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Abstract :
I) Theoretical Background :
also points out how the readers utilize their real life schematic knowledge in the
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interpretation and enjoyment of the literary texts. In this way it is true that `texts
project meaning and readers construct it’. ``Texts contain triggers which activate
Cyber Literature: The International Online Journal http://www.englishcyberliterature.net
Volume:7 Issue:2 (Dec.2014) ISSN 0972-0901
through deviations and parallelism. Some research and empirical tests affirm the
of the text while interpreting them. At this juncture the concept of figure and ground
plays its vital role. This concept bestows a new cognitive coloring to the concept of
readers are more attracted to deviant and parallel structure in the texts.
because of the particular organization of our visual field. He proposed a `face –vase
illusion model’ in which it is pointed out that a particularly bright object will stand
out against a dull background and therefore it becomes prominent and hence
`figural’. On such objects which `stand out’, from others, we concentrate our attention
because they have special properties of form, color, size…… Therefore `figures’ are
more striking and are in the front position. On the contrary `ground’ is dull, formless
and unstructured and hence less prominent. `Figures’ are more memorable than
`grounds’. Readers attach special importance to them. Many research scholars hold
Ungerer and Schmid2 say, ``figures are likely to be associated with meaning,
The concept of `figure and ground’ is used in Visual Arts and the same can
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be extended to literary texts for their interpretation and analysis. In literature
particularly novel, the characters are injected with the sense of movement by the
novelists. They move across the ground and evolve themselves. They are called
textual figures. Explanation of such literary phenomenon can be done with the
help of the concept named Image Schema. In Poetry along with characters certain
other objects constitute `figures’ being able to move either spatially or temporally
by :
a) the verb phrase b) verbs of motions c) locative expression of space and time
Jeffries and McIntyre4 say, `with regard to movement one of the image
our repeated encounters with objects moving over other aspects. Stockwell5 lists
that it is moving over is called Landmark and a trajectory moves over a landmark,
it follows a `path’.
`Now let us consider how the concept of figure and ground is useful in
literary text. For this purpose I have selected Wordsworth’s most celebrated and
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Daffodils
William Wordsworth.
In this poem the speaker describes his encounter with the charming spectacle
As we read the poem we are likely to visualize the scene described in the
poem. We see it in a particular way. We might picture the golden daffodils; fluttering
ring and dancing in the breeze and tossing their heads in sprightly dance, as being
in the foreground of the scene. The Vps `fluttering’ and `dancing’ and the adjective
`golden’ in the 1st stanza and `Tossing’ in the 2nd stanza are expressive of
sprightly dance: A Jocund Company in which a poet / anybody could not but be gay!
we might also visualize the floating cloud, vales and hills, lake, trees, shining and
twinkling stars, the milky way, the margin of the bay, sparkling and dancing waves,
the poet and the couch. Why is it that we visualize the scene in this way? It is
because all these elements are related spatially or temporally to the centralized
`Figure’ encapsulated in the NP: daffodils, which is the title of the poem. In this
respect, the concept of `figure and image’ can throw light on cognitive process in
There are other `figures, and `grounds’ which are adeptly fixed by the poet
1. The figure of the speaker in the poem is represented by the pronoun `I’ which is
repeated in the poem for five times, and the important thing is that `the pronoun `I’
plays its role as a subject in the concerned sentences wherein it comes ‘. The verbs
`wandered’ `saw’ used for 2 times `gazed’ and `dances’ are related to him, and to 86
(1) The verb saw is used twice: i.e. in the 3rd and 11th line. It is syntactic deviation
in line 11 : Ten thousand saw I.’ Here we visualize the figure of the speaker as an
`observer’.
(2) The verb `gazed’ in line No. 17 is repeated: ``I gazed – and – gazed.’’
This verb projects the `figure’ of the speaker as a watcher who looks steadily at
daffodils for a long time because he finds them `attractive’ and `surprising’ in an
(3) The verb `dances’ in the last line projects the figure of the speaker as `dancer’.
on high over several landmarks – i.e. `vales’ and `hills’. The cloud is the trajector
following a path above the vales and hills. The way that we see is governed by the
`Over Image Schema’. The floating of a cloud (figure) is equated with the
speaker’s wandering. Both are `lonely’. The projection of the image schema of the
cloud in the speaker makes both of them `one and the same and hence `prominent’
and `figural’.
(3) Another `figure’ that attracts our `attention’ and `interest’ is the NP `the stars’
which constitutes a `trajector’ shining and twinkling over the milky way which
There is semantic parallelism between the stars and daffodils and we, as readers,
The enumerator `Ten Thousand’ is foregrounded to tell the total number of daffodils.
the grammatical subject of the first sentence of the 3rd stanza. The NP `The Waves’
leads us to construct the mental picture of the lake beside which golden daffodils
dance and flutter. This is another new element in the poem. This newness plays a
major part in making `the waves’ figural in the text. The dance of the waves is
equated with that of the daffodils, but the vp `out-did’ used with the figure `the
daffodils’ represented by the pronoun `they’ in line No. 13 at once makes the dance
projected as figural’.
grammatical subject of the second sentence of the last stanza. The NP constitutes
a trajector flashing upon the landmark – that inward eye i.e. imagination of the
speaker.
All these figures are woven in semantic parallelism. The speaker as `the
cloud’ at one level and daffodils as `stars’ and `waves’ at another level at once
occupy a place of special significance in the wonderland of the poem. The alchemy
of the poet with which he worked wonders in the poem is spectacular! While reading
we, the readers can feel the poem as if it is a `film camera’ , taking close-up shots
after shots. The poem itself projects as `a kaleidoscope’ of beauteous things. The
lilting rhythm and melody along with the description of figures in filmic terms makes
References :
Press.
London : Longman.
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