Stylistic Analysis of Robert Frost's 'The Secret Sits' and William Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 18'

Seminar Paper , 2004 , 9 Pages , Grade: 2,0

English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics

The paper is divided in two parts: the first deals with the poem "The Secret Sits" by Robert Frost. It tries to illustrate and state the aims of linguistic stylstics.
The second and bigger part deals with a principle of Stylistics: Stylistics requires “precision of reference to the text in support of a particular interpretation”, and emphatically not “precision of interpretation” (based on H.G. Widdowson).
Starting from this principle the paper offers a stylistic interpretation of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.

Table of Contents

• Stylistic Analysis of Robert Frost's "The Secret Sits" and William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18"
• Question 1: Do a stylistic analysis of the following poem by Robert Frost, and use your analysis to illustrate and state explicitly the aims of linguistic stylistics.
• Question 2: Explain the following principle and illustrate it with reference to precise linguistic patterns in any one of the texts which we have discussed during the course. The formulation is based on H.G. Widdowson (1992) Practical Stylistics.

Objectives and Key Themes

This text aims to demonstrate the principles of linguistic stylistics through an analysis of two poems: Robert Frost's "The Secret Sits" and William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. The analysis focuses on identifying and interpreting the linguistic patterns within these texts to reveal their underlying meaning and stylistic features. Here are the key themes explored in the text:

• The relationship between linguistic patterns and textual interpretation.
• The application of stylistic analysis to understand and interpret literary works.
• The significance of word choice, sentence structure, and other linguistic devices in conveying meaning.
• The role of metaphor, personification, and other figurative language in shaping textual interpretation.
• The use of intertextuality and allusions to enrich the meaning of a text.

Chapter Summaries

The first chapter focuses on analyzing Robert Frost's "The Secret Sits," examining the poem's vocabulary, structure, and figurative language to illustrate the principles of linguistic stylistics. The second chapter focuses on analyzing William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, exploring different interpretations of the poem based on its linguistic patterns and word fields. The chapter demonstrates how multiple interpretations can be derived from the same text based on the linguistic features examined. It also highlights the importance of precision in textual analysis rather than interpretation.

Keywords

The text explores the concepts of linguistic stylistics, textual interpretation, linguistic patterns, word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, metaphor, personification, intertextuality, allusions, and multiple interpretations. The analysis highlights the importance of examining the linguistic features of a text to uncover its underlying meaning and stylistic features.

• College: University of Trier (FB II Anglistik)
• Course: Stylistics (of literary texts)
• Grade: 2,0
• Author: Magister Artium Christoph Höbel (Author)
• Publication Year: 2004
• Pages: 9
• Catalog Number: V145007
• ISBN (eBook): 9783640560219
• ISBN (Book): 9783640560257
• Language: English
• Tags: Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, The Secret Sits, Sonnet 18, Stylistics, Widdowson, Linguistics, Literature