文體學(xué)eecummings詩歌分析

1、Analysison(E.ec)um!Mi,n,g-spoem:r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-rr-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-rr-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-rWhoa)sw(eloo)kUpnowgathPPEGORHRASSeringint(o-laaThe:)leArea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly,grasshopper;Apossibletranslation:AgrasshopperwhowelookupnowgatheringaGRASSHOPPERintoleaps:arrivinggrasshopperrearranginglyb

2、ecomeagrasshopperIntroductionE.E.Cummings,bornin1894,wasanAmericanpoet,painter,essayist,author,andplaywright.Hisbodyofworkencompassesapproximately2,900poems,twoautobiographicalnovels,fourplaysandseveralessays,aswellasnumerousdrawingsandpaintings.Heisrememberedasapreeminentvoiceof20thcenturypoetry,as

3、wellasoneofthemostpopular.Helovedcubismandfuturisminpainting,whilealltheachievementshemadeinotherareascanhardlybecomparedwithwhathedidinpoetry.Ingeneral,hispoemscanbeclassifiedinto3categories:BluesPoetry,whichjustliketheBluesmusic,utilizeslyric,rhythmandrhyme,andsharessomesimilarthemessuchaslostlove

4、;concretepoetry,inwhichtypographicalarrangementofthewordsisimportantinconveyingtheeffectandelementsofthepoem;futurist,whichbelievesthattheconstraintsofsyntaxwereinappropriatetomodernlifeandthatitdidnottrulyrepresentthemindofthepoet.Syntaxwouldserveasafilterinwhichanalogieshadtobeprocessedandsoanalog

5、ieswouldlosetheircharacteristicstupefaction.Inhispoetry,meterwasrejectedandthewordwasthetopconcern.Inthisway,hewasabletocreateanowlanguagefreeofsyntaxpunctuationandfulloffreeexpression.Attachedtohisfreeandcreativewayofrelating,Iwouldliketogiveabriefstylisticanalysisofhisfamouspoem:r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-

6、g-r.Theexaminationwilldealwithphonological,graphological,lexical,syntactical,andsemanticanalysesrespectively.GraphologicalFeatures1) PunctuationE.E.Cummingshadaconstantloveforpunctuation,especiallyinarandomway.Hyphensareusedtolinktherandomlyspelledletters,whichcreatesanimpressionofcoherencebracketsa

7、reusedtolimitthelettersintoacertainspace,suchas(eloo),inordertocreateaneffectofclosurewhichcoperatewiththephraseofgetinto.Exclamatorymarksareusedtocreateaneffectofbouncing,whichcharacterizesthemotionsofthegrasshopper.Colonsarealsousedtoattractreadersattention.ThepunctuationtakesupanorganicpartoftheC

8、ummingsspoems；however,itconsistsonlyanauxiliarypartsomeotherpoems.Itseemsclearthatfromtheperspectiveofmodernism,everypartofthepoemcancontributetothewholenessofitspoeticeffect.Punctuationsareendowedwithasenseoffreshnessandnoveltyincummingspoetry.2) CapitalizationCapitalizationaswellasdecapitalization

9、isadevicefrequentlyappliedinCummingspoetry.Thebasicfunctionofthesedevicesistoemphasis.Takehisnameforexample,heusuallyspelledhisnamease.e.cummingstoillustratehisownself-identificationthathewasnothingmoreimportantordistinguishedthanothersandinaddition,hewantedhimselftobemodest.Inthispoem,therearetwoou

10、tstandingcapitalizationswhichcatchmyeyes:PPEGORHRASSandgRrEaPsPhOs.Thesetwoachievetheeffectofforegrounding.Seenfromadistance,thesetwowordscancallreadersattentionmoreeasilyandsuccessfully.PPEGORHRASS,throughproperarrangement,canformthewordgrasshopper.Thefirstgrasshopperinthispoemisdecapitalizedandisl

11、inkedbyhyphenssothatcreateapictureofagrasshoppercrawlsorstayswithnoapparentmotions,whilebyhighlightingthewordPPEGORHRASS,thepicturesuddenlybecomedynamic,andthegrasshopperallofasuddenbecomeactive,whicharousestheinterestofthereadersandaddsvitalityintothepoem.AnotherexampleisgRrEaPsPhOs.Aswecansee,thes

12、econdhalfofthepoemtakestheshapeofagrasshopper(Iwillcoverthispointshortlyafterwards.),andthroughthepictureIgaveabove,thiswordgRrEaPsPhOsisexactlytheabdomenofthisinsect.Judgingfromourcommonsense,weknowwhatexternalformitis.Andarrangementofthelettersinthiswaycanjustdepicttheabdomenofaninsectwithstripes.

13、Here,wecanseethatthroughthedevicesofcapitalizationanddecapitalization,thepoetcanachieveafar-reachingdenotativemeaningaswellasapicturesqueeffect.3) ParagraphingByparagraphing,wemeanthewayinwhichatextisdividedintoparagraphs.Andthispoemisdividedintotwohalves.Thefirsthalfisinwordsandinthesecondhalf,thes

14、hapeofagrasshopperiscomposed.Theresultisthatwhenwereadthispoem,wearewelcomedbyashortintroductionandagrasshopperatthebottomofthepoem.Thewayhedividedthispoemisquitecreativeandimaginative.Itmakesabreakthroughinthetraditionalformofpoetryandsetfootincombiningpoemswithpictures,orcomposingpicturesinletters

15、.Itchallengespeoplescommonunderstandingofpoetryandprovidesabroaderviewofmodernism.4) GraphicsignsGraphicsignsarefrequentlyusedincummingspoems,forthispartisanindispensablecomponentinhisexpressionofhisthoughts.Thispoemisavisualpoem.Theshapeofhispoemcanalsoconveycertainmeaning,forexample,thispoemisarra

16、ngedintheshapeofagrasshopper;anotherpoemofhistooktheshapeofacat.Thegraphicsignindicatesthethemeofhispoemandalsobecomesatricktothereaderseyesandcreatesadifferentandimaginativewayofcomposingaswellasreadingapoem.Anothertrickplayedbycummingsisenjambment,inwhichthewordsjumpfromlinetolinerandomlyandwaitfo

17、rthereadertorearrangethem.Inthispoem,thisfeatureisquiteobvious.Thispoemissaidtocreateafigureofanerraticgrasshopperandjumpingisinvolvedinitsnature.Oureyesmovefromsidetosidetocatchthetraceofthegrasshopper,otherwise,weruntheriskoflosingourselvesinthepoem.Inadditiontoenjambment,thepoemsleavemuchroomform

18、argins.Thebouncingofthelettersinthefirstparagraphcreateslargechunkofmargininthemiddleofthepoem.Insteadofcallingforpausingorintrospectiveasthemarginsinotherliteratureworks,thischunkofmarginisnotprovidedfortherestoftheeyesbutforexercises.Byconstantlymovingtheeyefromsidetosidecanheunderstandsthepoemand

19、alsogetsasenseofthedynamicmovementoftheinsectasiftherewereagrasshopperonthepaper,beforetheeye.Thisisoneofthemajorfunorpowerofe.e.cummingspoetry.Hesuccessfullycombinesvisualeffectwithwrittenforms.5) SpellingMisspellingisanotherdeviceenjoyscummingsfavor.Ineachlineofhispoem,oneshouldnottakeitsspellingi

20、ntoseriousconsideration,buttoreaditoutloudasawholeandnotinparenthesesasoneword.Forexample,r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r,onlybyunderstandingwithproperinsightcanwecatchtherealformofthewordandfollowthepoetsintention.exicalfeatures1) TheuseofspecificwordsIncummingspoems,subordinatewordsareusedmoreregularlythant

21、hesuperordinateones.Inthispoem,suchasgrasshopper,lookup,leapandsoon.Subordinatewordsareeasierforpeopletounderstandandgivepeopleamorespecificviewofthecontentofthepoem.2) TheuseofconnotativewordsInpoems,especiallyinmodernpoems,weareencounteredtonsofsymbols,whichhaveconnotativemeaningaswellasdenotative

22、meaning.Suchwordscallforreaderspausingandretrospective.However,incummingspoems,therearehardlyanywordwithdenotativemeaning.,Grasshopperissimplytheinsectandleapisjustthemotionofthislittleinsect.Thewordsheredonotcarryafar-reachingsymbolicmeaningandthus,thepoemisplainanddirectenoughforreaderstounderstan

23、d.3) TheuseofdynamicwordsInthispoem,asitdepictsthefigureofagrasshopper,thepoetusesdynamicwordstorecapturetheerraticandjumpymannerofthisinsect,suchastheverblookup,gather,arrive,become,allofwhichmakethepicturefullofvitality.Thesewords,togetherwiththeemjambment,makethepicturequitevividanditseemsthatthe

24、wholepoemjustjumpsoutthepaperandbecomesalive.Thesewordsaretocummingspoemswhatstrokesistohispaintings.4) TheuseofmonosyllabicwordsThesimplewordscharacterizethepoemsofcummings,rangingfrominJust-toalikea.Allhispoemsavoidtheuseofpolysyllabicwords.Inthispoem,simplewordslikeleap,now,lookupareapplied.Short

25、andsimple,thesewordsaddthebouncingflavortothispoemratherthanlongwords,whichmakethepoemheavyandawkward.5) Non-formationThewordrearranginglyisawordnewlycreatedbycummings,likethecaseofballoonManininJust-.Byforminganewword,thepoetcansuccessfullycatchtheeyesofreaders.Andthiswordliesatthebottomofthepoem,w

26、hichindicatesthatthekeyofunderstandingthepoemistore-arrangeit.Whatismore,non-formationaddsasenseofnewnesstothepoem,attractingthereadersandexpressingthepoetsideainacreativeway,thus,fulfillsthecharactersofmodernism.6) AccessibilityWeoftenuseFogIndextotesttheaccessibilityofanarticleorapassage,foraccess

27、ibilityismoreoftenthannotaproblemfornon-poemwork.Wetakeitforgrantedthatpoetryarealwaysaccessible.Inthispoem:FogIndex=0.4(L+H)=0.4*(9+0)=3.6Merelyreferringtothisindex,wecansaythatthepoemshouldbequiteaccessible;however,thefactisfarfromthecase.ThereasonliesinUngrammaticality,whichcharacterizesmostofcum

28、mingspoetry.Ungrammaticalitymakesthepoeminnovativeandcreative,lexicallyandsemantically,ononehand;ontheotherhand,itdecreasestheaccessibilityofthepoem.Bydecreasingtheaccessibilityofthepoem,thepoetwinstheattentionandcuriosityofthereaders,forpoetrymustbereadwhole-heartedlyandcreatively.Properinaccessibi

29、litycanhelptoachievethepoeticeffectandartisticsophisticationandincreasesthereadersaestheticcomprehension.Syntheticfeatures1) WordorderHispoemisfullofwordsinvertedintothesentence.Thewordsarearrangedrandomlysoastoasenseofdeliberatemass.Especiallyforthispoem,theinvertedwordsevenlettershelpcreateaneffec

30、tofbouncingandthedisorderofthewordshelpmakethepoemavisualpoem.2) GrammaticalityActually,cummingsspoemshardlyfollowanystrictgrammaticalrules.Thenon-grammaticalwayofcomposingcharacterizeshispoetryanderectscummingsasoneofthemosteminentpoetsofthe20scentury.Thisnotonlyshowshisdistinguishedwayofcreation,b

31、utalsohisveryqualityofinnovation,whichconstantlychallengestheconvention.Hestronglyopposedthetraditionalwayofwritingpoems.Itishispoemthatgivesusabrand-newunderstandingofpoetry.Thatisanotherwayofrealizingforegroundingordefamiliarization,thusdrawingattentiontohowhesayssomethingratherthantowhathesaysand

32、givingunusualsignificancetothevisualeffectsofthepoetry.3) SentencelengthAsIhavementionedabove,cummingsspoemsarefamousforitsvisualeffect.Basedonthisfoundation,hispoemsallshareasimilarity,namely,understandability.Letaloneitsnewfangledform,aslongasonegetthelettersorwordsright,itwouldnotbedifficultforpe

33、opletounderstandit.Inaddition,thewordsinthepoemarealsocomparativelyshortcorrespondingtothemotionsoftheinsects.Thereisnocomplexsentenceorhardwordsinthepoemwhichsetnoverbalobstacles.Thankstotheshortsentences,hispoemsarecreativeanddonotsetartificialobstaclestotheunderstandingandinterpretingtohispoem.Se

34、manticfeatures1) FigureofspeechSemanticfeaturesinthispoemmainlylieintherhetoricaldevices.Themostsignificantoneisrepetition.Thewordgrasshopperoccursthreetimesinthispoem.Thefunctionofthisistolayemphasisonthetitleandthethemeofthispoem.Inaddition,repetitioncanachievetheeffectofforegrounding.Seenfromadistance,thesewordscanarriveatthepointofhighlighting,visuallyandsensuou