The Stylistic Approach in Teaching Literature by Marichelle G. Dones, MA (January, 2008)

The study of literature is a fascinating activity that offers both teacher and learner manifold and tremendous benefits. For what other activity would enable the reader to enter into a multiplicity of worlds and savor the wonders of encountering, albeit vicariously, a vast variety of people (including magical creatures), cultures, places in reality and beyond; defy the boundaries of time to travel to and fro in the distant past then whiz back to the present at the turn of a page?

The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.

To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.

To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.

On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.

Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the

study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”

At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.

These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.

I. Thematic Approach

The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.

Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.

II. Interpretation of Characters

Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:

Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.

Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.

Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.

Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).

This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.

III. The Elements of Narration

Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.

IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices

A. Imagery

Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”

Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation;

the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”

A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.

A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.

Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”

Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.

B. Poetic Devices

In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.

Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).

It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination

of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.