A Stylistic Analysis of the poem “Leisure” by William

Henry Davies

Subject: Stylistics

Prepared By: Sayed Aamir Ali Bacha

Submitted To: Maam Bushra Ashraf

Program: BS

Department: English (UGS)

Semester: 7th

Section: 7-C

Shift: Morning

Class Number: 13

Roll Number: MF-20683

Date: 22-December-2023
Poem:
Line 1: WHAT is this life if, full of care,

Line 2: We have no time to stand and stare?—

Line 3: No time to stand beneath the boughs,

Line 4: And stare as long as sheep and cows:

Line 5: No time to see, when woods we pass,

Line 6: Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

Line 7: No time to see, in broad daylight,

Line 8: Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

Line 9: No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

Line 10: And watch her feet, how they can dance:

Line 11: No time to wait till her mouth can

Line 12: Enrich that smile her eyes began?

Line 13: A poor life this if, full of care,

Line 14: We have no time to stand and stare.

Introduction:
This documnet discusses the stylistic analysis of a poem “Leisure” by William Henry Davies and to show
how meaning is constructed through interplay of different textual features.

The Levels of Stylistic Analysis:

1. Graphological Level:
It refers to the whole writing system: “punctuation and paragraphing as well as spacing”. These are “the
formalized rules of writing.” It includes comma, semi colon, question mark, exclamation mark, hyphen,
ellipsis and brackets etc. In this poem graphological level consists of “full stops”, “commas” and
“apostrophe”. There is the use of punctuation.

Full stop:

It is used seven times in this poem. Each full stop shows the completion of one sense.

e.g.,

We have no time to stand and stare.

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

Like skies at night. How they can dance.

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

We have no time to stand and stare.

Comma:

It is used eleven times in this poem. The frequent use of comma reflects the sense of wandering. They
emphasize the pauses for thought and reflection.

e.g.,

What is this life if, full of care,

No time to see, when woods we pass,

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars,

A poor life this if, full of care,

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet,

Apostrophe:

This is used only one time in this poem in the second last couplet. The capital “B” of Beauty shows the
focusing message of the poet to modern man to turn towards nature.

e.g.,

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

2. Phonological level:
Phonology is the study of linguistic systems, specifically the way in which “sound represents differences
of meaning in a language.” On phonological level this poem has the qualities of proper rhyme
scheme pattern, alliteration, consonance, repetition of same sounds. Two types of devices are
included, sound devices and literary devices. Musical devices the poet uses to make his poetry a
special from other.

Rhyme scheme:

The end rhyme scheme in the first couplet of the poem is “aa”. End rhyme scheme in the second
couplet is ‘’bb’’. In the third couplet is ‘’cc’’. In the fourth is ‘’dd’’. In the fifth couplet is ‘’ee’’ etc. This
can be observed with examples from the poem.

For example;

Care, stare (aa)

Boughs, cows (bb)

Light, night (cc)

Glance, dance (dd)

Can, began (ee)

Alliteration:

The same sound in the beginning of the words in a line is alliteration. The sound of ‘s’ in the start of
words produces a beautiful effect on readers.

Stand and stare

The use of alliteration is in second couplet in the form of “b” sound.

Beneath the boughs

Other alliteration of “s”, “h”, “w” sounds in this poem are as under:

Stare- sheep

Her-how

When-woods

Enrich- eyes

Streams- stars- skies

Stand- stare

Assonance:

The repetition of vowel sound in poetry is assonance. The assonance gives a rhythm to the poem. For
example, what is this life, in this line ‘I’ sound is repeated as assonance.

Consonance:

“W”, “S”, “T” are repeated consonants which show the limitedness of the poet.

Repetition:

It is a literary device which shows the same words a few times to make a thought visible. There
is repetition of “No time to sound” seven times. The poet again and again puts focus of the reader on
particular word. There are seven couplets and all these have repetition of “No time to sound.”

Metrical Composition:

The meter is iambic tetrameter i.e. most lines have four strong beats (tetra meter) and start with a week
(iambic) one.

For example: And STARE as LONG as SHEEP or COWS

 3. Morphological level:
Morphology is the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that “deals
with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed.”

e.g.,

The structure of words in the poem is very simple. All the words in the poem are almost monosyllabic,
except four disyllabic words.

Monosyllabic words: This, what, care, stare, sheep, dance, boughs, full, wait etc.

Disyllabic words: Beneath, squirrels, daylight, beauty.

4. Lexico- Syntactic level:

Lexical item belongs to the distinctive language user and language use in this poem. The poem is divided
into multiple lexical features.

Nouns:

All nouns are common. E.g. Life, time, boughs, sheep, woods, skies, cows.

Verbs:

Care, stand, stare, see, pass.

Adverbs:

Beneath, where, when.

Adjectives:

Full, broad, poor.

In most part of this poem are fragments, except two full sentences, and the middle four stanzas can be
looked as the continuous parts of the continuous adverbial clause. So, in this way it can bring emphasis
to this part, and also make a deep impression on readers of what we have lost if we care too much but
do not stand and stare.
 5. Semantic Level:
Semantic level deals with the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. It includes metaphor, simile,
personification and other literary devices.

Simile:

Poet uses simile in the 4th and 8th line of the poem.

For example:

And stare as long as sheep or cows

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

Diction:

The diction of this poem is very simple. The lines are mostly short and easy to understand.

Personification:

It is the giving of human attributes to non-living things. In this poem Beauty has been personified and
presented as a girl who is dancing smiling.

Imagery:

In this poem a lot of examples of visual imagery.

For Example:

Someone standing beneath the bough (line 1, couplet 2)

Cows and sheep grazing and enjoying the beauty around them (line2, couplet 2)

Rhetorical questions:

It is a trope in which the leading questions are asked is called rhetorical question.
For Example: What is this life, if full of cares