BSEE 110:

STYLISTICS
AND
DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS
Ms. Roanne S. Castro, LPT
Department of Teacher Education and Languages
CRITIQUE or
CRITICIZE?
What is the difference? Which is negative?
Which is positive?
 LITERARY
CRITICISM
the comparison, analysis,
interpretation, and/or evaluation of
works of literature.
LITERARY
THEORIES
used to analyze and aid
readers in interpreting the
meaning of literature and
factors that may have had an
impact on authors and shaped
their stories.
CLASSICAL
LITERARY
THEORY
is simply described as ancient
theories and speculations of other
ancient thinkers
Aristotle and Plato
 Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

HISTORIC
AL
In this view, the work is given the author’s beliefs,
prejudices, time, and history, and in order to fully
understand the work, we must understand the author and
his age. Historical criticism relies heavily on the author
and on his world.
Example: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
 FORMALI
Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

ST
it focuses on the text and not on any external
factors such as the author, the real world, viewers
or other books.
 MIMETI
Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

C
seeks to see how the work fits into the real
world. How a piece of literature conveys the truth
accurately is the main argument for this style of
writing.
 Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

READER-
RESPONSE
In this way, the reader creates the concept, not the
author or the work. Once the work is published, the
author is no longer active.
 Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

PSYCHOLOGICA
L
attempts to define the moral foundations of the characters in
the middle of the selection, to analyze the actions and
thoughts that have been made to fall under any senses that
can be identified, even if psychological disturbances are
detected among them.
 Approaches of Classical Literary Criticism

INTER-
TEXTUAL
is concerned with comparing the work in
question with other texts, to get a broader
picture.
BIOGRAPHICAL
APPROACH
a form of literary criticism which
analyzes a writer's biography to show the
relationship between the author's life and
their works of literature.
BIOGRAPHICAL
APPROACH
What kind of person, life events, political
view, economic status, educational
background, family.
ROMANTIC
THEORY
“romaunt” – romantic story told in
verse
Romanticism focused on emotions and
the inner life of the writer.
ROMANTIC
THEORY
celebration of nature, focus on the individual
and spirituality, celebration of isolation and
melancholy, interest in the common man,
idealization of women, and personification
and pathetic fallacy.
NEW AMERICAN
CRITICISM
involves analyzing a work of literature
by only using what is present in the
text, without looking at the author, the
historical and cultural background, or
even the reader of the work.
NEW AMERICAN
CRITICISM vs.
FORMALISM
 COMPARISON…
NEW CRITICISM FORMALISM
Created in America and Great Britain Created in Russia

Created in first half of the 20th century Created in the 1910s

Analyzed form and content of a text Analyzed form and structure of a text
STRUCTURALIS
T THEORY
Structuralism focuses on literature as a
system of signs in which meaning is
constructed within a context.
STRUCTURALIS
T THEORY
• Binary oppositions (e.g. good and bad, ugly
and beautiful, clean and messy)
• Signs (Signifier and Signified)
Denotation Connotation

Denotation Connotation
ACTIVIT
Y1
Essay and Venn Diagram
 ESSAY
Answer the question in three to five
sentences:
Why is it important to use LITERARY THEORIES
in CRITIQUING a literary piece?
VENN DIAGRAM
Compare New American Criticism
and Formalism using a Venn
Diagram.
 Lesson 2:
STYLISTI
CS
Ms. Roanne S. Castro, LPT
Department of Teacher Education and Languages
EXAMINE:
EXAMINE:
 What have you
noticed from the two
different statements?
STYLE LINGUISTICS

Study of STYLE
 Stylistics
Stylistics is a branch of applied
linguistics concerned with the study of
style in texts, especially, but not
exclusively, in literary works.
 Stylistics
Stylistics is the study and interpretation
of texts from a linguistic
perspective.
Stylistics
Style?
Interpretation?
Linguistic features?

YES.
 Texts of
Literary texts Science

Literary devices Direct use of

Connotative and language and
indirect denotative

Different linguistic features. Different styles

MARK WILLIAM
TWAIN WORDSWORTH
 Stylistics
It is linguistic analysis plus
literary criticism.
SUBDISCIPLI
NES OF
STYLITICS
LITERARY STYLISTICS

● Synonymous to
literary criticism.
● To decipher
message.
Interpretative
Stylistics
How the linguistic elements work
to create meaningful art
 Evaluative
stylistics
How an author's style works—or
doesn't—in the work
 Corpus
stylistics
Studying the frequency of various
elements in a text
 Discourse
stylistics
How language in use creates
meaning
 Feminist
stylistics
Commonalities among women's
writing
Computationa
l stylistics
Using computers to analyze a text
and determine a writer's style
 Cognitive
stylistics
what happens in the mind when it
encounters language
 Who is a
STYLISTICI
AN?
 WHO IS A
STYLISTICIAN?
"a person who with his/her detailed knowledge of the
workings of morphology, phonology, lexis, syntax,
semantics, and various discourse and pragmatic
models, goes in search of language-based evidence in
order to support or indeed challenge the subjective
interpretations and evaluations of various critics and
cultural commentators."
-- "The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics“ (Michael Burke)
 ACTIVIT
Y 2
POSTER MAKING
 INSTRUCTIONS:
Create a DIGITAL POSTER that can explain
what STYLISTICS is through creative work.
CRITERIA:
● Content – 20
● Creativity – 20
● Organization of Elements – 5
● Time of Submission – 5