COMPREHENSIVE CLASS NOTE

ON

THE LANGUAGE OF
POETRY

EGL 306

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This is not for any political ambition and NOT FOR SALE.

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 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

DISCLAIMER!
This PDF is not meant to confuse you guys or put you at
the verge of choosing between what it comprises and
what your lecturers teaches you, this is just a
compilation of all what lecturers in-charge of the
course taught when we had virtual lecture. I chose to
convert those voices to readable note so as to benefit
my colleagues (as it did) and for the upcoming takers of
EGL 305. I therefore enjoin you to take this guide as a
supplement to aiding what you would be taught in class.
Thank you.
God bless you all.
I wish you all best of luck!

MUTIU, Saheed Abiodun

(P.K.A: ALOWOESHIN)
09030423268
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

1ST CLASS

22/7/2021

THE NATURE OF POETRY:

Poetry is a form of Literature. It is one of the major genres of Literature. The others being
Drama and prose. If you read a dramatic text, what will probably attract your interest in the
course of reading or after reading would be the fact that a dramatic piece is built on character,
dialogue and action. If you read a novel, prose fiction, you know it tells a story. But the story
must be told from a perspective. Also, anytime you talk about a novel, point of view, that is
the perspective from which the story is told is what will interest you. Thus, narration defines
prose fiction. Of course, you may have another element like suspense or other narrative
techniques. But when it comes to Poetry that separate poetry from other genres of Literature.
In other words, what distinguishes poetry from other genres of Literature is that poetry, as a
form of Literature, expresses thoughts by means of language, it expresses emotions in term of
fears, love, contradiction in life, fantasies, dreams, death and so on as far as they exist in your
society, poetry can be used to paint a picture of them in words. Poetry is that form of
Literature which touches emotions by the artistic manipulation of language. According to
Adekoya, 2013, there is always something that is charming, magical about poetry. Whatever
that is beautiful, rhythmical, charms the soul with radiance, power and movement has a touch
of Poetry. All of these are the center of poetry. He also expresses this view that says "poetry
is a powerful emotion that sustains humans through vicissitude of life. Without poetry, life
would be down and empty of meaning." He goes further to say poetry has always existed and
will continue to exist. As I have said that poetry plays on emotion, but while on that, there is
a way a poet manipulates it to achieve effect.

Poetry is essentially an oral art form. Oral here means it's spoken. Although today it's written,
but for its beauty to be fully realized, it must be spoken. In some cases, it may be rendered
with the accompaniment of music. So the beauty becomes appreciated when a given poem is
read aloud.

SOME DEFINITIONS OF POETRY

- According to Edgar Allan Poe, he said " I would define the poetry of words as the
rhythmical creation of beauty."

-According to William Wordsworth, he said “poetry is the imaginative expression of strong

feeling usually rhythmical, the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, emotions
recollected in tranquility." Here, he talks about the artistic and imaginative use of language.
How does the poet manage and use language? For the poet, language is a kind of game. You
have what is called 'playfulness'. It is in the language used by the poets also.

-According to Percy Bysshe Shelley, poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments,
of the best and happiest minds. Poetry turns all things to loveliness.
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

Recall that in the beginning of the class, I said poetry discusses emotion, and here, Percy is
trying to show how it plays upon emotion.

-According to Thomas Carlyle, he says "poetry is what we will call musical thoughts. The
main word here to underline here is musical.

-According to Emily Dickinson, if I read a book and it makes my body so cold, no fire can
ever warm me, I know that it is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken
off, I know that it is poetry.

Recall that I talked about emotional expression in poetry, but when they are expressed, it
depends on the way poetry manipulate or artistically craft a language with effect. So with the
manipulation, something becomes charming, magical and hypnotising about poetry

-According to Watts-Dutton, he said "absolute poetry is the concrete and artistic expression.
The issue or subject may be ordinary, but the language is not ordinary. Because there is
something creative and extra ordinary about language used in poetry.

It simply tells us that what someone would read and see ordinarily, a poet would do the same
in an extra ordinary way because of dislocation. This simply means that the poets move
words out of their natural ways or conventional places and place them in an unconventional
place. A good example of dislocation of language is personification. When human attributes
are given to nonhuman things.

Poetic language is the language that we use in the ordinary sense that the poet artistically
exploits, crafts, recreates, etc. It is not always that poet organizes the resources of everyday
language, sometimes poet can consciously do violence to language. Sometime a word which
does not exist in language may be coined for a particular occasion to make meaning in a
given context and such coinage may result from the violence that the poet has visited upon
the language the poet is using.

Another aspect in Poetry is the place of sound. This is very important in poetry. Sound
patterns are consciously created in poetry to achieve musicality. So the poets by their choice
of words create or invent sound patterns which are not only suggestive of imagery and
rhythm but also contribute to the total beauty of a poem by making the poem musical and
pleasing to the ear. So, the creation of sound pattern in a given poem will add to the beauty of
the poem to create and pleasure and to make it pleasure and sound beautiful to the ear. The
creation of beauty main object of Poetry. Particularly, for scholars who believe in the art for
art sake. In that sense, when we talk about creation of beauty in Poetry, we want to see how
charming, overwhelming, therapeutic is the language of person and aesthetic effect of poetry.
How a poem expresses his message. Poetry is not the thing said but a way of saying it. The
way of saying is what adds extra ordinary thought to the poetry.

Finally, poetry can be said to be, essentially, a method of expression by suggestion, through
invented or created imagery, or rhythm and sound.
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SECOND CLASS ON EGL 306: THE LANGUAGE OF POETRY

From the last class, by now, you must have noted that poetry, as a genre of literature, works
by invention and suggestion. Recall that by invention, we are referring to an imaginative use
of language or artistic use of language. Creativity at its best. How well the poet brings to
bear cross match on what he/she does with and in poetry. By suggestion we mean, poetry
conveys its message indirectly. In other words, one needs to process meaning to understand
what the poet is saying because there are layers of meaning that must be unveiled for one to
understand what the poet is saying. It must also be recalled that in term of invention, what is
invented consist of imagery, rhythm and sound.

At this point, we are going to look, in detailed, at the area of poetic language. Having given
the background in the last class. What are the general characteristics of the language of
poetry?

2. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE OF POETRY

When we refer to THE language of poetry, we must take note that the language of poetry is
not easily seen in isolation. It belongs to a category of a variety of language which we refer to
as literary language. That means, a creative way language is used in literature differently
from the way language is used in ordinary everyday language used. So, literary language has
some varieties or categories. That is why we talked about a language of prose, drama and the
language of poetry. Because the course has studied the way language is used in each of these
genres, they have come to argue that each genre speaks a unique literary language within the
general literary language categorization. Drama, as a genre of literature conveys its message,
predominantly, through, a dialogue. Also, in prose, the perspective called point of view helps
a prose writer to deliver his/ her message. However, when it comes to poetry, what are the
general characteristics of poetic language. Language is important to all creative writing. But
scholars have argued that it seems that its importance is peculiar. According to Whales 1990,
poetic language is popularly regarded as the most CREATIVE of discourses, original in its
ideas and inventive in its FORMS and the tolerance of deviation is very high in poetry.

Below are some of the characteristics of the language of poetry

1. Deviation: the act of moving away from what is normal; it is measured by its degree
of difference from the common property of language. Using an unusual language
makes a writer or poet to surprise the reader and to make a powerful impression on
them. This creative language, according to Leech1969, this form of language which is
unusual which breaks norm or the standard is called linguistic deviation. Furthermore,
deviation, as linguistic phenomena has an important psychological effect on the
readers or the hearer. Its impact on the poem is deviant it becomes a specially
noticeable or perceptional prominent. It must also be recalled; base on the knowledge
of linguistic stylistics that one cannot take deviation as characteristic of the language
of poetry without making a reference to foregrounding. Deviation is one of the ways
in which foregrounding is produced because foregrounding arises out of the breaking
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

of norm or standard language. In deviation, we have what we call graphological

deviation, which refers to deviant form when we refer to the writing systems,
semantic deviation in which we have what is called semantic oddity, syntactic
deviation and lexical deviation.
2. Imagery: the language of the poetry is imagistic. In other words, poetic language is
rich in imagery. According to a scholar called Winterowd 1981, about all other
literary artist, poets don’t tell the show through their use of images and metarphors.
To understand this quotation, it is important to know that imagery has to do with how
a writer in literature tries to use language in an imaginative way so that he/she uses
words to create mental pictures in the readers mind. These images are perceived
through our senses organ which are visual (sight), auditory (hearing), olfactory
(smell), tactile (touch) and gustatory (taste).
Other forms of imagery which are needed to know apart from the one mentioned are:
thermal imagery: this is the form of imagery produced by sensing and recording the
thermo energy emitted or reflected from the objects which are imaged. It has to do
with the feel of temperatures. When you read a poem and the poet takes picture which
gives you a feel of temperature either hot or cold. It could also deal with the feel of
textures. That is something formed by the poet and you have it as rough or smooth.
Another form of Imagery is called kinesthetic imagery. This form of imagery deals
with movement or action of object or people. Organic imagery is another one which
deals with creating a specific feeling or emotion within the reader like fear, nostalgic,
elated. Imagery is used to transport a reader to a new experience as words are used to
create mental picture in the reader’s mind.
3. Masking of meaning (Obscurantism): the language used in poetry makes it different
from that of prose because everyday language is used in prose, however, the language
of poetry is elevated or heightened. Meaning is not readily derived from the surface,
one has to labour to process meaning in poetry. Therefore, a writer called Charles
Causely opined that “the poem should conceal certain properties that may only reveal
themselves very gradually. It is not the business of the poet to allow a poem to burn
itself out in a brilliant flash. It should be noted that in poetry, when we say that one
should not bother about what a poem means, some scholar argue that the form of
poetry should draw the attention of the reader or the hearer not the message it
conveys. But more acceptable argument by the stylistician is that both the message
and the form are equal in interdependence status. We cannot fully appreciate what a
poem is saying without considering how it is saying it; hence, we must remember
always that the poem conveys its meaning indirectly.
4. Sound pattern: Poetic language strives on sounds. Poets engage sound patterns to
evoke a particular mood or generate attitude towards an experience on object. The
likes of onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, consonance. Sound in poetry can also
be created by using Rhyme (internal rhyme or the middle rhyme and end rhyme ).
Phonological parallelism is another: certain phonological structures which are
repeated at some points in a poem. The poet has to have the ear for sound that exists
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

in the environment and to try to use them in much more symbolic ways to enhance the
musicality of the poems which they write. Niyi Osundare, in many of his poems,
consciously tries to explore sound and rhythm from his cultural environment.

So in our next class, we are going to have an argument that, is it possible to draw
boundaries between the different sub categorization or varieties of literary language?

EGL 306: THIRD CLASS

In our last meeting, we discussed characteristics of the language of poetry; we promised

that we would bring up a question to be discussed. So today, the question is

Is poetic Language peculiar to poetry alone?

If we consider the general characteristics of Poetry that we had in the last class, we may
conclude that such characteristics define the language of Poetry. That is, if we consider
Sound, masking meaning and the rest, we may say that they are makers of the language of
poetry. However, the distinctiveness of poetic language has been questioned by scholars.
Scholars have tried to interrogate the distinctiveness of the language of poetry. Against
these backgrounds, we have three questions to be treated in today’s lecture.

How peculiar or distinctive is Poetic language to the genres of poetry?

Are there no poems that downplay the characteristics of poetic language?

Does poetry borrow from other sub varieties of literary language?

1. How peculiar/distinctive is Poetic language?

If one tries to read prose works, one would find the use of figurative expressions which
are also discernible in poetry. Although, Imagery is one of the defining factors of Poetry,
but we could also find it in prose works too. It is also possible to read prose texts and see
the use of poetic tones in order to appeal to the emotions of the readers. Leaving prose
and coming to drama, we may find out that some characters use a form of language which
is heightened. I.e Poetic language is given to noble characters, while the language which
is simple and straight forward language is given to the “lowly” in the society. It therefore
shows that heightened language is not only peculiar to poetry. So, instances of borrowing
can take place across the other sub-varieties of literary language, such that one genre may
use certain characteristics from another. This is what is referred to by a scholar as “Style
switching”. What does it mean? It simply emphasises that the traditional boundaries used
in differentiating genres are arbitrary. In some cases apart from features cutting across
sub-varieties of literary language, the training and development of a writer could
undermine the traditional boundaries of the sub-varieties of literary language. A poet for
instance wants to write a prose text, one is likely to find his writing somehow poetic
because he belongs to poetry genre before. So, the styles which he has noted before may
occur in that prose he writes. This is what is called STYLE INTERFERENCE
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

Further, some scholars who have talked about the distinction of poetic language from
others have argued that ordinary language of everyday life is also rich in metaphor, irony
and some other elements traditionally classified as poetic language. In essence, if we
consider the language of advertisements, sports commentaries, holy books, political
campaign discourses, the high level usage of inventive language in order to achieve their
respective purposes. Also looking at music, we can say there is music in poetry and also
poetry in music. If you’re still struggling with rhyme, go and sing TÉNÍ's song.

But my papa no be Dangote è

Or Adeleke e

But we go dey okay e

One can see how the each ends with rhyme.

Thus, the poetic language is not peculiar to poetry, it can only be typical of Poetry. But
we can find instances of poetic language in other genres of literature apart the discourses
in our everyday life.

2. Are there no poems which downplay the convention or characteristics of poetic

language?

You could have some well composed poems, but may not have deviant features, or mask
meanings. It could be found out that some poets cultivate the prose style of writing for
ideological reasons and produce what is called “Prosaic poetry”. For such poets, writing
for the ordinary people requires making use of language which is accessible to the people.
Example is Niyi Osundare. At this point, you would agree that the poetic language
varies. This is because some writers try to undermine the boundary of poetic language
and that of other sub-varieties.

3. Does poetry borrow from other sub varieties of literary language?

When you look at prose, the way you read novels and enjoy the story, like the simple and
straightforward language, you could also come across poems that tell stories, and when
you scrutinize its language, you find out that the language is simple and straightforward,
and easy, such poems are called Prosaic poems.

Does poem borrow from Drama? Yes! Poetry borrows from drama. A good example of
borrowing from drama is the use of Dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue
happens when there is a poem in form of a speech or narration by an imagined narrative
person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while
describing a particular situation or series of events. The features of dramatic monologue
are:

A single person delivering a speech on one aspect of their life

 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

The audience may or may not be present.

The speaker reveals their temperament and character only through their speech.

If we look at Robert Browning's poem titled: My Last Duchess, we could see the
deployment of this where The Duke serves as persona who talks on behalf of his duchess
and himself as well.

Also, Wole Soyinka's Telephone Conversation. Go and check it on your own.

As we have tried to interrogate the distinctiveness and the tests, some scholars have tried
to say the idea of poetic language as a distinctive medium of expression is misleading.
Why have they considered it as misleading? Their position is derived from the point that
poetic language could be used in some other sub-varieties. There are some poems which
instead of being rendered in an elevated language, but rendered in a prosaic style.

The conclusion on which we are going to hold on this argument is that creative language
is not restricted to poetry. However, in poetic discourse, unusual words, structures and
phrases used rich in connotations seem most heavily concentrated. There is concentration
on creative language. All of the identified features borrowed from poetry. So, make your
own research and read up the reliable materials.

EGL 306 PHYSICAL CLASS

Toward Stylistics Analytical Process Of Text
In analysing a piece of any text in Stylistics, we have to be orderly, systemic and methodic in
handling analysis. It should not be handed haphazardly. Because what is to be dealt with is
language. Thus to achieve this, we need to base our analysis purely on linguistics levels such as
Syntax, morphology, graphology, Lexis, semantics and so on. On each of these levels, we
normally highlight the aspect of the level that is prominent _(making use of the certain aspects of
language such as the constant and systematic manner to the extent of attracting attention)_ in the
text under review and then go ahead to relate it to the context of the text in order to show how the
prominent features have manifested the message of the text (that is, one has to read the text given
to get the intuitive knowledge, by doing this, one has the capacity to interprete the message
encoded by the poet). In this respect, concerted effort is made to succinctly review the various
linguistic components that are required for the analysis of the text. Therefore, our own concern in
this session of the class will be considered one after the other as followed
1. Phonological level P
2. Grammatical Level G
3. Graphological Level & G
4. Lexical Level L
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

STYLISTICS CLASS (LAST TWO CLASSES)

PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS STUDY OF POETRY
This deals with poetic form in studying English poetry. The basic issue there is the concept of
rhythm, which is based on stress or accent. It is a measure relation or accented or unaccented
syllable. Thus, it is a crucial feature of poetry. Without it, poetry becomes prose. For instance, in
the English structure, poetry is categorized as the parameters of accented and unaccented
syllables. There is, for instance, the use of the term that belongs to the traditional group system
which is based essentially on the following principles

i. Combination of syllables, the first part of combination is the smallest and this occurs when we
combine one or more syllable together and this will give us what we call IAMBIC FOOT This
is got where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stress syllable. It is probably one of the
commonest in English. Examples are:
Oppose: Unstressed syllable comes before stressed syllable
Delight: “ “
Import: “ “
Abuse “ “
A jug of wine “ “
A pair of bread “ “
Most of our speech word normally base on iambic foot, therefore, it is formed on longer
utterances
ii. The second principle or technique of classification is based on what is called Trochaic foot. It is
a situation of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable which is an opposite of
iambic. Example
Gather: Stressed syllable comes before unstressed syllable
Heartless “ “
iii. The third one is Dactylic foot: it is a principle of 1 stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed
syllable. Example:
Sentiment
Merriment
Sing + again
Love + again
iv. The fourth is Anapestic Foot: in this case, we have two unstressed followed stressed syllable
Example
Supersede
Disappear
Interrupt
One thing which is peculiar to anapestic foot is that it intends to have speedy rhythm, briskly
reading rate or illustration. Example
With the sheep in their fold and the cows in their stalls.
v. The fifth one is Spondee: in this case, we have two heavily stressed syllable. It is popular with
classical poetry. E.g.
 STYLISTICS CLASS NOTE BY ALOWOESHIN

Childhood
Toothache
Bookmark
Handshake
METRICAL COMPOSITION
This refers to names of lines in poetry. Some of them are
Metre: It is determined by the number of feet. The number of feet in a line is low in that you will
be able to identify the number of meter that we have in a line. If it is one feet, it becomes
MONOMETRE, if it is two, it is called DIAMETER, if it is three, it is called TRIMETER, if it is
four, we call it TETRAMETER, if it is five, it is PENTAMETER, if it is six, it is called
HEXAMETER, if it is eight, it is called OCTAMETER
Poem from various region normally have various forms. Therefore, the smallest stanza verse
from is often called
1. COUPLET: this is two lines of merge verse in immediate succession. It is a very popular and the
most famous couplet writer is ALEXANDER POE.
2. TRIPLET: this is a stanza of three lines rhyming together
3. QUANTRAIN: it is four lines of rhyming in a variety of ways. It is the commonest stanza form
because the rhyming pattern can be in different forms
4. QUINTET: this is one of the most common five lines stanza rhyming in various ways
5. SESTET: this is a six line rhyming in any form. The constituent may be composed of
interpolated couplet
6. SEPTET: this is seven lines of flexible nature. It is uncommon and it is often refer to as the
rhymed royal because King James, the first of Scotland usually make use of it
7. OCTAVE: it has eight lines and it is often composed of this rhyming pattern ABABABCC
8. SPENSERIAN FROM: It is a poem of eight lines, the first eight is iambic pentameter and the
ninth line is six iambic feet. It is not very common like we do have some in poetry text.
9. SONNET: it is a very popular verse from and it has some distinguishing form peculiarities. It has
fourteen lines and all of them usually have ten syllables. Besides, it is normally written in iambic
pentameter. Equally, it is also divided into two parts with first part having 8-lines called octave
and the last 6-lines which is called sestet. \

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