Poetic structure of the literary work

LITERARY TEXT AS POETIC STRUCTURE
VERBAL AND SUPRAVERBAL LAYERS OF THE LITERARY TEXT

While reading aliterary text one gradually moves from the first word of it on to the last. The words one reads combine into phrases, phrases into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs making up larger passages: chapters, sections, and parts. All these represent the verbal layer of the literary text.
At the same time when one reads a text of imaginative literature one cannot but see another layer gradually emerging out of these verbal sequences. One sees that word sequences represent a series of events, conflicts and circumstances in which characters of the literary work happen to find themselves.
One sees that all these word-sequences make a composition, a plot, a genre, and a style, that they all go to create an image of reality and that through this image the author conveys his message, his vision of the world.
Plot, theme, composition, genre, style, image and the like make the supraverbal (poetic) layer which is, nevertheless, entirely revealed in verbal sequences. The supra-verbal and the verbal layers of the text are thus inseparable from each other. The fact that all the elements of the literary text, such as those mentioned above, materialize in word sequences makes the latter acquire a meaning that is superimposed by the whole of the literary text.
Thus, the text of a literary work or any part of such is not a mere linguistic entity, it is something more involved. The involved nature of the literary text makes it entirely individual (unique), makes it essentially unsubstitutable for any other word sequences. When we substitute some part of a literary text, i.e. some given word sequence for a synonymous one, we simultaneously change the content, for the content of the literary work is indivisible from its text. (It should be mentioned here that it is in the literary text that the etymological meaning of the word text [from the Latin textum, texo – to weave] is completely motivated.) A linguistic text, on the contrary, allows of substitution; one verbal sequence may have a sense similar to that of another verbal sequence, consequently, one verbal sequence may stand for another, e.g. the sentence: "He was one of the most inefficient liars I have ever known" when viewed just as a linguistic entity allows of a number of substitutions, such as: "one could easily see when he told a lie", or "he didn't know how to tell a lie", etc. When this sentence is part of a literary text its meaning cannot be completely rendered in so many other synonymous words. Something of the meaning will be left unconveyed. And this something is the implication the sentence acquires from the whole of the supraverbal layer. To understand what "an inefficient liar" means in the sentence given above as part of a literary text we have to know the whole poetic context, in this case the poetic context of the novel The Quiet American from which the sentence is taken.
The cohesion (сцепление) of the two layers, i.e. of the strictly verbal and the supraverbal constitutes what is known as the poetic structure of the literary text. There is nothing in the literary work that is not expressed in its poetic structure. It is the whole of the poetic structure that conveys the author's message. One element (or component) of the poetic structure is as important as any other, for through them all the author's message is conveyed. All the components of the poetic structure compose a hierarchy, an organization of interdependent layers. The basic unit of the poetic structure is the word. All the various layers of the structure, i. e. the syntactic, the semantic, the rhythmical, the compositional, the stylistic are expressed in words.
The concept of unity and interdependence of elements in the poetic structure may be illustrated by the following example. The simile "he watched me intently like a prize-pupil" when taken by itself is nothing other than just a play on words, a word-image. But within a literary text (in this case The Quiet American) it is a unit which along with others in the system of similes (and the latter in its turn as a unit in the system of all tropes and figures of speech used in the novel) goes to depict the image of Pyle. The image of Pyle in its turn, as one of the character-images together with all the other ones in the novel, goes to convey the author's message.
Representation of the literary work in terms of a structure or a hierarchy of layers presupposes the concept of macro- and micro-elements (components) and bears upon form-content relationship.
Macro- and micro-elements is a functional, not an absolute category. Within a literary work a simile, for instance, is a micro-element in relation to a macro-element which may be the image of a character, and the latter, in its turn, is a micro-element in relation to the macro-element which is the literary work itself, understood as an image of reality.
The fact that macro-elements of a literary work are made out of micro-elements means in the final analysis that micro-elements are form in relation to macro-elements which are content.
An isolated simile taken by itself as any other verbal entity is a unity of content and form. The same simile within a literary work is either form or content depending upon the element in relation to which it is taken. Thus, the simile he watched me intently like a prize-fighter is form in relation to the macro-element, the image of Pyle, which this simile goes to build up. On the other hand, the quoted simile is content in relation to the form, the elements which it is made up of: watched, intently, prize-fighter.
The following should be emphasized in connection with what has just been stated: an analysis in which the idea of the literary work is considered separate from its verbal materialization is an erroneous and harmful practice. It is harmful in that it leads the reader away from the appreciation of the essence of verbal art. Also it indirectly inculcates in the reader a view that literature is an unnecessarily long and circumlocutions way of expressing an idea which could otherwise be expressed in a much shorter and simpler manner.

MACRO-COMPONENTS OF POETIC STRUCTURE

Poetic structure of the literary work involves such entities as image, theme, idea, composition, plot, genre and style. As components of poetic structure they are essentially inseparable from each other, but as basic categories of the theory of literature they may be treated in isolation.

Literary Image. The world of a literary work is the world of its characters, situations, events, etc. similar to those of real life. Characters and the situations they are engaged in may be entirely fantastic, nevertheless, they, too, are inspired by objective reality. The fact that literary images are similar to life breeds a belief in an untrained reader that literary characters are people of real life and not imaginative representation of the author's perception of life. This is an erroneous belief, stemming from one's ignorance of the intrinsic properties of literature.
Literature cognizes and interprets life by re-creating life in the form of images inspired by life and in accordance with the author's vision. It means that, for instance, Soames from J. Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga is not just an English bourgeois, but a literary character created by Galsworthy in precisely the way his talent, his vision, his understanding of the English middle class life have urged him to create. In giving the image of Soames as well as the other images of The Forsyte Saga the author transmits to the reader his own philosophy of life, his ethic and moral code.
Literary image is thus the "language" of literature, the form of its existence. The term "image" refers not only to the whole of the literary work or to such of its main elements as characters or personages but to any of its meaningful units such as detail, phrase, etc. Literature being a verbal art, it is out of word sequences that literary images emerge, although images as such are supraverbal entities. Consider, for instance, the following word sequences from E.Caldwell's short story Wild Flowers that build up an image of nature. "The mocking-bird that had perched on the roof top all night, filling the clear cool air with its music, had flown away when the sun rose. There was silence as deep and mysterious as the flat sandy country that extended mile after mile in every direction. Yesterday's shadows on the white sand began to reassemble under the trees and around the fence posts, spreading on the ground the lacy foliage of the branches and fuzzy slabs of the wooden fence."
All images in the literary work constitute a hierarchical interrelation. The top of this hierarchy is the macro-image, the literary work itself, understood as an image of life visioned and depicted by the author. Say, The Forsyte Saga by J.Galsworthy, or An American Tragedy by Th. Dreiser taken as a whole. Within the literary work it is the image of the character or characters that top the hierarchy of images. Say, the images of Old Jolion, Soames, Irene, Fleur in The Forsyte Saga, or the images of Clyde, Roberta in An American Tragedy.
At the bottom of the hierarchy there is the word-image, or a micro-image: simile, epithet, metaphor, etc. They together with other elements build up character-images, event-images, landscape-images, etc. E.g. "The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks." (E. Hemingway) "The rain hissed on the live-oak and magnolia trees." (R.P.Warren).
Each such micro-image, when in isolation, is just a trope, but within the poetic structure it is an element which, equally with others, shares in the expression of the content. Its meaningfulness becomes apparent when such a word-image or its synonymic variant is found to recur in the text. A. Huxley's story The Gioconda Smile is a good example in this respect. Here is its plot: A certain Miss Spence had poisoned the wife of her neighbour, Mr. Hutton, a country gentleman. She had done that in the hope that Mr. Hutton would eventually marry her. But when it became obvious that the gentleman was not in the least inclined to propose to her, she spread rumours accusing Mr. Hutton of the murder. The man was tried and condemned to capital punishment.
The surface layer of the story contains no direct hint of the true nature of Miss Spence. That she is the murderess is revealed to the reader only at the very end. It is the layer of word-images superimposed upon the simple story layer that is suggestive in this respect. It begins with the title: The Gioconda Smile. The allusive epithet "Gioconda", that describes Miss Spence's smile, later recurs in a number of its variants such as: "her queer face"; "there was something enigmatic about her"; "the mysterious Gioconda"; "there was some kind of a queer face behind the Gioconda smile"; "every woman's small talk was like a vapour hanging over mysterious gulfs"; "a pale mask", etc. Such words as "mysterious", "enigmatic", etc. interplay with another set of phrases suggestive of the nature of the "enigma", e. g. "She leaned forward aimed so to speak, like a gun, and fired her word"; "She was a machine-gun riddling her hostess with sympathy"; "Today the missiles were medical"; "'Your wife is dreadfully ill,' she fired off at him"; "She shot a Gioconda in his direction" and at last: "Her eyes were two profound and menacing gun-barrels". It remains with the reader to put all these suggestive metaphors together and decipher their meaningfulness, the simple story layer being his guide.
Theme and Idea

The theme of aliterary work is the represented aspect of life. As literary works commonly have human characters for their subject of depiction, the theme of a literary work may be understood to be an interaction of human characters under certain circumstances, such as some social or psychological conflict (war and peace, race discrimination, a clash of ideologies, and the like). A writer may depict the same theme, say, the theme of war, from different angles. The same theme may, on the other hand, be differently developed and integrated with other themes in different works. Within a single work the basic theme may alternate with rival themes and their relationship may be very complex. Thus, for instance, the basic theme of The Forsyte Saga may be defined as the life of the English middle class at the end of and after the Victorian epoch. This basic theme is disclosed mainly in the representation of the Forsyte family, specifically in its Jolion – Soames lines. The by-themes in this comprehensive trilogy are numerous: the Boer and the First World war, the first Labour government, the post-war generation, the general strike, the arts and artists, etc. They are all linked together to represent a unity. Indeed, a link between the various constructive themes is indispensable: without such a link the literary work loses its essential characteristic, which is unity of all its elements.
The theme of a literary work can be easily understood from the plot (the surface layer) of the work: it allows of a schematic formulation, such, for instance, as: "this is a story of race discrimination in the USA", and the like.
The idea of a literary work is the underlying thought and emotional attitude transmitted to the reader by the whole poetic structure of the literary text. Poetic structure being a multi-layered entity, all of its layers pertain to the expression of the idea.
We shall try to illustrate this by E.Caldwell's seven-page story Wild Flowers. The story has the direct, metaphorical, and symbolic layers. It is out of an interplay of all these that the poetic idea emerges.
The plot of the story (the direct, surface layer) is austerely simple. Somewhere deep in the South of the USA a young tenant and his wife (an expectant mother) are of representation form a unity, a unity of content and form.
Plot is a sequence of events in which the characters are involved, the theme and the idea revealed. Events are made up of episodes, episodes, in their turn, of smaller action details. Thus, for example, in The Quiet American the events of the war in Vietnam are built up out of a series of episodes, such as Fowler's visit to the frontline, his flight, in a French plane, over the front-line villages, his crossing of the river full of dead bodies, etc. The event of Pyle's assassination is prepared and developed in such episodes as Fowler's visit to the lumber-shop in which he finds evidence of Pyle's criminal activity, in the episode of an explosion in the square, instigated by Pyle and others.
Each and every event that represents a conflict (the gist of the plot) has a beginning, a development and an end. The plot, accordingly, consists of exposition, story, climax and denouement.
In the exposition the necessary preliminaries to the action are laid out, such as the time, the place, and the subject of the action. Also some light may be cast on the circumstances that will influence the development of the action. Here is the exposition from L.Hughes's story Cora Unashamed that may well illustrate the pattern. "Melton was one of those miserable in-between little places, not large enough to be a town, nor small enough to be a village – that is, a village in the rural, charming sense of the word. Melton had no charm about it. It was merely a non-descript collection of houses and buildings in a region of farms – one of those sad American places with sidewalks, but no paved streets; electric-lights, but no sewage; a station but no trains... Cora Jenkins was one of the least of the citizens of Melton. She was what the people referred to when they wanted to be polite, as a Negress, and when they wanted to be rude, as a nigger -sometimes adding the word "wench" for no good reason, for Cora was usually an inoffensive soul, except that she sometimes cussed."
Story is that part of the plot which represents the beginning of the collision and the collision itself. In L.Hughes's Cora Unashamed it is the arrival at Melton of a white boy, Joe, Cora's short love, and the birth of her baby.
Climax is the highest point of the action. In Cora Unashamed it is the death and burial of Cora's baby.
Denouement is the event or events that bring the action to an end. The story referred to (Part I) ends with Cora returning after the burial of her baby to work for the family of white folks: to nurse their baby.
There is no uniformity as far as the above mentioned elements, of the plot and their sequence in the text are concerned. Thus, among short stories, there are such which begin straight with the action (the conflict) without any exposition. Here is how Ring Lardner's story Haircut begins "I got another barber that comes from Carter-vine and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone", while others have no denouement in the conventional sense of the word (most of E. Hemingway's stories may serve as an example). A work of narrative prose that has all the elements mentioned above: exposition, story, climax, denouement as clearly discernable parts, is said to have a closed plot structure. This type of writing was most consistently cultivated by such American short story writers as W.Irving, E.Рое, N.Hawthorn, Bret Hart, H.James, O.Henry and others.
A literary work in which the action is represented without an obvious culmination, which does not contain all the above mentioned elements understood in their conventional sense, is said to have an open plot structure.
Plot structure is not a formal factor. It is as meaningful as any other component of the literary work: whether it is open or closed is conditioned entirely by the content. For illustration let us refer to the short story genre (which by the way, is considered by some writers to be the highest form of narrative prose). There are known two types of short stories:
1) A plot (action) short story. As a rule, this type has a closed structure, its plot being built upon one collision. The action dramatically develops only to explode at the very end; the sequence of events thus forms an ascending line from the exposition on to the climax and down to the denouement. O.Henry's stories reveal this pattern very well.
2) A psychological (character) short story. It generally shows the drama of a character's inner world. The structure in such a story is open. The traditional components of the plot are not clearly discernable and the action is less dynamic as compared to that of the plot short story. Many of E.Hemingway's stories are of such a type.
Speaking about the two types of short stories, i.e. the plot short story and the character short story, it should be emphasized that they do not represent the only types. The more usual is the so-called mixed type, which includes a great variety of stories ranging from psychological plot short stories (G. Greene's Special Duties) to short story-essays (S.Lewis's Americans in Italy, Mr. Eglantine) in each of which the specific content conditions its own form of representation, i.e. its own type of composition and plot-structure.
It is doubtless, that the content always bears within itself the nucleus of the form.

Plot Structure and Literary Time

Life events span in time; they make a sequence of the past, the present and the future. Each single event takes the place of one that has occurred before so that they all may be figured as forming one straight line.
Time in the literary work differs from natural, historical time. The narrative may begin at any moment in the life of the character and end at any other moment, which is not necessarily the one which chronologically follows the former. It may end with the event that preceded those given at the beginning or in the middle of the narrative. Time in the literary work is called literary or poetic, and its representation is conditioned by the laws of narrative literature and the work's content.
Composition. The subject matter of a literary work (the sequence of events, character collisions, etc.) may be represented in a variety of ways. Intuitively or not, an author chooses his technique according to his meaning.
The narration may be done in the first person, the narrator being either his own protagonist: "When I had first opened the door, I did not know what I was about to do; but now that I had seen her in her room, kneeling in prayer beside her bed, unaware that I was looking upon her and hearing her words and sobs, I was certain that I could never care for anyone else as I did for her. I had not known until then, but in the revelation of a few seconds I knew that I did love her. (E.Caldwell, Warm River); or focusing on another: "Oh, there were hundreds of things she had said. I remember everything, but I can't recall the words she used. I can't repeat them. She uttered them in a jumble of things. They had come from her lips like the jumbled parts of a cut-out puzzle. There was no man wise enough or patient enough to put the words in their correct order. If I attempted to put them together, there would be too many 'ands', and 'buts' and 'theys' and thousands of other words left over. They would make no sense in human ears. They were messages from her heart. Only feeling is intelligible there." (E.Caldwell)
The narration may be done in the third person. The narrator then focuses on some other character or characters. He may have direct knowledge of these and act as an observer. For instance. "He had been contemptuous of those who wrecked. You did not have to like it because you understood it. He could beat anything, he thought, because no thing could hurt him if he did not care. All right. Now he would not care for death. One thing he had always dreaded was the pain. He could stand pain as well as any man, until it went on too long, and wore him out, but here he had something that had hurt frightfully and just when he had felt it breaking him, the pain had stopped." (E.Hemingway The Snows of Kilimanjaro).
The narrator may have no direct relation to the persons he speaks about, he may not be present at all, be entirely anonymous, as in the following: "But the weather held clear, and by nightfall he knew that the men were certain to be holding his tracks. By nightfall Roy was too exhausted to be cunning, and he lay in his sleeping bag in the first dry corner he found in the rocks" (J.Aldridge The Hunter).
The narration, whatever it is: first-person, third-person, anonymous, rests on such forms as:
Interior monologue. The narrator as his own protagonist or the character he narrates about speaks to himself. "Soames moved along Piccadilly deep in reflections excited by his cousin's words. He himself had always been a worker and a saver, George always a drone and a spender; and yet, if confiscation once began, it was he – the worker and the saver – who would be looted! That was the negation of all virtue, the overturning of all Forsyte principles. Could civilization be built on any other? He did not think so." (J.Galsworthy To Let).
Dramatic monologue. The narrator (as his own protagonist) or a character speaks alone but there are those he addresses himself to, e. g. "I think you take too much care," said Winifred. "If I were you, I should tell her of that old matter. It's no good thinking that girls in these days are as they used to be. Where they pick up their knowledge I can't tell, but they seem to know everything." (J.Galsworthy To Let).
Dialogue. The speech of two or more characters addressed to each other. (The term is too obvious to need illustration.)
Narration. The presentation of events in their development, e.g. "The Collector had watched the arrest from the interior of the waiting-room, and throwing open its perforated doors of zinc, he was now revealed like a god in a shrine. When Fielding entered the doors clapped to, and were guarded by a servant, while punkah, to mark the importance of the moment, flapped dirty petticoats over their heads." (E.M.Forster A Passage to India).
Description. The presentation of the atmosphere, the scenery and the like of the literary work, e.g. "They are dark. Even when they open towards the sun, very little light penetrates down the entrance tunnel into the circular chamber. There is little to see, and no eye to see it, until the visitor arrives for his five minutes and strikes a match." (E.M.Forster A Passage to India).
All these forms of presentation, as a rule, interrelate in a literary text, with one or another of them standing out more prominent.
The arrangement and disposition of all the forms of the subject matter presentation make up the composition of the literary text.
Genre. The word "genre" which comes from French, where its primary meaning is "a kind", denotes in the theory of literature a historically formed type of literary work.
As with all other art categories it is the content that imposes upon the genre its peculiar limitations.
Who represents the aesthetic reality; what particular aspect of reality is represented; how is the time of represented events related to the time of speech – these and other factors are relevant to genre.
If it is outside events that are objectively narrated by an author, the genre is epic with narrative prose as its main variety.
If the author speaks about an aspect of reality reflected in his own inner world, if his emotions and meditations are represented without a clearly delimited thematic or temporal setting, the genre is lyric with lyric poetry as its main variety.
If it is present day conflicting events that are represented in the speech and actions of characters in their interrelation with each other, the genre is dramatic, with different types of plays as its main manifestations.
Another factor that delimits the genre of writing is the nature of the represented conflict (fatal for the main character, the hero, or, on the contrary, easily overcome by him) as well as the moral stand taken by the author and expressed in a peculiar emotive quality of writing (elevated, humorous, ironic, sarcastic). In accordance with this factor literary works are divided into tragedy, comedy and drama.
The volume of the represented subject matter is yet another factor which is relevant to genre. In narrative prose, for instance, the volume delimits such two main subdivisions within the genre as novel and short story. A short story is usually centered on one main character (protagonist), one conflict, one theme, while in a novel alongside the main theme there are several other, rival themes; several minor conflicts alongside the main conflict, rival characters alongside the main character.
An unalloyed manifestation of each of the above-mentioned factors makes what is known as "pure genre", the type of writing characteristic of ancient Greek and Roman literature as well as that of the Renaissance and Classicism periods. Shakespeare's great tragedies, for instance, be it Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, Julius Caesar or Macbeth represent each a fatal conflict for the main heroes. The action in each of these plays climbs to its culmination and ends in a catastrophe.
In modern literature (since the 18th century) mixed genres are prevalent. Thus, for instance, the elevated tragedy of Shakespearean days gave way to a mixture of tragedy and comedy or, tragedy and drama, etc.
The genre of a literary work materializes in a set of formal features imposed upon by the content. These formal features are: composition, plot structure, imagery, speech representation, rhythm, etc. Each genre as an invariant is manifested in different variants. Due to this fact we can apply the term "short story", for instance, to literary works written in different epochs and varying greatly in their content representation. Short works of W.Irving, Sh.Anderson, G.Greene; W.Faulkner and others are all known as short stories. For the same reason the work of H. Fielding Tom Johnes, the Foundling, Th.Dreiser's The Titan and W.Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury are known as novels.
Genre as any other art category is meaningful in two ways. First, because, as it has already been shown, it is delimited by the represented content, second, because, it itself carries a certain content. Take, for instance, the genre of a contemporary social-psychological novel. As a rule, its involved composition, intricate plot-structure, varied forms of speech representation, etc. are imposed by the complexity of the described phenomenon – contemporary life; at the same time all these genre-features of the novel with their complex interplay suggest the complexity of the represented content: contemporary life.
It should be said in conclusion, that genre changes with the passage of time. A writer in representing his subject matter exercises all the potentialities of the respective genre. In doing this he adds new features to the genre he resorts to, thus bringing about gradual changes in the genre. This holds true to the activities of many outstanding writers. Classics of the 19th century such as A.Pushkin, L.Tolstoi, F.Dostoyevsky, A.Chekhov, contemporary American authors E.Hemingway, Sh.Anderson and others have brought many new features into the novel and short story genres.

Comprehension Questions and Tasks

1. Expand on the idea that the reader’s appreciation of the book depends upon various factors.
2. Why do the images found in the literary work differ from life?
3. Comment on the idea that the perception of the literary work is a creative effort.
4. What relations exist between micro- and macro-elements?
5. Why is it harmful to separate the idea of the literary work from its verbal materialization?
6. What are the factors conditioning the incomplete representation of all images in a literary text?
7. What does the degree of incompleteness depend upon?
8. What is a poetic detail? Why is it defined as a functional category?
9. What is "verbal photography"?
10. Why do we consider analogy and contrast to be the organizing axis of poetic structure?
11. Why is the perception of the literary work content described as a recursive process?
12. What are the functions of the recurrence of an element?
13.  What are the major components of poetic structure of the literary work?
14. Expand on the following: "Literary image is thus the ‘language of literature’, the form of its existence."
15. What interrelation do all images in the literary work constitute?
16. What is the function of a micro-image within the poetic structure?
17. What is meant by "the surface layer of the story"?
18. What is the difference between the notions of ‘theme’ and ‘idea’?
19. What does the plot consist of?
20. State the difference between open-plot and closed-plot structure?
21. Why is plot structure considered to be a meaningful component of the literary work?
22. What are the basic types of short story?
23. How does the notion of time in the literary work differ from natural time?
24. How can the writer transform literary time?
25. What are the major narration techniques?
26. What are the main forms of presentation on which the narration rest?
27. What are the factors delimiting the genre of writing?
28. What are the formal features in which the genre of the literary work materializes itself?

 

A SAMPLE OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF PROSE PIECE

MRS. GENERAL

Charles Dickens

... Mrs. General was the daughter of a clerical dignitary in a cathedral town, where she had led the fashion until she was as near forty-five as a single lady can be. A stiff commissariat officer of sixty, famous as a martinet, had then become enamoured of the gravity with which she drove the proprieties four-in-hand through the cathedral town society, and had solicited to be taken beside her on the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed. His proposal of marriage being accepted by the lady, the commissary took his seat behind the proprieties with great decorum, and Mrs. General drove until the commissary died. In the course of their united journey they ran over several people who came in the way of the proprieties; but always in a high style, and with composure.
The commissary having been buried with all the decorations suitable to the service (the whole team of proprieties were harnessed to his hearse, and they all had feathers and black velvet housings, with his coat of arms in the corner), Mrs. General began to inquire what quantity of dust and ashes was deposited at the bankers'. It then transpired that the commissary had so far stolen a march on Mrs. General as to have bought himself an annuity some years before his marriage, and to have reserved that circumstance, in mentioning, at the period of his proposal, that his income was derived from the interest of his money Mrs. General consequently found her means so much diminishes that, but for the perfect regulation of her mind, she might have felt disposed to question the accuracy of that portion of the late service which had declared that the commissary could take nothing away with him.
In this state of affairs it occurred to Mrs. General that she might "form the mind", and eke the manners of some young lady of distinction. Or, that she might harness the proprieties to the carriage of some rich young heiress or widow, and become at once the driver and guard of such vehicle through the social mazes...
... In person, Mrs. General, including her skirts, which had much to do with it, was of a dignified and imposing appearance; ample, rustling, gravely voluminous; always upright behind the proprieties. She might have been taken— had been taken – to the top of the Alps and the bottom of Herculaneum, without disarranging a fold in her dress, or displacing a pin . If her countenance and hair had rather a floury appearance, as though from living in some transcendently genteel mill, it was rather because she was a chalky creation altogether, than because she mended her complexion with violet powder, or had turned grey. If her eyes had no expression, it was probably because they had nothing to express. If she had few wrinkles, it was because her mind had never traced its name or any other inscription on her face. A cool, waxy, blown-out woman, who had never lighted well.
Mrs. General had no opinions. Her way of forming a mind was to prevent it from forming opinions. She had a little circular set of mental grooves or rails on which she started little trains of other people's opinions, which never overtook one another, and never got anywhere. Even her propriety could not dispute that there was impropriety in the world; but Mrs. General's way of getting rid of it was to put it out of sight, and make believe that there was no such thing. This was another of her ways of forming a mind – to cram all articles of difficulty into cupboards, lock them up, and say they had no existence. It was the easiest way, and beyond all comparison, the properest.
Mrs. General was not to be told of anything shocking. Accidents, miseries, and offences, were never to be mentioned before her. Passion was to go to sleep in the presence of Mrs. General, and blood was to change to milk and water. The little that was left in the world, when all these deductions were made, it was Mrs. General's province to varnish. In that formation process of hers she dipped the smallest
of brushes into the largest of pots, and varnished the surface of every object that came under consideration. The more cracked it was, the more Mrs. General varnished it.
There was varnish in Mrs. General's voice, varnish in Mrs. General's touch, an atmosphere of varnish round Mrs. General's figure. Mrs. General's dreams ought to have been varnished–if she had any–lying asleep in the arms of the good St. Bernard, with the feathery snow falling on his housetop.

* * *

"Amy," said Mr. Dorrit, "you have just now been the subject of some conversation between myself and Mrs. General. We agree that you scarcely seem at home here. Ha–how is this?"
A pause.
"I think, father, I require a little time."
"Papa is a preferable mode of address," observed Mrs. General. "Father is rather vulgar, my dear. The word Papa, besides, gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism, are all very good words for the lips: especially prunes and prism. You will find it serviceable, in the formation of a demeanour, if you sometimes say to yourself in company—on entering a room, for instance—Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, prunes and prism."
"Pray, my child," said Mr. Dorrit, "attend to the—hum-precepts of Mrs. General."
Poor Little Dorrit, with a rather forlorn glance at that eminent varnisher, promised to try....
... Mr. Dorrit was even a little more fragmentary than usual; being excited on the subject, and anxious to make himself particularly emphatic.
"I do beg," he repeated, "that this may be attended to, and that you will seriously take pains and try to conduct yourself in a manner both becoming your position as—ha— Miss Amy Dorrit, and satisfactory to myself and Mrs. General."
That lady shut her eyes again, on being again referred to; then, slowly opening them and rising, added these words:
"If Miss Amy Dorrit will direct her own attention to, and will accept of my poor assistance in, the formation of a surface, Mr. Dorrit will have no further cause of anxiety. May I take this opportunity of remarking, as an instance in point, that it is scarcely delicate to look at vagrants with the attention which I have seen bestowed upon them by a very dear young friend of mine? They should not be looked at. Nothing disagreeable should ever be looked at. Apart from such a habit standing in the way of that graceful equanimity of surface which is so expressive of good breeding, it hardly seems compatible with refinement of mind. A truly refined mind will seem to be ignorant of the existence of anything that is not perfectly proper, placid, and pleasant." Having delivered this exalted sentiment, Mrs. General made a sweeping obedience, and retired with an expression of mouth indicative of Prunes and Prism.

Stylistic Analysis

The passage is an extract from Dickens's novel Little Dorrit. Dickens describes a certain Mrs. General, a snobbish and pretentious lady "whose task was to form the minds of the young ladies of distinction". The character of Mrs. General is a brilliant example of Dickens' biting irony.
The ironical treatment of the subject is seen from the very first lines. Mrs. General is presented as a driver "of the carriage of proprieties". The metaphor is sustained through the whole passage, so the reader inevitably associates Mrs. General with "the cool coach of ceremony" with a pompous and pretentious behavior that was calculated to impress the people, and thus win Mrs. General a high reputation in bourgeois society. Mrs. General and her husband acted as paragons of virtue and condemned any breach of conduct with pitiless cruelty. Their behavior is revealed through the metaphor which is prolonged involving relevant details "of their united journey'. "In the course of their united journey'' Mrs. General and her husband "ran over several people who came in the way of the proprieties", in other words they treated people ruthlessly and ruined many a reputation. It was done, however, "in a high style, and with composure".
The first paragraph introduces Mrs. General as a lady who had "led the fashion" or metaphorically speaking "drove the carriage of proprieties". The central image of the metaphor, that of a driver of "the coach of ceremony" is sustained through a series of contributory images as to "four-in-hand" (she drove the proprieties four in hand), "the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed", "in the course of their united journey", "they ran over several people", etc.
In the second paragraph one should note a peculiar use of the word "hearse", in its direct meaning it is a part of reality (Mr. General's funeral), on the other hand, in the macro-context it is a part of the sustained metaphor of the first paragraph ("the coach of ceremony").
In the third paragraph the same image is further developed and enhanced through the use of the synonyms ("coach", "carriage", "vehicle"); note the unity of the imagery used by Dickens. All the contextual synonyms develop the same idea, that of Mrs. General's drive "through the social mazes".
The choice of epithets employed by Dickens to describe this "accomplished lady" reveals his ironic attitude to her. The main idea expressed through the epithets is to show Mrs. General as an absolutely cold and indifferent woman devoid of any human feeling or emotion "a cool, waxy, blown-out woman". The metaphoric epithet "blown-out" is humorously commented on: "who had never lighted well".
"She was a chalky creation altogether", "dignified", "imposing", "gravely voluminous", but "upright", utterly devoid of any expression. "If her eyes had no expression, it was probably because they had nothing to express". The cold and lifeless qualities of Mrs. General are enhanced through the use of a hyperbole "She might have been taken— had been taken—to the top of the Alps and the bottom of Herculaneum, without disarranging a fold in her dress, or displacing a pin".
Mrs. General's inner qualities are in full harmony with her appearance: "Mrs. General had no opinions. She had a little circular set of mental grooves or rails on which she started little trains of other people's opinions". The description of Mrs. General's method of "forming a mind" is done through a prolonged metaphor whose central image is a "circular set" of "grooves" or "rails". It is but natural that no knowledge could be acquired under such a teacher as the "rails" led nowhere.
The other no less relevant feature of Mrs. General's method was to conceal "the impropriety" of the world. Mrs. General's task was to get rid of it, "to put it out of sight", "and make believe that there was no such thing". A series of synonymical repetitions is arranged climatically ending in a prolonged metaphor which is the top of the climax: "to cram all articles of difficulty into cupboards, lock them up, and say they had no existence".
One should note the syntactical arrangement of this paragraph: the use of epiphoric repetition in the first part of the paragraph (the word "opinion" is repeated three times which attracts the reader's attention and brings home to him the utter stupidity and mental mediocrity of Mrs. General and the fashionable set of society in which she rules).

The next paragraph begins with the topical sentence: "Mrs. General was not to be told of anything shocking". The author dwells on Mrs. General's indifferent, cold and snobbish approach to life, – all human feelings and sufferings were alien to her—this attitude towards life is revealed through the syntactical SD of parallelism which includes two periphrastic constructions: the first based on metaphor and the second on metonymy. "Passion was to go to sleep in the presence of Mrs. General and blood was to change to milk and water". Concluding the ironical description of Mrs. General Dickens dwells on her ability "to varnish" "the little that was left in the world, when all these deductions were made'. The metaphor "varnish" exposes Mrs. General as a false and hypocritical creature who deliberately tried to distort reality through the use of sugary lies, so that the dark and squalid aspects of life seemed quite respectable and even pleasant in her interpretation, "...she varnished the surface of every object that came under consideration. The more cracked it was, the more Mrs. General varnished it."
The ironical effect is achieved by the use of the prolongation of the metaphor "varnish" and by the use of the repetition of the word "varnish" throughout the whole paragraph.
In the last passage Mrs. General's method can be seen in practice. Dickens ridicules its foolish pretentiousness and snobbery.
Note the humorous effect created by the nouns "selected on euphonic principle" and forcibly joined together; the SD of alliteration adds to the humorous effect produced by the enumeration of these nouns: "papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism".
Summing up the analysis of the character of Mrs. General which is the subject-matter of the chapter one should say that Dickens brilliantly uses imagery, mostly metaphors prolonged and developed throughout the passage, which help to reveal Mrs. General's nature. All EMs and SDs employed by Dickens are keyed to the purpose of exposing Mrs. General; her snobbery, coldness, cruelty and hypocrisy are the objects of the author's ridicule and biting irony.
The syntactical SDs add much to the impact created by the lexical EMs and SDs. One should note the unity of thought and the coherence in the development of each paragraph of the passage, the apt use of parallel constructions, climax and repetition.

THE JAPANESE QUINCE

 John Galsworthy

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) set out to satirize the Victorian upper-middle class whom he saw as reducing everything to property values including life itself. His works show some parts of the daily life of ordinary people in a realistic way that often contains social and political criticism. The writer combines the description of social and political evils with great sympathy for the people who hopelessly and helplessly suffer them.

As Mr. Nilson, well known in the City, opened the window of his dressing-room on Campden Hill, he experienced a peculiar sweetish sensation in the back of his throat, and a feeling of emptiness just under his fifth rib. Hooking the window back, he noticed that a little tree in the Square Gardens had come out in blossom, and that the thermometer stood at sixty. 'Perfect morning,' he thought; 'spring at last!'
Resuming some meditations on the price of Tintos, he took up an' ivory-backed hand-glass and scrutinized his face. His firm, well-coloured cheeks, with their neat brown moustaches, and his round, well-opened, clear grey eyes, wore a reassuring appearance of good health. Putting on his black frock-coat, he went downstairs.
In the dining-room his morning paper was laid out on the sideboard. Mr. Nilson had scarcely taken it in his hand when he again became aware of that queer feeling. Somewhat concerned, he went to the French window and descended the scrolled iron steps into the fresh air. A cuckoo clock struck eight.
'Half an hour to breakfast,' he thought; I’ll take a turn in the Gardens.'
He had them to himself, and proceeded to pace the circular path with his morning paper clasped behind him. He had scarcely made two revolutions, however, when it was borne in on him that, instead of going away in the fresh air, the feeling had increased. He drew several deep breaths, having heard deep breathing recommended by his wife's doctor; but they augmented rather than diminished the sensation—as of some sweetish liquor in course within him, together with a faint aching just above his heart. Running over what he had eaten the night before, he could recollect no unusual dish, and it occurred to him that it might possibly be some smell affecting him. But he could detect nothing except a faint sweet lemony scent, rather agreeable than otherwise, which evidently emanated from the bushes budding in the sunshine. He was on the point of resuming his promenade, when a blackbird close by burst into song, and looking up, Mr. Nilson saw at a distance of perhaps five yards4 a little tree, in the heart of whose branches the bird was perched. He stood staring curiously at this tree,
recognizing it for that which he had noticed from his window. It was covered with young blossoms, pink and white, and little bright green leaves both round and spiky; and on all this blossom and these leaves the sunlight glistened. Mr. Nilson smiled; the little tree was so alive and pretty! And instead of passing on, he stayed there smiling at the tree.
'Morning like this!' he thought; 'and here I am the only person in the Square who has the—to come out and—!' But he had no sooner conceived this thought than he saw quite near him a man with his hands behind him, who was also staring up and smiling at the little tree. Rather taken aback, Mr. Nilson ceased to smile, and looked furtively at the stranger. It was his next-door neighbour, Mr. Tandram, well known in the City, who had occupied the adjoining house for some five years. Mr. Nilson perceived at once the awkwardness of his position, for, being married, they had not yet had occasion to speak to one another. Doubtful as to his proper conduct, he decided at last to murmur 'Fine morning!' and was passing on, when Mr.Tandram answered: 'Beautiful, for the time of year!' Detecting a slight nervousness in his neighbour's voice, Mr. Nilson was emboldened to regard him openly. He was of about Mr Nilson's own height, with firm, well-coloured cheeks, neat brown moustaches, and round, well-opened, clear grey eyes; and he was wearing a black frock-coat. Mr. Nilson noticed that he had his morning paper clasped behind him as he looked up at the little tree. And visited somehow by the feeling that he had been caught out, he said abruptly:
'Er-can you give me the name of that tree?'
Mr. Tandram answered:
'I was about to ask you that,' and stepped towards it. Mr. Nilson also approached the tree.
'Sure to have its name on, I should think,' he said.
Mr. Tandram was the first to see the little label, close to where the blackbird had been sitting. He read it out.
'Japanese quince!'
'Ah!' said Mr. Nilson, 'thought so. Early flowerers.'
'Very,' assented Mr. Tandram, and added: 'Quite a feelin' in the air today.'
Mr. Nilson nodded.
'It was a blackbird singin,' he said.
'Blackbirds,' answered Mr. Tandram. 'I prefer them to thrushes myself; more body in the note. And he looked at Mr. Nilson in an almost friendly way.
'Quite,' murmured Mr. Nilson. 'These exotics, they don't
bear fruit. Pretty blossom!' and he again glanced up at the blossom, thinking: 'Nice fellow, this, I rather like him.'
Mr. Tandram also gazed up at the blossom. And the little tree, as if appreciating their attention, quivered and glowed. From a distance the blackbird gave a loud, clear call. Mr. Nilson dropped his eyes. It struck him suddenly that Mr. Tandram looked a little foolish; and, as if he had seen himself, he said: 'I must be going in. Good morning!'
A shade passed over Mr. Tandram's face, as if he, too, had suddenly noticed something about Mr. Nilson.
'Good morning,' he replied, and clasping their journals to their backs they separated.
Mr. Nilson retraced his steps towards his garden window, walking slowly so as to avoid arriving at the same time as his neighbour. Having seen Mr. Tandram mount his scrolled iron steps, he ascended his own in turn. On the top step he paused.
With the slanting spring sunlight darting and quivering into it, the Japanese quince seemed more living than a tree. The blackbird had returned to it, and was chanting out his heart.
Mr. Nilson sighed; again he felt that queer sensation, that choky feeling in his throat.
The sound of a cough or sigh attracted his attention. There, in the shadow of his French window, stood Mr. Tandram, also looking forth across the Gardens at the little quince tree.
Unaccountably upset, Mr. Nilson turned abruptly into the house, and opened his morning paper.

TASKS:
1. Answer the following questions:
1. What was Mr. Nilson's social status? 2. Why did Mr. Nilson decide to take a turn in the Gardens before breakfast? 3. How did Mr. Nilson try to explain the peculiar sensation affecting him? 4. What was Mr. Nilson's reaction at seeing the little tree in blossom? 5. What made the little tree look so alive? 6. What did Mr. Nilson know about Japanese quince? 7. Why was Mr. Nilson taken aback at finding out that he was not alone in the-Gardens? 8. How are the characters of the two neighbours related to each other? 9. Why did Mr. Tandram suddenly seem a little foolish to his neighbour? 10. What could Mr. Tandram have suddenly noticed about Mr. Nilson? 11. Why did Mr. Nilson try to avoid arriving home at the same time as his neighbour? 12. What made the two neighbours look and act so much alike? 13. How does the fact that the two neighbours present an exact replica of one another bear on the interpretation of the story? 14. What role does the little tree play in the story? 15. What is the author's attitude toward what he tells? 16. What kind of emotions and thoughts does the story evoke in the reader?
2. Give your observations as to:
a) the type (genre) of the story; b) the theme of the story; c) the means by which artistic effect is achieved; d) the details that help to create the atmosphere of an early spring morning; e) the symbolic character of the situation described; f) analyze the use of micro-components and dwell on their stylistic effect.