Лекция № 43. Синтаксический анализ, семантический анализ

Rhythm

Rhyme

Alliteration

Alliteration (2) is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at im­parting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words:

"The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression."

"Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fear­ing,

"Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before." (E. A. Poe)

Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree that a sound meaning exists as such. But even so we may not be able to specify clearly the character of this meaning, and the term will merely suggest that a certain amount of information is contained in the repetition of sounds, as is the case with the repetition of lexical units.

However, certain sounds, if repeated, may produce an effect that can be specified.

Therefore alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author's idea, supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself. Thus the repeti­tion of the sound |d] in the lines quoted from Poe's poem "The Raven" prompts the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, anguish or all these feelings simultaneously.

Sometimes a competent reader, if unable to decipher the implied purpose of the alliteration, may grow irritated if it is overdone and be ready to discard it from the arsenal of useful stylistic devices.

When the choice of words depends primarily on the principle of alli­teration, exactitude of expression, and even sense may suffer. But when used sparingly and with at least some slight inner connection with the sense of the utterance, alliteration heightens the general aesthetic effect.

Alliteration is sometimes called initial rhyme. The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural device of Old English poems and songs has shown remark­able continuity. It is frequently used as a well-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs and sayings.

R hyme (3) is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words.

Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

Identity and particularly similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, as in might, right; needless, heedless. When there is identity of the stressed syllable, including the initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes. Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different, as in flesh— fresh — press. Consonant rhymes show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth—forth; tale—tool— Treble—trouble; flung — long.

Modifications in rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme 'with a corresponding two or three words, as in upon her honour — won her; bottom — forgot'em—shot him. Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word—a device which inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance. Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye-rhyme, where the letters and not sounds are identical, as in love—prove, flood — brood, have — grave. It follows therefore that whereas compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye-rhyme can only be perceived in the writ­ten verse.

According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models have crystallized, for instance:

1. couplets—when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This is commonly marked aa.

2. triple rhymes— aa.

3. cross rhymes— abab

4. framing or ring rhymes— abba

There is still another variety of rhyme which is called internal rhyme. T he rhyming words are placed not at the ends of the lines but within the line, as in:

"I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers." (Shelley)

"Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary." (Poe)

Internal rhyme breaks the line into two distinct parts, at the same time more strongly consolidating the ideas expressed in these two parts. Thus rhyme may be said to possess two seemingly contradictory functions: dissevering, on the one hand, and consolidating, on the other. As in many stylistic devices, these two functions of rhyme are realized simultaneously in a greater or lesser degree depending on the distribution of the rhymes. In aa rhymes the consolidating function is rather conspicuous. In aabaab rhymes the rhyming words bb may not immediately reveal their consolidating function.

The dissevering function of internal rhyme makes itself felt in a distinctive pause, which is a natural result of the longer line. This qual­ity of internal rhyme may be regarded as a leading one.

The distinctive function of rhyme is particularly felt when it occurs unexpectedly in ordinary speech or in prose.

Rhythm (4) exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mightly weapon in stirring up emotions what­ever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical, or symmetri­cal, as in architecture.

"Rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basic­ally regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements or features".

Rhythm is primarily a periodicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity. According to some investigations, rhythmical periodicity in verse "re­quires intervals of about three quarters of a second between successive peaks of periods." It is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a stylistic device.

Rhythm in language necessarily demands oppositions that alter­nate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low; and other contrasting segments of speech. Some theoreticians maintain that rhythm can only be perceived if there are occasional deviations from the regularity of alternations.

Academician V. M. Zirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of metre. Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. The metre is an ideal phenomenon characterized by its strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability. Rhythm is flexible and sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is perceived at the background of the metre. In ac­cented verse - by the number of stresses in a line. In prose - by the al­ternation of similar syntactical patterns. He gives the following defini­tion of verse rhythm. It is "the actual alternation of stress which appears as a result of interaction between the ideal metrical law and the natural phonetic properties of the given language material."

Rhythm in verse as an SD is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard.

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