Lexical stylistic devices

LEXICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

Metaphor

The term 'metaphor' means transference of some quality from one object to another. It is widely used to designate the process in which a word acquires a derivative meaning. A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two different phenomena (things, events, ideas, actions) are simultaneously brought to mind by the imposition of some or all of the inherent properties of one object on the other which by nature is deprived of these properties. Such an imposition generally results when the creator of the metaphor finds in the two corresponding objects certain features which to his eye have something in common.

However, identification should not be equated to resemblance. Thus in the following metaphor:

"Dear Nature is the kindest Mother still" (Byron) the notion Mother arouses in the mind the actions of nursing, weaning, caring for, etc., whereas the notion Nature does not. There is no true similarity, but there is a kind of identification. Therefore it is better to define metaphor as the power of realizing two lexical meanings simultaneously.

The identification is most clearly observed when the metaphor is embodied either in an attributive word, as in pearly teeth, voiceless sounds, or in a predicative word-combination, as in the example with Nature and Mother.

The expressiveness of the metaphor is promoted by the implicit simultaneous presence of images of both objects - the one which is actually named and the one which supplies its own "legal" name. So that formally we deal with the name transference based on the similarity of one feature common to two different entities, while in fact each one enters a phrase in the complexity of its other characteristics. The wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking and unexpected - the more expressive - is the metaphor.

Metaphors, like all stylistic devices, can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, i.e. are quite unpredictable, are called genuine metaphors (e.g. Then would come six or seven good years when there might be 20 to 25 inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass).Those which are commonly used in speech and therefore are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries as expressive means of language are trite metaphors, or dead metaphors (e.g. Swan had taught him much. The great kindly Swede had taken him under his wing.) Their predictability therefore is apparent. Genuine metaphors are regarded as belonging to language-in-action, i. e. speech metaphors; trite metaphors belong to the language-as-a-system, i.e. language proper, and are usually fixed in dictionaries as units of the language.

Trite metaphors are sometimes injected with new vigour, i.e. their primary meaning is re-established alongside the new (derivative) meaning. This is done by supplying the central image created by the metaphor with additional words bearing some reference to the main word. For example: "Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down." The verb to bottle up is explained in dictionaries as follows: 'to keep in check' ("Penguin Dictionary"); 'to conceal, to restrain, repress' ("Cassell's New English Dictionary"). The metaphor in the word can hardly be felt. But it is revived by the direct meaning of the verb to cork down. This context refreshes the almost dead metaphor and gives a second life. Such metaphors are called sustained or prolonged. Here is another example of a sustained metaphor:

"Mr. Dombey's cup of satisfaction was so full at this moment, however, that he felt he could afford a drop or two of its contents, even to sprinkle on the dust in the by-path of his little daughter," (Dickens, "Dombey and Son")

We may call the principal metaphor the central image of the sustained metaphor and the other words which bear reference to the central image—contributory images. Thus in the example given the word cup (of satisfaction) being a trite metaphor is revived by the following contributory images: full, drop, contents, sprinkle. It is interesting to note that the words conveying both the central image (the cup) and the contributory images are used in two senses simultaneously: direct and indirect. The second plane of utterance is maintained by the key word—s atisfaction. It is this word that helps us to decipher the idea behind the sustained metaphor.

The metaphor is often defined as a compressed simile. But this definition lacks precision. Moreover, it is misleading, inasmuch as the metaphor aims at identifying the objects, while the simile aims at finding some point of resemblance by keeping the objects apart. That is why these two stylistic devices are viewed as belonging to two different groups of SDs. They are different in their linguistic nature.

Genuine metaphors are mostly to be found in poetry and emotive prose Trite metaphors are generally used as еxрressive means in newspaper articles, in oratorical style and even in scientific language. The use of trite metaphors should not be regarded as a drawback of style. They help the writer to enliven his work and even make the meaning more concrete.

There is constant interaction between genuine and trite metaphors. Genuine metaphors, if they are good and can stand the test of time," may, through frequent repetition, become trite and consequently easily predictable. Trite metaphors, as has been shown, may regain their freshness through the process of prolongation of the metaphor.

Metaphors may be sustained not only on the basis of a trite metaphor. The initial metaphor may be genuine and may also be developed through a number of contributory images so that the whole of the utterance becomes one sustained metaphor.

Personification is a variety of metaphor. Personification is attributing human properties to lifeless objects – mostly to abstract notions, such as thoughts, actions, intentions, emotions, seasons of the year, etc. The purpose of personification is to help to visualize the description, to impart dynamic force to it or to reproduce the particular mood of the viewer.

E.g. “Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand on our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained face up to hers, and smiles, and, though she doesn’t speak, we know what she would say and lay our hot, flushed cheek against her bosom and the pain is gone.” (Jerome K. Jerome “Three Men in a Boat”)

To formal signals of personification we may refer:

1) the use of the personal pronouns he/she with reference to lifeless objects; 2) direct address. The object of address is thus treated as if it could really perceive the author’s appeal;

E. g. “Break, break, break / On the cold gray stones, O Sea!

Break, break, break / At the foot of thy chags, O Sea!”(A. Tennyson)

3) capitalization of the word which expresses a personified notion, e.g. “Mother Nature always blushes before disrobing.”

In conclusion it would be of interest to show the results of the interaction between the dictionary and contextual meanings.

The constant use of a metaphor gradually leads to the breaking up of the primary meaning. The metaphoric use of the word begins to affect the dictionary meaning, adding to it fresh connotations or shades of meaning. But this influence, however strong it may be, will never reach the degree where the dictionary meaning entirely disappears. If it did, we should have no stylistic device. It is a law of stylistics that in a stylistic device the stability of the dictionary meaning is always retained, no matter how great the influence of the contextual meaning may be.

Examples of metaphor:

1. "The streets were a furnace, the sun an executioner." (Cynthia Ozick, "Rosa")

2. "But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill." (William Sharp, "The Lonely Hunter")

3. "Love is an alchemist that can transmute poison into food--and a spaniel that prefers even punishment from one hand to caresses from another."(Charles Colton, Lacon)

4. "Men's words are bullets that their enemies take up and make use of against them." (George Savile, Maxims)

5. "Language is a road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." (Rita Mae Brown)

6. "Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food." (Austin O'Malley, Keystones of Thought)

7. "Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations."(Faith Baldwin, Face Toward the Spring)

8. "A man may break a word with you, sir, and words are but wind." (William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors)

9. When he ate, he was a crocodile, opening wide and snapping his jaws suddenly for the kill.

10. All at once he was alone in this noisy hive with no place to roost.

11. It will take a big tractor to plow the fertile fields of his mind.

Exercise I. Analyse the given cases of metaphor from the sides mentioned above - originality, expressiveness and elaboration of the created image. Pay attention to the manner in which two objects (actions) are identified: with both named or only one - the metaphorized one – presented explicitly:

1. And the skirts! What a sight were those skirts! They were nothing but vast decorated pyramids; on the summit of each was stuck the upper half of a princess. (A.B.)

2. I was staring directly in front of me, at the back of the driver's neck, which was a relief map of boil scars. (S.)

3. She was handsome in a rather leonine way. Where this girl was a lioness, the other was a panther - lithe and quick. (Ch.)

4. His voice was a dagger of corroded brass. (S.L.)

5. Wisdom has reference only to the past. The future remains for ever an infinite field for mistakes. You can't know beforehand. (D.H.L.)

6. He felt the first watery eggs of sweat moistening the palms of his hands. (W. S.)

7. The man stood there in the middle of the street with the deserted dawnlit boulevard telescoping out behind him. (Т.Н.)

8. Leaving Daniel to his fate, she was conscious of joy springing in her heart. (A.B.)

9. He smelled the ever-beautiful smell of coffee imprisoned in the can. (J. St.)

10. We talked and talked and talked, easily, sympathetically, wedding her experience with my articulation. (Jn.B.)

11. "We need you so much here. It's a dear old town, but it's a rough diamond, and we need you for the polishing, and we're ever so humble...". (S.L.)

12. They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate. (W.G.)

13. She and the kids have filled his sister's house and their welcome is wearing thinner and thinner. (U.)

14. Notre'Dame squats in the dusk. (H.)

15. He had hoped that Sally would laugh at this, and she did, and in a sudden mutual gush they cashed into the silver of laughter all the sad" secrets they could find in their pockets. (U.)

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