CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Stylistic analysis is a process of carefully examining language use in a given

text to understand how the various components function and to explain its structure

and effect. In order to arrive at the analysis of a literary text objectively, it is

important to break it down into single smaller units that will make it easier to

uncover how and why an author decides to use a particular style and to understand

the meaning of those elements in isolation and when taken together. Therefore,

conducting a stylistic analysis of a given text will help readers to precisely and

meaningfully interpret the author’s ideas, concerns and observations. Short (1996)

claims that the primary goal of stylistic analysis in present times has been to try to

understand the relationship between the literary text on the one hand, and how we

understand it, and are affected by it, on the other. Short state that the aim of

stylistic analysis is an attempt to find the artistic principles underlying a writer’s

choice of language.

1.2 Statement of the problem

This research notes that a stylistic analysis of the poems selected in Lara

Owoeye’sTime to Sing and other Poemshas not been done, so this research

1
addresses itself to analysing these poems stylistically and examining the

uniqueness of the poems in this aspect. It also addresses itself to examining how

words are put together in transferring of message to the readers.

1.3 Aim and Objectives

The ultimate aim of this research is to carry out a stylistic analysis of three selected

poems written by Lara Owoeye. However, its specific objectives are;

i. identifying the prominent stylistic features in the selected poems;

ii. examining the artistic functions of the identified stylistic features; and

iii. analysing how these stylistic features contribute to the subject matter of the

selected poems.

1.4 Research Questions

This study aims to answer the following questions:

i. What are the prominent stylistic features in LaraOwoeye’s selected poems?

ii. What are the functions of the selected stylistic features identified in the

selected poems?

iii. How do these stylistic features contribute to the general understanding and

subject matter of the selected poems?

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1.5 Scope of Study/ Limitation

The work is exclusively stylistic, and the analysis is conducted through the

use of the following levels of analysis; phonology, graphology, lexical and lexico

semantic features.For the purpose of indepth analysis, the work restricts itself to

three poems in the collection,‘Tick Tock’, ‘This Country makes me Sick’, and

‘Whitewashed Sepulcher’

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study shows that linguistic patterns or stylistic features earlier

mentioned under research questions contribute to the thematic pre-occupation of

poems. If otherwise, it will be important to erase the notion that those linguistic

patterns (that will be identified in the selected poems) can contribute to the overall

or totality of meaning(s) in the poem. The implication of this is that stylistic

analysis, cannot be carried out in isolation of its artistic function(s).

Also, it will be impossible for students to respond fully to any literary piece

without a thorough understanding of the writer’s language use: that is, how the

creative artist patterns his use of language at all levels of linguistic organisation

such as: graphology, phonology, semantic and syntax to create his unique visions

of life. This study, therefore, will also help students to understand and respond to

3
these poems with special reference to the patterns of language and their

significance in revealing the poet’s intended messages.

1.7 Research Methods

It is basically a textual analysis of three of Lara Owoeye’s poetry. No field

work is required as it is a library-based research. The work is based on the

collection and analysis of data generated from the primary texts as well as

secondary source. In this stylistic analysis, phonological,graphological, lexical and

lexico-semantics features are the centre of our concern. The features from the

selected poems will enable the researcher to link the style to the poet and show the

stylistic effects of these features.

The researcher reads each poem carefully and thoroughly in order to identify

the prominent stylistic features in them. A brief explanation is given on each of

them after which excerpts are cited from the poem. This is followed by a

discussion of the stylistic functions of the artistic features identified in the poem.

1.8 Profile of the Poet (Lara Owoeye)

Prof. Lara Owoeye was born on the 19th of December, 1973 into the family

of Chief and Mrs. S.B Adeyeye who were learned parents. She is a native of

Araromi in OmuoEkiti, Ekiti East Local Government.

She attended Christ Nursery/ Primary School, Ado-Ekiti but she did

4
not complete her nursery and primary education in Ado-Ekiti due to her

mother's transfer from state hospital, Ado-Ekiti. Her mom later moved to

Omuo-Ekiti where she started her own clinic and she completed her nursery

education there. From there, she got admitted into Mary Immaculate Girls’

Grammar School in Ado-Ekiti where she was a science student at the

insistence of her parents.

When she sat for her WAEC examination, she passed all the subject

combination to enable her study an Art related course but subjects related to

calculations, she failed in them. After much persuasion and insistence that

she wanted to study an art course, her parents re-enrolled her in Christ Girls

School, Ado-Ekiti where she cleared all her papers and had 5 distinctions

and 4 credits. She proposed to go to ObafemiAwolowo University for her

first degree but later found herself in University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD) now

known as Ekiti State University in the year 1992.

She graduated from Ekiti State University in the year

1997 and went for the compulsory youth service in Abuja where she

received a call that she should come to her Alma Mata. She was employed in

April 1999 as an assistant Lecturer and she combined this with her second

degree programme. Immediately she finished her Master’s programme, she

started her Ph.D.

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 Prof. Lara has published quality papers in both local and international

journals. She has also published a play entitled“Another Wife’s Revolt”

2018.Being a Christian, she believes God oversees all and He is the Giver of

knowledge and understanding. She believes so much in hard work. She is

married to Mr. OwoeyeOladapo and they are blessed with children.

1.9 Conclusion

This chapter has been able to make clear what stylistics is all about. It also

discussed the scope of the study, significance of the study and profile of the poet

amongst others. The next chapter deals with review of related literature as well as

the theoretical framework.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to review some existing topics, concepts and works that

are relevant to this study. It begins with a discussion of the concepts of language,

stylistics, foregrounding and deviation, thus preparing the necessary background

for the analysis of the selected poems.

2.2 Importance of Language in Literature

Language is primarily a human phenomenon, thus its role in human society is

enormous. Tremholm (1995:82) defines language as “a rule governed system of

symbols that allows the users to generate meaning and in the process, to define

reality”. Those important features of language contained in this definition include

its being rule governed, its being made up of symbols, its productivity and how it

affects individual’s world view.

Language’s principal function is that of communication and it is the major means

of communication among human beings. This is why Yeibo (2011: 138) sees

language “as a product of man’s need for self-expression and communication”.

According to him, language serves as a tool of social engineering in our day-to-day

7
existence as human beings. Another function of language in the human society is

its imaginative or aesthetics function. This is mainly used by artists in the literary

field. A skilled speaker or writer uses language to achieve certain effects. In fact, a

skilled speaker or writer manipulates words in the same way as he/she might mode

clay or paint a picture; a good literature is not judged so much on the account of

the story, but on the way the story has been told which is achievable only through

language.

Language is the backbone of literature and creativity is one of the attributes of

language that makes it possible for a literary writer to form and express his literary

ideas effectively. This is why language competence is one of the factors that affect

creative writing and literature. Language is extremely important to literature in the

sense that, the forms of words like proverbs, idioms, figures of speech etc. that are

used to embellish literature are formed using language. For this reason, language is

inseparable from literature.

Yeibo (2011) states some functions of language such as creativity and passing of

information; language can be creatively used to create different effects on people.

Language is also used as a tool for passing information among humans. This

function of language also goes for literature, as literature deals with creativity and

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in a way informs its reader. In a bid for a writer to be creative, he has to choose his

words and their forms meticulously so as to deliver effectively to his audience.

2.3 Stylistics

Stylistics is the study of literary language from stylistic coordination

(Widdowson, 2014). Stylistics is a word which is derived from 'style'. Style is the

outcome of the Latin word "Elocutio" which means 'style'. Moreover, stylistics

refers to the study of style; it may be the style of a person or the style of a writer.

According to Leech (2014), style is a way in which something is spoken, written or

performed. Writers use different styles according to their own perception, so as to

be different from others. Additionally, style may vary from culture to culture and

it also tells us about the mindset of the writer. Haynes (1989) has the views that

style is the study of distinctions. Style is a kind of expression which varies

according to the context. Further, style and variety are the two sides of the same

coin. Lawal (2004) believes that style is an expression which covers different

aspects of language: diction, sentences, and phrases that are closely allied with the

subject matter.

Leech and Short (1981) write that style is used by the writers according to the

context, and it has unquestionable meanings. According to them, style may be

9
written and spoken and may be applied on literary and non-literary text but if we

focus on the traditions, then stylistic analysis goes in the favour of literary text.

Hence, stylistics has broadened its vision from literary to non-literary text. Wales

(2014) opined that stylistics not only focuses on the formal features of the text but

also highlights the interpretation of the text whether it is literary or not. Carter

(1996) said that stylistics is the process of scrutinising the text from different

perceptions or methods. Birch (2005) expressed that language and style always

remain under the supremacy of the words. Leech and Short (1981) argued that

style is a "dress of thought" and that it is the basic idea of the style to distinguish

what the writers have said, and how it is being presented in front of the readers.

However, most of the time it seems that ideas are being conveyed by the writer and

it is up to the readers to know how he/she can perceive and interpret that idea.

Stylistics is defined by scholars from different perspectives. Freeman (1981)

defined stylistics as the sub-discipline which started in the second half of the 20th

century. Short and Candlin (1988) defined stylistics as an approach which helps to

study literary text. Widdowson (2014) proposed that stylistics works as a mediator

between linguistics and literary criticism. Moreover, Carter and McCarthy (2014)

had the same considerations that stylistics functions as a bridge between linguistics

and literature.

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2.3.1 A Brief Historical Overview of Stylistics

The origin of stylistics according to Nina et al (2010: 2) focuses on the style of oral

expression which was cultivated in rhetoric following the tradition of Aristotle’s

Rhetoric. The real flourishing of stylistics, however, was seen in particular in

Britain and the United States in the 1960’s, and was largely spurred by works done

in the field by proponents of Russian Formalism such as Roman Jakobson and

Viktor Shklovsky. The Russian Formalist wished to make literary inquiry more

‘scientific’ by basing it firmly on explicit observations about the formal linguistic

features of the texts under scrutiny. They were particularly interested in

‘literariness’ and devoted their stylistic study to phonological, lexical and

grammatical forms and structures such as parallelism and linguistic deviation

which would make a text ‘poetic’.

It is, therefore, this linguistic approach (stylistics) that this study intends to use to

explore the formal linguistic features of selected poems in LaraOwoeye'sTime to

sing

2.4 Style

According to Wales (1989:435), the word 'style' is quite difficult to define. The

reason behind this difficulty is related to the way readers understand it. This might

11
affect the features related to stylistics which is part of linguistics. Moreover, the

scholar has listed the most common features of the term “style” which are

summarised below:

Style means the way of expressing oneself in writing and speaking. There is a

distinctive style for every person in doing things such as in playing games or

thinking in a special way for a solution to certain problem; There are also styles in

speaking; one can make jokes, and the other may be more serious. Also style can

be good or bad.

Wales (1989:435) pointed out that each person has his own way of doing an

action or writing about the same theme or even describing the same painting. She

ascertains that style can be different in various situations and according to the

degree of formality, which refers to what she called "style shifting". Furthermore,

the genres of literature also differ in their style whether fiction, poetry or any other

type of literature. Wales also mentioned that style can vary through time, for

example, the style of modern and metaphysical poetry is quite different.

Another important point mentioned in Wales' dictionary is that style is measured

by the number of linguistic features. The personality of each writer can be seen in

his works. If a keen reader reads Jane Austen's novels, e.gPersuasion andPride and

Prejudice he can notice the similarity in the style of the writer of the two texts

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(Wales, 1989:435). According to Carter and Stockwell (2008: 44), there are many

different styles according to the style of the author, e.g. racy, formal and colloquial

one.

Linguistics which represents the broader discipline and which stylistics is part of

helps readers to discover the hidden clues about the language. It can act as the

screw that dismantles the pieces of the whole text into smaller understandable

parts. It can be a great help to interpret the meaning of a certain literary work.

Carter and Stockwell (2008: 39) pointed out that linguistics can give readers a

point of view, a way of looking at a text that helps readers to develop a consistent

analysis, and urges them to ask questions about the language of the text that they

come through.

The concept of style can be examined under the following subtitles and they are

the prominent ones

2.4.1 Style as Choice

It is worthy of note that attention be given to the notion of choice. Choice is an

important instrument of stylistics since it deals with distinct options that are

available to an author. Since language provides it users with more than one choice

in a given situation, there are different choices that are available to the writer in a

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given text. This then depends on the situation and genre the writer chooses in

expressing his thoughts and opinions.

Halliday (1994: 106) states that “there are many ways of accounting in language

for the various events that constitute our ‘mental picture of reality’. Indeed, there

are often several ways of using the resources of language system to capture the

same event in a textual representation. What is of interest to Stylisticians is why

one type of structure should be preferred to another or why, from possibly several

ways of representing the same ‘happening’, one particular type of depiction should

be privileged over another. Choice in style is motivated, even if it is used

unconsciously, and choice has a profound impact on the way texts are structured

and interpreted.

2.4.2 Style as Deviation

The concept of style as deviation is based on the notion that there are rules,

conventions and regulations that inform the different activities to be executed, but

when these conventions are not complied with, there is deviation. Deviation in

stylistics is concerned with the use of different styles from expected norm of

language use outside the range of normal language. Language is a system

organized in an organic structure by rules providing phonetic, grammatical, lexical

rules for its use. Thus, a piece of writing that throws to the wind the rules of

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language is said to have deviated. Traugott and Pratt (1980:31) suggest that the

idea of style as deviance is favoured by the ‘generative frame of reference’. It is an

old concept which stems from the work of great scholars as Jan Mukarovsky.

Mukarovsky relates style to foregrounding and points out that ‘the violation of the

norm of standard is what makes possible the poetic utilization of language”.

When an idea is presented in an unexpected way, then, it is said that such a manner

of carrying it out has deviated from the norm. Deviation may occur at

phonological, syntactic, morphological, graphological and lexico-semantic level.

2.4.3 Style as Man

Style as man is based on the notion that every individual has his or her own unique

way of doing things and that no two persons bear the same character. These are

distinctive features that distinguish one person from the other. It can also be

referred to as “style as idiosyncrasy” which is also called linguistic thumb print.

Thus in literary style, it is possible to differentiate between the works of Chinua

Achebe and Wole Soyinka, based on their use of language among other things. A

person’s style is also governed by his social and political background, religious

inclination, culture, education and geographical location. The notion of style as

man views style as an index of personality.

2.5 Foregrounding

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Foregrounding is much related to the Russian Formalist concept of

“defamiliarization” (ostranenie, i.e ‘enstrangement’ or making strange) which was

introduced into literary criticism by Shklovsky (1917). Shklovsky claimed that as

things become familiar to us, we stop noticing them. Therefore, in his view, the

function of foregrounding is to make people look at the world from a new

perspective, to defamiliarise the familiar in order to make them re-perceive what

they have stopped noticing because of its familiarity and ultimately, to make them

recognise the artfulness of the expression itself. Foregrounding is central to the

means of defamiliarisation used in arts. The object that is positioned in the

foreground is measured against what is portrayed in the background and it is often

assumed that this object is perceptually more salient and hence more important. An

object may also be visually foregrounded by means of features such as, for

instance, its size or colour, which can make it stand out as salient in contrast to

other represented elements.

2.5.1 Means of Foregrounding

There are two major means of foregrounding in a literary text and they are

discussed below.

2.5.2 Deviation

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The concept of style as deviance is well described by Mukarovsky (1990: 172), as

a stylistic strategy that has the function of bringing some items into artistic

emphasis so that it stands out from its surroundings. Deviation in stylistics is

concerned with the use of different styles from the expected norm of language use

in a given genre of writing. It is a departure from what is taken as the common

practice.

Leech and Short (2007:39) define deviation as purely statistical notion: as the

difference between the normal frequency of a feature, and it’s frequency in the

text.

Mansoor and Salman (2020) claimed that deviation is considered as a license or

permission for poet and writer to say or write what people in normal situations of

language cannot use.

Deviation as a means of foregrounding refers to a move away from norm on all

linguistic levels ranging from grammatical, lexical, phonological, graphological to

semantic level of linguistics.

At the graphological level, for example, we may see capital letters where they are

not supposed to be.

At the lexico-semantic level, words that should not go together may be deliberately

brought together, for example: open secret. Semantic deviation is when the

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meaning relations are logically inconsistent or paradoxical. Example: midwinter

spring.

Morphological Deviation – There is morphological deviation when the writer adds

an ending to a word which should normally not be added to Example: perhapless.

Whether language is seen as a system or from a functional point of view deviation

is said to be prominent when it contributes to meaning in a text.

2.5.3 Parallelism

Parallelism is the patterning of extra regular elements of the language. When

certain elements or structures occur in a text, they become regular and their excess

presentation appears to be extra from the normal usage of language. According to

litchart.com, parallelism is the writer’s linguistic choice limited to certain feature

as he makes the same choice again and again from the range of alternatives in the

language. Parallelism is the repetition of grammatical elements in writing and

speaking. Parallelism influences the grammatical structure of sentences but can

also impact the meaning of thoughts and ideas being presented.

Crystal (2003:466) state that parallelism is simply “the use of paired sound, words

or constructions” E.g

The first two students are too clever

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The two words “two and too” in the previous sentence have similar pronunciation

“paired sounds”

Oshima and Hogue (1992:2) claimed that parallelism is an important device in

English writing, particularly in the listing contracted or compared items or ideas.

E.g

The linguistic syllabus of the students in the morning study is the same as

the linguistic syllabus of the students in the evening study

The above sentence compares two similar things which are the linguistic syllabus

of the students in the morning study with the linguistic syllabus of the students in

the evening study. This comparison is achieved by using parallelism.

Parallelism also exists at different linguistic levels ranging from grammatical,

lexical, phonological, graphological, and syntactic to semantic levels of linguistic

analysis.

According to www.litchart.com, one of the most well-known examples of

parallelism is featured in Neil Armstrong’s statement, made as he stepped on the

moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The structure

of the two noun phrases in this sentence is similar due to the repeated use of “one.”

2.6 Theoretical Framework

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This work makes use of approaches from the concept of style as a man and the

concept of foregrounding. The concept of style as man is based on the notion that

every individual has his or her own unique way of doing things and that no two

persons bear the same character or do things the same way. This is why this

concept is chosen to look at the uniqueness of Lara Owoeye’s selected poems and

the way she makes her choice of words and uses them to pass across her message.

The concept of foregrounding is closely related to the Russian Formalist concept of

‘defamiliarization’ i.eenstrangement which was introduced into literary criticism

by Shklovsky (1917). Foregrounding is related to linguistic devices on all levels of

language that somehow stand out against the background of the text in which they

occur, for example, or against contextual factors such as genre.

Foregrounding is a relative concept because it can be measured if norms and

conventions are established and observed and if these are related to complex

contextual features. Deviation and parallelism are examples of foregrounding.

Foregrounding refers to moves away from norm on all linguistic levels while

parallelism is characterised by repetition of structure.

2.7 A Brief Review of Related Works

For the purpose of an in-depth analysis, certain works relevant to this work has

been reviewed. These works were published by reputable scholars in the field of

20
stylistics. The review of these existing works is for the purpose of serving as a

guide and to create awareness that stylistic enterprise is not a new field of study

under linguistics.

Ayeomoni's (2012) work titled “A Grapho-stylistic Analysis of selected poems in

Raji’s Web of Remembrance” examines various graphological tactics of

punctuation, capitalisation, spacing, hyphenation and internal norms in the selected

poems. His perception is that linguistic provides a basis for understanding the

totality of human communication, while the language of literature is an aspect of

language variation and a branch of linguistic stylistic studies. It should then be

noted that examining literature without an examination of its medium, language,

cannot yield meaningful result. Therefore, the study of language can be viewed as

a necessity to the study of literature.

Xenia's (2015) work entitled A Stylistic Analysis of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”

and “Caged Bird” focuses on two objectives. The first is to describe the language

features employed to develop the themes in the poem “Still I Rise” and “Caged

Bird”. The second is to find out the different language features used in each poem

to develop the same theme that is about Black oppression and survival. The

researcher analyses the poems at four language levels which are phonological

21
level, graphological level, grammatical level, and lexical level. The contribution of

this study to the present study lies in the analysis.

Hafiz, Ahmed and Almuntaha’s (2012) work titled “Stylistic Analysis of

Worthword’s poem Early Spring” is also relevant to the work. In this work,

stylistic techniques and methods are used for the stylistic analysis of Worthword’s

poem “Early Spring”. The analysis covers the aspects of graphology, syntax,

semantics and phonology. This analysis is helpful in understanding the basic

concepts of the poem which is the contrast between the harmony of nature and the

disharmony of mankind.

Iqbal et al (2014) analyse the poem “o where are you going” at three different

levels of linguistics which are: pragmatics, phonology and morphology. The

purpose of this study is to explore the literal and hidden meanings in the poem and

to enhance the understanding of the poem. In this poem, the poet exhibits a conflict

between optimism and pessimism; the two attitudes towards life overlap each

other. He was torn between aesthetics versus truth. He believed that it is the duty of

a poem to guide the readers about the morals.

EbiYeibo’s (2011) work titled “Patterns of Lexical Choices and Stylistics Function

in J.P Clarks Bekederemo’s Poetry” analyses J.P Clark’s Bekederemo’s poetry by

focusing on lexical categories such as synonymy, antonym, hyponymy,

22
contradiction, lexis and thematisation and the appropriation of indigenous idioms,

as linguistic patterns for encoding the meaning of the poems.

Batool, Mubarak, Wajid and Maratabali’s (2018) “Stylistic Analysis of Deviations

in E.E Cumming: She Being Brand”, analyses “E.E Cumming: She Being Brand”

from the angle of stylistics. The analysis covers deviation from the regular pattern

of syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology. This article is an effort to

stylistically analyse the use of deviation in the poetry of an American poet, Edward

Estlin Cummings who is well known for creative ideas and innovative style. This

analysis is done under the aspects of deviation at orthographic, graphological,

syntactic, morphological and grammatical levels. The poet conveyed his message

using different stylistic devices such as intentional misspellings, innovation of

phonetics spellings and creation of new style and irregular arrangement of syntax.

Looking at the above reviewed works, the difference between the previous works

and this research is that this current research discusses on the prominent stylistics

features in Lara Owoeye's poem, their functions and their contributions to the

understanding of the poems. The researcher discovers that no work, to the best of

her knowledge, exists on the current poems that she is working on. This probably

23
may be attributed to the fact that the book was published in 2017 which makes it

relatively new.

2.8 Conclusion

This chapter discusses stylistics, origin of stylistics, style, approaches to the study

of style, foregrounding, importance of language in literature, and some existing

works on stylistic analysis of poems from different scholars. By this, this chapter

has created a good background on which the next chapter is based.

CHAPTER THREE

DATA ANALYSIS

3.1 Introduction

This chapter focuses on certain aspects of stylistics features of some poems in Lara

Owoeye's book entitled Time to Sing and other Poems. It discusses the

Graphological, Phonological, Lexical and Lexico-semantic features in the selected

poems. The selected poems are "Tick Tock", "This Country makes me Sick" and

"Whitewashed Sepulcher". In this analysis "Tick Tock" is referred to as "poem

24
one", "This Country makes me Sick" is referred to as "poem two", and

"Whitewashed Sepulcher" is referred to as "poem three"

3.2Graphological Features

According to Babajide (2000: 133) “Graphological analysis is concerned with the

description of the physical appearance of literary text”. Every element of

graphetics in any written text contributes to the meaning and purpose of

communication in that they are not arbitrarily used. Babajide further explains that

“foregrounding is a major device in the graphological aspect of a text”.

At this level, things as spelling, punctuation, space management, underlining, use

of pictures, colouring and so on, are considered and analyzed. Graphological

elements are often used to achieve foregrounding in the text which means, making

certain elements in a text prominent so as to attract attention. Owoeye makes use of

some graphological device in the selected poems. Some of these are discussed

below:

3.2.1 Structure of the Poems

Poem one is divided into six irregular stanzas: stanza one contains five lines;

stanzas two contains five lines; stanzas three contains five lines; stanza four

contains four lines; stanza five contains six lines; and stanzas six contains six lines.

25
Poem two is divided into two irregular stanzas: stanza one contains nine lines and

stanza two contains seventeen lines.

Poem three is divided into six irregular stanzas: stanzas one, two, three, four, five

have four lines each and stanza six has five lines.

The whole of poem one consists of thirty one lines; poem two consists of twenty

six lines and poem three consists of twenty five lines. Looking at the structure of

the poems and the irregularities of the poems, stanzas, and lines, one can deduce

that the persona has no standard she has followed when writing her poem but she

has only written them to address issues of the society just the way it appears to her.

3.2.2 Capitalisation

Capitalisation is a very important graphological feature which is used as both

conventional and stylistic device. Capitalisation in these poems is used

conventionally. The initial letter of each word that begins each of the stanzas of the

poems is capitalised

3.2.3 Punctuation Marks

3.2.3.1 The Full Stop

Full stop is one of the techniques in achieving clarity in a text. In other words, it

indicates where one idea stops and where another begins. It serves the purpose of

26
marking the end of a sentence, it is used at the end of a complete sentence. In poem

one, two and three, there is the use of full stop, in poem one and three, full stop is

used at the end of the last stanza while in poem two, full stop is used at the fourth

line of stanzas one and at the end of stanzas one and two. This connotes that the

poems are run-on line poems, relating just one idea to its reader.

In poem one, the persona is talking about time, the different things that happen at

different time.

3.2.3.2 Comma (,)

The use of comma is only seen in poem two. Comma is used in the poem for

conventional and stylistic purpose.

“... Some order, some neatness...” (line 19)

“... From this throbbing in the head” (line 22)

“…This ache in the heart,

Comes the discovery;

It is this country

That makes me sick.”(line 23-26)

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The commas are used stylistically to indicate pause in the poem in order to make

the message clearer.

3.2.3.3 Semi Colon (;)

Semi colon is a punctuation mark that separates two closely related independent

clauses, provided they are not already joined by a coordinating conjunction. Semi

colon exists only in poem two, stanza two, line one. It is used to separate two

closely related independent clauses and specifically, for the reader’s attention to be

drawn to the horrible experience of the persona

"...My ride through town was bedevilled;

From the stench of human waste..."

Also, semi colon can be found in stanza two, line fifteen. The persona use semi

colon to separate the experience from the conclusion

".... This ache in the heart,

Comes the discovery;

It is this country

That makes me sick.

28
3.2.3.4 Apostrophe

In English language, apostrophe is used for marking the omission of one or more

letters (as in the contraction of “do not” to don’t) and marking of possessive case

of nouns (as in “goat’s horn”). In poem one, apostrophe is used in stanza six, line

five

".... Masses are gloating

And I'm singing

Whistling in victory."

Apostrophe is used to mark the omission of a letter.

3.3 Phonological Features

phonological features in a written text cannot be ignored, although, it is not as

prominent as it is in spoken texts. This includes the use of sounds and their

structures, the use of alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition of words etc. Phonology

is the study of the way sounds function in languages, including phonemes, syllable

structure, stress, accent, intonation, and which sounds are distinctive units within a

language.

3.3.1 Alliteration

29
Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in a

successive closely associated syllable within a group of words, even those spelt

differently. We have instances where alliteration is used in the chosen texts.

Instances of alliteration in poem one:

"Time is ticking..."(line 1)

"…Workers are waiting..."(line 17)

".... Christmas is coming...."(lines 22)

The use of alliteration here is of stylistic importance. It introduces liveliness

and musicality into the poem.

Instances of alliteration in poem two:

".... And taking its toll..."(line 3)

".... Ache that medicine cannot cure..."(line 7)

".... Of body and soul sickness....(line 9)

"... That assailed my nostrils on the highway..."(line 12)

"... To the potholes that drive me..."(line 13)

"... As I maneuvered my way home..."(line 14)

"... Some order, some neatness..."(line 19)

30
 "... From this throbbing in the head,..."(lines 22)

"... This ache in the heart,..."(line 23)

"... That makes me sick..."(line 26)

Alliteration in this poem is used stylistically to make the poem sound rhythmic to

its readers so as to make its reading interesting to them and by reading, the reader

will get the message the persona is trying to pass across to her reader.

Instance of alliteration in poem three:

".... Deception in display...."(line21)

Alliteration in the poem is deployed stylistically to describe deceitful politicians

feigning rebel to deceive the masses, get their votes and amass the country’s

wealth unto themselves, leaving the masses to wallow in abject poverty.

Alliteration is also used to describe the effect of the act of these deceitful

politicians on the country’s economy.

3.3.2 Repetition

Repetition is repeating words and phrases for literary effect. Repetition is an

important phonological feature used for achieving stylistic and conventional effects

in any literary piece. It is a feature which is used to add phonological flavor to the

texts.

31
Examples of repetition in poem one:

"Time is ticking..."(line 1)

"...Time is flying..."(line 21)

"...Leaders are spending..."(line 10)

"...Leaders are spending..."(line 19)

"...Workers are waiting..."(line 17)

"...Karma is waiting..."(line 27)

"...Month is ending..."(line 16)

"...Term is ending..."(line 21)

Repetition in this poem is used to foreground the plight of the masses.

Examples of repetition in poem two:

"...Ache that medicine cannot cure..."(line 7)

"...Ache in my head..."(line 16)

"...This ache in the heart..."(line 23)

"...That pounded my head..."(line 6)

"...Ache in my head..."(line 16)

32
"...From this throbbing in the head..."(line 22)

"... Thumping in the heart..."(line 15)

"...This ache in the heart..."(line 23)

Repetition in this poem is used to foreground the theme of suffering. Apart from

this, repetition brings unity and cohesion to the poems.

3.3.3 Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sound suggests the sense or meaning. It is

a figure of speech which can be used as phonological device to make the

pronunciation of words sound melodious.

Instances of onomatopoeia in poem one:

"Time is ticking..."(line 1)

"...Others are snoring..."(line 4)

"...Birds are singing..."(line 8)

"...Babies are crying..."(line 11)

"...Keys of freedom are rattling..."(line 28)

"...And I'm singing..."(line 30)

"Whistling in victory..."(line 31)

33
Instances of onomatopoeia in poem two:

"... Lingering fever pummelled my shape..."(line1)

"...That pounded my head...'(line 6)

"... Thumping in my heart..."(line 15)

"...From this throbbing in the head..."(line 22)

Onomatopoeic words in this poem are used to describe the painful plight of the

persona

3.3.4 Ryhme

Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounding words. The literary device is used at

the end of lines in poems or songs, it occurs when two or more words have similar

sounds.

Instances of rhyme in poem one:

"... Time is ticking..."(line 1)

"...Sleep is missing..."(line 2)

"...Head is aching..."(line 3)

"...Others are snoring..."(line 4)

"... Night is moving..."(line 5)

34
"... Day is breaking..."(line 6)

"...Sun is rising..."(line 7)

"...Birds are singing..."(line 8)

"...Cars are moving..."(line 9)

"...Leaders are spending..."(line 10)

"...Babies are crying..."(line 11)

"...Men are working..."(line 12)

"...Women are toiling..."(line 13)

"...And God is watching..."(line 15)

"...Month is ending..."(line 16)

"...Workers are waiting..."(line 17)

"...Wages are piling..."(line 18)

"...Leaders are spending..."(line 19)

"...Masses are suffering..."(line 20)

"...Term is ending..."(line 21)

"...Christmas is coming..."(line 22)

35
"...Time is flying..."(line 23)

"...Judgment is loading..."(line 26)

"...Karma is waiting..."(line 27)

"...Keys of freedom are rattling..."(line 28)

"...Masses are gloating..."(line 29)

"...And I’m singing..."(line 30)

Rhyme in this poem introduces liveliness and musicality.

3.4 Lexical Features

Lexical features can be described as how words or lexis are used to reinforce the

meaning of a text. It is the relationship between the dominant themes and the

words that are used in passing across the themes in a text.

Lexical features, mainly in stylistics deal with words. To analyze the lexical

features of these poems, each poem is summarily discussed to enable us understand

the relationship between the poems and the lexis used by the author, meaning the

relationship between the themes and the words.

3.4.1 Poem One

36
The first two stanza of the poem talks about time, that time waits for no man and

also talks about the plight and struggle of some people with time, while some

people enjoy time other suffer from time. Owoeye uses the following lexis to

capture the fact that time waits for no man

"... Time is ticking..."(line 1)

"... Night is moving..."(line 5)

"... Day is breaking..."(line 6)

"...Sun is rising..."(line 7)

"... Month is ending..."(line 16)

"...Term is ending..."(line 21)

"... Time is flying..."(line 23)

The persona also talks about the plight of the masses on how they are working and

toiling but yet they still suffer, and also it talks about the workers (civil servants)

how they work tirelessly waiting for the month to end but yet they are not paid

thier wages. The only people left out the suffering are the leaders that are spending.

"... Babies are crying..."(line 11)

"...Men are working..."(line 12)

37
"... Woman are toiling..."(line 13)

"...But pocket is empty..."(line 14)

"... Month is ending..."(line 16)

"... Workers are waiting..."(line 17)

"...Wages are piling..."(line 18)

"... Masses are suffering..."(line 20)

"... People are hungry..."(line 24)

"...They are angry..."(line 25)

"... Masses are gloating..."(line 29)

The last aspect talks about bad government and looks forward for their liberation

of the oppressed and the masses. The author makes us to know that definitely

karma will have it way and judgment will eventually come and the masses will

gain their freedom.

"... Babies are crying..."(line 11)

"...Men are working..."(line 12)

"... Woman are toiling..."(line 13)

38
"...But pocket is empty..."(line 14)

"...And God is watching..."(line 15)

"... Month is ending..."(line 16)

"... Workers are waiting..."(line 17)

"...Wages are piling..."(line 18)

"... Leaders are spending..."(line 19)

"... Judgement is loaded..."(line 26)

"...Karma is waiting..."(line 27)

"...Keys of freedom are rattling..."(line 28)

"... Masses are gloating..."(line 29)

"...And I'm singing..."(line 30)

"... Whistling in victory..."(line 31)

3.4.2 Poem Two

39
The persona is expressing the terrible experience, the aches that medicine cannot

cure that he encounters which is caused by his country’s policies and politics. The

poet talks about the unpleasant situation and also show us the negative picture of

the country. The major theme of this poem is bad governance and the persona is

able to use the following lexis to intimate us with the theme.

"... Lingerie fever pummelled my shape..."(line 1)

"...Gory news it was..."(line 5)

"...That pounded my head..."(line 6)

"... Ache that medicine cannot cure..."(line 7)

"...A rueful blend..."(line 8)

"...Of body and soul sickness..."(line 9)

"...My ride through town was bedevilled..."(line 10)

"... From the stench of human waste..."(line 11)

"...That assailed my nostrils from the high way..."(line 12)

"... Thumbing in my heart..."(line 15)

"...Ache in my head..."(line 16)

"...I grope desperately..."(line 17)

40
"...For peace..."(line 18)

"... From this throbbing in the head..."(line 22)

"...This ache in the heart..."(line 23)

"... Comes the discover;..."(line 24)

"...It is this country..."(line 25)

"...That makes me sick..."(line 26)

Anyone who comes across the above lexis will not have difficulty in locating the

poem’s theme.

3.4.3 Poem Three

This poem is all about the persona’s doubt of the politicians who pretend to be an

apostle of change but when given the opportunity to make the revolution happen,

they turned out to be something else, using the opportunity afforded them to amass

the wealth of the nation to themselves, leaving the masses who should also be a

beneficiary of the nation’s wealth to wallow in poverty. It talks about contradiction

in the society, examining the title of the poem we can see that whitewashed and

sepulcher contradict each other so also are some other lexis in the poem. The

following are the lexis the persona used to make the poem’s theme known to his

audience.

41
"...Whitewashed Sepulchre..."(line 1)

"...Made up glory..."(line 4)

"... Internal rot..."(line 5)

"...Festering sore..."(line 6)

"...Covered tomb..."(line 7)

"...Guilty of blood..."(line 8)

"...Shrouded in agbada..."(line 9)

"...Flowing babariga..."(line 10)

"...Real agbaya..."(line 11)

"...Horror as man..."(line 12)

"...Evil shepherd..."(line 13)

"...Chaperon of wickedness..."(line 14)

"...Disguise as leader..."(line 15)

"...Leading in vileness..."(line 16)

"...Tops In craft..."(line 17)

"...Pilot of vice..."(line 18)

42
"...Expert in perfidy..."(line 19)

"...Gethsemane betrayal..."(line 20)

"...Deception in display..."(line 21)

"...Such is Leadership..."(line 22)

With the above underlined lexis, any reader will not find it difficult detecting the

tone of disappointment which the persona used to describe the politicians parading

themselves as revolutionaries.

3.5 Lexico-Semantics Features

A significant aspect of Lexico-Semantics is the deployment of figures of speech.

Lexico-Semantics, according to Lawal (1997:29), is particular with “words which

can collocate or co-occur with phrases and sentences and words that are suitable

for a particular communicative context”. Basically, at this level of stylistic

analysis, attention is paid to how meaning is expressed through collocation,

idiomatic expressions, proverbs and figures of speech. For the purpose of this

research, attention will only be paid to figures of speech whose usages are of

stylistic importance to the texts and their functions in the texts.

3.5.1 Simile

43
Simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things that is often

introduced by “like” or “as”. Owoeye does not deploy much use of simile in the

texts and its use can only be found in poem three. But the very few she deploys are

for stylistic purposes.

3.5.1.1 Poem three

Simile in poem three is also used for stylistic purpose. It is used to describe the

effect of the deceptive nature of the politicians on the people that have hopes in

them and the level of their disappointment.

"...Flowing babanriga..."(line10)

"...Real agbaya..."(line11)

"...Horror as man..."(line12)

"...Evil shepherd..."(line13)

"...Chaperon of wickedness..."(line14)

"... Disguised as leader..."(line15)

3.5.2 Metaphor

44
Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares one thing with another and combines

the two into one. Metaphor in the texts are used to create stylistic effects. Example

of Metaphor is:

3.5.2.1 Poem One

"...Time is flying..."(line23)

3.5.3 Personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or an abstraction

is given human qualities. Instances of personification in the texts are:

3.5.3.1 Poem one

Instances of personification in poem one are:

"...Night is moving..."(line 5)

"... Christmas is coming..."(line 22)

"...Time is flying..."(line 23)

"...Karma is waiting..."(line 27)

3.6 Conclusion

45
This chapter has carefully analysed some prominent aspects of stylistic features in

some selected poem of Lara Owoeye’s collection of poems. The title of the

selected poems are; "Tick Tock", "This Country makes me Sick" and

"Whitewashed Sepulcher" and it also considers the artistic functions of all the

stylistic features identified in the text. The prominent features identified in the text

are at the level of Graphology, Phonology, Lexis and Lexico-Semantics. This

chapter revealed the way the author of the text uses those stylistic features to pass

across her message to her audience. The next and final chapter focuses on the

summary, findings and conclusion of this research.

CHAPTER FOUR

46
 SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Introduction

This is the concluding chapter of this research and it deals basically with the

summary, findings and conclusion of the research.

4.2 Summary

Chapter one of this research presents the background to the study by writing on the

concept of language after which it explains some functions of language in the

society. The chapter also discusses the statement of the problem, aim and

objectives, research questions, scope of study/limitation, significance of the study

and research methods. It also provides a brief profile of the poet, Lara Owoeye.

Chapter two covers literature review and theoretical framework of this study. The

chapter discusses in detail the importance of language in literature, and sheds light

on some concepts like stylistics, style and foregrounding. The next section of the

chapter is a review of other scholar’s works on stylistic analysis of texts different

from the ones which this research has chosen.

Chapter three deals with the data analysis of the study. Here, attention is focused

on some aspects of notable stylistic features in the text. Some of the features

discussed in this chapter include: graphological features, phonological features,

47
lexical features and lexico-semantic features. Lastly, Chapter four covers the

summary, findings and conclusion of the study.

4.3 Findings

Based on the analysis in Chapter three, below are the major findings of the study.

i. That Owoeye’s poetry is a revolution in poetry that has a strong sense of

audience. It uses everyday people and issues as fit and proper subject of

her verse making. Both the people and the issues portrayed in poems are

metaphoric and they cut across all classes of the society. In order to treat

this issues deeply, the poet does not follow any laid down principle.

ii. That the author uses capitalization and other punctuation marks

conventionally.

iii. That the author uses figures of speech such as simile, metaphor,

personification and metaphorin the selected poems in orderto aid the

effectiveness of her message.

iv. That each of the poems has a specific message and that singular message

runs through the poems.

v. That Owoeye uses the right lexis to pass across the notable themes in the

texts.

48
 vi. That the author copiously uses rhyme which makes the poems not only to

be musical but also interesting to read.

vii. That Owoeye makes use of lexical transfer which gives each words the

right meaning.

viii. That the author uses present tense in writing the poems which simply

means that the themes portrayed in the poems are timeless.

4.4 Conclusion

In the words of Lawal (2003) “stylistics is concerned with the analysis and

description of linguistic features of texts in relation to their meaning. Language

variation and distinctiveness of features within and across the texts as occasioned

by situational factors are the major purview of stylistics as an emergent field in the

study of language”. This means that an in-depth stylistic study of a text brings out

the hidden meaning of the text because the author alone is not responsible for the

interpretation of meaning.

In conducting a stylistic analysis of a text, and using the correct linguistic features,

the analyst is able to enter into the mind of the author to get the author’s meaning

and equally give his/her own additional meaning to the text. By making use of

insights from the concept of linguistic analysis, this research has been able to

objectively take a look at some selected poems of Lara Owoeye titled "Tick Tock",

49
"This Country makes me Sick" and "Whitewashed Sepulcher" in the area of

graphology, phonology, lexical and lexico-semantics. This has made us arrive at

some interesting findings which of certainty have added to the overall

interpretations of the texts. Further research can make use of another dimension of

linguistics in analysing the convert and overt meanings embedded in the texts of

study.

50
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