Syntactical Stylistic Devices
Richard Arlington
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There are several patters of stylistic inversion which are common in English:
1) the object is placed at the beginning of the sentence: Talent, Mr. Micawber has; capital, Mr. Micawber has not (“David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens);
2) the attribute is placed after the word it modifies: Among them stood tulips - the red, like thin blown bubbles of dark wine (Richard Arlington; 8 July 1892, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England – 27 July 1962, Sury-en-Vaux, Cher, France);
3) the predicative or part of it is placed before the subject: beautiful are those flowers;
4) the adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence: In went Mr. Pickwick (“The Pickwick Papers” by Charles Dickens);
5) both adverbial modifier and predicate stand before the subject.
Samuel Dashiell Hammett
Ernst Hemingway
Jerome Klapka Jerome
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Polysyndeton is an instant repetition of connectives in an utterance. It also has a strong rhythmic effect. Besides, it strengthens the idea of equal logical importance of connected sentences or their parts: They were all three from Milan, and one of them was to be a lawyer, and one was to be a painter, and one had intended to be a soldier, and after we were finished with the machines, sometimes we walked back together to the Cafe Cova… (“In Another Country” by Ernst Hemingway;July 21, 1899, Oak Park, Illinois – July 2, 1961, Ketchum, Idaho).
Climax is the repetition of the elements of the sentence in the gradual increase in the quality, quantity or emotional coloring of the sentence: Do what he would, a smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face; the smile extended into a laugh; the laugh into a roar; the roar became general (Chapter 19, “The Pickwick Papers” by Charles Dickens).
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The negative form of climax consists in the absence of substance or quality that is being emphasized. The relative synonyms are arranged not in the ascending, but in the descending order: “Be careful,” said Mr. Jingle—“not a look.” “Not a wink,” said Mr. Tupman. “Not a syllable.” “Not a whisper.” (“The Pickwick Papers” by Charles Dickens).
There are logical, emotional and quantitative types of climax. The most widely spread model is a three-step structure. In emotive climax it is a rather a two-step structure: He is helpless, he is so very helpless.
Anticlimax is the opposite of climax. The final element is obviously weaker in degree or lower in status than the previous ones. It is an unexpected turn of the thought that defeats the expectations of the reader or listener. It usually creates a humorous effect: People tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the thing just as well (“Three Man in a Boat” by Jerome. K. Jerome; 2 May 1859, Walsall, Staffordshire, England – 14 June 1927, Northampton, England).
Suspense is a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence. To hold the reader in suspensemeans to keep the final solution just out of sight. This solution is given at the end: If you had any part – I don’t say what – in this attack, or if you know anything about it – I don’t say how much, – or if you know who did it – I go no closer – You did an injury to me that’s never to be forgotten.
Antithesis is a structure that stresses a sharp contrast in meaning between the parts of the sentence: art is long, life is short. The main function of this stylistic device is to show the heterogeneous character of the described phenomena, to show that these phenomena are a dialectical unity of two or more opposing features.
Litotes is a stylistic device which presents a two-component structure in which two negations are joined to give a positive evaluation: not unkindly means kindly. But the positive effect is weakened. It reflects the lack of the speaker’s confidence. The first component of litotes is always the particle not, the second component, negative in meaning, varies from a negatively affixed word to a negative phrase. The function of this stylistic device is to weaken the effect of the utterance. The Russian литота corresponds to the English understatement.
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Rhetorical question is a peculiar interrogative construction which semantically remains a statement. It doesn’t demand any information. It serves to express the emotions of the speaker and call the attention of the listener. Rhetorical questions are an inseparable part of rhetorical and oratory speech, because they successfully emphasize the speaker’s idea. The most common structure of rhetorical question is a negative interrogative sentence: who doesn’t know Shakespeare? However, the negation may be implied: may the leopard change its spots? Or it may also contain some irony: since when are you interested in such things?
Parallel constructions is a stylistic device which is based on recurrence of syntactically identical sequences, which are lexically different, completely or partially. It is also called syntactical repetition. Its function is to strengthen the emotional impact or expressiveness of the description. It also strongly affects the rhythmical organization of the utterance. It is often used in poetry, but when used in prose it serves to give it the quality of poetry: She was a good servant, she walked softly; she was a determined woman, she walked precisely (Graham Greene).
Repetition is the recurrence of identical lexemes to increase the degree of emotion.
Depending on the position of the repeated elements, we can distinguish four types of repetition:
1. Anaphora is the repetition of the first word or word-group in several successive phrases, clauses or sentences: I love your hills and I love your dales. And I love your flocks a-bleating (“The Devon Maid” by John Keats; 31 October 1795, Moorgate, London, England – 23 February 1821, Rome, Italy).
2. Epiphora is the repetition of the final word or word-group in several successive phrases, clauses or sentences: I wake up and I’m alone, and I walk round Warlley and I’m alone, and I talk with people and I’m alone (John Gerard Braine; 13 April 1922, Bingley, near Bradford, Yorkshire – 28 October 1986).
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3. Anadiplosis is the repetition at the beginning of the ensuing phrase, clause or sentence of a word-group that has occurred in initial, the middle or the final position of the preceding word-sequence: With Benwick on my knee, I was then happy: happy at least in my own way.
4. Framing (ring repetition) is the repetition of the same unit at the beginning and at the end of the same sentence or paragraph: How beautiful is the rain!// After the dust and the heat,// In the broad and fiery street// In the narrow lane// How beautiful is the rain! (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807, Portland, Maine – March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts).
Chiasmus (reversed parallelism) is the repetition of the same structure, but in the opposite order of elements: Down dropped the breeze. The sails dropped down (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).
Ellipsis is a stylistic device which consists in omission of some parts of the sentence that are easily understood from the context or situation. In colloquial speech it is not a stylistic device, it just serves to make the speech more compact. As a stylistic device ellipsis may give the construction additional emotional or expressive coloring: no avarice, no anxiety, no wild desire; all gentle, tranquil, and at peace (“The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens).
Byron in 1824
John Galsworthy
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Represented speech is the use of speech of a character as if it were the author’s speech. There are two types of represented speech: uttered and unuttered.
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The uttered represented speech is the speech of a character in the author’s words: To horse! To horse! He quits, forever quits.// A scene of peace… (George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron; 22 January 1788, London, England, Great Britain – 19 April 1824, Missolonghi, Aetolia-Acarnania, Ottoman Empire).
The unuttered represented speech represents the thoughts and feelings of a character: An idea has occurred to Soames. His cousin Joylon was Irene’s trustee, the first step would be to go go down and see him at Robin Hill. (“The Foresyte Saga” by John Galsworthy; 14 August 1867, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England – 31 January 1933, London, England).
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