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THE ESSENTIALS OF STYLISCTICS

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THE ESSENTIALS OF STYLISCTICS
 PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

ONOMATOPOEIA is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced

in nature, by things, by people and by animals.
E.g.: ding-dong, buzz, bang, cuckoo, roar, ping-pong, etc.

ALLITERATION is the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonants, in close

succession, often in the initial position.
E.g.: "Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting,
dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." (E. A. Poe)

RHYME is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words. In verse
rhyming words are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.
E.g.: "I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers." (internal rhyme) (Shelly)

RHYTHM is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of

elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different element or
features.
E.g.: "The high-sloping roof, of a fine sooty pink was almost Danish, and two 'ducky ' little
windows looked out of it, giving an impression that every tall servant lived up there" (J.
Galsworthy)

LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

BATHOS means bringing together unrelated elements as they denoted things equal in rank or
belonging to one class, as if they were of the same stylistic aspect. By being forcibly linked
together, the elements acquire a slight modification of meaning.
E.g.: "They grieved for those who perished with the cutter And also for the biscuit-casks and
butter." (Byron)

METAPHOR means transference of some quality from one object to another. In other words, it
describes one thing in terms of another, creating an implicit comparison.
E.g.: "In a caverni under is fettered the thunder, It struggles and howls at fits? (Shelly)

PERSONIFICATION is a description of an object or an idea as if it were a human being.

E.g.: The long arm of the law will catch him in the end.

METONYMY is the term used when the name of an attribute or object is substituted for the
object itself. It is based on some kind of association connecting two concepts which are
represented by the dictionary and contextual meanings.
E.g.: the Stage = the theatrical profession; the Crown = the King or Queen; a hand = a worker;
etc.

Metonуmу is a transfer of the name of one object to another with which it is in some way
connected.
E.g.: The hall applauded.

IRONY is a figure of speech by means of which a word or words express the direct opposite of
what their primary dictionary meanings denote.
E.g.: It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one pocket.

Irony is the clash of two opposite meanings within the same context, which is sustained in oral
speech by intonation. Bitter or politically aimed irony is called SARCASM.
Е. g.: Stoney smiled the sweet smile of an alligator.

ZEUGMA is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two
adjacent words in the context, the semantic relations being, on the one hand, literal and, on the
other, transferred.
E.g.:" Whether the Nymph Shall stain her Honour or her new Brocade Or lose her Heart or
necklace at a Ball." (Pope)

Zeugma - the context allows to realize two meanings of the same polysemantic word without the
repetition of the word itself.
E.g.: Mr. Stiggins ... took his hat and his leave.

PUN is another stylistic device based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a word
or phrase, more independent than zeugma.
E.g.: What is the difference between a schoolmaster and an engine-driver? One trains the mind
and the other minds the train.

Pun is play on words.

E.g.: "Did you hit a woman with a child?" - "No, Sir, I hit her with a brick."

EPITHET is usually an attributive word or phrase expressing some quality of a person, thing or
phenomenon. The epithet always expresses the author's individual attitude towards what he
describes, his personal appraisal of it, and is a powerful means in his hands of conveying his
emotions to the reader and in this way securing the desired effect.
E.g.: wild wind, loud ocean, heart-burning smile, slavish knees, etc.

Epithet is a word or a group of words giving an expressive characterization of the subject

described.
E.g.: fine open-faced boy; generous and soft in heart; wavy flaxen hair.

REVERSED EPITHET is composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The subjective,

evaluating, emotional element is embodied not in the noun attribute but in the noun structurally
described.
E.g.: "...a dog of a fellow" (Dickens); "a devil of a job" (Maugham); "A little Flying Dutchman
of a cab" (Galsworthy)

OXYMORON is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with
an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense.
E.g.: delicious poison, low skyscraper, pleasantly ugly, sweet sorrow, proud humility, 'She was a
damned nice woman', etc.

ANTONOMASIA is the interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word.
E.g.: "I suspect that the Noes and Don't Knows would far outnumber the Yesses" (The Spectator)

SIMILE is an expressed imaginative comparison based on the likeness of two objects or ideas
belonging to different classes (not to be confused with comparison weighing two objects
belonging to one class). Similes have formal words in their structure such as like, as, such as, as
if, seem.
E.g.: "I saw the jury return, moving like underwater swimmers..."

Simile is a comparison of two things which are quite different, but which have one important
quality in common. The purpose of the simile is to highlight this quality.
E.g.: Andrew's face looked as if it were made of a rotten apple.

PERIPHRASIS (CIRCUMLOCUTION) is the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible

shorter and plainer form of expression. In other words, it is a round-about or indirect way to
name a familiar object or phenomenon.
E.g.: a gentleman of the long robe (a lawyer), the fair sex (women), a play of swords (a battle),
etc.

EUPHEISM is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a

conventionally more accepted one.
E.g.: to pass away/to join the majority (to die), a four-letter word (an obscenity), etc.

HYPERBOLE is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike

periphrasis) to the object or phenomenon.
E.g.: a thousand pardons, scared to death, 'I'd give the world to see him', 'I would give the whole
world to know', etc.

CLICHE' is an expression that has become hackneyed and trite.

E.g.: rosy dreams of youth, to grow by leaps and bounds, the patter of rain, to withstand the test
of time, etc.

ALLUSION is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary, mythological,

biblical fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing.
E.g.: "'Pie in the sky' for Railmen" means nothing but promises (a line from the well-known
workers' song: "You'll get pie in the sky when you die").
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SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

REPRESENTED SPEECH renders the character's thoughts which were not uttered aloud. It is a
purely literary phenomenon never appearing in oral speech.
E.g.: He looked at the distant green wall. It would be a long walk in this rain, and a muddy
one ... . Anyway, what would they find? Lots of trees.

PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION is a device in which the necessary condition is identical, or

similar, syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of a sentence in close succession.
E.g.: "There were,..., real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china cups to drink it out of,
and plates of the same to hold the cakes and toast in ". (Dickens)

Parallel constructions (or parallelism) present identical structure of two or more successive
clauses or sentences.
E.g.: Passage after passage did he explore; room after room did he peep into.
CHIASMUS (REVERSED PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION) is based on the repetition of a
syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases.
E.g.: "Down dropped the breeze, The sails dropped down." (Coleridge) "His jokes were sermons,
and his sermons jokes". (Byron)

Chiasmus is a pattern of two steps where the second repeats the structure of the first in a reversed
manner.
E.g.: Mr. Boffin looked full at the man, and the man looked full at Mr. Boffin.

RHETORICAL QUESTION is a statement in the form of a question which needs no answer.

E.g.: Why do we need refreshment, my friends? Why can we not fly? Is it because we are
calculated to walk?

ELLIPTICAL SENTENCE is a sentence where one of the main members is omitted.

E.g.: "Very windy, isn't it?" - "Very." - "But it's not raining." - "Not yet." - "Better than
yesterday."

REPETITION is an expressive means of language used when the speaker is under the stress or
strong emotion.
E.g.: "I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as that. I am above
the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy in such case as that."
(Dickens)

Repetition is observed when some parts of the sentence or sentences are repeated. It is employed
as a means of emphasis.
E.g.: A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face; the smile extended into a laugh; the laugh
into a roar, and the roar became general.
 ANAPHORA is when the repeated word (or phrase) comes at the beginning of
two or more consecutive sentences, clauses or phrases.
 EPIPHORA is when the repeated unit is placed at the end of consecutive
sentences, clauses or phrases.
 ANADIPLOSIS is structured so that the last word or phrase of one part of one
part of an utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next part, thus hooking the two parts
together.
 FRAMING is an arrangement of repetition in which the initial parts of a
syntactical unit, in most cases of a paragraph, are repeated at the end of it.
ENUMERATION is a stylistic device by which separate things, objects, phenomena, actions are
named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which are forced to display some
kind of semantic homogeneity, remote though it may seem.
E.g.: "Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary
legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner." (Dickens)

SUSPENSE is arranging the matter of a communication in such a way that the less important,
subordinate parts are amassed at the beginning, the main idea being withheld till the end of the
sentence. Thus the reader's attention is held and his interest is kept up.
E.g.: "Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. Was obliging enough to read
and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw." (Charles Lamb)

CLIMAX (GRADATION) is an arrangement of sentences (or homogeneous parts of one

sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension in
the utterance.
E.g.: "Little by little, bit by bit, and day by day, and year by year the baron got the worst of some
disputed question." (Dickens)

ANTICLIMAX is an arrangement of ideas in ascending order of significance, or they may be

poetical or elevated, but the final one, which the reader expects to be the culminating one, as in
climax, is trifling or farcical. There is a sudden drop from the lofty or serious to the ridiculous.
E.g.: "This war-like speech, received with many a cheer, Had filled them with desire of flame,
and beer." (Byron)

ANTITHESIS is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the
expansion of objectively contrasting pairs.
E.g.: "A saint abroad, and a devil at home." (Bunyan) "Better to reign in hell than serve in
heaven." (Milton)

Antithesis is a structure consisting of two steps, the lexical meanings of which are opposite to
each other.
E.g.: In marriage the upkeep of a woman is often the downfall of a man.

ASYNDETON is a connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences without any

formal sign, the connective being deliberately omitted.
E.g.: "Soames turned away; he had an utter disinclination for talk, like one standing before an
open grave, watching a coffin slowly lowered." (Galsworthy)

POLYSYNDETON is the connection of sentences, or phrases, or syntagms, or words by using

connectives (mostly conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part.
E.g.: "The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in
only one respect." (Dickens)
ELLIPSIS imitates the common features of colloquial language, where the situation
predetermines not the omission of certain members of the sentence, but their absence.
E.g.: "Nothing so difficult as the beginning." (Byron)

INVERSION is broken word order.

E.g.: Into a singularly restricted and indifferent environment Ida Zobel was born.

BREAK-IN-THE-NARRATIVE (APOSIOPESIS) is a break in the narrative used for some

stylistic effect.
E.g.: "You just come home or I'll..."

LITOTES is a peculiar use of negative constructions aimed at establishing a positive feature in a

person or thing.
E.g.: "He was not without taste ..." "It troubled him not a little ... "

FEATURES OF NARRATIVE PROSE

Novels and short stories can use language in such a wide variety of ways that it is
difficult to be specific about linguistic and stylistic features. There are, however, certain features
that are worth looking out for.

MANNER
The manner can be formal or informal, depending upon the relationship the author wants
to create with the reader. Often the modern novel will try to re-create the language of everyday,
particularly in first person narratives (stories told from the point of view of one individual, using
the first person singular pronoun I). Older novels tend to be more formal in their address to the
reader. It is also important to decide what the author's attitude to characters and events is: irony,
for instance, allows the author to write in a contradictory way - what is actually meant is contrary
to what the words on the page appear to say. An author may use irony to show the difference
between how things are and how they might be; to mock certain characters; to highlight a
discrepancy between how characters see a situation and its true nature; or to emphasise that a
reader knows more than the characters themselves.

POINT OF VIEW
The point of view is central to narrative prose because the reader needs to know who is
telling the story. In a first person narrative, the I narrator relates the events she or he experiences.
This allows the reader a direct insight into the character's mind. Often the experiences are viewed
retrospectively so that there is a difference between the character's mature and immature
personalities (for instance, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte; Great Expectations, by Charles
Dickens; A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess). The choice of a first person narrator
produces a personal relationship which tends to encourage the reader to empathise with the main
character. Because this approach gives only one person's view of the story, however, it can
biased, showing a limited understanding of the events and other characters.
 In a third person narrative the narrator is often omniscient - all-seeing and all-knowing.
Such narrators tend to give an overview of the story. Because there is no I, the narration is
presented to the reader directly without an intermediary. There are two kinds of omniscient
narrator: the unintrusive and the intrusive. The unintrusive narrator allows the author to tell the
story from a distance, without the reader being aware of a persona telling the story or making
judgments. The action is presented without many explicit comments or judgments. Writers like
Graham Green and E.M.Forster are known for their invisible narrators. The intrusive narrator, on
the other hand, explicitly comments on events and characters, often pointing to the significance
of what they are presenting and providing a moral interpretation. Authors like Jane Austin and
George Eliot intervene in their novels, explicitly guiding and influencing the reader's judgments.
Normally, third person narrators relate events and make descriptions using the declarative
mood. The interrogative or imperative moods can be used to make direct addresses to the reader,
inviting judgments or opinions on events and characters. Such addresses will often be marked by
a change from simple past tense to simple present.
Novelists are interested in more than just events. The thoughts and opinions of characters
are central to the creation of a fictional world. In the nineteenth century, many novelists used
interior monologues to build up the thought patterns of their characters. Although supposedly
reflecting a character's thoughts, the author would order and pattern these so that they were
fluent and logical. In the twentieth century, writers like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf were
some of the first to experiment with stream of consciousness writing, in which thought patterns
appear on the page randomly. To show how chaotic and jumbled thoughts often are, writers can
manipulate syntax and layout. This approach attempts to convey on the page the complexity of
the human mind.

LEXIS
The lexis can be simple or complicated, formal or colloquial, descriptive or evaluative.
The choices may depend upon the author's intentions.
Words may be subject specific, belonging to a particular field; they may be idiosyncratic,
clearly linked to a particular character; or they may be linked to a real or imaginary dialect
appropriate to the setting of the novel. The connotations of the words chosen will build up a
particular viewpoint of the fictional world.
Nouns may be abstract or concrete, depending upon whether the prose focuses on events
or states of mind. Proper nouns may be used to give the fictional world and its inhabitants a
concrete basis. The intentional omission of names may create a mysterious atmosphere.
Modifiers may provide physical, psychological, emotive or visual detail. They may focus
on colour, sound or noise to create the fictional world. It is through the modifiers that authors can
influence the reader - they can describe or evaluate using words with positive or negative
connotations which direct the reader to respond in chosen ways. Modifiers are crucial in forming
a parallel world; in helping the reader to make decisions about events, characters and places; and
in adding depth to any underlying message.
Verbs tell the reader about the kinds of actions and processes occurring. The use of
stative verbs suggests that the author's interest lies in description, whether it be of setting or
states of mind; dynamic verbs place an emphasis on what is happening, implying that the author
is more interested in action than in contemplation.
All consideration of the lexis of fictional prose must take account of the time and place in
which the novel is set. Authors' lexical choices will vary depending upon the kinds of worlds and
the people they are creating.

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SPEECH
 Writers can adopt a variety of approaches to convey the speech of their characters on the
page. Direct speech is an exact copy of the precise words spoken, allowing characters to speak
for themselves. This approach gives prominence to the speaker's point of view. If writers vary
spelling, vocabulary, word order and so on, it is possible to produce an accurate phonological,
lexical and syntactical written version of characters' accents and dialects. Indirect speech reports
what someone has said, using a subordinate that clause. The person who is reporting the
conversation intervenes as an interpreter by selecting the reported words. This submerges
(скрывает) the original speaker's point of view.
Free indirect speech is a form of indirect speech in which the main reporting clause (for
instance, he said that ...) is omitted. This merges the approach of both direct and indirect speech.
It uses the same third person pronouns and past tense as indirect speech, but reproduces the
actual words spoken more accurately. It can be used to create irony because it gives the reader
the flavour of characters' words, while keeping the narrator in a position where he or she can
intervene. Free direct speech can also be used to direct readers' sympathy away from certain
characters or to indicate changes in the role of a character. Writers can present a character's
thoughts in a similar range of ways.

GRAMMAR
The grammar of narrative prose will reflect the kind of world created and the kind of
viewpoint offered. In many ways, novelists are freer in their potential choices than writers are in
other varieties - in fiction, non-standard grammar and lexis are acceptable because they are part
of a created world and are an integral part of the characters who inhabit that world.
Most of the fiction is written in the simple past tense - extensive use of other tenses or
timescales is worth commenting on. The effects created by writing completely in the present
tense, for instance, can be quite dramatic. Mood will vary depending upon the requirements of
the author. Declarative mood is most common, but interrogatives and imperatives are used to
vary the pace and change the focus. In fiction, sentence structures are often complex. When
simple sentences are used, they are often emphatic or striking. Because writers can experiment,
there can also be sentences that do not appear to conform to standard grammatical patterns.
Writers vary the kind of sentence structure they use, to maintain readers' interest and to make
their fictional world seem alive.

METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE
Metaphorical language is a writer's way of personalising the world created. Metaphors,
symbolism and so on tell the reader something about an author's relationship with the fictional
world. Such language usage makes the imaginary world real and guides the reader in judging the
characters, setting and events.

RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES
The rhetorical techniques a writer chooses persuade readers to involve themselves or
distance themselves from the fictional world. Juxtapositions, listing, parallelism and so on can be
used to influence the reader's perception of characters, settings and events. Patterning may be
stylistic or phonological, but the end results all guide readers' responses. Marked themes, the
passive voice and end focus all throw emphasis on certain elements of the text, highlighting
things that the author considers to be important.
THE EVALUATION OF FICTION
When we evaluate a story we do two different things. First, we assess its literary quality;
we make a judgment about how good it is, how successfully it realizes its intensions, how
effectively it pleases us. Second, we consider the values the story endorses or refuses.
 An evaluation is essentially a judgment, an opinion about a work formulated as a
conclusion. We may agree or disagree with the father's forgiveness or the elder brother's
complaint in "The Prodigal Son". We may confirm or deny the models of behavior illustrated in
stories. However we evaluate them, though, we invariably measure the story's values against our
own.
Although evaluation is partly an unconscious process, we can make it more deliberate
and more fully conscious. We simply need to ask ourselves how we respond to the values a work
supports, and why. In doing so we should be able to consider our own values more clearly and
perhaps discuss more sensibly and fairly why we agree or disagree with the values a story
displays.
When we evaluate a story, we appraise it according to our own special combination of
cultural, moral, and aesthetic values. Our cultural values derive from or live as members of
families and societies. These values are affected by our race and gender and by the language we
speak. Our moral values reflect our ethical norms - what we consider to be good and evil, right
and wrong. These values are influenced by our religious beliefs and sometimes by our political
convictions. Our aesthetic values determine what we see as beautiful or ugly, well or ill made.
Over time, with education and experience, our values often change.
As our lives and outlooks change, we may change the way we view particular literary
works. Just as individual tastes in 1iterature change over time, so do collective literary tastes.
Literary works, like musical compositions and political ideas go in and out of fashion.
Our evaluation may also be linked to our first experience of the story, to first impressions
based on unconsidered reactions. If our initial reaction to a story or a character is unsympathetic,
we may be reluctant to change our interpretation later, even if we discover convincing evidence
to warrant such a change.
Of the kinds of evaluations we make in reading fiction, those about a story's aesthetic
qualities are hardest to discuss. Aesthetic responses are difficult to describe because they involve
our memories and sensations, our subjective impressions. They also involve our expectations,
which are further affected by our prior experience of reading fiction. And they are additionally
complicated by our tendency to react quickly and decisively to what we like and dislike, often
without knowing why. Our preference for one kind of fiction over another complicates matters
still further. When we evaluate a story, we should judge it against what it attempts to do, what it
is, rather than against something it is not.
How we arrive at an aesthetic evaluation is no easy matter. We develop our aesthetic
responses to fiction by letting the informed responses of other experienced readers enrich our
own perceptions, by determining the criteria for what makes a story "good", and by gradually
developing our sense of literary tact - the kind of balanced judgment that comes with experience
in reading and living coupled with thoughtful reflection on both. It comes only with practice and
patience. What we should strive for in evaluating fiction is to understand the different kinds of
values it present and to clarify our own attitudes, dispositions, and values in responding to them.
INTERPRETATION OF A TEXT
1. Speak of the author in brief.
o the facts of his biography relevant for his creative activities
o the epoch (social and historical background)
o the literary trend he belongs to
o the main literary pieces (works)
2. Give a summary of the extract (story) under consideration (the gist [суть], the
content of the story in a nutshell).
3. State the problem raised (tackled) by the author.
4. Formulate the main idea conveyed by the author (the main line of the thought, the
author's message).
5. Give a general definition of the text under study.
o a 3rd person narrative
 o a 1st person narrative
o narration interlaced [переплетается] with descriptive passages and dialogues of
the personages
o narration broken by digressions [отклонение от темы] (philosophical,
psychological, lyrical, etc.)
o an account of events interwoven with a humorous (ironical, satirical) portrayal of
society, or the personage, etc.
6. Define the prevailing mood (tone, slant) of the extract. It may be lyrical, dramatic,
tragic, optimistic / pessimistic, melodramatic, sentimental, un / emotional, pathetic, dry and
matter-of-fact, gloomy, bitter, sarcastic, cheerful, etc.
7. The composition of the story. Divide the text logically into complete parts and
entitle them. If possible choose the key-sentence (the topic sentence) in each part that reveals its
essence. The compositional pattern of a complete story (chapter, episode) may be as follows:
a. the exposition (introduction)
b. the development of the plot (an account of events)
c. the climax (the culminating point)
d. the denouement (the outcome of the story)
2. Give a detailed analysis of each logically complete part.
Follow the formula-matter form. It implies that firstly you should dwell upon the content of the
part and secondly comment upon the language means (Expressional Means and Stylistic
Devices) employed by the author to achieve desired effect, to render his thoughts and feelings.
NB: Sum up your own observations and draw conclusions. Point out the author's
language means which make up the essential properties of his individual style.
http://refolit.narod.ru/Stylistica/styl_ekzamen.htmlORIGINAL TEXTS
HOW TO INTERPRETE A TEXT
Знакомство с лучшими образцами английской поэзии и прозы, умение вдумчиво
читать и понимать художественную литературу в единстве содержания и формы
способствуют всестороннему целостному развитию личности, становлению духовного
мира человека, созданию условий для формирования у него внутренней потребности в
непрерывном совершенствовании, в реализации своих творческих возможностей.
В связи с этим нужно уделять большое внимание выработке глубокого понимания
художественного произведения и привитию навыков его самостоятельного анализа.
На первом этапе оно представляет собой организацию беседы по вопросам,
направленным на элементарное толкование контекста:
1. Who is the story about?
2. What do we know about the main character?
3. Do you like him (her) or not? Why?
4. Which character do you like more? Why?
5. What pictures can you imagine while reading the story? What helps you to see
them?
6. Do you like the story? Why? Etc.
Позже аналитическая беседа строится на двух уровнях:
 уровне значения (умения выделять в тексте основную мысль, деталь,
иллюстрирующую основную мысль, факты, относящиеся к определенном теме, обобщать
изложенные факты, устанавливать связи между событиями)
 и уровне смысла (умения вывести суждение на основе фактов, сделать
вывод, оценить изложенные факты, понять подтекст, идею текста, найти художественные
средства выразительности и определить их роль, место в повествовании).
Предварительная беседа является стержнем для основного вида деятельности на
этом этапе - пересказа с элементами анализа.
Вот простенькая схема пересказа, которая используется как основа, и постепенно
варьируется и усложняется.
 A PLAN FOR RETELLING:
1. Information about the author and the book from which the passage is taken.
Examples:
o I would like to tell you a story ... written by ... . He/she was a well-known for ... .
The book is about ... who ... .
o The story I would like to speak about is written by ... . We know that the author ...
. The book is devoted to ... .
o We've read a very unusual (thrilling, exaggerated, exciting, etc.) story by ... . It
touches upon (deals with) the problem of ... .
2. General characteristics of the text (its slant, type of narration, etc.).
3. Introduction of the main character (appearance, characteristic features, the way
he/she is presented in the text) and opening events.
4. Description of events as they appear in the extract. Pay attention to:
o the variety of expressive means, e.g.:
 a) the narration begins with ...;
 b) draw(s) the reader's attention to ...;
 c) ... making the reader believe...;
 d) serve(s) to stress ...;
 e) prepare(s) the ground for ...;
 f) the emotional state of the character is revealed...;
 g) the author's presentation of ...; etc.;
o the use of stylistic devices, e. g.:
 a) epithets;
 b) similes;
 c) metaphors;
 d) personifications;
 e) repetitions;
 their role in the narration (to create the atmosphere of ...;
 to convey the feelings and emotion of ...;
 to give an explanation ...;
 to express the idea ...;
 to underline ...; etc.).
5. The main idea of the story.
6. Your attitude towards the things described.
Источник: журнал "Иностранные языки в школе"
EXERCISES ON THE USE OF STYLISTIC DEVICES
Вы можете поупражняться с этими предложениями. Попытайтесь найти
стилистические приемы и объяснить их.
1. The laugh in her eyes died and was replaced by something else.
2. For every look that passed between them, and the word they spoke, and every card
they played, the dwarf had eyes and ears.
3. "If there's a war, what are you going to be in?" - "The Government, I hope," Tom
said. "Touring the lines on an armoured car, my great belly shaking like a jelly. Hey, did you
hear that? That's poetry."
4. Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old.
5. The girl gave him a lipsticky smile.
6. The silence as the two men stared at one another was louder than thunder.
7. There comes a period in every man's life, but she is just a semicolon in his.
8. "I'm going to give you some good advice." - "Oh! Pray don't. One should never
give a woman anything she can't wear in the evening."
9. Up came the file and down sat the editor, with Mr. Pickwick at his side.
 10. Gentleness in passion! What could have been more seductive to the scared,
starved heart of that girl?
11. Poor boy ... . No father, no mother, no anyone.
12. It were better that he knew nothing. Better for common sense, better for him,
better for me.
13. The coach was waiting, the horses were fresh, the roads were wet, and the driver
was willing.
14. There are so many sons that won't have anything to do with their fathers, and so
many fathers who won't speak to their sons.
15. The mechanics are underpaid, and underfed, and overworked.
16. I hear your voice - it's like an angel's sigh.
17. He held the cigarette in his mouth, tasting it, feeling its roundness, for a long time
before he lit it. Then, with a sigh, feeling, well, I've earned it, he lit the cigarette.
18. And then in a moment she would come to life and be as quick and restless as a
monkey.
19. The sky was dark and gloomy, the air damp and raw.
20. "Our father is dead." - "I know." - "How the hell do you know?" - "Station agent
told me. How long ago did he die?" - "About a month." - "What of?" - "Pneumonia." - "Buried
here?" - "No. In Washington."
21. She had her breakfast and her bath.
22. ... whispered the spinster aunt with true spinster-aunt-like envy ... .
23. A team of horses couldn't draw her back now; the bolts and bars of the old Bastille
couldn't keep her.
24. I have only one good quality - overwhelming belief in the brains and hearts of our
nation, our state, our town.
25. It was you who made me a liar, - she cried silently.
26. I looked at the gun, and the gun looked at me.
27. England has two eyes, Oxford and Cambridge. They are the two eyes of England,
and two intellectual eyes.
Источник: журнал "Иностранные языки в школе"
MAIN NOTIONS
When discussing stories or extracts there are certain aspects which are supposed to
regard. It's useful to know them and to be able to use them. They can make it easier for you to
talk about novels, stories and other literary work.
If you deal with an extract, begin your discussion with same a few words about its origin,
naming the writer and the title of the story or the novel it's taken from.
PLOT refers to the sequence of events or actions in a story.
CONFLICT is at the heart of the plot. It's the up position of the characters or groups of
characters to each other or something.
Plot plus conflict comprise THEME. The theme of the story is its central idea or message.
TONE of a story shouldn't be forgotten while speaking on characters or objects. Tone
shows the author's attitude and helps us to understand if the writer takes it seriously, ironically,
comically, bitterly, humorously or otherwise.
MOOD is the dominant impression the story makes on you. It can be gloom, sad,
optimistic, pathetic, cheerful, melancholic and so on. Mood like tone may be revealed through
the choice of words, figures of speech, dialogues, short or long sentences and even phonetic
devices.
STYLE OF LANGUAGE
When a writer resorts to the language of every day life neither rich nor refined and which
is especially typical on dialogs we call this style COLLOQUIAL.
When a writer resorts to the language which is not widely used in everyday life and isn't
typical of spoken English because it's "too correct" we call this style BOOKISH.
 When there are many scientific words in a story we speak about SCIENTIFIC STYLE.
When there are words typical of this or that profession we speak about PROFESSIONAL
WORDS in a story.
"A & P" BY JOHN UPDIKE
The story "A&P" was written by a famous American writer John Updike. The events take
place in a supermarket "A&P". Here is the connection between the title of the story and the story
itself, which begins with the description of three girls. It was very surprising for the customers
and shop-workers to see half-naked girls in bathing-suits walking along the supermarket, which
was rather far from a beach.
The author presents the events from the point of view of the one of the characters -
Sammy, a nineteen year-old boy. We should admit that Sammy always tries to come in contact
with the reader, he waits for his response.
# ...do you really think... but do you got the idea... If it hadn't been there you wouldn't
have known...
Sammy describes the girls with admiration:
1. She just walked straight on slowly, on these long, white prima donna legs.
2. So high her neck, coming up out of those white shoulders
3. her chest down from the shoulder bones, like a dented sheet of metal tilled in the
light
So all this epithets amd similaes reveal Sammy's positive attitude towards the girls. But
the other customers on the contrary are described negatively.
1. The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle...
The metaphor sheep stands here for the customers.
2. She's one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her
cheekbones.
The metaphor "witch" is standing for the cashregister watcher.
So we can arrive at a definite conclusion that for Sammy the girls were a gulp of fresh air.
He was tired of his boring job which gave him no satisfaction at all. And Sammy enjoyed spying
upon the girls, he liked them.
In the first part of the story the greatest emphasis is given to the description of the girls.
Sammy describes them in details and admires their beauty. His attitude towards the girls
presupposes the existence of another attitude.
In the second part of the story Lengel appears, resenting the girls' behaviour. He
considers them to be indecent. There is an external conflict between Lengel and Sammy. Lengel
seems to be the representative of the society full of rigid, time honoured rules. As for Sammy, he
is a boy with an artistic soul. It's very hard for him to survive in this world. There is also the
internal conflict, which takes place in Sammy's mind. He wants to get rid off the bounds with
that society. He wants freedom. And those girls served as impulse for him to make the right
desicion. The climax of the story coincides with the moment when Sammy took his courage into
his both hands and quitted.
The message sounds like this: "we shouldn't be afraid of taking initiative in our hands and
showing it". In this sense Sammy is a round character. He is a unique individual and developes
in the course of the story. As for Lengel he is one sided, constructed round a single trait.
The author symphathizes with Sammy. Updike chose him as the narrator, consequently
Sammy represents the author's point of view. Here one can easily discover Updike's attitude
towards women, he considers that it's enough for women to be beautiful but not to have brains.
He says: "You never know for sure how girls' minds work / do you really think it's a mind in
there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar".
Besides, Updike's accuracy while choosing words, using different stylistic devices - all
that draws our attention. The language is very metaphoric:
 "a few houseslaves"
 my stomach rub the inside of my apron ...
 and it's very difficult to read and understand the author's message. In conclusion I'd like
to point out that story wasn't to my liking.

"DEPARTURE" BY SHERWOOD ANDERSON

NB: Это не полный анализ, а небольшой набросок.
The story for analysis is called "Departure". It's written by Sherwood Anderson, famous
in literature as the author, who used implication, wrote in the style of sober realism and depicted
strange characters.
The hero of "Departure" is young George Willard, leaving his native Winesburgh in
search of new life. He is excited and concerned, worried, his thoughts are devoted to the future,
for he doesn't have any command of what is expecting him. Since 2 o'clock he had been awake
thinking of the journey he was about to take, and wondering what he would find at the end of the
journey.
I'd like to dwell on the following sentence, as it is a part of the setting:
"It was April and the young tree leaves were just coming out of their buds."
That is a compound sentence, both clauses of the sentence are directed to one aim - to
show that a new life begins for George Willard, for April is a spring month, and "buds coming
out" are used symbolically.
Idea - departure is a period when you feel ambivalent: on the one hand you dream of your
happy future, on the other - you remember your past to say good-bye to it.
But at the same time he returns to his past, for without it there is no future. He visits the
places with which his recollections, his everyday life are connected:
"The land becomes a wide green billiard table on which tiny human insects toil up and
down."
George Willard had been in the habit of walking on Trunion Pike. So the use of lexis of
great importance, "the habit" is the evidence of his life being routine.
"DRAWING BACK THE CURTAIN" BY DENIS HEALEY
The text under the title "Drawing Back the Curtain" by Denis Healey begins with the
description of Russia in the early years after the war. The author speaks about the changes in
looks at the Soviet Union, about its generation which analyzed the nature of totalitarianism. Mr.
Healey believes no power could destroy national traditions which were rooted in centuries of
history. After Stalin's death the author says Soviet Communism carried the seeds of its own
destruction, but it was no reason for laying beneath the surface.
The author shares his views saying he was fascinated by Russia being a schoolboy.
Compared to their Western rivals Denis Healey admits that the great Soviet people seemed much
superior, calling them film-makers of those days. The author says he was introduced with some
examples of Russian Literature and Culture by his friend. But, he says, after the war his friend
had disappeared, in all probability during the great purges. In the face of Mr. Healey it increased
the bitter hostility for Soviet policies and made him feel animosity to the Soviet government
which prevented the creation of genuine masterpieces in various cultural spheres.
The author goes on to describe his visits to Russia. The way he values the sightseeing
deserves attention. He took the air in the Hermitage in Leningrad and the magnificent summer
palace of Peter the Great overlooking the Gulf of Finland, its fountains sparkling in the autumn
sun, its rococo buildings gleaming with white and gold.
As the say goes butter never spoils the porridge, so Mr. Healey found the Kremlin not as
a grimly functional building where the Party housed. To his great surprise he found the heart of
old Russia as the mediaeval splendour of its palaces and churches, scattered among copses of
birch and lilac.
 Mr. Healey continues to tell he got a kick out of personal contact with the sixth formers
in Leningrad school. He also called some members of creative intelligentsia, such as Sakharov,
with his strong opposition to using hydrogen bomb, Solzhenitsyn, exposing the life in a labour
camp, Yevtushenko with his poem Babiy Yar - people of unbending spirit, which could give a
headache to the authorities for all that was done against them.
It seemed too good to last, but it was a simple truth that the signs of cultural thaw were
everywhere. Lots of theatres, circuses and music halls were at people's disposal. Anyone could
visit them to their heart's content. Mr. Healey wasn't an exception to the rule. He swallowed
them on the wing.
Later the author assumes that the atmosphere got better when he came in 1963. He
learned much from these visits to Russia, restricted though they were, and was to learn more still
from later visits. He was buried in thought how much changes could affect all the aspects of life,
and how useful were short visits when made annually.
While reading the text we come across many stylistic devices used by the author to make
his speech more emotional. Striking example of this are such sentences as:
"I had been fascinated by Russia...", "I was impressed by pre-war Soviet culture..."
showing a tender attitude of Mr. Healey towards everything connected with our homeland.
Lots of metaphors are also used:
"The Russia of Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and Herzen..." - this means Russia isn't a simple
country, but motherland of many outstanding people.
"No power could destroy its national traditions...". The author proves it's impossible to
clear out all the habits and traditions in people's minds, gathered for centuries day after day.
"...were giving headaches to the authorities..." - persons making some troubles to those
ruling our country.
Mr. Healey uses the epithets to show the variety of his creativity and vividness of his
language:
"errate illusions", "the bitter hostility", "remarkable purity", "grimly functional building",
"hair-raising obscenity".
Examples of the contrast are present at the text not to concentrate on ordinary things and
to feel the differences:
"as sad comedy rather than as tragedy with humour", "a handsome vigorous young
prophet of a better future, rather than as the wrinkled cynic".
"Kompository Verdi" and "Socialist Realism" are inverted commas, proving an interest of
the author to the Russian Language and understandable words playing perhaps an important role
for international community.
Such stylistic device as hyperbola is also used in sentences: "like hurricane", "a library of
sense - impressions".
It seems to me the main thing Mr. Healey wanted us to understand is that people have
much in common and have many differences but each race is extraordinary.
"ERNESTINE" BY THEODORE DREISER
The story for analysis is called "Ernestine" and written by Theodore Dreiser, who shows
what the female success conceals.
The plot of the story centers around a woman who sacrifices her career in theatre for the
existing world of cinema, where she hopes to win great fame. But her initial success leads her
total failure.
So the subject matter is a person and his aspiration in career. And the idea is that
ambitions often ruin a human being.
 As for the composition it is not chronological, for it deals with the foreshadowing at the
beginning of the story. This part of the text displays the author's attitude to his character, who is
sure to make mistakes or to be lead to some degradation. The use of such phrases as "eventually
and perforce", "via related compulsions" and the use of the passive construction in the sentence
"If anyone or anything is to be indicted, let it be life" are aimed at the attempts to persuade the
reader that a person is not a ruler of his/her destiny, but a product of the society and
circumstances.
As for me, I don't share the author's point of view. At first I'd like to attract your attention
to the epithets used by the narrator to describe the girl: "very young and not very sophisticated"
and the verb to condescend in "Hers was a person who condescends to take notice of a domain
offered for her inspection". These epithets and the verb serve as proofs of the fact that she wasn't
a naive girl, she was young, but had some experience of life and knew her own worth (had a high
opinion of herself).
The following sentence is also of great importance "The first time I saw Ernestine she
was coming down the steps of the Sixth Avenue Elevated Station". The title "Elevated Station"
and the phrasal verb "to come down" are symbolic here, for they are the evidence of the fact she
didn't cognize all negative sides of "the joyous profession", but she has taken the road of it, and
the use of the Past Continuous proves that.
In due course she starts to realize her own power: "Her temperament as well as her beauty
was focal and she knew it". Her fame gives her an opportunity to have a high opinion of herself,
that's why there is no wonder she becomes "too cool and too rain".
"LUCK" BY MARK TWAIN
Analysis 1.
The story "Luck" is written by Mark Twain who takes the part of a satirist there.
In the text the framed composition is used, as the author makes us acquainted to a
clergyman, who will tell a story of one of the heroes of England.
The writing is about a silly person who managed to achieve the top of his fame, making
blunders, and about an instructor of the military school who contributed to the elevation of the
first in life.
In the title the bitter irony is implied, for such luck doesn't fill us with positive emotions,
it makes the reader consternated, for he becomes conscious at any moment the population of the
whole country can become a victim of hasty and thoughtless decisions of powerful people.
So sarcasm is felt in the affected admiration: "What a fascination there is in a renowned
name!" The use of adverbs "suddenly" and "forever" in the sentence "…his name shot suddenly
to the zenith from a Crimean battlefield, to remain forever celebrated" is also the evidence of the
feigned delight.
The author raises a social problem and exposes the stupidity of society in which "not
wisdom, but luck rules over our lives." (Cicero)
The plot of the story begins with the assertion: "he's an absolute fool", then come series
of complication:
1. "He went through on that purely superficial 'cram' ";
2. "he took the first prize at Maths";
3. "He was actually gazetted to a captaincy";
4. "down went our colonel … Scoresby was next in rank".
The climax is likely to be: "An entire and unsuspected Russian army in reserve". And the
denouement is supposed to be the clergyman's conclusion: "Every one of them is the record of
some shouting stupidity or other; and, taken together, they are proof that the very best thing in all
this world that can befall a man is to be born lucky".

Analysis 2.
 Mark Twain is one of the most important figures of American life and generally of
American culture. By invisible threads he is connected with the process of his country's
development, with its national peculiarities and social contradictions and this deep contact goes
through the whole of his creation.
One of his short stories named "Luck" centers round a man who had a success to be born
lucky and then it helped him to get to the top of the tree. That's why the subject matter of the
story is a role of luck in a human life.
The story made an impression on me to have taken place in real life and the use of proper
names and some historical facts contribute to this realistic effect:
Woolwich, London, the Crimean battlefield, the Crimean war, the Russian army.
And the detail that the author withheld the real name and titles of the main character
gives the reader the idea that such a person exists in the history.
From the very beginning the major character Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby is
portrayed by the author as a very prominent person and he conveys this idea using a synonymic
row: "illustrious, renowned".
Generally, the first paragraph of the story describes the significance of the main
character, his sublimity over other common people. That is the purpose why the author adheres
to periphrases: a demi-god.
Besides, the reader grasps the idea about the narrator's attitude towards this man. This is
admiration and worship, so deep and sincere that no more was required to the narrator but to
keep silence and have a chance to see this person.
The use of a synonymic row: "scanning, searching, noting" and repetition with
polysyndeton "to look, and look and look" - demonstrates the attitude. Moreover, describing the
qualities of the major hero the narrator adheres to abstract nouns with a very positive connotation
which create an image of a very pleasant and respected person: "the quietness, the reserve, the
noble gravity, the simple honesty".
To say more, Scoresby was so unassuming and modest, that couldn't realize his greatness,
and to underline this fact the author makes use of anaphoric repetition: "the sweet consciousness
of his greatness, unconsciousness of the hundreds of eyes, unconsciousness of the worship".
These stylistic devices and also the use of epithets "noble, simple, deep, loving, sincere,
admiring, sweet" help to arouse in the reader the same feelings, emotions, attitudes that the
narrator has. But on the other hand, the image of Scoresby seems rather ideal, hyperbolized that
can make us suspend, doubt its reality.
And really the author destroys all our illusions concerning this man with the words
"Privately - he's an absolute fool", which sound as anticlimax. But we are inclined to believe
them as the author convinces us that it's true. The choice of words contributes to this effect: "a
man of strict veracity…and his judgment of men was good, beyond doubt or question".
So according to the Reverand's words Scoresby is the embodiment of stupidity which
under some lucky circumstances can seem to be genius and exceptionality, rareness.
On the one hand, the narrator demonstrates a correct, true image of Scoresby. The use of
synonyms helps to bring the idea out: "stupidity, ignorance"; the repetition: "he didn't know
anything"; ordinary repetition of a word "blunders"; periphrases "a wooden-head, this immortal
fool, the supremest ass".
But on the other hand his stupidity was compensated by a great deal of luck that it
shocked the Reverand who knew Scoresby's abilities exactly, and he couldn't believe this fact.
The use of anaphoric repetition: "he went through with flying colors on examination day, he
went through on that purely superficial cram" - contributes to describing that emotional state of
the Reverand.
With the same purpose the author makes a choice of words: "it was made reel".
 He couldn't believe that a person can be so lucky in life because it looked rather
incredible. The author brings this to the reader's notice using antithesis "by some strangely lucky
accident - an accident not likely to happen twice in a century" and using epithet "this
phenomenal and astonishing luckiness".
We can say that the character of Scoresby enjoys the sympathy of the Reverand and the
reader. At the beginning the narrator says about him, using epithet "He was evidently good and
sweet and lovable and guileless". And the use of polysyndeton contributes to the effect that
nothing negative can be said about this person. The narrator repeats this sentence at the end of
the story and we grasp that his attitude towards Scoresby didn't change at all.
Such a person can arouse only a feeling of pity, a desire to help him, to support and the
Reverand wasn't an exception. He even tries to justify his actions by these feelings: "it was
exceedingly painful to see him, a harmless act of charity, I resolved to make his death as easy as
I could".
But at the same time he felt guilty and miserable and the allusion to Frankenstein
completely explains his emotional state: he felt as if he created a human creature dangerous for
other people and that country.
"NOBODY KNOWS" BY SHERWOOD ANDERSON
The story under the title "Nobody Knows" was written by an outstanding American
writer Sherwood Anderson, well-known for using implication, the style of sober realism and
depicting strange characters in his works, the most famous from which is his book "Winesburg,
Ohio".
The main character of the story is George Willard, a man who tries to court a young lady
- Louise Trunnion. The whole story depicts a short period of time, so the author lets us trace all
the events.
From the very beginning we see that George wasn't in love with Louise, though it may
seem so. He wanted to visit her, but doubted: "all day he had been trying to make up his mind to
go through with the adventure". A number of nouns and adjectives like "in the darkness", "pitch
dark" convey his state of being nervous, and intensify his doubts, preparing the reader for further
events. "There had been no decision", "He didn't dare think" - those short sentences show his fear
and confidence, and the author proves it: "In his mind there was a fear". Even when he met her,
his fear didn't leave him.
The sentence given by the author makes everything clear: "The whispered tales
concerning her that had gone about town gave him confidence". She was a mere prostitute and
George wanted nothing but her: "He became wholly the male, bold and aggressive". Love was
out of the question: "In his heart there was no sympathy for her".
Realizing all this we can formulate the problem tackled by the author - in their wishes
people are contemptible, though desiring to stay clear face to face. To prove it we can mention
the fact that George Willard thought over his adventure the whole day, but on his way to Louise
he tried to avoid all people passing him in the street.
So, summing up all we know about Sherwood Anderson and his characters we can say
that the controlling idea of the story conveyed by the author sounds like this - people want to get
rid of their loneliness, want to find support and warmth in others, but the discrepancy between
their dreams and reality is too large.
If to speak about the story, it's told in the 3rd person narrative and interlaced with
descriptive passages. The prevailing mood of the story is rather pessimistic, as we for example
come across the town drunkard lying asleep on the ground, and there's nothing bright in the life
of town inhabitants.
The composition of the story isn't complicated. The introduction lets us enter in the
course of events and acquaints us with the character. The development of the plot is seen in the
meeting of George with Louise. And the culminating point begins with the sentence "A flood of
words burst from George Willard". In the denouement the pair walks along narrow bride
sidewalks, as if nothing has happened.
 It would be wise to mention here that even the title of the story helps us to draw the
conflict between a man and society - nobody knows what's going on in my inner world, nobody
cares what I am in this world.
As for me, I find the story quite deep and thought-provoking, making us reestimate our
values in this life.
"ONE STAIR UP" BY CAMPBELL NAIRNE
I've engaged in the interpretation of the text "One Stair Up" written by Campbell Nairne,
a Scottish novelist. Though admittedly the function of prose is to entertain, the author explicitly
conveyed a message about the life of Edinburgh working-class families. At the beginning of our
century readers had unflagging interest to the subject matter, which was brought here into sharp
focus. The writer gave the detailed delineation of cinema-world, as a favourite pastime of
representatives of the working-class. I'm thoroughly persuaded that the title of the story is
suggestive and thought-provoking. I shaped the idea in words: some people are not content to
live in obscurity, and Rosa's aim was to go even one stair up in the world by hook or by crook.
To my mind, two methods of character-sketch were employed in the text: direct and
indirect. It goes without saying the indirect way of character drawing predominates here. The
author didn't pass judgements on his figures, but let them speak for themselves and they became
clear through their own actions. Several times we came across the protagonists' stream of
consciousness. These passages written in non-personal direct speech give us the opportunity to
know for sure what main images really thought and in what way they did it, in other words, they
help the reader to get psychological insight into main characters' inner world. [#1 p99] Here I
grasped the idea, that Andrew was shy, diffident, was afraid of being offended and was
accustomed to Rosa's being hard on him. If the author is unintrustive, doesn't impose his views
on the reader, but lets him form his own attitude, Rosa traced into Andrew's inner world, passed
judgements on him which showed signs of bias against him. [#2 p101] But we couldn't trust her
version, because subjective opinions are unreliable.
Campbell's books are characterized by realism and a fine style, a peculiar lay-out of the
language can take the reader's fancy. While reading the extract we can point out incalculable
instances of usage of learned words, professionalisms and colloquialisms and on this account we
draw a conclusion, that the author selected words with respect to their subtle and delicate shades
of meaning. The writer applied to professionalisms such as: a salon, the bull's eye, circle, the
stage apron - in order he might give the fictional world of cinema a concrete visual quality. We
must confess he succeeded in it. The writer's choice of vocabulary is admirable and precise. The
employment of different formal words as "treading, dim region of luxury, voluptuous stillness"
conveys the idea that Rosa was unaccustomed to richness, her nerves were strained, sensation-
acute, she adored that world. In order the reader might grasp this idea, the author applies to the
periphrases [... , the e..., and the s...]. Besides they assist him to create just that picture which
Rosa perceived. In addition, we can say that the author laid emphasis on her social background
in a way. As well as colloquialisms, elliptical phrases in speech of both characters draw the
reader's attention to the fact that they were illiteral, inhabitants of slums. So non-standard
language was used to add depth to all this and we can say lexis suggests something about the
nature of the subject matter.
In the text we come across the piece of advice. The author shows in what way films were
advertised in order to hold the picture-goer with a firm grip. The use of metaphors and epithets is
dictated by nothing other but considerations of maximum expressivity. [#3] This extract proves
the idea that clever advice are temptations to spend money. Nairne Campbell possessed a sense
of humor. The reader feels that this passage is permitted with irony. Parallel constructions,
anaphora lay certain cadence. [#4 p100] This and case of anticlimax [#5 p100] lead to ironical
effect.
 The extract consists of the explosion, the story, the climax and the denouement. I
consider the delineation of the cinema-house to the scene setting paragraph. I think the sentence
[#6 p101] is the moment of the highest tension, a real landmark in the story. And the passage
where Rosa shared her impression can be regarded to my mind as the denouement.
"RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR" BY MARK TWAIN
"Running for Governor" appears to be an excellent example of Mark Twain's talent of a
humorist and satirist.
Electoral tricks that can be accepted as a subject matter, throw light on situation in
American politics, where everything can be done to achieve one's aim and every service is
involved in the dirty game. Get elected tends to be the goal for the sake of which one can
overstep one's principles, lives at others, buy everything and everybody.
Surely, Mark Twain doesn't underscore the corruption of the politicians pointblank, but
it's his satire that concentrates the reader's attentions on the filthy ways of how to get round the
law and to remain a good reputation at the same time.
Right from the beginning we get involved in the preelectoral race where the narrator is
the main aspirant to the post. The narrator and the author coincide, this and the fact that the story
is told in the first person narrative bring us close to Mark Twain and we take his point of view
and believe him or at least sympathize with him.
Thus, when he comes across unfair charges with numerous crimes such as perjury,
wholesome bribery, theft, corruption, we appreciate the events from his viewpoint.
Moreover it's clear as a day - accusations are exaggerated. [Hyperbole - "to rob a poor
native widow and her helpless family of a meager plantain-patch, their only stay and support in
their bereavement and desolation", "they have been endorsed and re-endorsed by his own
eloquent silence"].
Surely, there are hints that remind of some bits of truth, "three long years had passed over
my head since I had tasted ale, beer, wine, liquor of any kind." But the point is who has never
been mistaken? Moreover, let bygones be bygones.
As a result, such a great stream of charges washed away all the grounds on which Mark
Twain was running for Governor, and what's more important, his wish and self-assurance to go
on in politics.
Thus, his opponents got rid of him.

Highly-emotional style - the word choice (a lot of colloquialisms)

Contrast b/n his replicas and the articles
Graphical means of emplaning some facts
"THE GIRLS IN THEIR SUMMER DRESSES" BY IRWIN SHAW
The American writer Irwin Shaw is known as a bright connoisseur of stylistics. His style
is called conscientious and resembling. Hemingway's one, that is concerning realism, method of
iceberg when the message is contained in simple forms, simple syntax and so on. The short story
"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" is a vivid example of Irwin Shaw's style of writing. The
plot of the story centers round a young couple who once touched upon the topic of sex relations
and this talk could change their life. The subject matter of the story is relationship of men and
women / man's position to the way of living.
First and foremost I want to say that to me the story is marked with realistic description
of the events. And an extensive use of proper names contributes to creating a realistic
atmosphere: "Fifth Avenue, Washington Square, Eighth Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Radio City, Fourty Fourth Street, Ohio."
So, in other words, the story makes an impression to be a concrete representation of
actual life in New York City.
 Besides, the setting is important for an additional effect. It symbolizes the emotional state
of the major characters, Frances and Michael. Revealing a bright, vivid day full of hopes and
dreams, the author adheres to the repetition of a noun "sun" and its derivatives: "Sunday,
sunlight"; and the choice of words: "mild wind, warm, shining quiet"; that help to see a
psychological parallelism between the characters and nature around them. It shows that this
couple feels at this moment nothing but happy, joyful, serene, as they have an opportunity to be a
part of this wonderful life. Besides, such a stylistic device as alliteration of the sound [w]
produces the effect of infinite peace of mind, tranquility, characteristic for absolutely happy,
pleased people and such were the major characters:
"they walked toward Washington Square, walking slowly, quiet"
But from the very beginning the author proves to reader that these relationships are more
important, more significant for a wife, Frances. The reader grasps the idea that Frances really
feels a deep and pure love toward her husband. The use of anaphoric repetition and parallel
constructions serves to convey to the reader woman's attitude, emotions:
"I want to go out with my husband all day long. I want him to talk only to me and listen
only to me."
And Frances' emotional state, her feeling of happiness to be near a dearly loved person
predetermines the romantic mood. The writer conveys this dreaming romantic atmosphere using
a gradation:
"First let's go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... We can take the bus down to Radio
City ... And later we'll go down to Cavanaugh's ... and after that there's a French picture ..."
But then the phrase "say, are you listening to me?" (anticlimax) destroys this thrilled
mood as if coming down to earth. This phrase is considered a crucial moment when the author
reveals the change of the atmosphere, from pleasant to a tense one. And Michael tries to return
the previous state of things to hush up that unpleasant moment. The author brings this to the
reader's notice using polysyndeton:
"God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving
pictures and the little flowers of the field."
But nevertheless the situation is different: gloomy, tense and disillusioned. The choice of
words helps to bring this idea out: "said flatly, walked without talking, her tone a good
imitation".
Moreover, the author reveals the essence of the hidden problem gradually, step by step.
The first step was to show that Frances doesn't believe in Michael's serious attitude toward her
and their marriage. The repetition of the phrase "All right!" underlines that Frances got tired of
some unnecessary explanations of her husband.
The second step is Michael's phrase "I remember the hat" which, to tell the truth, stuck
me, because I expected a phrase "I remember the look". But this only sentence points out, in my
opinion, that Frances was only one of the girls Michael liked and she didn't signify anything
special for him.
At the third step the author reveals Michael's attitude to women in general. First of all it is
admiration: he says about them in the superlative degree: "the best furs, the best clothes, the
handsomest women."
Then it is their significance in his life. The use of anaphoric repetition "I like the girls/
women" demonstrates properly that women took a great place in Michael's heart and that he
lived in order to see the girls and nothing or nobody could change his nature.
Special thanks for analysis to: Сафиуллина Гульнара /г.Набережные Челны/
"THE TWO FACES" BY HENRY JAMES
The story under consideration is called "The Two Faces" written by Henry James. It
describes the life of a high society and its members, who are hypocritical and artificial under
their beautiful clothes.
 One of the members of its society is Mrs. Grantham, the main character of the story. She
is introduced as a woman of an extreme beauty and clever mind. The author compares her with
"prima donna assoluta".
Shirley Sutton, her lover, said to her: "You are looking lovely for him… But that's
enough. Don't be clever. These words prove the fact that beautiful women aren't supposed to be
clever. Mrs.Grantham had the combination of these two features and was well aware of it. She
was shrewd enough to revenge herself upon her ex-lover, Lord Gwyther, who had come to her
on an errand to ask Mrs. Grantham to introduce his wife to the society. Lord Gwyther, in his
turn, put his wife at stake. He longed for being admitted in the society with the help of Mrs.
Grantham. But she turned out to be not that of silly beautiful woman. She made use of her
position and made Mrs. Gwyther look awkward in the society. To emphasize this the author uses
simile: "overloaded like a monkey in a show".
Shirley Sutton, perhaps, was one of the few who noticed the innocence of Mr. Gwyther
and "the face which went to the heart". For the first time he was able to see the inner beauty of
the woman, but not only the inner magnificence, which he used to admiring in the society and
saw in Mrs. Grantham.
The title of the story is symbolical. Under "The Two Faces" are understood on the one
hand Mrs. Grantham and her outer beauty, and on the other hand Mrs. Gwyther, a young,
inexperienced, pure girl, who possessed the heart and soul and didn't suit the society of
hypocrisy.
To my way of thinking, the idea of the story is the following: only some people can be
admitted to the society, where the inner world of the man means nothing, but the beauty and the
clothes are valued.
"UNLIGHTED LAMPS" BY SHERWOOD ANDERSON
NB: Анализ не полный, нет заключения, также можно заменить идею, и разобрать
имеющиеся примеры из текста.
The story under the title "Unlighted Lamps" was written by an outstanding American
writer Sherwood Anderson, known for his deep and thought-provoking stories, the most known
from which is his book "Winesbourgh, Ohio".
The story "Unlighted Lamps" describes a crisis which was breaking out in the family of
the Cochrans. Doctor Lester Cochran, the father, told his daughter Mary that he was a victim of
heart disease and might die at any moment. And it was time for her to begin thinking seriously of
her future.
The idea conveyed by the author is that having your own family you must take care of it,
show all your tenderness and love for the members of your family, because they are a part of
your heart. The conflict of the story lies between the father and the daughter: their calm
relationships, their inability to say to each other tender words.
Even the title of the story "Unlighted Lamps" makes us think that there left unlighted
lamps in the street of their life, that there're things which aren't finished, the words which aren't
said. We can prove this idea mentioning lots of arguments. The first is that her father told her
about his disease without any preliminary talk and quite suddenly and abruptly - he wasn't
accustomed to telling his daughter tender words, it was a difficult step for him.
Besides, the author gives a sentence "a hunger to be touched by a man's hand had come to
Mary many times before, and returned at the same moment her father made the announcement" -
strikes the eye.
Thus the author gives us one more argument proving the idea of her lack of tenderness
and love.
Reading the story we come across such phrases of bookish style as - made the
announcement, pronouncements on the part of the experts, dread took possession of her, etc.
 Such epithets and metaphors as "the hushed murmur of the town's Saturday night life",
"the hotel bus came rattling", "a cloud of dust floated on the quiet air", "street was lined with
buggies", "the evening of shopping and gossip" used by the author replace us from the Cochrans
to the evening town. These descriptive passages let us follow the author's point of view. He
showed that the life in the town went on with its pace, and Mary really had to think of her future.
- Dr. Cochran told his daughter of his approaching death in a cold quiet voice. To her it
seemed that everything concerning her father must be cold and quiet.
- He wanted to put his arm about his daughter's shoulder, but never having shown any
feeling in his relations with her he couldn't sufficiently release some tight thing in himself.
- In all her life there had never been anything warm and close.
Even Duke Yetter who was a man in the street couldn't be aware of the dread and scare in
Mary's heart. Thus the author showed the loneliness of Mary in the whole world, though her
father loved her, and of course she did as well.
"WHAT WAS IT?" BY FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN
The story "What Was It?" was written by Fitz-James O'Brien, who combined elements of
mysticism and real facts in his books.
In the story we also deal with other questions: What do you consider to be the greatest
element of terror? What might it [a King of Terrors] be?
They bring us to the subject matter - fear, which is the fruit of our mind, imagination. So
the narrator highlights the man-against-himself conflict, when a person's mind gives birth to
his/her fears against his/her own will.
As for the structure of the work, it begins with the exposition, for the author gives
background information about the house, which "has enjoyed … the reputation of being
haunted". This image is supported owing to the garden, "which is now only a green enclosure
used for bleaching clothes", "the dry basin", "fruit trees ragged and unpruned".
The movement of Mrs. Moffat's company to the house is also a part of the exposition,
then series of complication come: "Our dinner conversation was supernatural", thus its
participants live in the presentiment of evil.
The second complication is "What do you consider to be the greatest element of terror",
as this question provokes reflection. A case of comparison in the sentence "I feel as if I could
write a story like Hoffman", who is famous for his fairy-tales, increases the mysticism of that
evening.
The examples of intensifier in the sentence "The room was in total darkness", "of
personification in "The confounded themes touched on by Hammond in the garden kept
obtruding themselves on my brain" and "They still crowded upon me", of comparison in "I was
lying still as a corpse…" and the unusual graphic writing in "A something dropped" lead the
reader to the moment of heightened tension.
So the climax is: Then I turned to look at my captive … I saw nothing! "I saw nothing!"
is the cry of the terror-stricken soul.
There is one more sentence which is rather interesting from the point of view of form and
content: "This thing has a heart that palpitates - a will that moves it - lungs that play and inspire
and respire."
This parallel construction hints that this thing lives inside a human being.
The story ends with the denouement: "At last it [the Mystery] died."
So the idea is that everything depends on a person if he/she gives birth to his fear or
"manacle" it and becomes free from it. And the narrator's answer to Mrs. Moffat proves that:
"We decline taking this creature [fear] with us. Remove it yourself if you please. It appeared in
your house [mind, imagination]. On you the responsibility rests.
"WILD SWANS" BY ALICE MUNROE
The story for analysis is called "Wild Swans" by Alice Munro. The plot centres around a
girl who travels to Toronto and loses her virginity. The main characters of the story are Rose, Flo
and the Minister.
 Flo is nearly middle-aged woman. We learn this fact owing to the phrase "Special
stockings for Flo's varicose veins". She isn't well-educated, that's why there are colloquial words
in her speech: "whores", "men egged them on" etc. But she is very experienced. "She worked as
a waitress in a coffee-shop in Union Station. That was how she knew all she knew. She never
saw sunlight... But she saw plenty else. She saw a man cut another man's stomach with a knife,
as if it was a watermelon... She saw two bad women, running the two words together like
badminton... She saw a child die of a fit, too. Its face was black as ink."
The parallel constructions "I saw..." are used to prove Flo was not young. She
experienced the negative sides of our life and the similes emphasize cruelty of our world. Flo
doesn't cherish an illusion that viruses exist. She says to Rose: "Watch up for people dressed up
as ministers. They were worst." And "The police would be the first ones to didile you".
"Well, I'm not scared," said Rose provokingly. She didn't believe anything Flo said on the
subject of sex". Owing to the sentences it becomes clear that Rose is rather naive, she is under an
illusion the good will defeat the evil. That's why she says: "There's the police anyway". The
epithet "provokingly" and her reluctance to believe Flo's words say about her age. The spirit of
contradiction (defiance) is peculiar to the teenagers.
As for their relationships we can say they are close, Flo and Rose are relatives. The older
woman takes care of the girl, that's why she "took ten dollars and put it in a little cloth bag which
she sewed to the strap of Rose's slip". Moreover, Flo tried to warn her against the dangers in
Toronto. But Rose was just a self-assured teenager who believed that her swallowed dictionaries
had made her ready for reality. That's why she was "extraordinary happy" when "she felt Flo
receding". As any teenager she was curious and she wanted to enjoy independent life.
As for the minister, he became an entrance to the world of adults. He was a person who
started to frustrate the girl's illusions, her stereotypes.
Concerning the structure of the text, we deal with exposition, where we learn about Flo,
Rose and the relationships between them. The complication begins with the sentence "The train
was fitting up and ... a man asked..." so something new starts to fill up Rose; a man appears in
her life.
The culmination point is: "Her legs were never going to open. But they were. They
were". The repetition shows the incandescence of Rose's feelings. She has just experiences the
internal conflict: "She had a considerable longing to be somebody's object. Pounded, pleasured,
reduced, exhausted". The climax conveys her temptation to cognize the world of adults - on the
one hand; on the other hand her fear is expressed in the phrase "Please don't". The curiosity wins
and we go to the denouement: "She thought it would be an especially fine thing... to enter on
preposterous adventures in your own, but newly named, skin".
So we can say the story is about the metamorphosis of the cygnet who has been under her
relatives guardianship (domestic) and changed into an independent (wild) beautiful wild swan.
The idea is we shouldtn't be afraid of cruel reality. If we want to live a full life, we have
to do everything to gain our aim, but not wish to live in a fool's paradise.
"W.S." BY LESLIE POLES HARTLEY
NB: Анализ не полный, нет заключения.
Leslie Poles Hartley, an English novelist and the son of a solicitor was educated at
Oxford's College and for more than twenty years he was a fiction viewer for magazines. He
wrote many novels and made a good contribution to English fiction. According to his novels
films were casted. Hartley was a highly skilled narrator and we can see that in his literary work
"W.S.".
 The main character of the story - Walter Streeter - gets one after the other four postcards
with messages from anonymous and starts thinking them over. At first he was glad that he didn't
have to answer them as a writer should grudge time and energy for that. He even tore the first
two postcards away. But later it became so important for him that he pondered over this and
nothing else. He avoided making new acquaintances and had many difficulties with his work
over new book. He tried to write but the words came haltingly, as though contending with an
extra-strong barrier of self-criticism. The third postcard wasn't burnt, Walter kept it. And only
here it struck him that the initials of the postcard sender and his were the same. An idea came to
Walter that perhaps he was writing those letters to himself. There were many questions and no
answers. From the fourth postcard Walter found out that the sender was coming nearer and is
eager to meet Walter. We can feel sympathetic attitude of the author towards Walter. A wave of
panic surged up in Walter. And we can guess here Walter Streeter was afraid of that meeting.
He'd like to avoid it, because he understood from the last postcards that W.S. wasn't satisfied
with his last literary work. W.S. was saying he almost lived in those novels but he didn't like
them any more.
Who was that W.S.? Taking all the facts into consideration we can say there wasn't
anyone except Walter. And he - Walter had a split personality. He couldn't find all the
shortcomings of his novels ,so he thought someone another had to help him. And W.S. was
invented. Certainly we should know that Walter Streeter didn't control himself completely, that's
why he couldn't know about it.
Let's see what devices the author used. The first one which strikes the eye is anaphora. It's
used very widely in order to improve emphasis on some facts:
 "You have always been interested in Scotland, and that is one reason why I am
interested in you."
 "But the words came haltingly, as though contending with an extra-strong barrier
of self-criticism. And as the days passed he became uncomfortably aware of self-division, as
though someone had taken hold of his personality and was pullling it apart."
 "I know you are interested in cathedrals. I'm sure this isn't sign of megalomania...
I'm seeing a good many churches on my way south..."
 "It was true that Walter Streeter was interested in cathedrals... And it was also true
that he admired mere size and was inclined to under-value parish churches."
 "And was it really a sign of megalomania? And who was W.S. anyhow?"
 "They were Gilbert's, they were Maugham's, they were Shakespeare's ..."
 "He tried to put the thought away from him; he tried to destroy the postcard as he
had the others."
Besides we can meet such an epithet in the text:
 "November fire - makes us be closer to the time everything happened"
Metaphor: "fruitful conflict" - makes us guess the words and the deeds following the
conflict.
A beautiful antithesis as "perfection of ordinariness" doesn't let us calm to Walter's style.
The author uses simile with skill: "A woman, a little mouse-like creature, who had
somehow taken a fancy to him!"
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