A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SOME SELECTED POEMS OF WOLE SOYINKA
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A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SOME
SELECTED POEMS OF WOLE
SOYINKA
AGEMO, OLUWATOSIN STELLA
07/15CD026
AN ESSAY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS (HONS) IN ENGLISH
TO
THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF ARTS,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN.
MAY, 2011.CERTIFICATION
This essay has been read and approved as meeting part of the requirements
for the award of a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons.) in the Department of English
of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.
Supervisor Date
Head of Department Date
External Examiner Date
iiDEDICATION
This project work is dedicated to the Almighty God, the everlasting
Father who has been my help from ages and will continue to be and has
made the journey in this citadel of learning a success.
iiiACKNOWLEDGEMENT
With my whole heart, I express my immense gratitude and
appreciation to the Almighty God, who in His infinite mercy saw me
through to this present time and made this dream a reality.
My profound and unreserved gratitude also goes to my able
supervisor, Dr. (Mrs.) O. C. Medubi who guided and put me through in the
course of writing. Her co-operation and effort towards the success of this
long essay is immeasurable.
I give thanks also to my dear parents, Pastor and Mrs. Z. O. Agemo,
for the parental love and advice given and shown to me in the course of my
study from the elementary level to this time. You are great. I pray you shall
live to eat the fruit of your labour in Jesus Name. Amen. My siblings the
Omegas in person of Sis. Yemi, Niyi and Toba Agemo: you are wonderful.
Your concern has contributed a lot to the success of this work.
I cannot but appreciate my uncle, Elder E. O. Agemo, a daddy
indeed, Pastor ‘Dayo Oluwamakin & his wife Mrs. Oluwamakin and my
sweet cousins especially the sure sis. Kemi Agemo for her caring attitude;
ivto Mr. Niyi Adesiyan, I use this medium to say a big thank you, God will
continue to increase you in Jesus Name. Thank you so much.
My friends’ contribution cannot be left out. Eunice Abajo, Ann
Akinboyewa, Funmi Balogun; My colleagues, Tunmise, Solomon,
Abdulsalam and to my school sisters, Mariam and Sandra, I am so grateful
to you all.
I will be an ingrate if I do not acknowledge my ever sparkling Uncle
Osho and Mummy Mushab who during my stay in Ilorin took me as their
sister. You are all wonderful. Thank you all.
vABSTRACT
Language and style never moves beyond a concentration on the
supremacy of words. These words somehow contain meanings style is
effectively language manipulated in ways that signal it as different from
‘ordinary’ language. A stylistic analysis of the selection of some Wole
Soyinka’s poems is carried out to educate, explicate and expose to
everybody that comes across this write up, in guiding them on how to
analyse. The data used to illustrate and substantiate our claims are
systematically sourced from some selected poems of Wole Soyinka. The
lexico-syntactic patterns and choices, the phonological, morphological and
graphological devices are the main stylistic elements used to prove our
claims. Finally, we find that each of the elements however, has identifiable
functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the poems. It can
therefore be concluded that these elements trigger and play important roles
in passing the intention of the writer across.
viTABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of Contents viii
CHAPTER ONE : GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Research Problem 2
1.2 Aims and Objectives 3
1.3 Scope of the Study 3
1.4 Justification 3
1.5 Research Methodology 4
1.6 Biography of the Poet 4
viiCHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REWIEW
2.0 Introduction 6
2.1 Style 6
2.2 Stylistics 8
2.3 Approaches to Stylistic Analysis 12
2.4 Levels of Stylistic Analysis 15
2.5 Elements in Stylistic Analysis 17
2.5.1 Lexico-Syntactic Patterns 17
2.5.2 Lexico-Syntactic Choices 18
2.5.3 Phonological Devices 20
2.5.4 Graphological Devices 21
2.5.5 Morphological Devices 21
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS
3.0 Introduction 23
3.1 Textual Analysis 23
3.2 Discussion of Tables 44
3.3 Conclusion 44
viiiCHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY,FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
4.1 Summary 46
4.2 Findings 47
4.3 Conclusion 48
Bibliography 49
ixCHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Stylistics is a word derived from style; it is a discipline which studies
different styles. It can refer to the study of proper use of words or language in
proper places. Widdowson (1975, p 3) defines stylistics as “the study of literary
discourse from a linguistic orientation”. He goes further by saying that what
distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand, and linguistics on
the other, is that it is essentially a means of linking the two and has (as yet at
least) no autonomous domain of its own. He also added that stylistics, however
involves both literary criticism and linguistics, as its morphological make-up
suggest: the ‘style’ component relating it to the former and the ‘istics’ component
to the latter. Style has grown to mean so many things to so many people today.
Carter (1989, p 14) is of the view that it is generally recognized that the style of a
work can depend on linguistic levels-often simultaneously and that one fairly
crucial factor is our expectation concerning the literary form or genre employed.
Haynes (1989, p 3) believes that the study of style is the study of
distinctions: looking at what was said against what might have been said. Style is
almost synonymous with variety. Style refers in a simple way to the manner of
expression which differs according to the various contexts.
1Style, being a versatile field, is defined depending on one’s field of study.
Adejare (1992) makes this clear when he said that style is an ambiguous term.
Lawal (1997, p 6) however, describes style as an aspect of language that deals
with choices of diction, phrases, sentences and linguistic materials that are
consistent and harmonious with the subject matter. He added that it involves the
narrative technique of a writer in terms of choice and distribution of words and
character. Lawal (1997, p 6) also added that it may be reckoned in terms of the
sociolinguistic contexts and it may also be reckoned or analysed on linguistic,
semantic and even semiotic terms.
1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM
This research notes that the stylistic analysis of this selection of poems has
not been done so this research will address itself to analyzing these poems
stylistically and examining the uniqueness of stylistics as it combines both
linguistics and literary studies as it pertains to these poems. It is also addressing
itself to examining how words are put together in transferring of message to the
readers.
1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The ultimate aim of this research is to explore ways in which language use
has been integrated in the selected poems. It is also aimed at analyzing some of
2the distinctive features that give the selected poems their identity. This refers to
the recurrent features of stylistics employed by the writer.
In the same vein, this work will be concerned with striking and marked use
of words in these poems in order to enhance effective transfer of message. The
effects and functions of the stylistic elements as regards the poems will be looked
at in the analysis.
1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This work shall be exclusively stylistic, and analysis will be conducted
through the use of the following levels of analysis: lexico-syntactic patterns and
choices, phonology, graphology and morphology. Analysis will be conducted
using the stylistic elements in each of the above mentioned levels of analysis,
such that it could provide a guide and be relevant to future researchers in a related
field.
1.4 JUSTIFICATION
What fascinated the researcher into doing this work is the uniqueness of
stylistics as it combines both linguistics and literary studies. The choice of words
of Wole Soyinka marked by great scope and has also made the researcher to
embark on this project and to choose some of Wole Soyinka’s works as the data.
3This work will be of great benefit to those students in the field of language
and literature who also have interest in stylistics. It will also inspire them more on
how to analyse texts using the levels of stylistic analysis employed in this work.
1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The data for analysis have been randomly selected from the “Selection of
African Poetry”- introduced and annotated by K. E. Senanu and T. Vincent. All
the poems of Wole Soyinka in the selection have been selected. The poems are
seven in number and they are ‘Abiku’, ‘To my first white hairs’ and ‘Post
mortem’ written in 1967. ‘Telephone conversation’ written in the 1960’s, ‘Night’
and ‘I think it rains’ written in 1988 and the seventh poem ‘Procession 1-hanging
day’ written in 1969. The poems will be analysed stylistically and the five levels
of analysis already mentioned will form the basis of the analysis.
1.6 BIOGRAPHY OF THE POET- WOLE SOYINKA
Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July, 1934 in Ake in Abeokuta, near Ibadan
in Western Nigeria. After preparatory University studies in 1954 at Government
College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds, where, later, in 1973,
he took his doctorate. He showed interest and ability in poetry and drama while in
the University.
Soyinka has published about 20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He
writes in English and his literary language is marked by great scope and richness
4of words. His writings are sophisticated and show a profound exploration of
human themes and concerns through a unique exploration of his cultural milieu.
He has won many international prizes for his contribution to literature. He won
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
5CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
There are divergent scholarly views on what stylistics means and what it
entails as opinions differ from scholar to scholar. Several ideas are discovered
although they are considered not to be too far from one another, varying
submissions on stylistics have been proved by critical studies to be of a similar
message but different voices. This chapter is aimed at reviewing related literature
as it pertains to stylistics.
2.1 STYLE
The concept of style has had a troubled history in the modern period both
within and outside literary study. It has commonly been argued that we use the
term ‘style’ without knowing its meaning. According to Leech (1969)
“style is the way in which something is spoken, written or performed” Narrowly
interpreted, it refers to word use, sentence structures and figures of speech. More
broadly , style is considered to be a manifestation of the person speaking or
writing. He further refers to ‘style’ as elocutio- a latin term which means style and
also means lexis in Greek. Elocutio is the style and diction of a language.
Leech and Short (1981, p. 10) believe that the word “style” has a fairly
uncontroversial meaning: it refers to the way in which language is used in a given
6context, by a given person, for a given purpose, and so on. Birch (1989, p. 10)
says that language and style never moves beyond a concentration on the
supremacy of words; he believes firmly that these words somehow ‘contain’
meanings and is effectively language manipulated in ways that signal it as
different from ‘ordinary’ language.
Carter (1989, p. 14) cites that it is generally recognized that the style of a
work can depend on linguistic effects produced at a number of different linguistic
levels often simultaneously and that one fairly crucial factor is our expectations
concerning the literary form or genre employed. Leech and Short (1981:11)
believe also that “it is a selection from a total linguistic repertoire that constitutes
a style”. Style can be applied to both spoken and written, both literary and non-
literary varieties of language but by tradition, it is particularly associated with
written literary texts.
Leech and Short (1981, p.15) argue further that “the distinction between
what a writer has to say, and how it is presented to the reader, underlies one of the
earliest and most persistent concept of style: that of style as the “dress of
thought”. They add that although this metaphor of style as some kind of
“adornment” or “covering” of thought or meaning is no longer widely current, it
frequently appears in renaissance and rationalist pronouncements on style, and is
implicit.
7In this view, which prevailed throughout the Renaissance period, devices
of style can be catalogued. The essayist or orator is expected to frame his ideas
with the help of models, sentences and prescribed kinds of “figures” suitable to
his mode of discourse.
Oloruntoba-Oju (1999, p.127) believes that “style is almost synonymous
with variety; it refers in a simple way to the manner of expression, which differs
according to the various contexts”. He further added that stylistic variation may
be reckoned in terms of the sociolinguistic contexts producing the variation. For
instance, styles may differ according to place (e.g Western or African), time (e.g
Old English, new English, Classical Poetry, Modern Poetry etc), individuality (e.g
the style of Shakespeare, style of Soyinka) and modality (written, spoken,
complex, poetic, informal etc).
Style or stylistic variation may also be reckoned or analysed in linguistic
terms e.g sentence types, phonological elements, morphological variety, lexical
variety: rhetorical terms (e.g. figures of speech) semantic terms, and even
semiotic terms.
2.2 STYLISTICS
Many attempts have been made by different scholars to define stylistics.
To Freeman (1971, p.1) “stylistics, is a sub-discipline which started in the second
half of the 20th century”. It can be seen as a logical extension of moves within
8literary criticism early in the 20th century to concentrate on studying texts, rather
than authors.
To Leech and Short (1981, p.13) “Stylistics is simply defined as the
(linguistic) study of style, is rarely undertaken for its own sake, simply as an
exercise in describing what use is made of language”. They are also of the view
that we normally study style because we want to explain something, and in
general, literary stylistics has, implicitly or explicitly, the goal of explaining the
relation between language and artistic function.
Short and Candlin (1989, p.183) are of the view that “stylistics is a
linguistic approach to the study of the literary texts. It thus embodies one essential
part of the general course - philosophy; that of combining language and literary
study”.
Widdowson (1975, p.3) defines stylistics as “the study of literary
discourse from a linguistic orientation”. He takes the view that what distinguishes
stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the other is that
it is a means of linking the two. He also proposes that stylistics occupies the
middle ground between linguistics and literary criticism and its function is to
mediate between the two. In this role, its concerns necessarily overlap with those
of the two disciplines.
9Carter (1988, p.161) is of the same view with Widdowson. He also
believes that stylistics is essentially a bridge discipline between linguistics and
literature and there are always arguments about the design of the bridge, its
purpose, the nature of the materials and about the side it should be built from.
Stylistics, the study of the devices in languages (such as rhetorical figures
and syntactical patterns) that are considered to produce expressive or literary
style. Stylistics is therefore a field or study that combines both literary criticism
on the one hand and linguistics on the other as its morphological make-up
suggests: the ‘style’ component relating it to literary criticism and the ‘istics’
component to linguistics. Widdowson (1975, p.3) claims that stylistics can serve
as a means whereby literature and language as subjects can, by a process of
gradual approximation, move towards both linguistics and literary criticism, and
also a means whereby these disciplines can be pedagogically treated to yield
different subjects.
He further suggests that stylistics can provide for the progression of a
pupil from either language or literature towards either literary criticism or
linguistics. Carter (1988, p. 4) proposes that practical stylistics is a process of
literary text analysis which starts from a basic assumption that the primary
interpretative procedures used in the reading of a literary text are linguistic
procedures. He added that stylistics analysis can provide the means whereby the
10study of literature can relate a piece of literary writing to his own experience of
language and so can extend that experience.
Carter (1988, p.10) sub-categorized it into 5 sections.
1. Linguistic Stylistics– In several respects, linguistic stylistics is the
purest form of stylistics in that its practitioners attempt to derive from
the study of style and language variation some refinement of models
for the analysis of language and thus contribute to the development of
linguistic theory.
2. Literary Stylistics– A distinguishing feature here is the provision of a
basis for fuller understanding, appreciation and interpretation of
avowedly literary texts. Although a precision of analysis mode
available by stylistic methods offers a challenge to established
methods of close reading or practical criticism of texts, the procedures
of literary stylistics remain traditional in character inspite of
developments in literary theory which challenge assumptions about the
role of language in depicting literary realities.
3. Style and Discourse – Work in stylistics within this category
acknowledges that style is not an exclusively literary phenomenon and
addresses itself to the description and characterization of stylistic
11effects in a wide range of discourse types. Fowler (1986) calls it
‘linguistic criticism’.
4. Pedagogical Stylistics – There are a number of issues deriving from
deep-rooted divisions between linguistic and literary critics but which
still require to be considered; which emerge in the context of debates
concerning the pedagogical relevance of stylistics.
5. Stylistics and the foreign language learner – Perhaps because questions
of language and learning are more widely addressed in the domain of
foreign language learning than in the no less important area of mother
tongue language development, issues of pedagogy in relation to
stylistics, literature and language study can be more easily surveyed.
However, there is a growing recognition that integration of language
and literature can be of mutual benefit in the context of foreign or
second language education and that a situation of literary education;
conducted by exposure to a canon of texts in English literature mainly
through a method of lecture may be in need of modification on a
number of counts.
2.3 APPROACHES TO STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
There are different approaches to the analysis of styles of texts i.e there are
various ways/perspectives from which we can account for the analysis of texts.
12Lawal (1997) in his own view identifies these factors as “approaches” while
Babajide (2000) on his own part defines them as “concepts”. The two of them
however give similar points.
1. Style as personality/individuality – Style is a relational term: we talk
about ‘the style of x’ referring through ‘style’ to characteristics of
language use, and correlating these with some extralinguistic x…
Leech and Short (1981, p.11) believe that “traditionally, an intimate
connection has been seen between style and an author’s personality”.
Deriving largely from ‘idiolect’ – this largely prove that every
individual or person is unique in one way or the other.
2. Style as Choice from Variants – This approach is backed with the fact
that every phenomenon has many possible alternatives that form the
variants. It constitutes selection from a total linguistic repertoire. Each
individual has the right to choose from the available possibilities that
which is appropriate and fits in to his work. This approach is usually
prominent in paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations among linguistic
elements.
3. Style as deviation from the norm – Language is a behavior governed
by rules and norms. When something is done in a quite different way
from how it is usually done, then that is said to be a deviation from the
13norm. This is achieved by reconstruction from the structural resource
of language to extend the frontiers of current usages. This concept is
most common at both the lexical and the syntactic level and used
mostly for effective communication.
4. Style as situation or relationship between message and medium –
Language use does not occur in a vacuum, the message and medium
are always of importance. The medium can be formal or informal,
spoken or written and so on. Different language use is determined by
the different context of operation. In other words, there are variations
in language use. For example, the kind of language used in the court
room will be different from the one used in the classroom and so on.
By and large it is obvious that the concept of medium and message is
indispensable in stylistics.
5. Style as a temporal phenomenon – According to Babajide (2000) style
changes as nothing in life is static abreast of time. Therefore style can
be referred to as being old or new, in or out of vogue, modern or
ancient. There are features for certain periods, thus language style
changes according to time, and style is recognized by the predominant
features of the period. In the language world, there are Chaucerian and
classical time, differentiated by features. Old English, Middle English
14and Modern English periods, Elizabethan, Victorian and Renaissance
age with peculiar features (literary and linguistic).
Using any of these approaches explained above, stylistic analysis could be
conducted by means of the levels of analysis. We therefore explain briefly the
levels of stylistic analysis and the elements under them.
2.4 LEVELS OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
The levels of stylistics analysis are identified as:
1. Graphology: in the works of Crystal and Davy (1969, p.18) cited in Alabi
(2007, p.170) “Graphology is the analogous study of a languages writing system
or orthography as seen in the various kinds of handwriting or topography”. Leech
(1969, p.39) believes that graphology transcends orthography. “Its refers to the
whole writing system: punctuation and paragraphing as well as spacing”.
Alabi (2007, p.170) added that a graphological discussion of style among other
features entails the foregrounding of quotation marks, ellipses periods, hyphens,
contracted forms, special structures, the full stop, the colon, the comma, the
semicolon, the question mark, the dash, lower case letters, gothic and bold prints,
capitalization, small print, spacing, italics etc.
2. Phonology – Ofuya (2007, p.14) is of the view that “phonology describes
the ways in which speech sounds are organized in English into a system”. Lodge
(2009, p.8) believes that “phonology is the study of linguistic systems.
15Specifically the way in which sound represents differences of meaning in a
language”. Phonology in stylistics usually deals with analyzing sound patterns in
a piece, the systemic use of sounds to form words and utterances in language.
Phonological devices are obtained through the repetition exhibited. For example
in rhyme elements, alliteration, consonance, assonance and phonaesthesia.
3. Morphology – Mark and Kirsten (2005, p.1) say “Morphology refers to
the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that
deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed”.
Morphological level of analysis is concerned with word formation processes
subjected to specific conditions and rules of the processes of affixation – the
prefix, suffix and the root words, coining, back formation etc.
4. Lexico-Syntax – This is a word formed by the combination of two
different words “Lexis” and “syntax”. Lexis is the total vocabularies that make up
a language or the body of words known and used by a particular person. Syntax,
According to Tallerman (1998, p.1) means ‘Sentence construction’: how words
group together to make phrases and sentences”. It is also used to mean the study
of the syntactic properties of languages; in this sense it is used in the same way as
we use ‘stylistics’ to mean the study of literary style.
Lexico-Syntactic patterns may be obtained through various means which
include unusual or inverted word order, omission of words and repetition.
16Lexico-Syntactic choices are obtained through devices such as piling of usual
collocates, unusual collocates, archaic words, particular parts of speech,
metaphor, simile, oxymoron etc.
2.5 ELEMENTS IN STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
The elements under each of the levels of analysis mentioned above are discussed
briefly below.
2.5.1 Lexico-syntactic patterns include
1. Anastrophe – Alabi (2007, p.163) says ‘anastrophe is the inversion of the
natural or usual word order’. The use of anastrophe secures emphasis and focuses
the readers’/hearers’ attention.
2. Parenthesis – According to Alabi (2007, p.163) ‘ it entails the insertion of
some verbal unit (extra information, and after thought or a comment) in a position
that interrupts the normal syntactical glow of the sentence’.
3. Ellipsis – Alabi (2007, p. 163) cites that ‘ Ellipsis entails the deliberate
omission of a word or words, which are readily implied by the content: It is used
to create brevity reemphasis or ambiguity’.
4. Asyndeton – This is the deliberate omission of conjunctions between a
series of related clauses. Asyndeton produces a hurried rhythm in the sentence.
Corbett (1971, p.470) cites Aristotle’s observation that ‘asyndeton was especially
appropriate for the conclusion of a discourse, because there, perhaps more than in
17other places in the discourse, we may want to produce the emotional reaction that
can be stirred by, among other means, rhythm’.
5. Anaphora – Alabi (2007, p.164) cites that ‘it entails the repetition of the
same word or phrase at the beginnings of successive stages of the chosen pattern’.
The repetition of the words helps to establish a marked rhythm in the sequence of
clauses, this scheme is usually reserved for those passages where the author wants
to produce a strong emotional effects.
6. Epizeuxis – According to Alabi (2007, p.165) repeats a word or phrase
without any break at all.
2.5.2 Lexico-syntactic choices include:
7. Pun- Alabi (2007, p.167) Is the genetic name for the figures which play
on words. It is a figurative expression in which a speaker plays on a word or
phrase to suggest double meanings. A speaker may also play on two or more
semantically different but orthographically or phonologically similar words to
construct a thought –provoking statement. It is often employed to display
linguistic process or verbal dexterity and ultimately entertain the audience.
8. Anthimeria – In the words of Alabi (2007, p.168) ‘this is the substitution
of one part of speech for another’. Employing a part of speech in a sentence or a
group of words instead of another.
189. Periphrasis (antonomasia) – Alabi (2007, p.168) says ‘This is the
substitution of a descriptive word or a phrase for a proper name or of a proper
name for a quality associated with the name’. It can also be described as an
expression in which a celebrated person, event or place is used to represent
another person, place or event as a result of a similar quality present in them.
10. Hyperbole – Alabi (2007, p.168) cites that ‘this is the use of exaggerated
words. a figurative expression in which a fact or a situation is blown out of
proportion’. It is an overstatement of a fact in the course of emphasizing it or as a
result of over enthusiasm for it. Hyperbole gives emphasis or produces humour.
11. Personification – This invests abstractions or inanimate object with
human qualities. In other words a quality associated with man is given to a non-
living phenomenon thereby making it look like a person. It is also called
prosopoeia and personification stirs the emotion. Alabi (2007, p.168).
12. Paradox – Alabi (2007, p.168) says ‘This is a seemingly contradictory
statement, which happens to be true’. Paradox is a kind of expanded oxymoron. It
is also an expression which is obviously absurd or unreasonable but will become
logical or reasonable on a closer look or a deeper thought.
13. Synecdoche – Alabi (2007, p.167) believes that this is the employment of
a part of the referent to stand for the whole or vice versa.
1914. Oxymoron – According to Alabi (2007, p.168) ‘This is a figure of speech
in which two contradicting words are placed side by side in a statement thereby
making it sound self contradicting. In other words oxymoron yokes two terms
which are ordinarily contradictory’.
15. Simile and Metaphor – Alabi (2007, p.167) believes that both the
metaphor and the simile are related to the topic of similarity, for although the
comparison is made between two words of unlike nature. Metaphor gives
clearness and liveliness to words.
16. Archaic or difficult words – Alabi (2007, p.166) says ‘This is used to
show level of education or social accomplishment, they are attention focusing.’
17. Synonyms, hypernyms/hyponyms are part of lexical means of achieving
cohesion in discourse. They are means of unifying the discourse.
18. Parts of Speech – The deliberate preponderant choice of particular parts of
speech in discourse sometimes give precise and accurate descriptions some seek
precision and intensify meaning. They are means of achieving cohesion in
discourse.
2.5.3 Phonological devices Include:
19. Rhyme elements – According to Abrams (1981, p.163), the Standard
English rhyme ‘consists in the identify, in rhyming words, of the last stressed
20vowel and of all the speech sounds following that vowel’. End rhymes occur at
the end of a verse-line while internal rhymes occur within a verse-line.
20. Alliteration – This is generally taken to be the repetition of the initial
consonant in two or more adjacent words.
21. Consonance – Is a half rhyme in which final consonants are repeated but
with different preceding vowels.
22. Assonance - Is also a half rhyme realized by repeating the same (stressed)
vowel but with different final consonant in a sequence of nearby words.
23. Phonaesthesia (secondary onomatopoeia) are those sounds, which are felt
to be appropriate to the meaning of their words. The repetition of sounds of words
helps in linking related words to reinforce meaning. It provides tone and musical
colour and it aids memorability
2.5.4 Graphological Devices Include:
24. Punctuation – These are marks used in writing that divide sentences and
phrases. It is also the system of using the punctuation marks.
25. Paragraphing – Paragraph involve a section of a piece of writing, usually
consisting of several sentences dealing with a single subject. The first sentence of
a paragraph starts on a new line.
212.5.5 Morphological devices Include:
26. Compounding – In the works of Osundare (1983, p.28) cited on Alabi
(2007:166), he asserts that “Soyinka employs compounds in a way that boosts the
baffling compactness of his work”. What Soyinka collapses into compounds i.e
simple compounds. (Unhyphenated or hyphenated) or multiple compounds are
shown to be potentially longer expressions and structures.
27. Affixes – This is a process of forming new words by putting certain
morphemes before some words, while adding certain morphemes after some
others i.e. prefix and suffix respectively.
We have two popular types of morphological operations (affixation) in
English which are inflection and derivational. Inflected forms of English words
are variants of one and the same word inflecting a word does not necessarily
cause it to change its category. A derivational suffix is a morpheme that usually
changes the class of a word to which it is added.
28. Coinages – These are words created from existing word. It is a process of
forming new words through the already existing ones.
The above discussed elements will form the basis of the analysis in the next
chapter.
22CHAPTER THREE
DATA ANALYSIS
3.0 INTRODUCTION
As earlier stated, this chapter will provide a stylistic analysis of the
selected poems of Wole Soyinka. The lexico-syntactic patterns and choices,
phonological, graphological and morphological levels of analysis are going to
form the basis of the analysis.
3.1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
LEXICO –SYNTACTIC PATTERNS
Anastrophe- This is the inversion of word order. Examples are:
1. “In vain your bangles cast charmed circles at my feet” (Abiku).
2. “Where I crept, the warmth was cloying” (Abiku).
3. “In silence of webs, Abiku moans, …” (Abiku)
4. “Your hand is heavy, Night, upon my brow, and bear no heart mercuric
like the clouds” (Night).
5. “Caught I was, foully” (Telephone Conversation).
6. “Considerate she was, varying the emphasis” (Telephone Conversation).
In the above sentence, the arrangements of the words are changed. They
are not arranged in the natural order by the writer. In sentence 1 above, the writer
inverts the word order to show the intensity of the pride of Abiku that all efforts to
23make him stay is in vain. In sentence 2 &3 , the poet also inverted the word order
to show the prowess of Abiku. Sentence 4 is to show how powerful the effects of
night is on him and in sentence 5, the intensity of the foolishness of the writer is
shown and in sentence 6 above, the sentence shows how considerate the woman is
varying the emphasis in Telephone Conversation. These elements are used by the
writer to secure emphasis and to focus the readers’/hearers’ attention.
Parenthesis
For examples
7. “Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves” (Night).
8. “I must hear none! These misted calls will yet undo me; naked, unbidden,
at Night’s muted birth (Night).
9. “… confluence of coarse cloud fleeces – my head sir! – scourbrush” ( To
my first white hairs).
10. “…Submit thesis dues, harnessed glory be! – in the
cold…” (Post mortem).
In the above sentences, the underlined words and phrases are inserted by
the writer in a way that interrupt the normal syntactical flow of the sentences.
They give additional information as a result of an afterthought or a comment.
Ellipsis
11. “Must I weep for goats and cowries
24For palm oil and sprinkled ask? (Abiku)
12. “I am the squirrel teeth, cracked
The riddle of the palm; remember” (Abiku)
13. “I saw your jealous eye quench the Sea’s
Flourescence, dance on the pulie incessant” (Night)
14. “Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality” (Telephone conversation).
15. “Let no man speak of justice, guilt” (Procession 1- hanging day).
16. “Knit me webs of winter sagehood, nightical, and the
“fungoid, Sequins of a crown”( To my first white hairs).
17. “Let us love all things of gray; grey slabs gray scapel
…grey images” (Post mortem)
In the above sentences i.e. sentences 11-17, there are some words or group
of words that are deliberately omitted or readily implied by the content. In
sentence 11 the words that are readily implied words are “I am”. Sentence 13’s
already implied words are “I saw your jealous eye”. In Sentences 14, 15, 16 and
17 the already implied words are “Her accent was”.., “Let no man speak of ..”,
“knit me webs of winter”, “let us love” respectively.
They avoid unnecessarily repetition and create brevity, emphasis or
ambiguity in words or even sentences.
25Asyndeton
Examples are:
18. “Your hand is heavy. Night, upon my brow. I bear no heart mercuric like
the clouds, to dare Exacerbation from your subtle plough”. (Night).
19. “Of the waves. And I stood, drained submitting like the sand, blood and
brine, coursing to the roots. Night,. You rained (Night).
20.”I think it rains that tongues may loosen from the parch uncleave roof-tops of
the mouth, hang heavy with knowledge” (I think it rains).
Sentences 18-20 are examples of asyndeton, there are deliberate omissions of
conjunctions in the sentences, they tend to produce a hurried rhythm.
Epizeuxis
21. “Let us love all things of grey’, grey slabs (Post mortem).
Sentence 21 is an example of epizeuxis, the repetition of the same word without
any break at all, it is used to maintain a permanent effect on the reader/hearer and
also for emphasis.
Anaphora
Examples
22. “…Button B. Button A.” (Telephone Conversation)
23 “Red booth Red Pillar box. Red double-tiered”(Telephone Conversation)
24. “…Weave then, weave o quickly, weave..” ( To my first white hairs).
26In the above examples, there is the repetition of the same word at the
beginning of each sentence. In ‘22’ above ‘Button’ is repeated, in ‘23’ above
‘Red’ is repeated and in ‘24’ ‘Weave’ is repeated. The poet might have employed
this to create musicality.
LEXICO-SYNTACTIC CHOICES
Simile
Examples of simile are
25. “I bear no bear no heart mercuric like the clouds” (Night).
26. “Women as a clam on the sea’s cresent” (Night).
27. “Submitting like the sand, blood and brine” (Night).
28. “Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves” (Night).
29. “Sudden spring as corn stalk after rain…”(To my first white hairs)
30. “As lightning shrink to ant’s antenna” (To my first white hairs).
31. “Withdraw as all the living world”( Procession 1- hanging day).
Metaphor
Examples of Metaphor are:
32. “Your hand is heavy” (Night).
33. “Night, you rained-serrated shadows through dank leaves” (Night).
34. “I‘ll be the suppliant snake coiled on the doorstep” (Abiku).
27Both the metaphor and the simile are related to the topic of similarity for
although the comparison is made between two words of unlike nature there is
some respect in which they are similar. The poet compares his heart to the cloud
in Sentence 25, in sentence 26 he sees Night as a woman and he compares her to a
calm on the sea’s cresent, also in 27 above. In sentence 28, he compares his
sensations as night thieves, In sentence 29, he compares the springing up of his
first white hairs to the sudden springing up of corn stalk after rain, so also in 30
to an ant’s antenna. In sentence 30, he compares hanging to the withdrawal as all
the living world. They are used by the poet to give clearness and liveliness to
words. Simile uses ‘as’ or ‘like’ in its comparison while metaphor is a direct
comparison.
Anthimeria
Example
36. “Yams do not sprout amulets
To earth Abiku is limbs”(Abiku).
In the above sentence, the word ‘earth’ which is a noun is used as a verb
by the poet. He uses it to communicate effectively with its readers and the
meaning of the word as it is used in the poem is easily understood.
Periphrasis (antonomasia)
Example
2837. The god’s swollen foot” (Abiku).
The above sentence is used and substituted as a descriptive phrase for
‘land’ or ‘earth’. The writer has used this to show the similar quality present in
them and it is also a mild way of referring to and describing it.
Hyperbole
Examples are
38. “The ground is wet with mourning” (Abiku).
39. “I saw your jealous eye quench the sea’s Fluorescence, dance on the
pulse incessant” (Night).
40. “And I stood, drained submitting like the sand,
Blood and brine coursing to the roots” (Night).
41. “Palm of my hand,… are a peroxide blonde…”( Telephone Conversation).
In sentences 38-41 above, the underlined groups of words show
exaggeration. In sentence 38 for instance “wet with mourning” is exaggerated in
the sense that tears that will roll down the eyes when mourning cannot wet the
ground. The poet has used these groups of words to show emphasis and to
produce humour. He has also done this to give the readers’ hint on the extent to
which the events have happened.
Litotes
Examples
2942. “In the cold hand of death”(Post mortem)
43. “His flesh confesses what has stilled”(Post mortem)
44. “In a peace of blindness” ( Procession 1- hanging day).
45. “What may I tell you of the fire Bell-ringers on the ropes to climes of
silence?”(Procession 1-hanging day).
The above sentences are understatements because in sentence 42 for
instance ‘cold hand of death’. Death is not believed to be a thing of joy that will
now have a cold hand. The poet has only made use of those words to show
modesty or politeness, he might have also used them to enhance impressiveness
of discourse.
Onomatopoeia
Examples
46. “Omnibus squelching tar..”
The above sentence is onomatopoeia, it describes the crushing sound of the tyres
of the buses on the tarred street, it echoes the sense of the event that has just
happened.
Pun
Examples
47. “Tread. Drop, Dread Drop. Dead” (Procession 1- hanging day).
48. “…BEER… BIERS”(Post mortem).
30A writer may play on two or more semantically different but
orthographically or phonologically similar words to construct a thought-
provoking statement. The poet might have employed these words to display
linguistic prowess or verbal dexterity. They are also often used to entertain the
audience.
Paradox
Examples
49. “The ripest fruit was saddest”(Abiku).
The sentence above is paradoxical, the poet used the metaphor of a fruit,
because a ripe fruit is nature but it is also strangely ready to be plucked. The poet
has left the reader to give the statement a deeper thought.
Personification (prosopoeia)
50. “White dew suckles flesh-birds” (Abiku).
51. “Evening befriends the spider, trapping” (Abiku)
52. “In silence of webs, Abiku moans, shaping”(Abiku).
53. “I saw your jealous eye quench of the sea’s”(Night).
54. “His flesh confesses what has stilled his tongue”(Post mortem).
55. “Masked fingers think from him to learn” (Post mortem).
In the above sentences, the poet invested abstractions and inanimate
objects with human qualities, he did this to stir the emotions of his readers.
31Synecdoche
Examples
56. “Libations, each finger points me ‘near’ (Abiku)
57. “Masked fingers thin from him … not to die”(Post mortem).
58. “… in a feel of eyes” ( Procession 1- hanging day).
The underlined words are parts of referents to stand for the whole. In sentence 56
for example the ‘finger’ is used to represent a person in the poem while in the
next sentence ‘masked fingers’ is used in the poem to represent doctors on duty
when they are performing a post-mortem operation. In the last sentence eyes is
used to represent the whole face, how a person feels will be seen on the face even
if it is not uttered, it shows the level of creativity of the poet.
Oxymoron
Examples
59. “…, and the fungoid sequins of a crown” (To my first white hairs).
The sentence above yokes two terms which are contradictory. The yoking
of the words “fungoid and sequins suggests the speakers ambivalent attitude to the
grey hairs according to the poem as both signals of ‘decay’ and ‘wisdom’. The
poet seems to render the expression preposterous.
Antonyms
60. “Are you light or very dark?”(Telephone Conversation)
32Synonyms
61. “bangles” and “amulets”(Abiku).
Hypernyms/hyponyms
62. Hypernym – ‘body
Hyponyms – ‘hand feet, ear (Telephone Conversation).
63. hypernym – ‘body’
Hyponyms – ‘brow’, ‘heart’, ‘blood’ (Night).
64. Hypernym – ‘Animal’
Hyponyms – ‘goat’, ‘snail’, squirrel’, ‘flesh-birds’, ‘snake’, ‘spider’
(Abiku).
65. ‘Weep’, ‘mourning’, ‘moans’ are also co-hyponyms (Abiku).
66. hypernym – ‘colour’
Hyponyms – ‘black’, ‘gold’, ‘red’, ‘sepia’ etc ( Telephone Conversation).
The poet has used these words as synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms and
hyponyms, so also co-hyponyms as a means of unifying the discourse. They are
part of lexical. Means of achieving cohesion in discourse.
Parts of Speech
Adjectives
Examples
67. ”… Ill-mannered silence” (Telephone Conversation)
3368. “… seemed reasonable” (Telephone Conversation).
69. “… charmed circles” (Abiku).
70. “Heated fragment”(Abiku).
71. “Your hand is heavy” (Night).
72. “Serrated shadows” (Night).
73. “Sudden cloud”(I think it rains).
74. “Strange dispairs” (I think it rains).
75. “Fretful limbs” (Procession 1- hanging day)
76. “Vibrant coiled” (To my first white hairs).
77. “Masked fingers” ( Post mortem)
Adverbs
78. “Deeply” (Abiku).
Preposition
79. ‘it’ (Telephone conversation).
80. ‘by’ (Telephone Conversation).
81. ‘on’ (I think it rains).
82. ‘in’ (To my first white hairs).
83. ‘to’ (Post mortem).
84. ‘of’ (Night).
34The poet has made use of a deliberate choice of particular parts of speech.
Adjective and preposition to give precise and accurate descriptions and also
adverbs to seek precision and to intensify meaning.
PHONOLOGICAL DEVICES
Rhyme
85. In ‘Night’ – the first and the third lines of each stanza rhymes.
Out of the seven poem it is only in ‘Night’ that we have thyme patterns.
Alliteration (Initial rhyme)
86. “Lipstick coated, Long gold-rolled” /l/
87. “Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered” /r/
88. “… clinical, crushing in its light” /k/
89. “,,, dig me deeper still into” /d/
90. “Though I puke, and when you pour” /p/
91. “Submitting like the sand, blood and brine” /s/, /b/
92. “Hide me now, when night children haunt the earth” /h/, /n/
93. “Rain-reeds…” /r/
94. “From watchtowers … walls” /w/
95. “That I or that I” /δ/
Consonance
96. “Woman as a clam, on the sea’s cresent” /n/
97. “Of the waves, And I stood, drained /d/
3598. “Of rancid… hide-and speak” /d/
99. “My bottom… madam !-sensing” /m/
100. “…with my earth” /θ/
101. “Bell ringers on the ropes to chimes /z/
102. “… fossil beyond fingers of light – until /l/
Assonance
Examples
103. “… and sprinkled ask?” /æ/
104. “… fragment, brand me” /a:/
105. “This, and dig me deeper still into” /i/
106. “His flesh confesses…” /e/
107. “Hirsute hell chimney – spouts /i/
The poet has been dole to use the repetition of rounds of word in linking
related words to reinforce meaning. They provide tone and musical colour and
they aid memorability.
MORPHOLOGICAL DEVICES
Coinages and Nounce formation
125. “I bear no heart mercuric like…” (Night).
126. “Coursing to the roots” (Night).
127. “Till, bathed in warm suffusion…” (Night).
36The writer has created these underlined words from existing one. E.g.
“Mercuric” from mercury, “Coursing” from the word “course” and “Suffusion”
from “suffuse” and their meaning can only be decoded in the specific context of
use. The words are only invented for a particular occasion and this shows the
power of creativity of the poet.
Affixation (Suffix)
128. reasonable - reason + able ( Telephone Conversation).
129. African - Africa + n (Telephone Conversation).
130. Foolishly - foolish + ly (Telephone Conversation).
131. Truthfulness - truth + ful + ness (Telephone Conversation).
132. Charmed - charm + ed (Abiku).
133. Coursing - cours (e) + ing (Night).
134. Children - child + s (Night)
135. Sadness - sad + ness (Procession 1- hanging day).
136. Recessive - recess + ive (Procession 1- hanging day).
137. Magnifying - magnify +ing ( To my first white hairs).
138. Confesses - confess + es (Post mortem).
Prefix
139. Indifferent - in + different (Telephone conversation).
140. Undo - un + do (Night).
37141. Afar - a + far (I think it rains).
142. Unbending - un + bending ( I think it rains).
143. Untrodden - un + trodden (Procession 1- hanging day).
144. Subsoil - sub + soil (Post mortem).
GRAPHOLOGICAL DEVICES
Foregrounding
Capitalization
Examples
145. “HOW DARK?” ( Telephone conversation).
146. “ARE YOU LIGHT? OR VERY DARK?” (Telephone Conversation).
147. “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” (Telephone Conversation).
148. “WHAT’S THAT?” (Telephone Conversation).
149. “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS” (Telephone Conversation).
150. “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” (Telephone Conversation).
151. “THREE WHITE HAIRS!” – (To my first white hairs).
The poet has made use of unusual capitalization in ‘telephone
conversation’ to emphasize mainly on the skin colour. It gives the insight of the
dilemma and frustration in England. It also show the distinctions made between
shades of black.
38Lower case letters
In ‘post mortem’ the poet makes use of lower case letters, from the very
first letter to the last one to show the humorous attitude of the poet to death.
The contracted forms
152. “WHAT’S THAT” (Telephone Conversation).
153. “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS”(Telephone Conversation)
154. “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” (Telephone Conversation).
155. “WOULDN’T you rather…” (Telephone Converrsation).
156. “… I’II be the” (Abiku).
The poet employed the above contracted forms to create an illusion of
speech. He also uses it to show the occasion that usually betrays the bottled up
colour prejudice of many white landladies who are generally reluctant to rent out
their apartment to Africans.
Sentence 156 is found in ‘Abiku’ to show the hallmark of Abiku.
Bold print
The titles of the poems are written in bold prints to draw special attention
to them.
Spacing
The poem ‘Night’ is written in stanzas and there is a double-line spacing
in between each stanza. “I think it rains”; ‘Abiku’, ‘To my first white hairs, ‘Post
39Mortem’ are also written in stanzas and double-line spacing are also employed in
between each stanza. ‘Telephone conversation is not written in stanza. Procession
1-hanging day is also written in stanza but with different number of lines in each
stanza, line 23 –the end are not written in stanzas.
Repetition
In ‘Telephone conversation’, there is the repetition of ‘Dark’ and ‘light’.
‘Dark’ is repeated about 4 times, all written in capital letters, ‘Light’ is also
written in capital letters and repeated twice. They are used by the poet to show
emphasis, and they can also produce an effect on the reader.
The poet also repeated ‘I’ eight times in ‘Abiku’, then ‘The’ is also
repeated many times. The ‘I’ in the poem shows singularity and the pride of the
‘Abiku’. ‘The’ is used to begin a new line in the poem and also used in the
sentences to refer to something for easy understanding.
Punctuation marks – Full-stop (.)
In “Telephone conversation” – the poet uses full-stop up to about 26
times.
In ‘Night’ – There is the use of 6 full-stops.
In “I think it rains – the poet employs only 5 full-stops, a full-stop for each
stanza.
In ‘Procession ‘1 – hanging day’ only 11 full-stops were employed.
40The poet employs 11 full-stops in ‘Abiku’
He uses 4 full-stops in ‘To my first white hairs’ and 2 full-stops in ‘Post
mortem’
Full-stop is used to end a complete thought not necessarily the end of a
stanza; it is also used to end the whole poem.
Comma (,)
The poet employs
20 commas in the ‘telephone conversation’
18 in ‘Night’
9 commas in ‘I think it rains’
9 also in ‘Procession 1-hanging day’
13 commas in ‘Abiku’
10 in ‘To my first white hairs’ and
5 in ‘Post mortem’
The poet employs comma for very short pause and to separate sentential
elements in the poems.
Semi-colon (;)
In ‘Night’ only 1 semi-colon is used, 1 semi-colon is also used in ‘I think
it rains’. It appears twice in ‘Abiku’, it appears once in ‘To my first white hairs’
and 3 times in ‘post mortem’.
41It has been used by the poet for a longer pause than that of a comma but
not as long as that of the full-stop.
Hyphen (-)
The poet makes use of hyphen in the poems to join two independent words
to obtain compound words of strong lexical quality. There are 2 hyphens
employed in ‘I think it rains’ 4 in ‘Procession 1-hanging day’, 2 in ‘Abiku’, 2 in
‘To my first white hairs’ and 2 in ‘Post mortem’.
Question mark (?)
It is employed more in these poems to end rhetorical questions which
provide an emphasis stronger than a direct statement. In ‘Abiku’ – It is used to
end a question asked by Abiku and it is used once in the poem. He used it 6 times
in “Procession ‘1-hanging day’ to show the restlessness and torment of the poet in
a solitary confinement. It appears 8 times in ‘Telephone conversation’.
Exclamation marks (!)
Exclamation mark is used once in ‘Abiku’ and it is used at the end of the
sentence to express the emotion of Abiku. It is also used once on ‘post mortem’
and 3 times in ‘To my first white hairs’ to express the surprise of the poet. He
uses it 2 times too in ‘Telephone conversation’ to express the speaker’s surprise.
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