STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF THE POEM “BEREFT” BY ROBERT FROST

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze Robert Frost’s poem “Bereft” from the perspective of stylistic analysis. The analysis

is made under the aspects of Graphlogical, Grammatical, Syntactical, and Phonological patterns. We have also

found tropes and schemes that are present in the poem. This research is helpful to analyze the structure and style

of Robert Frost’s poetry, and his themes, views, and treatment of nature.

Keywords: Style, stylistics, Robert Frost, loneliness, conflict, hostile nature, faith, phonological level,

grammatical level, graphlogical level.

INTRODUCTION

“Style” is a word derived from Latin word “elocution” which means style and means “lexis” in Greek. Style is a

broader term. It has several meanings in and outside of the literary text. A particular procedure by which something

is done, a manner or a way is style. Broadly, appearance of everything is style. The way of doing something or

the way of living is also style. Style is also related to a personality of a person. A style reflects the thoughts of a

person’s mind. It describes the way of person’s speaking and writing.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Stylistics is the study and clarification of texts in respect to their linguistic and tonal style. As a restraint, it

associates literary criticism to linguistics. It does not role as an independent area on its own, and can be applied

to an empathetic of literature and journalism as well as linguistics. From Wikipedia (modified on 15 March 2010),

Stylistics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with the study of varieties of language, its properties, and

principles behind choice, dialogue, accent, length and register. H.G. Widdowson (1986, p.4) defines stylistics as,

"The study of literary discourse from a linguistics orientation. In 2003 Gabriela Miššikova said, Stylistics is a
field of study where the method of selecting and implementing linguistic, extra linguistic or expressive means and

devices in the process of communication are studied.

Short (1996) believes that stylistics is a linguistic approach to study the literary texts. In other words we can say

that stylistics studies literary texts using linguistic description. Short also shows his interest not only in the

(linguistics) forms of he analyzed texts (i.e. How), but he also studies the meaning (i.e. what) of the text in the

sense of plot and overall message of a story.

From this point of view short (1996, p.1) further says, "Stylistics can sometimes look like either linguistics or

literary criticism, depending upon where you are standing where looking at it". "To Leech (1985) stylistics is the

study of the style which can be applied in both literary and non-literary texts. In a non-literary text, style is learned

because we want to explain something, while literary stylistics explains the relations between language and artistic

function.

STYLISTICS

Stylistics is the scientifically the study of style. Different scholars define style in his/her own way at different

time. According to Buffon “Style is the man himself”. According to Widdowson (1975,p.3) “Stylistics is the study

of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation”. In Stylistics point of view, Stylistics is the systematic study of

style, ranging from features of language which can be identified with an individual to those which identify major

occupation groups and those characteristic of speakers and writers in particular situations (for example,

parliamentary style).

BRIEF HISTORY OF STYLISTICS

The analysis of literary style goes back to Classical rhetoric, but modern stylistics has its roots in Russian

Formalism, and the related Prague School, in the early twentieth century.

In 1909, Charles Bally's Traité de stylistique française had proposed stylistics as a distinct academic discipline to

complement Saussurean linguistics. For Bally, Saussure's linguistics by itself couldn't fully describe the language

of personal expression. Bally's program fitted well with the aims of the Prague School.

Building on the ideas of the Russian Formalists, the Prague School developed the concept of foregrounding,

whereby poetic language stands out from the background of non-literary language by means of deviation (from
the norms of everyday language) or parallelism. According to the Prague School, the background language isn't

fixed, and the relationship between poetic and everyday language is always shifting.

Roman Jacobson had been an active member of the Russian Formalists and the Prague School, before immigrating

to America in the 1940s. He brought together Russian Formalism and American New Criticism in his Closing

Statement at a conference on stylistics at Indiana University in 1958. Published as Linguistics and Poetics in 1960,

Jakobson's lecture is often credited with being the first coherent formulation of stylistics, and his argument was

that the study of poetic language should be a sub-branch of linguistics. The poetic function was one of six general

functions of language he described in the lecture.

Michael Halliday is an important figure in the development of British stylistics. His 1971 study Linguistic

Function and Literary Style: An Inquiry into the Language of William Golding's 'The Inheritors' is a key essay.

One of Halliday's contributions has been the use of the term register to explain the connections between language

and its context. For Halliday register is distinct from dialect. Dialect refers to the habitual language of a particular

user in a specific geographical or social context. Register describes the choices made by the user, choices which

depend on three variables: field ("what the participants... are actually engaged in doing", for instance, discussing

a specific subject or topic), tenor (who is taking part in the exchange) and mode (the use to which the language is

being put).

Fowler comments that different fields produce different language, most obviously at the level of vocabulary

(Fowler. 1996, 192) The linguist David Crystal points out that Halliday’s ‘tenor’ stands as a roughly equivalent

term for ‘style’, which is a more specific alternative used by linguists to avoid ambiguity. (Crystal. 1985, 292)

Halliday’s third category, mode, is what he refers to as the symbolic organization of the situation. Downes

recognizes two distinct aspects within the category of mode and suggests that not only does it describe the relation

to the medium: written, spoken, and so on, but also describes the genre of the text. (Downes. 1998, 316) Halliday

refers to genre as pre-coded language, language that has not simply been used before, but that predetermines the

selection of textual meanings. The linguist William Downes makes the point that the principal characteristic of

register, no matter how peculiar or diverse, is that it is obvious and immediately recognisable. (Downes. 1998,

309)

TYPES OF STYLISTICS

Undoubtedly there may be as many types of style as is the number of persons. However, there are common traits
which call upon thinking of types of style. Based upon different norms and contexts, Style can be classified as

under-

a. Formal-informal style

which can be further classified as intimate-non-intimate depending on the relations between two or more persons.

b. Old-modern style

which can be further divided into many groups or many sub types e.g.. Modem style has so far developed as post-

modem and again post-post modem.

c. Works of different natures have also their own styles VIZ. classical, neoclassical, romantic, metaphysical,

existential,

psychoanalytical, classical, satirical, etc.

d. Regional style are also identifiable such as British, American, African, Indian etc.

e. Philosophical, Scientific, religious, historical styles are based on the subject matter Literary styles and non-

literary

styles are very popular.

f. Elegant, lucid, rustic archaic are some of the styles depending upon the effect on the readers.

g. Different genres have their own styles such as prose style, dramatic style, poetic style, fictional style etc.

h. Different languages also have their own styles for e.g. English style, French style, Greek style, Latin style etc.

1. Allegorical style is also one of most effective modes of style.

In brief, it's very difficult to delineate all types of style and ultimately it is wise to say that style is not a static

entity rather it is a dynamic one which goes on changing according to the need of situation. Not only this but also

it takes its shape in different readers as the impression or effect on them. The same work read by the same person

at different times implants differently and therefore the dynamics of style is there forever.

LEVELS OF STYLISTICS

GRAPOHOLOGY
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “the study of handwriting, for example as a way of learning

more about somebody’s character”. Simply we say that graphology deals with writing system e.g.: uses of

Capitalization, punctuation marks, bold italics etc.

PHONOLOGY

According to Bloomfield, “Phonology is the organization of sounds into patterns”. In more simple sense, “the

study of sounds in a language is called phonology”. Phonology is the study of vocal sounds and sound changes,

phonemes and their variants in a particular language. What is sound? How and where it is produced from? How

it received by the ears? How and why is one sound different from the other? ___ questions these are the subject-

matter of phonology. Every language makes its own selection of sounds and organizes them into characteristic

patterns. This selection of sounds and their agreement into patterns constitute the phonology of the language.

MORPHOLOGY

Mark and Kirsten 2005, p.1) said that, “Morphology refers to the mental system involved in word formation and

how they are formed”. Bloomfield calls it the study of the constructions in which bound forms appear among the

constituents.

SYNATAX

The word syntax is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘ordering together’, ‘systematic arrangement’, or ‘putting

together’. It is the study of sentence building, of the ways in which words are arranged together in order to make

larger units. A syntactic analysis is generally concerned with sentences and the constituents of sentences. Briefly

speaking, syntax is the grammar of sentences; it is the science of sentence construction. ‘It is perhaps best to define

syntax negatively, as the study of the combinations of such morphemes as are not bound on the levels of either

inflection or derivation’ (Robert A Hall, 1969 : 91). By this definition, most of the elements involved in syntactical

combinations will indeed be free, but some will be pharasally or clausally bound.

Semantics

According to David Crystal, “Semantics is the study of meaning”. Semantics is also called “semasiology”. It is

the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning. It deals with the study of meaning, changes in meaning, and

the principles that govern the relationship between sentences or words and their meanings.

2.6 METHODS OF STYLISTICS

Methodology defines the approach of science to the object of investigation and specifies its general orientation in

a research. The most traditional method of stylistics is the method of semantico-stylistic analysis (stylistic

analysis). This method aims at defining the correlation between language means employed for expressive

conveyance of intellectual, emotional or aesthetic content of speech (or text) and the content of information. The

comparative method is considered to be the nucleus of the stylistic analysis method. To make the speech more

effective speakers constantly select definite language means from a set of synonymous units. These language

means have the best stylistic effect only in comparison with other language means which are either less expressive

or neutral in the given context. The method of stylistic experiment lies in substitution of the writer‘s words,

utterances or constructions for new ones with the stylistic aim. With the help of this method it is possible to

characterize the stylistic properties of the writer‘s text and approve of the substituted units stylistic possibilities.

This method was extensively used by such scholars as L. Shcherba, O. Peshkovskyi, L. Bulahovskyi. The

quantitative method consists in defining the quantitative properties of a language phenomenon. Using the

quantitative data and specific calculations the statistic method aims at distinguishing peculiarities and regularities

of language units functioning that can differentiate individual or functional styles. It establishes the statistic

parameters of the analyzed text or texts. These parameters provide reliable and objective data for stylistic analysis.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF STYLISTICS

An approach is a school of thought which postulates how we can analyse the style of a given oral or written text

in any of the four senses above: that of the individual, group, literary work or packaging for effective

communication. There are at least six provisions at disposal as the approaches, which summarily include the

following:

i) Analysing style by trying to infer the central thought behind the utterances and expressions.

ii) Considering style as a choice from all possible alternatives.

iii) Looking at style as individual attributes of the speaker/writer.

iv) Analysing style depending on the context in which it appears.

v) Analysing style as special usage of language, in contrast to the general usage.

vi) Analysing style as a set of collective characteristics of the text.

DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF STYLISTICS

Here are four of the most well-known linguistic schools of thought:

1. Functionalism

This first school of thought focuses on how language is actually used in everyday life. Those who abide by

functionalism look at language as just another tool for humans to use, and thus tend to focus on the function

language and its different parts have in our lives. The theories of functionalism focus on phonological, semantic,

syntactic, as well as the pragmatic functions of language. Functionalism emphasizes the importance of social

context, usage, and the communicative function of the grammar, phonology, orthography, and more, of a

language.

2. Structuralism

Based on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure of Switzerland, structuralism is an approach to linguistics that focuses

on the idea that languages are fixed systems made up of many different units that connect with each other. This

school of thought marked a shift from historical linguistic analysis to non-historical analysis. Later on, other

linguists would come to see structuralism as rather out-of-date. It worked for phonology and morphology, but the

theories it proposes don’t make as much sense as the ones proposed by new schools of thought. Saussure was

aware of the fact that, in his time, he would not be able to get a good understanding of the human brain, and so

left that to future linguists.

3. Generativism

The work of Noam Chomsky became the basis for the generativism approach to linguistics. It was originally a

way to explain how humans acquire language in the first place, but soon it came to be used to explain the different

phenomena that occur in all natural languages. The generative theory of language suggests that, in its most basic

form, language is made up of certain rules that apply to all humans and all languages. This led to the theory of

“universal grammar”, that all humans are capable of learning grammar. All of this was developed in the second

half of the 20th century, with Noam Chomsky taking into account the work of Zellig Harris as well.

4. Cognitivism

The last linguistic school of thought on our list emerged in the 1950s as a reaction to generativism. In basic terms,

cognitivism says that language emerges from human cognitive processes. It challenges “universal grammar” by

suggesting that grammar is not something that all humans can inherently understand, but rather it is learned by
using language. In this sense, it is a bit similar to functionalism. However, the main focus of cognitivism is how

language is based on meaning that the mind creates.

Introduction to the poem ‘Bereft’

Robert Frost was a great American poet who writes a large number of great poems. Bereft is one of his famous

poems. This poem has ominous tone and there are different interpretations of this poem. The body of the poem is

not very clear but we interpret that the poet is alone in this world. Poet feels loneliness in his life but he has a great

faith in God. The ending clearly states that the poet is all alone in the world but he is not pessimistic, he shows

his believe in God.

This is a deep poem that brings out the loneliness of man living inside the manifestation of nature. The elements

of nature at times gather in such a manner as to be totally and brutally hostile to man. It is at that sad and gloomy

moment of isolation that man feels all, all alone standing naked against the bitter and fast realities of nature. Then

and only then he looks inside himself and finds the presence of his creator therein and this spiritual companionship

gives him hope for life.

Theme of the poem ‘Bereft’

solation and loneliness is the main theme of the poem. Poet feels himself alone. His youth has passed and now

due to his loneliness, he is even afraid of leaves. He considered nature very cruel towards him. We also feel a

conflict in the mind of poet. He shows bereavement but also a strong hope. Throughout the poem the poet

emphasizes on his loneliness and cruelty of nature. But at the end he shows his strong faith on God.

How theme is foregrounded: The theme is foregrounded through the vocabulary items. Theme of loneliness is

describes with the help of different words. For example: “Alone” The writer uses this word two times in a poem.

“No one” writer uses these words to show his loneliness. Nature is hostile towards the poet. The hostility of nature

is described through these words: Deeper roar, restive door, frothy shore, summer was past, sinister. The poet
shows his strong faith on God. This is shown with the help of following phrase. The last word of the poem is “but

God”. This reverses the whole theme of the poem. It shows poet’s mind capacity for courage. He can think only

of God in his isolation and thus shows his strong faith in God.

Stylistic analysis of the poem Bereft Bereft as a lyrical We can say that this poem is lyrical because it is fairly

short and is between a dozen and thirty lines and it expresses feelings and thoughts of a single speaker in a personal

and subjective fashion. And all these are the qualities of the lyrical poem.

Graphlogical level

i) There is no division of stanzas. ii) The poem is written as a whole. It is lyrical. iii) There is usual capitalization.

iv) We can see the use of punctuation in the poem. For example: full stop, comma, colon and apostrophe is

used in this poem. Lexical level: Nouns Pronouns Common nouns Collective noun Proper noun Wind, Hill,

Summer, Day, Clouds, West, Shore, Door, Porch’s, Floor, House, God. I and Me. Day, Hill, Cloud, Door, Porch,

Floor, House, Shore, Leaves, Knee, Tone. World. God, Summer, West.

Verb Adverb Adjective Heard, Standing, Looking, Massed, Hissed, Struck, Missed, Change. Abroad, Blindly.

Deeper, Restive, Frothy, Somber, Ragging, Coil, Sinister, Alone, Left.

Grammatical level

Use of Punctuation, Use of question mark and Question mark is used in the poem and it shows that poet has a

conflict in his mind. He is bewildered.

Use of colon: Colon is used where poet describes about his loneliness. He is alone not in house but in life. Use

of full stop: Poet uses full stop three times in the poem. Each full stop shows the completion of one poet.
i. Firstly, poet describes about the transience of human life. Summer or the youth is passed and poet is in his old

age that is winter. ii. Secondly, the poet describes about the nature. Nature is not friendly with him. It is cruel

towards him. iii. Thirdly, he emphasizes about his loneliness but shows his great faith in God.

Phonological level

The sixteen lines poem has following rhyme scheme. AAAAABBACCDDDEDE We can see the use of

alliteration in the poem. But there is no refrain. There are rhyming words in this poem. These are the following:

Before, Roar, For, Door, Shore, Flour Massed, Hissed, Missed Tone, Known, Alone Abroad, God.

Schemes and troops in the poem Bereft

Schemes and troupes are figure of speech used to create a particular style of writing. Tropes: Tropes are figures

of speech having meaning different from their literal meanings. Scheme: Schemes are figures of speech that deal

with letters, word order, syntax and sounds rather than meaning of the word. Anaphora: Scheme in which the

same words or phrases is repeated at the beginning of successive, clauses or sentences. For example, i. World I

was in the house alone. i) World I was in my life alone. ii) World I had no left but God.

“World I” is anaphora in this poem. Antithesis: A scheme in which contrasting words, phrases, sentences, or ideas

are used for emphasis. For example: ‘World I had no one left but God’, “no one left” and “but God” are contrasting

phrases used in the poem. Epistrophe: A scheme in which the same words are repeated at the end of phrases,

clauses or sentences is called epistrophe. For example: ‘World I was in the house alone’ ‘World I was in my life

alone’. The word “alone” is used repeatedly in the following sentences. Metaphor: A troop in which a word or

phrase is transfused from its literal meaning to stand for something else. A metaphor compares two objects or

things without using the words "like" or "as". For example: “Blindly struck at my knees and missed”, “Leaves

got up in coil and hissed” Personification: Trope in which human qualities or abilities are assigned to abstraction

or inanimate object is called personification. For example: ‘The leaves are personified as some sort of snake

considering how coiled, hissing and striking’. Imagery: It is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to

add depth to their work. It appeals to human senses to deepen the reader's understanding of the work. In this poem

the use of imagery emphasizes the overall personification of nature that the author wishes to create. For example:

“restive door”, “frothy shore”, “sagging floor”, and “coiled and hissed”. Tone: Tone is the poet’s attitude towards
his or her subject or readers. It is similar to tone of voice but should not b confused with mood or atmosphere. An

author’s tone might be sarcastic, sincere, humorous melancholic etc. In this poem the author’s tone is melancholic.

Rhetorical questions: A Trope in which the leading questions are asked is called rhetorical question. For example

“Where had I heard the wind before”.

CONCLUSION

“Bereft” is a poem which describes the feeling of a lonely person. The person is alone not only in his house but

also in the world. Everything even the nature seems hostile towards him but he has a strong faith on God. Poet

uses metaphors and personification to show the cruelty of nature. There is also a ray of hope in this poem. This

poem seems to imply that although the devil tempts you with fear and loneliness, if you have faith you cannot be

tempted.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Allah Almighty from the core of our hearts, Who make us able and help us to do this work. We pay our

profound and unreserved gratitude to our department which provided us opportunity to do this.

REFERENCES

Burns C.J & MC Namara M.G, Literature a Close Study

Kar33na. August (2008). Robert Frost’s Poem. Retrieved fromhttp://www.studymode.com

Sue Grimes Linda. April 23(2007). Robert Frost’s “Bereft” Retrievedfromhttp://suite101.com

Rse,s Class cites. Tropes and schemes. Retrieved fromhttp://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us

Nordquist Richard. Stylistics. Retrieved fromhttp://grammar.about.com