourable". These
meanings are determined by the noun "clouds", by the microcontext.
Still the words which precede (especially "alchemy") affect the; meaning
of "basest": the two words
are drawn together as they can be used in the same
semantic sphere of communication: the purpose of alchemy
is closely connected with turning base metals into
gold. So the macrocontext also affects the meaning of
the word "basest" which
realizes its third meaning "low in value" (of metals).
It should be noted that the superlative degree ("basest") intensifies the derogatory emotive
colouring of the word. The other 
epithet "ugly"
modifying clouds I (“with ugly rack”) has the same derogatory
colouring. [1, p. 49]
The epithets in the
octave reinforce the
contrast in the emotive presentation of the
images of the
sun and clouds
and
the difference in
the poet's individual evaluation of them.
Such subtle manipulations of
words and their semantic fields are characteristic of Shakespeare.
The epithet "glorious" is also used in the sonnet in its several meanings: 1) "splendid"
and "majestic"; 2) "honourable"; 3) "delightful".
All stylistically significant
features form a complex: syntactical
parallelism in the first quatrain is maintained by the parallel rhythmical arrangement of the lines:
2. “Flatter the
mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
3. Kissing with golden
face the meadows green,
4. Gilding pale streams
with heavenly alchemy.”
Rhythmically the lines are
absolutely similarly arranged. The inversion "the meadows green" evidently
supports the complete rhythmical parallelism,
as semantically the postposition of the
epithet here is of no stylistic value.
Such parallelism (both syntactical
and rhythmical) in the description of the sun corresponds
to the real picture of the rising sun gradually
lightening first the mountain-tops, then the fields
and meadows, and last the pale streams.
The sestet begins with
the words "Even so" showing that the idea is developed as an
analogy of the
idea expressed in the octave: "Even so
my sun one early morn did shine...". The dominant SD
of the sonnet, metaphor, is further
intensified: the same images
of the sun and clouds
are employed by
the poet, but
in a metaphorical sense
as the poet speaks of his unhappy state. The sustained metaphor of the sestet forms a complex image:
9. “Even so my sun one early morn
did shine
10. With all-triumphant splendour on my brow;
11. But, out,
alack! he was but one hour mine;
12. The region
cloud hath mask'd him from me now.”
The poetic form "morn" (morning), and the
epithet "all-triumphant
splendour" (a stylistic neologism) describe the sun in the same
elevated manner as in the octave. The metonymy “my brow” is trite, but the poetic colouring of the word adds to the effect of elevation. “The archaic form of the verb
"to have" – "hath" and to a certain extent, the archaic
grammar construction "did shine" help to sustain
the elevated colouring. "Did shine"
may have been chosen for rhythmical reasons as
well, since the form "shone"
would have affected the iambic
pentameter of the line.
The highly emotive tone
of the sestet is primarily
brought
out by the interjections "But,
out, alack".
It should be noted that the
regular iambic scheme
is slightly changed
to
heighten the emotiveness of the
line. “The emotive function laid bare
in interjections affects to a
considerable extent the whole sonnet. Epithets and metaphors which possess an emotive meaning, too,
support the emotional impact of the
utterance.”
The compositional structure of
the sonnet is based on parallelism and analogy in the presentation of the idea.
The parallelism (rather repetition) of the same
images in the octave and the sestet ("sun", "clouds") reinforces the effect of the strict balance and compact unity of the
sonnet.
The main stylistic features of
Sonnet 33 – metaphor and parallelism – manifest themselves most palpably in
the last epigrammatic
line. The image of the sun is repeated twice: first it is used as a metaphor ("suns of the world"), then in its direct logical meaning of the
celestial body ("heaven's sun").
The verb "stain" is also
used twice: in a metaphorical meaning and in its direct meaning; syntactical parallelism in the two clauses of the epigrammatic line corresponds to
the principle of parallelism in the presentation of the idea in the sonnet.
It becomes clear that
the striking structural
principle in this sonnet
is parallelism (and repetition
in particular) and it manifests itself most
intensely in the epigrammatic line.
13. “Yet him for this my
love no whit disdaineth;
14. Suns of the
world may stain when heaven's sun
staineth.”
The archaic forms of the verbs "disdain" and "stain" are made prominent as they are rhymes which are
generally stressed. The impression of solemnity-and elevation produced by these EMs clashes with the meaning of the last line which is not at all solemn. The elevated form of expression modifies the meaning of the conclusion making the line sound humorous.
It should be noted that the functions of rhymes here are extended: besides
their formal poetical function of marking the end of lines and making rhythm easily perceptible, they play an additional semantic role modifying the meaning of the utterance.
Ëèòåðàòóðà:
1.
Ñîøàëüñêàÿ Å.Ã., Ïðîõîðîâà Â.È.
Ñòèëèñòè÷åñêèé àíàëèç. Ó÷åáíîå ïîñîáèå äëÿ ñòóäåíòîâ èíñòèòóòîâ è ôàêóëüòåòîâ
èíîñòðàííûõ ÿçûêîâ. Ì.: Âûñøàÿ øêîëà, 1976. – 155 ñ.
2. William Shakespeare, Poetry –
K.: Nova Knyha, 2007. – 257 p.