Analysis of Maya Angelou's Poem 'When Great Trees Fall': Exploring Stylistic Elements, Schemes and Mind Maps of Stylistics

Download Analysis of Maya Angelou's Poem 'When Great Trees Fall': Exploring Stylistic Elements and more Schemes and Mind Maps Stylistics in PDF only on Docsity! ~ 62 ~ WWJMRD 2021; 7(3): 62-65 www.wwjmrd.com International Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Refereed Journal Indexed Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2017: 5.182 2018: 5.51, (ISI) 2020- 2021: 1.361 E-ISSN: 2454-6615 ALI Furqan Syed Lecturer, The University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Pakistan. Muntazir Ahmad M. Phil Scholar, The University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Pakistan. Muhammad Javed Waseem M. Phil Scholar, The University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Pakistan. Saira Sajid Lecturer, University of Education, Joharabad Campus, Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Shahid Principal, The Hope College of Science & Management Sillanwali, Sargodha, Pakistan. Correspondence: ALI Furqan Syed Lecturer, The University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Pakistan. Stylistic Analysis of Maya Angelou’s Poem “When Great Trees Fall” ALI Furqan Syed, Muntazir Ahmad, Muhammad Javed Waseem, Saira Sajid, Muhammad Ali Shahid Abstract Stylistic analysis of the poem helps the readers delve deep in between the lines to have a better understanding of the poem and the deep-seated intention of the poet in writing the poem. The aim of the study was to analyze the poem, “When Great Trees Fall” by Maya Angelou from stylistic point of view. Graphological and phonological levels of stylistic analysis were identified from the poem. Furthermore, the study was to describe the importance of literary techniques used in the poem. Analysis and discussion of the poem has resulted in that the poem is full of the emotions of death, sorrow, violence, depression and dejection. The stylistic analysis of the poem provides a logical and scholarly understanding of the poem. Future implications of the research are: it would be beneficial for the scholars, researcher and the students of literature and linguistics as it will enhance the insight in concerning linguistic competence of the keen learners. Keywords: Stylistics, Graphological level, Phonological level, linguistic competence 1. Introduction Stylistic analysis was used before 20th century to analyze the literary text only but since the beginning of 20th century stylistic analysis was applied on non-literary text like newspapers and magazines. The study of style in text is done through this branch of applied linguistics. The style is used to interpret the text besides to describe the formal features of text. The oral and written texts are studied in stylistics. Jaafar (2014) defines the stylistics in her research article “A Stylistic Analysis of Two Selected Poems” published in Journal of College of Education for Women in 2004, as per Widdowson (1975): “The study of discourse in the perspective of linguistic orientation is stylistics. Stylistics and literary criticism are poles apart from each other in characteristics at one hand and on the other hand is works as a bridge to join them as evident from the morphology of the word stylistics which proclaims style in relation with the former and ‘istics’ concerning to the later.” Coyle et. al. (1993) add stylistics was mostly done in poetry in the very begging as it required much to extensive explanation both for the formalism and structuralism. Phonetic and grammatical structure was emphasized in linguistics and that can easily be applied on poetry. Stylistics is one of the branches of applied linguistics that is used not only to interpret all type of texts and the linguistics but also the tonal action of all spoken languages is discussed. Different individuals use particular variety of language is in different physical settings. Stylistics is a part of Linguistics which represents the broader discipline; to help the readers for the discovery of the hidden clues about the language; and to understand the entire text by putting it into smaller parts that can easily be understood. The meaning of a certain literary work can be interpreted through the help of stylistic devices. According to the concept of Short and Candlin (1989), “study of literary texts a linguistic approach is called stylistics”. Style according to Chaika (1982) the messages the words that are not conveyed easily. There is no concern with what has been said but the main concern is that how a speaker or writer says. Each style is used to produce certain aesthetic effect in a literature. World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development (Mar-2021) ~ 63 ~ World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development 1.1. Research Statement The purpose of the study is to identify the literary techniques used in Maya Angelou’s poem “When Great Trees Fall”. The research is about the “Death” as it brings despair and misery in its wake. Through the technique of stylistics, the poem was analyzed by delving deep into Graphological and Phonological levels. 1.2. Objectives of the Study 1. To investigate graphological aspects of the poem “When Great Trees Fall” 2. To investigate phonological aspects of the poem “When Great Trees Fall” 1.3. Research Questions 1. What are the graphological aspects in the poem “When Great Trees Fall”? 2. What are the phonological aspects in the poem “When Great Trees Fall”? 1.4. Importance of the Study Recently, where linguistics is growing with a rapid speech in the field of literature on a larger scale, the stylistic analysis is excessively being used to deal with the literary techniques and figures of speech to understand the intention of the poet. Stylistic analysis helps the reader to reveal the true meaning garbed in figurative language used by the poet. We can say that stylistic is used as a bridge to link the field of literature with linguistics, thus it has great importance in the field of literature. The significance of this research study is to analyze the tools of stylistics and their practical application in poetry that will surely help the readers as well as the students who are connected with English language and literature. As the title suggests, the research study under consideration focuses on the linguistic aspects of the poems through stylistic analysis. Furthermore, it is expected that the Stylistic approach used in this research will help the future researchers to do the stylistic analysis of any literary work in the form of poetry. 1.5. Title of Poem In this poem falling of trees is metaphorically used to represent the idea of great loss, misery and disease. When someone dies and leave many people for crying behind him/her. The process of running of the animals is symbolized with the people when they try to find a place of shelter in the form of support from someone to decrease their sorrow after the death of their dear ones. Overall the discussion of the poem is about the Death. 1.6. Theme of Poem One of the most important themes presented in the poem is death. Death of the beloved one is described through the presentation of the fall of Great Tree. It is about the discussion of the loss we have to face in the form of death of the person who has great influence in our live. We are unable to bear the pain of their departure. 1.7. Delimitations Due to the shortage of time and according to the requirement of the study, only one poem of Maya Angelou sty, “When Great Trees Fall” has been selected for stylistic analysis. Furthermore, the study has been restricted to only two levels of stylistic analysis i.e., graphological and phonological levels to achieve the objectives of the study and to make the study more effective for language and literature learners. 2. Review of related Literature There are many articles, books and texts that deal with the stylistic analysis of different texts especially related to the poems of different poets. In this research work, we come to the facts about the importance of words for the poets garbed in hidden meanings. The words describe the purpose of the poet to write the poem and his intention can be clearly judged by his using of words of language. Poet’s personality depicts from his writing style. Poetic and non- poetic language can be differentiated through the writing style of the poets. The poet’s manipulation of the language differentiates the poetry from the ordinary language. The research deals with the usage of different languages by the poets. Stylistic analysis explores the writing style of the both poems. Recurrent features of stylistics have been discussed in the research thoroughly. More suitable words are used in these poems to convey the real message of the poets. Before proceeding towards the stylistic analysis of the poems there is a complete discussion about the stylistics and its level and elements include in it so that it will be easy for the reader to understand the purpose of the research. 2.1. The concept of Style We can define the term “Style” with different meanings they may me in and outside the literary text. Without knowing the meanings of style in a proper way, this term cannot be used in an appropriate manner with effect. The style can also be referred as a manner, a way or a particular procedure for doing something. The thoughts of a person’s mind are reflected through the style any writer adopts. The way of speaking and writing of person can also be judged by the writer style thus we can say that style shows the personality of a person. Style involves both types speaking and writing that includes literary and non-literary language. It is raftered particularly towards the literary text in written form. As said by Widdowson (1975) from linguistics orientation the study of literary discourse is called stylistics. According to Leech (1969) the way of speaking, writing and to perform something is called style. In it the wording, sentence structure and the style of speaker is discussed. According to Chapman (1973) in a certain recurring situation a number of people commonly adopt a register that is called style of writing. Between language- users of a common in relation to the product of social situation is called style. 2.2. The Concept of Stylistics According to Coyle & et.al (1993) in starting work of stylistics was mostly done on poetry because poetry was required too much detail and to build on poetry the formalist and structuralist work was easy to done. Phonetic and grammatical structure was emphasized in linguistics and that can be easily applied as a result on poetry. Stylistics is one of the branches of applied linguistics that is used to interpret all type of texts and the linguistics and tonal style of all spoken languages is discussed. Different individuals use particular variety of language and their use