Belles -Lettres Style

Vasilic Marina, 3LM3

Literally, belles-lettres is

a French phrase meaning

"beautiful" or "fine" writing.

Nuttall Encyclopedia

department of literature which implies literary culture and

belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and

criticism

Encyclopædia Britannica 

the more artistic and imaginative forms of

literature, as poetry or romance, as opposed to more pedestrian and exact studies

Franz Kafka defines this style as “organised

violence done on ordinary speech”.

Stylistic peculiaritie

s of the  belles-

lettres style

Imagery

Unity and indivisibility of artistic form and contents

Completeness and integrity

Artistic imagery Stylistic

integrity and multi-stylistic

variation 

Emotionality

Emphasis and uniqueness

Phonetic means

• stylistic devices as sound repetition, onomatopoeia, alliteration, consonance, dissonance

Vocabulary

• an  unlimited choice of vocabulary, • wealth of  synonyms and variety of  vocabulary, • developed polysemy, no limits in the use of words, which belong to

different functional stylistic groups of vocabulary, • phraseology, • rich, genuine imagery achieved by purely linguistic device

Grammatical means

• in morphology, a variety of morphological forms and categories, verbal  speech  and plot development, increase role and currency of the verb,  special use of  morphological categories of number, case, degrees of  comparison for  emphatic and emotive purposes

• in syntax, a variety of syntactical constructions, colloquial speech stylization.

Language of poetry

Emotive prose

Language of the drama

• ballad, ode, pastoral, sonnet, elegy, limerick,

epigram

Genres in Poetry 

• story,  a short story, a novel

Genres in Prose • comedy, tragedy,

drama, dramatic monologue,

dramatic dialogue. 

Genres in Drama

Aeshetico-cognitive function

aims at the cognitive process

calls forth a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction

LANGUAGE OF POETRY

Verse

Orderly form

Rhythmic and

phonetic arrangement of the

utterances

Brevity of expression, epigram-

like utterances

Fresh unexpect

ed imagery

Elliptical and

fragmentary

sentences

Detached constructio

ns

Inversion, asyndeton and other syntactical peculiaritie

s

Then flashed the Jiving lightning from her

eyes, 

And screams of horror rent the affrighted

skies. 

Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, 

When husbands or when lapdogs breathe their

last.

"The Rape of the Lock“ by Alexander Pope

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laidIn their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that wakenThe sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail,And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder.

“The Cloud“ by Shelley

"With fingers weary and worn;

With eyelids heavy and red, 

A woman sat in unwomanly rags,

Plying her needle and thread,— 

Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!

In poverty, hunger and dirt; 

And still with a voice of dolorous

pitch

She sang the "Song of the Shirt."

Work! Work! Work! 

While the cock is crowing aloof! 

And work—work—work— 

Till the stars shine through the

roof!

It's O! to be a slave

Along with the barbarous Turk, 

Where woman has never a soul

to save, 

If this is Christian work!

Work—work—work—! 

Till the brain begins to swim! 

Work—work—work—

Till the eyes are heavy and dim! 

Seam, and gusset, and band, 

Band, and gusset, and seam,—

Till over the buttons I fall asleep,

And sew them on in a dream."

(Thomas Hood)

EMOTIVE PROSE

Not so many words with contextual meaning

Imagery is no as rich as

it is in poetry

Idiosyncrasy of the

author is not so clearly

discernible

Use of elements

from other styles

Combination of the

literary variant of

the language with the

colloquial variant

“The rain dripped from the palm trees. The water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain”.

“She liked the deadly serious way he received any complains. She liked his dignity. She liked the way he wanted to serve her. She liked the way he felt about being a hotelkeeper. She liked his old, heavy face and big hands”.

“I want to pull my hair back tight and smooth and make a big knot at the back that I feel. I want to have a kitty to sit on my lap and purr when I stroke her”.

“Anyway I want a cat - she says. -I want a cat. I want a cat now. If I can't have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat”.

"Cat in the rain" by Ernest Hemingway

LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

FAUST: Oh, if my soul must suffer for my sin,Impose some end to my incessant pain. Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years, A hundred thousand, and at the last be saved: No end is limited to damned souls.

FAUST: But Faustus's offence can ne'er be pardoned. The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. Oh, gentlemen, hear me with patience, and tremble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to remember t hat I have been a student here these thirty years, Oh, would I had ne'er seen Wirtemberg, never read book! And what wonders have I done, all Germany can witness, yes, all the world: for which Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world;...

"Life and Death of Dr. Faustus"  by Marlowe

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER: Nurse, who is this misguided and unfortunate young lady?

NURSE: She says Miss Hessy invited her, sir.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER: And had she no friend, no parents to warn her against my daughter's invitations? This is a pretty sort of house, by heavens! A young and attractive lady is invited here. Her luggage is left on these steps, for hours; and she herself is deposited in the poop and abandoned, tired and starving...“

"Heartbreak House“ by Bernard Shaw

Thank You For Your Attention