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A Stylistic Analysis of Four Poems Read at American Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies

Author: FanQiong
Tutor: HuangChongZhen
School: Central South University for Nationalities
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: stylistic analysis foregrounding cohesion four inaugural poems
CLC: H315
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 30
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Abstract

Among the fruitful studies on stylistic theories and stylistic analysis, the theory of foregrounding is probably the most important theory and foregrounding analysis is arguably the most significant part of the stylistic analysis in poetry. Based on Leech’s divisions and Short’s theory, a new pattern to illustrate the realization of foregrounding is constructed, in which both the linguistic deviation and overregularity produce foregrounding in English poetry. Meantime, cohesion is also a vital approach to analyze English text; therefore, based on the cohesion theory of Halliday and Hasan, a new cohesive pattern to analyze poems is also constructed. The thesis aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the two patterns in analyzing stylistic features of four inaugural poems and then to provide a new perspective to evaluate the meaning and aesthetic as well as other values of the English poetry.Poetry, as a unique genre of literature, enjoys high prestige of artistic value and great popularity in the literary field. Of the 44 US Presidents to have been elected, only three have invoked four inauguration poems to be read at their inaugural ceremonies. The four inaugural poems are written by four distinguished poets and more importantly, there are few studies abroad and at home on the four inaugural poems, let alone the stylistic analysis on them.The thesis begins with a generalization of basic theory of stylistics and stylistic analysis, and then by applying the new patterns of producing foregrounding and cohesion, the author makes a detailed analysis of the four inaugural poems from the perspectives of deviation, overregularity and cohesion. The analysis demonstrates that the foregrounding effect achieved by graphological deviation, lexical deviation and semantic deviation gives prominence to the themes of the poems and enables the four poems to coincide with the atmosphere of the grand ceremony. It is also proved that the foregrounding effect achieved by the phonological, lexical and grammatical overregularity serves effectively for the power of poetry for political sphere as an intensifier. After the analysis of foregrounding, some features of cohesion are also analyzed, which reveals the deeper themes and the historical backgrounds of the inaugural poems, making the poems more accessible to readers.Through careful analysis, it is concluded that the new patterns from two perspectives--- foregrounding and cohesion are very powerful tools of English poetry analysis for the interpretation of its practical value and power, which provides us with a new perspective to appreciate and evaluate more values and power of English poetry.

A Stylistic Analysis of Four Poems Read at American Presidential Inauguration Ceremonies

Abstract

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