Stylistic analyses of Khalili`s `Assembly of Moth'and Wordsworth`s `Lyrical Ballads

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T.C.

Seljuk University

Institute of Social Sciences

Faculty of Letters

Department of English Language and Literature

STYLISTIC ANALYSES OF KHALILI`S ‘ASSEMBLY OF

MOTH’AND WORDSWORTH`S ‘LYRICAL BALLADS’

Farida ANSARI

MASTER’S THESIS

Supervisor

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... iv

OZET ...v

ABSTRACT ... vi

INTRODUCTION ...1

CHAPTER I: Poetry as a Major Form of Literature ...8

1. Afghan Modern Poetry ... 12

2. English Romantic Poetry ... 14

CHAPTER II: Khalili’s Biography and a General View on “Assembly of Moth” 17

CHAPTER III: A Stylistic Analyses of Khalili’s Poems ... 19

1. Things When You Need Them ... 19

A. Lexical Processes ... 20

B. Grammatical Categories... 21

C. Figures of Speech ... 22

D. Cohesion and Context ... 24

2. So Close... 24

A. Lexical Processes... 25

D. Cohesion and Context... 29

3. Break The Arm... 30

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4. Without Freedom ... 36

D. Context and Cohesion ... 39

5. “I” In The Wilderness... 40

6. Mercy... 44

D. Context and Cohesion... 46

7. Hope’s Candle ... 47

8. Butchers And Shepherd ... 51

9. Love ... 54

10. An Assembly Of Moths ... 58

A. Lexica Processes ... 61

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CHAPTER IV: William Wordsworth’s Biography and a General View on

“Lyrical Ballads” ... 65

CHAPTER V: A Stylistic Analyses of William Wordsworth’s Poems ... 69

1. My Heart Leaps Up... 69

2. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal ... 74

B. Grammatical Categories ... 76

3. The World Is Too Much With Us ... 78

D. Context and Cohesion... 82

4. It Is a Beauteous Evening ... 83

5. I wandered Lonely as a Cloud... 87

Conclusion ...94

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ACKNOWKEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayse Gulbun ONUR, who directed, supported, and encouraged me willingly during the process of preparing this thesis.

I would also like to express my appreciation to Aundreta Conner Farris for her valuable direction in this study.

Finally, special thanks to my husband Mohammad Tahir and my brother Hamayun for their support and encouragement.

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ABSTRACT

This study examines the language of a collection of poems from the two poets Khalilullah Khalili and William Wordsworth considering the unique varieties of English language usage. Their creative use of language includes an escape from banality.

In this work, stylistic devices such as their lexical processes, grammatical categories, figures of speech, cohesion, foregrounding, subjectivity, parallelism, deviation, and a critical analyses of the poems are studied in detail.

Khalilullah Khalili’s collection of poems “Assembly of Moth” and William Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads” almost have the same spirit in expressing their longing for a better life. These poets have a similar approach in expressing their feelings about freedom and their respective past. Since the poems of these two poets share a common point of view in revealing the truth about life, they have been analyzed from a stylistic point of view to enable others to have a deeper appreciation for their poetry. For instance, in Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads”, images of longing, memory, and freedom are major elements. He forcefully expresses the state of man in relation to his experience with such images and this is also similar to Khalili’s collection of poems “Assembly of Moth”.

In both Khalili’s and Wordsworth’s poetry, there are effective functions of longing for freedom and nature as well as a powerful source which refers to the soul. In other words, nature does not exist for pastoral taste. Its function is to create a spirit in the poems of these two poets. Moreover, their language use is very plain and meaningful. In each of them there has been found a relation between life and human desire which served as the main concern in studying and analyzing their poetry.

The aim of this study is to explore how the style of the two poets Khalilullah Khalili and William Wordswoth are different in their use of language, but this study can also express similar thoughts in their own creative way by almost uttering the same feelings in the selected poems. Furthermore, another aim of this study is to provide a

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The thesis will consist of five chapters apart from the introduction and conclusion. The first chapter is about poetry as a major form of literature and a brief outline on Afghan and English poetry. In the second chapter, Khalili’s biography and a general view on the “An Assembly of Moths” are both studied. The third chapter includes an introduction to the stylistic analyses of Khalili’s Poems. In the fourth chapter, William Wordsworth’s biography and a general view on the “Lyrical Ballads” are the main concern whereas in the fifth chapter, selections of Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads” are analyzed stylistically.

Finally, in the conclusion section, I have reached a synthesis that although the two poets are from different countries and come from different cultures; their major concerns are the same. They point to a similar sense of longing, freedom, illusion and disillusionment. I hope the methods and analysis that I have used in this thesis will help the learners of poetry to appreciate and enjoy the structural approach to poetry analysis in their classes.

In short, Khalili’s “Assembly of Moth” and William Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads” are collections of poems which can be interlinked by their humanistic values about life. The study therefore, covers a stylistic analysis of the two collections of selected poems by using a structural approach. At the same time, the interpretation of the poems is made via a social criticism. As figurative or metaphorical language has been one of the main objectives of poetry language, the study offers all the aspects of imagery considering how poetry both disturbs and re – forms the patterns of routine language. Though each poem with its unique title seems to stand alone, there is a common ground which holds the poems together with its critical value. Some poems are tightly or loosely linked to one another. The main argument of the thesis is that there exists in both poets’ collections a sense of devotion to that that is lost and what might exist for a better life. Thus, structural analysis asserted throughout the study provides a useful perspective in comprehending the collection of poems.

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INTRODUCTION

It is not always possible to do the things you want to do without education. Education has a crucial role in the life of human beings. Without it we cannot think of a civilized life. Hence, the two most essential things in civilized life are art and science. Science helps human beings to find the clear and obvious answers to the universe. Scientists are after the basic truths of the universe. They set their minds to research and find answers. Both scientists and artists are in search of something which they believe is real but their methods and styles are different. Artists are creative people who excite others. Specifically, they create images and through them they expect people to react. In other words, scientists are concerned with the patterns of facts while artists are concerned mainly with the patterns of feeling and poetry which generally include the most precise emotions of art.

Literature describes any written or spoken text that conveys meaning. However, in a narrower sense it includes texts such as poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction which have aesthetic value. In other words, literature is one of the informative forms of art which can manifest universal themes. As an art, it enables all readers to enlarge and improve their understanding of life. Literature can demonstrate what others have done in different periods and times. It includes life itself, sometimes it becomes an expression of one’s feelings, emotions, aspirations, and thoughts. Moody (1968), says “literature springs from our inborn love of telling a story, of arranging words in pleasing patterns, of expressing in words some special aspect of our human experience” (p.2). So there are many reasons and benefits for the study of literature in language classrooms as a source of enjoyment and cultural awareness, as well as a means of accessing language and developing one’s knowledge through figurative speech.

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One reason for using literature in language classrooms can be to give students something to read that is more interesting than their textbooks. Using literary texts creates pleasure and an enjoyable atmosphere in the language classes for it gives students the chance to express their thoughts, feelings, and needs with their peers and teachers. It also allows students to use their imagination to visualize texts creatively. In other words, the greatest pleasure and satisfaction in literature occurs when it brings its readers back to the realities of human situations and problems. Therefore, through reading, writing, discussion, and performance, students become more empowered when they find ways to discover their own capacity. One can not deny the fact that students would enjoy the texts when its themes touch on their own experience and life. Moreover, enjoyment and appreciation of literary texts, particularly poetry, give students the ability to develop the confidence to approach different poetry books. It is for that reason that poetry, as a field of literature must be regarded as a source of enjoyment worthy of consideration in the curriculum.

Another reason for the necessity of poetry is that, it provides students with cultural and linguistic enrichment. Literature introduces students to new worlds of experience. It gives them insight into the human conditions which covers various themes. In fact, it is not always possible for students to visit other countries so literary texts are authentic resources for language learners to get information and learn about different traditions and customs. Poems, folktales, religious stories, novels, short stories, and historical legends are full of vivid contexts with characters which come from different cultural backgrounds for enlarging the readers’ information. Therefore, through the study of these texts students would explore their humanistic values for a better life. That is to say, reading literature helps the reader in making right rather than wrong choices.

Literature presents language and we use it as a tool in order to express ourselves. Thus, the study of literature not only helps learners in learning a language but also helps them in developing skills that every person needs in order to communicate in daily life. Ronald Carter and John McRae ( 1996) state that “ language is the way in to whatever areas of experience the learner wishes to explore, simply because language is the most

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(p.27). Collie and Slater (1996) also say that “language enrichment is one of the benefits of literature” (p.5). So the study of literature, particularly poetry, not only enables students to learn language but helps them in learning the main elements of poetry such as rhyme, rhythm, images, similes, and metaphors in addition to providing them with a rich context of lexical and syntactical backgrounds. Familiarity with these concepts helps students to improve and apply these elements in their own poetry. Furthermore, the formation of sentences and the way of connecting the ideas can improve students’ four language skills. Therefore, students who study literature are expected to have the ability to make deductions from the text by using linguistics expressions. Clanfield Lindsay (2005) proposes the advantage of literature for language enhancement as in the following: Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich in multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions. Furthermore, by examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes related to the world outside the classroom. This means, literature educates the whole person. (p.1)

Literature has been an important subject of study in many countries but unfortunately there are some teachers who think that literature, especially poetry, is irrelevant and unnecessary to the needs of their students. Moreover, they think that there is no connection between the study of language and the study of literature. But actually these two are closely connected to each other and cannot be divided. Both language and literature support each other and stylistic analysis is a way to combine them. For instance, stylistic analysis enables students to make a literary analysis by examining the linguistic features of the texts. Therefore, the study of linguistics in the light of stylistic analysis helps learners to understand the language better. It also helps them to appreciate and improve language skills that are regarded in learning a language. Gilroy (1983), as well, claims that:

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Language and literature would seem to be related, but a review of the literature of language learning finds them often worlds apart. Since 1945, literature especially poetry have been excluded from most language learning programmes, largely because of an emphasis on the study, rather than the reading of literature. (p.1) Stylistics is a methodical study of style which concentrates on variation within the use of language. As Turner (1973) states, “Stylistics means the study of style, with a suggestion, from the form of the word, of a scientific or at least a methodical study” (p. 8). The word style refers to the linguistic habit of the writer. In other words, the linguistic structure personifies the writer’s way of writing which presents the writers tone of voice. Geoffrey N. leech and Michael H. Short (1981) states that: “Style refers to the way in which language is used in a given context, by a given person, for a given purpose” (p.10). Therefore; what the writer wants to say and how the writer wants to say it is one of the important concepts of style. In fact, style explains the manner of writing and stylistics aims to explain the structure of language. A Dictionary of Literary Terms defines stylistics as “a kin to linguistics and semantics, it is an analytical science which covers all the expressive aspects of the language: phonology, prosody, morphology, syntax, and lexicology”(Cuddon, 1979, P.663).

When students work on the language of the literary works, it makes them understand the deeper meanings of the texts without difficulty. Thus, teachers should have their students use stylistics because it enables them to identify the certain characteristics of literary texts and the general habits of writers. In fact, when the literary works are comprehensible, they would have positive affect on student’s awareness. Widdowson (1975) defines stylistics as follows:

By stylistics I mean the study of the literary discourse from a linguistic orientation and I shall take the view that what distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the other is that it is a mean linking the two. (p. 3)

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prehistoric and ancient societies, poetry was in oral form and people used it as a way to record culture, law, history, religion, and stories in addition to enjoying its musicality. The epic was one of the first surviving forms of poetry that was recited or sung orally. The function of oral poetry was to help people to remember their historical events, lives, and battles. Beowulf is the only heroic epic in English literature which survived from those periods. For much of its history, poetry has been used as a product of education. Today, poetry is still used as a means to highlight the truth of life. Conversely, though poetry is an enjoyable form of literature, unfortunately most of the time it has been seen that language learners have a prejudice against it.

During the process of teaching English at Balkh University, many resources have been searched in order to help both language teachers and learners. However, the popularity of teaching literature in language classes has been accepted but today it is still a controversial matter for some language teachers because they think that teaching poetry is too difficult or even irrelevant and unnecessary to the needs of language students. Therefore, in my MA course, at Seljuk University in Konya, I decided to research and study poetry in order to encourage those who have bias towards teaching and learning poetry. Throughout my research the collection of poems “Assembly of Moth” by Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili and the “Lyrical Ballads” by English poet William Wordsworth attracted my interest. In fact, both poets use language similarly. They also seem to share a common human experience in their poems. In other words, Khalilullah Khalili’s “Assembly of Moth’ and William Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads” are collections of poems which can be interlinked by their humanistic values about life. These two poets have almost the same spirit in expressing their longing for a better life. Additionally, each poet has a romantic approach in the use of natural images in their poetry.

In William Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads” images related to longing, memory, and freedom are the major elements. In fact, William Wordsworth explicitly expresses the state of man in relation to human experience and this is also similar in Khakili’s collection of “Assembly of Moth”. In both Khalili’s and Wordsworth’s poems we come across an effective longing for freedom. Though each poem with their unique titles seem

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to a decision to analyze and interpret their poems from a stylistic aspect in detail. That is to say, the study makes clear Khalilullah Khalili’s and William Wordsworth’s world views and their poetic manners. At the same time, the interpretation of the poems will be given within their figurative, metaphorical language usage. Therefore, I will trace the function of the images which exist in the poems of Khalilullah Khalili and William Wordsworth. In short, this study offers all the aspects of imagery, specifically, by considering how poetry both disturbs and re – forms the patterns of routine language. Though there are studies related to the stylistic analyses of English Poetry by other researchers such as Geoffrey N, Elizabeth Deew, and Graham Hough, my study from my point of view has been dealt with for the first time. This study carries an investigation of poetic language of two poets from two different countries who share the same view points but express them differently. Therefore, hopefully this study aims to break the barriers between poetry and language teaching. Stylistic analysis, which deals with language, makes it easy for students to reach the deeper meanings of the poems. So it provides readers a practical aspect in appreciating and understanding poetry. Moreover, this study aims to provide a brief view on modern Afghan poetry and English romantic poetry for those who are interested in the field.

The main argument of the theme is that there exists in both poets’ collections a sense of devotion to what is lost and what might exist for a better life. Thus a structuralist analysis asserted throughout the study provides a useful perspective in comprehending the collections of poems by two poets. I hope the methods and analysis that I have used in the thesis will help learners to gain a new approach to poetry.

The thesis consists of five chapters apart from the introduction and conclusion. The first chapter is about poetry as a major form of literature and a short outline about Afghan modern poetry and romantic English poetry in general. The second chapter covers Khalili’s biography and a general view of “Assembly of Moth’ and in chapter three Khalili’s poems are analyzed under four stylistic categories which are defined by Leech and Short (1984). The study of lexical categories includes the study of nouns,

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analysis of grammatical categories is based on sentence complexity, variation of length, and the function of deviation and its structure. The study of figures of speech includes the role of similes, metaphors, personifications, symbols, and alliterations in poems. Cohesion, foregrounding, subjectivity, and toning are also included in this chapter. Chapter four starts with the biography and a general view on the “Lyrical Ballads”. Finally, chapter six includes the stylistic analysis of William Wordsworth’s poems from “Lyrical Ballads” like that of Khalili’s. In the conclusion of this study, the two poets’s longing for freedom, illusion and disillusionment will be stated as well as the summary of the study.

To conclude, I would like to encourage Afghan teachers throughout my thesis to teach poetry in their literature classes and break the bias of students towards poetry classes and make the learning of poetry more enjoyable. When language students understand the lexical processes, grammatical categories, figurative speech and (Cohesion and Context) narration then they can reach the deeper meanings of literary works and make comments on literary texts. So it would help them in developing their language skills. In the conclusion section, it has been concluded that the stylistic analysis of the poems with the use of linguistic data gives a better understanding of the style of Khalili and Wordsworth’s poetry. In other words, this study can be considered as a guide for the students and the teachers who are interested in using poetry in their language classes.

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CHAPTER I

Poetry as a Major Form of Literature

Poetry as a major form of literature makes a significant use of words in written or spoken form. That is to say, the poet finds the right words which are more rich and powerful than prose and through these words say a lot that one cannot in prose. Certainly, these words are made up of the poet’s image and through this image the poet opens up his / her own feelings. Therefore, the beauty and the art of the poetry depends on how the poet puts the words in the right order and considers the balance of ideas and words for expressing feelings. Moreover, poetry uses a very different language from what we are familiar to; and from the other genres written in prose. Perrine Laurance (1973) defines “Poetry is a language which says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language with fewer words and in fewer places” (p.73). Elizabeth Drew (1967) as well states that “poetry indeed is not “like life”, but awakens and quickens new life” (p.31). But to William Wordsworth, poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” (Norton Anthology, 1993: 7). According to these definitions every word in poetry has meaning, so it requires careful attention for understanding the diversity of meanings which is used by the poets.

The main purpose of poetry is to communicate and make the readers experience the same feelings which are conveyed by the poet. Actually, most of the time, the ideas are general so it easily influences the reader’s mind. In fact, poetry speaks to the human spirit and it makes them to feel something. In other words, poetry makes the readers conscious of their own feelings as well as others. ForMatthew Arnold (1982), the power of poetry is that:

The grand power of poetry is its interpretive power, by which I mean, not the power of drawing out in black and white an explanation of the mystery of the universe, but the power of so dealing with things as to awaken in us a wonderfully full, new and intimate sense of them, and of our relations with them. (Pp.112-113)

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Poetry is different from prose since it is imaginative and creates an image in the reader’s or listener’s mind. For instance, when poets convey some messages about anger, regret, sorrow and love at the same time they try to have an effect on emotion. Moreover, the form of poetry also varies from prose since they are written in lines and stanzas. These lines are made of words or phrases which are packed with deep meanings. In fact, the main feature of poetry is figurative language. Elements such as rhyme, rhythm, tone, metaphor, simile, imagery, irony, symbol, onomatopoeia, personification, alliteration, denotation and connotation help the poet to empower his / her poetic language as well as expand the literal meaning of the words.

Rhyme is the repetition of the same similar sound, usually at the end of words. The vowel sound of two words is the same, but its initial consonant sound is different. Some poets use it in order to help the reader to remember it easily because of its musicality. Moreover, it helps the poet to have an emphasis on particular dictions that he wants to convey. In brief, it has two main functions: it echoes the sound as well as attracts the reader’s attention to verify the structure of poetry. Rhythm is also one of the elements of poetry that sets poetry apart from other types of writing. It refers to the beat and to the recurrence of sounds with the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables by the poet. It depends on the metrical pattern in poetry. Meter is the rhythm which depends not only on the number of syllables in each line but on the way those syllables are accented. Poets use it for several purposes: to create effects, to emphasize certain aspects, and to add to the musicality of their poem.

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant or vowel sound that occurs usually at the beginning of words. Alliteration helps poets to join words or ideas with a kind of repetition to emphasize their message. In other words, like rhyme it can be used for musicality. Tone, in poetry is the manner and the reflection of the poet’s or speaker’s attitude toward his / her subject or readers. The tone gives clues for how to feel and imagine. For instance, if readers come across with ideas which make them sad and happy then it is the tone of the poem that gives them such temper. In other words, the tone of the poem tells us how the poet or the speaker feels and imagines. Sometimes the tone is the

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then the mood of the poetry will be open and welcoming. The tone is also based on other elements of poetry such as imagery, irony, metaphor, and rhythm. For instance, when you find the poem very romantic, it is because it contains such kind of imagery. The poet uses these elements not only for a sound effect but also to suggest meaning.

Metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. In metaphor, the figurative word is replaced with the literal word. Metaphor clears the meaning of something as well as expands one’s intellect. It compares two things indirectly which are not the same and it is made with clues such as ‘like’ and ‘as’ as does simile. Through the use of metaphor, the poets make the meaning of their poetry more forceful. Unlike metaphor simile is a direct comparison that compares two unlike things expressing their similarities. Poets use it as way of developing connotations in poetry.

Generally most figures of speech, such as simile and metaphor create a picture in the readers mind. Pictures which are offered by the poet are called images. In other words, the poet uses language in such a way in order to help readers to see, think, hear, feel, and taste with their five senses. To Collin (1984) imagery are “using comparison / symbols as a way of making people imagine things” (p.243). Images enable the reader to understand poetic language or what is being said or conveyed by the poet very clearly. Images can be created in the reader’s mind in a number of ways. It can be used in a literal way to describe something and more often, it is described in figurative (non literal) language. Moreover, through imagery, poets suggest meanings and the real experience of human beings not in abstract terms but in more perceptible and concrete forms. The terms image and imagery have been defined in the dictionary of literary term as a “ general term that covers the use of language to represent objects , actions , feelings , thoughts , ideas, states of mind and any sensory or extra – sensory experience”( p.322).

As a figure of speech, irony is a device in which one says something in terms of it’s opposite. It can mean incongruity because people use it with the purpose of saying one thing but suggesting something else. Poets use it in order to help the readers

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Taylor Coleridge’s poem Ancient Mariner, “water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink”(Abrams, 1993: 333).

The word symbol in literature stands alone and is also means to signify something deeper. Further, a symbol can be an object, animate or inanimate, which stands for something else. The theorists of the Symbolist Movement states that “ the symbol could be something which existed in its own right , diffusing a mysterious influence around itself, and affecting the whole context in which it was placed” ( Edward Lucie- Smith, 1972, pp.16 – 18). One should not confuse the difference between symbol and metaphor. Metaphor is used for the comparison of two unlike things whereas symbol links two things whose meanings are literal and metaphorical. Onomatopoeia is another figure of speech which reflects sounds by imitation. It helps poets to convey the meaning of words through sound in the minds of the readers. Although these sounds are noisy or unpleasant, poets use it in order to create an image in the readers mind. For instance, the cat’s meow is an example of onomatopoeia that the sound reflects its meaning as well. Personification is a sort of metaphor in which human characteristics are given to an animal, an object or abstract ideas. For instance, in this line “When all at once I saw a Crowd”, Wordsworth personifies the daffodils with crowd as if they were group of people.

Words in poetry express denotation and connotation of meaning. Denotation is the literal meaning of words, the speaker says what he/ she means .In other words, it is the dictionary meaning of words, apart from what a person feels about its meaning. Connotative, on the other hand, refers to the figurative meaning of words which have a less direct meaning. The speaker says something and means another thing behind it. Connotation is one of the essential elements of poetry. Poets use it for the complexity through the words in order to make readers think about its literal meaning. Further more, the poets want to create an emotional reaction in the readers mind through the use of connotations.

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Foregrounding is the characteristic of literary texts that draws attention to a certain aspect of language. Foregrounding makes the form complex so the reader comes across with defamiliarization. Foregrounding in poetry refers to the variety of stylistic effects and it can be notice in sound pattern (rhyme, alliteration, and meter), in grammar (ellipsis, unusual words order), at the semantic level (metaphor, and irony), and in images. Moreover, punctuation can also be foregrounded when the authors omit commas, full stops and instead use line breaks for controlling the reader’s attention. So foregrounding helps the poets to present meaning with complexity rather than ordinary language. For Paul Garvin (1964), foregrounding and the activity of foregrounding are “concepts given prominence and a particular twist in stylistics” (p.197). Mukarovsky and Havranek (1964) point out that “foregrounding occurs whenever a linguistic item, device or strategy draws attention to itself against the assumed ‘background’ norms of the language. Thus foregrounding is the textual mechanism whereby defamiliarization occurs” (P, 197).

1. Afghan Modern Poetry

Afghanistan is very famous for its poets and poetry. In fact, the tradition of poetry in this country dates back to a thousand of years. The simplicity of the language that is used in poetry enables poetry to be a popular literary form among people. It is for that reason, that most people are very enthusiastic about writing and reciting poetry in their daily lives. The subject matter of the poems mainly focuses on messages of peace, equality, and unity. For example, in the poems of great poets such as Maulana – Jalaluddin Rumi Balkhi, Khowaja Abdullah Ansari, Sanayee Balkhi, Rabia Balkhi, Rabia Adawee, Khalilullah Khalili and many others, one can find universal messages about humanity.

Actually, the preliminary movement to modernism started in the 4th and 5th decades of the 20th century. Poets such as Ustad Khalillulah Khalili, Habibullah Behjat, Mohammad Rahim Elham, Zia Qarizada, Bashir Herawi, and Huma Tarzi, were the first

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political and philosophical poems, while others are associated with Islamic thought. The poet Khalilullah Khalili was interested in writing modern poetry like several poets in modern style with new aspects of expression. His poems ”Sorude Kuhestan” or “The Song of the Mountain” are an example of modern poetry with the same rhyme scheme as Nima, but the Kabul Literary Circle criticized him because of its modern style. Later he started writing Quatrains (four line stanza) and odes.

In fact, there are several reasons for the modernization of Afghan poetry. The first one is that, while translating foreign poetry, Western poetry particularly, found its way to Afghanistan through Iranian media. In other words, poets have not copied Western models, but rather they have acclimated to it. Moreover, the styles of some poets from Iran such as Farrokhi Yazdi, and Ahmand Shamlou also had their influence on modernizing Afghan poetry. Besides these points, some poets have also looked for new methods so they have studied world literatures such as Arabic, Turkish and others to pursue a new line in Afghan poetry. In this way, gradually modern poetry has entered Afghan literature, in spite of the pressures put on by the Kabul Literary Circle (traditionalists), who are against modernism. It was in 1962, that a collection of modern Persian poetry was published by poets. Mahmud Farani, Solyayman Layeq and Sohail Ayeneh, are the poets who started writing poems in the modern style. During this time the main subject matter of poetry was messages mostly about freedom, independence, honesty, patriotism, and the struggle against colonialism. In other words, through these messages the poets wanted to cultivate a civil society in Afghanistan as well as expand people’s social intellect (Partaw Naderi, 2006, pp. 1-2).

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2. English Romantic Poetry

The later years of the eighteenth century were times of a movement toward social change and power in Great Britain. It was an age of new commencement not only in social and political issues but also a change in English literature. In fact, the Romantic period in English literature coincides with the French Revolution. It is during this time that many Romantic poets were concerned with the facts and ideas of revolution, although their works differed from one another. Wordsworth and Coleridge worked together, whereas Shelley’s and Keats’s poetry completely differed from their stylistic and philosophic points of view. Byron, on the other hand, did not like Wordsworth’s notion as well as Coleridge’s philosophical studies of truth. Wordsworth and Coleridge spent their days in discussions of revolution, politics, and democracy in addition to working on the theory and practice of poetry. Finally, the result of their discussion is the collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798, which shows its crucial Romantic influence in English literature among the works of other Romantic poets(Abrahms, 2000, pp. 3 -5).

The Romantic poets’ thoughts and feelings differed from their predecessors. Their predecessors considered man as a social animal, whereas, the Romantic poets looked into themselves, into their own lives for mystery. So their individual experiences led them to a spiritual loneliness and solitude, although they were aware of their social responsibilities. They fled from the city and liked to live in the country, where there were forests and lakes. For them nature was man’s proper setting rather than society. They believed that man needed the help of nature in order to understand himself. They enjoyed both the beauty of nature and their own inner world. Shelley stated that “Hell is a city much like London” (Pat Rotgers, 1987: 276). In brief, the Romantic poets turned to nature to describe the power of different kinds of natural scenes for their own sake.

In fact, the Romantic poetry has nearly the same meaning as nature poetry, because of the importance of landscape for the poets of this period. In other words, the Romantic poets were highly interested in nature not only for its attractiveness but for the

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about nature. For Wordsworth, nature was the source of his spiritual life. He found himself very close to nature; the natural world was felt and known by him. In other words, nature to Wordsworth was a source of mental and spiritual purity as well as being a teacher and a connection between Man and God. Whereas, for Shelley and Keats, the natural object was like a springboard (board which causes motion) for philosophical, social or personal meditation. Many of the Romantic poets found mystery as well as their deepest experience in nature. Therefore, their poems were not about external events, but about their own inner feelings and spirit(Robert Barnard, 1984, pp. 82-83).

The English Romantic poets – Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Shelley, and Keats created a concept of what poetry meant to them. As poetry was recognized as a work of art, the poets of the Romantic period stated that the imagination or creative power is autonomous. Wordsworth defined all good poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Kenneth Brodey, 2002:143). He asserted that, the subject of a poem should come from “emotion recollected in tranquility”. Keats, on the other hand, illustrated that “if poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all” (The Norton Anthology, Abrams, 1993, p.8). Shelley also did not believe that poetry comes by study and effort, but instead suggested that “they are the products of an unconscious creativity” (The Norton Anthology, Abrams, 1993, p.6).

In the Romantic age, the lyric and the narrative poetry were the major forms so it was considered as the most important genres of poetry. The lyric poem was written in the first person “I”, and it was not the lyric speaker, but recognized as the persona of the poet himself. As in the poems of the Romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Smith, and others the experience and states of mind were expressed by the lyric speaker with an accurate record of facts. In fact, Romantic poetry is descriptive and meditative in which the presented scene evokes the reader’s emotion. As Wordsworth said, “not nature, but “the Mind of Man” is “my haunt and the main region of my song.” (The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 1986, P.9).

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Romantic poetry usually introduces the reader to the landscape with human beings life, passion, and self –expression. Further more, in the poems of poets like, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats one can find the description of their past experience. These poets looked for their own inner world of dreams, desires, hopes, and fears in order to distinguish it from the outer world. In other words, their poems were about their own inner worlds, they expressed their own feelings and personality. Therefore, the study of Romantic poetry helps students to become more aware of human experience(Sir Ifor Evans, 1964, P.42).

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CHAPTER II

Khalili’s Biography and a General View on the

Assembly of Moths

( 1908 – 1987 )

Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, son of Mirza Mohammad Hussein Khan, opened his eyes in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1908, and died at the age of 79 in May 4, 1987. He was the last classical Persian poet and the first who introduced modern Persian poetry (Nimai style) to Afghan poetry. His main interest in life was to study classical literature so he studied with the Islamic scholars and showed a special talent in poetry. Khalili’s poems are written in Persian with perfect rhyme and regular meter and his famous poems are: ‘Tears and blood’ , ‘ Hero of Khorasan” , “Kabul jaan” , Baagh-e- baland- e- Paghman” “Saroud-e- Kahsaar” , Forty Ruba’iyat Quatrains’ and his recent collection “Assembly of Moth’ with which he received international fame in the literary world. Moreover, he was the author of more than fifty works of prose fiction, history and literary criticism.

………. 1. Nimai style: is based on the natural function inherent within poetry itself to portray the poet’s solidarity with life and the world surrounding him.

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Kalili’s collection “Assembly of Moth” was translated by his son Masood Khalili and Whitney Azoy in three languages: Persian, English and Turkish. The collection “Assembly of Moth” includes a variety of subjects on sincerity, honesty, kindness, honor, dignity, and peace. The title “Assembly of Moth” conveys the mystical (Sufi) tradition, in which Moths (true seekers) fly into the candle flame (God), fearing nothing and holding nothing back. Khalili is known in his collection “Assembly of Moth” as a poet of pain. He longs figuratively for God as he says “I am like a broken bell, dropped from a late Carvan” (An Assembly of Moths, 2009, p.32). He also expresses his pain through the use of metaphors, and illusions with the temporary nature of worldly power, as he utters “the older I become”, “the darker those urges” (An Assembly of Moths, 2009,p.42). In other words, his poetry conveys messages about life’s misfortune, misery, and injustice of man to man, oppression, war, poverty, and even death.

Another of his collections is Forty Ruba’iyat (Quatrains) which has been translated into English, Persian, and Arabic. It has been published three times in Afghanistan, twice in Iraq and later in the United States. In his Rubaiyat, one can find themes of pleasure, love, beauty, and divinity. Moreover, it also reveals celestial inspirations and the inner thoughts of the great teachers of Islam and Sufism. As Khalili ( 1980) himself utters “The childern of Mankind are now more than ever in need of light and guidance in this society of today, where materialism increasingly preponderates over spirituality” (p.4).

In 1950, Ustad Kalili taught literature in Kabul University and he served as working as a Minister of Culture and Information. In 1960 and 1970, he was Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Finally, he spent the rest of his life as a refugee in different countries. He fled to Germany as a refugee in April 1978, and then moved to United States where he wrote most of his poetry about the war in his country. After that, in the late 1980s, he traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan and spent the rest of his life there. He died in Pakistan and his graveyard is located next to the tomb of the great and famous Pashto poet Rahman Baba.

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CHAPTER III

A Stylistic Analyses of Khalili’s Poems

1. Things When You Need Them

Where are the shields?

when arrows descend in showers? Where are the feathers?

and wings when I want to fly? My friends live far away. Where’s the homing pigeon? Where can I find the messenger, the morning breeze from home?

The title of the poem “Things When You Need Them” opens with the poet’s voice for desire and necessity. We are aware that he is calling for help to be safely equipped. Although he starts by stating a physical situation, a need to be protected by a “shield”, he is not subjective because he knows people who have suffered like him in this world. So the title almost summarizes the whole sense of the poem that one must be prepared for an attack.

The poet starts with raising rhetorical questions in the first, second, third, fourth , and the last three lines, with the repetition of “where” four times and “when” two times to express wonder. With the words “shields” and “arrows” he visualizes the settings of early battle fields. It seems that the poet is helplessly caught in the battle and wants to get away from a trapped position. In the first and second lines, he is aware of his unprotected position and asks for a shield to be physically protected from the arrows.

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Actually, he is suffering mentally because people attack him verbally and their words hurt him as if he is under the shower of arrows. With the “shower” image he wants to say that, the pain is terrible and impossible to bear. Therefore, in the third and fourth lines, he creates a bird image with the words “feathers”, “wings”, and the action to “fly” in order to tell us that he wants to leave everything behind and set himself free. In the fifth line, there is a strong desire to get away from the fire zone. He longs for peace and his friends. He realizes the fact that, he has been left alone from the one’s who love him so he is not able to share the burden. It is interesting that although there is no chance that he will be able to get away from his trapped position as a human being, he still can imagine it.

In line six, he uses a bird image as a “pigeon”, making its nest. This reminds him of a safe place. This exists like a far – fetched dream. At another level, “pigeon” functions as a symbol for his wishes for peace in his homeland. Therefore, in line seven, he looks for a messenger to bring news from the place where his friends live. Finally, the last line ends with a question that expresses his strong desire to have a link with home and the “morning breeze” which is fresh. The function of this line is to further illustrate his yearning for his own country.

A. Lexical Processes

The lexical analyses of the poem ‘Things When You Need Them’ is based on the forms of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and their functions in the development of the poem. A number of concrete nouns such as (shields, arrows, showers, feathers, wings, home, pigeon, messenger,) are used in order to create the visual image of a battle field directly / indirectly. In other words, the poem is composed of not only objects of perception, but with the process of perceiving. The occurrence of first person pronoun ‘I’, in the fourth and seven lines are an indication of it. So the reader is given not only the description of a scene but an account of significant personal messages. The lexical

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imagery also helps readers to reach a conclusion about the topic of the poem that it is urgent to be prepared before hand.

In the poem, we notice that adjectives and adverbial phrases such as “far away, homing pigeon, morning breeze” have different functions in the poem. The term (far away) has a negative meaning as it emphasizes that the poet’s “friends” are not available. These terms indicate the poet’s struggle within the situation and also a desire to return where he usually lives. The change of events in the poet’s life is presented through the changes of place: from peace to war and from home to battle field. Moreover, the repetition of the definite article “the” five times: “the shield”, “the feathers”, “the homing pigeon”, “the messenger”, and “the morning breeze” make the syntactic meaning of the poem more precise.

The verbs such as “descend”, “fly”, “live”, and “find” are dynamic as they indicate a movement as well as convey an important part of the meaning of the poem. These verbs express the poet’s psychological state and imply the hardship of his life. As in line five, the verb “live” informs the reader about the importance of the poet’s friends who are present but not close, “far away”. The model auxiliary verb “can” stands for the poet’s desire to find a “messenger”. The interrogative adverbs “where” repeated four times and “when” two times, are questions that contribute to the abstract meaning of the poem. It also depicts the poet’s wonder and helplessness.

B. Grammatical Categories

In a grammatical study of the stylistic analyses, the main focus is on the study of sentence types, sentence complexity, clause types, clause structure, noun and verb phrases, and also word classes. The form of the poem consists of an eight line stanza which includes interrogative and statement sentences to emphasize the main theme of the poem. The poet needs to be protected from an unexpected attack. In line five, he uses one

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The poem has almost the same length in each line, although there is a difference in structure. As in the first four lines: “Where are the shields” “when arrows descend in showers?” “Where are the feathers” “and wings when I want to fly?” are interrogative sentences, the fifth line is declarative to announce that the poet’s friends live far away: “My friends live far away.” Moreover, the last two lines are interrogative and they are separated with a comma. Although the sentence constructions are different it still powerfully emphasizes the strong sense of being unsafe: “Where can I find the messenger” “the morning breeze from home?”

Words have denotative (literal) and connotative (figurative) meanings in the poem. With denotative words “My friends live far away”, “where can I find the messenger”, the poet utters what is real but with connotative words “Where are the shields”, “when arrows descend in showers”, he is less direct, says something and means another thing. With this figurative language he presents his condition and emphasizes that he can not get away from his trapped position. The images “shield, and arrows” highlight the significance and awareness of his own condition.

C. Figures of Speech

In the analyses of figures of speech, stylists consider the deviations at the semantic, grammatical (syntactic), phonological or graphological level. Symbols, foregrounding, metaphor, similes or personification, onomatopoeia, metonymy, paradox, and irony are also essential elements of stylistics.

Semantic deviations function at level of meaning in terms of the ironic event in which the poet finds himself in the position of being under an unexpected attack. The reader cannot easily grasp his position till the end of the poem, because of the description of the battle equipment (shields, and arrows). Almost at the end of the poem the poet’s

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messenger” and “the morning breeze from home?” are all about the poet’s circumstance which is the opposite of what he has expected.

Deviation of the phonological scheme is based on the sound patterns used in different form such as ‘Yea’ instead of ‘Yes’. This poem does not have such a form, but the Rhythmic deviation (alliteration and rhyme) creates harmony and an aesthetic sound variation in words like (Where, When, are, arrow, showers, feathers, messenger, far, fly). There is pleasure in the sound itself and it associates with the sense of music and rhythm. The rhyme of these lines assists the structure of the poem and helps the reader to remember it easily.

Graphology deviation occurs in terms of variation from the norms of the lines themselves with the use of capitalization to foreground the general idea. But in this poem the poet does not use such a form of deviation. Instead, the beginning of five lines: “Where are the shields”, “Where are the feathers”, “My friends live far away”, “Where’s the homing pigeon”, “Where can I find the messenger” are all written in capital letters, whereas the second, fourth, and the final lines start with a small letter: “when arrows descend in showers?”, “and wings when I want to fly”, “the morning breeze from home”. Moreover, the last two lines are also separated with a comma to create a deeper meaning in the poem.

One of the most important symbols is the “pigeon”. The concrete noun “pigeon” symbolizes the abstract meaning of the urgent need to contact the friends who are far away. The “Pigeon” also symbolizes peace and gathering of friends in harmony. In the poem, foregrounding provides an emphasis in stating language. For example, the poet, by repeating three times the word “Where” and “When” highlights a particular situation as well as heightening the sound pattern (alliterations, and rhymes). Thus, repeated words attract attention for they denote meaning in deeper structure.

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D. Context and Cohesion

The last category in Leech and Short’s stylistic categorization is the analyses of context and cohesion. Under cohesion analysis the discussion is of whether one part of the poem is linked to another. This category is called the internal organization of the text. In terms of context analysis, the social relation between the author and the reader is considered; does the poet address the reader directly, or through the words or thoughts of some fictional character? What linguistic clues (pronouns) are used?

In the poem “Things When You Need Them”, there is a logical and referential link between each line. In the second, fourth, and eighth lines the prepositions (in, to, from), are used to add to the meaning of nouns (arrows, shower, breeze and home). The poet is very direct in the narration of his poem. It is because he knows people that suffered like him so he announces that one should be aware of an unexpected strike. Moreover, the possessive adjective “My”, and subjective pronoun “I”, gives reference to that of the speaker of the poem who is actually the poet himself.

2. So Close

If God would turn the wheel, return my youth,

I’d hold you, sweetness of soul, Against my bosom,

I’d cling to you so close There’d be no telling Where one of us began and the other ended.

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The title of the poem implies a kind of wish for being “close” to one’s beloved. The first and second lines start with the poet’s desire from God to turn the wheel and let him be young. In other words, the poet longs for his youth because he misses it. He wants to change his fate. The “wheel” is the wheel of fortune of the medieval years. God only has the power to change the fate of mankind. There is a longing for his powerful years. In the third line, he personifies the soul that he would grasp it with love and kindness with all his power “I’d hold you, sweetness of soul”. He wants his youth back in order to appreciate the “sweetness of soul”. Thus, in the fourth and fifth lines, he welcomes his soul and desires to embrace it with love “I‘d cling to you so close”. In the sixth line, his soul is again personified with “you” that he would hold on and embrace it in such a way that people would not be able to separate them from each other, “there’d be no telling”. In the last two lines, he summarizes that nobody would be able to distinguish the body from the soul, one from the other: “where one of us began”, “and the other ended”. A complete unity is his dream.

A. Lexical Processes

Lexical categories include the poet’s choice of words and their meanings. The emphasis is on nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and their function in the development of the poem “So close”. Moreover, in this category the vocabulary study focuses on whether they are simple or complex; formal or colloquial; descriptive or evaluative.

The study of nouns indicates whether the nouns are abstract or concrete; whether they occur frequently referring to events, perceptions, moral qualities or social qualities. In the poem “So close”, a number of abstract nouns (youth, sweetness, soul, and bosom) are used in the description of the poet’s longing process for his past. The concrete noun (wheel) helps the reader to understand the abstract

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and would therefore, “return his youth”. In other words, the noun ‘wheel’ signifies abstract meanings and concreteness is subordinated to abstraction.

The adjective “close” expresses the poet’s emotion for he does not want to be away from his soul, and the gradable adjective “one” marks that he is not different from the soul. The adjective “other”, once more emphasizes that there would not be anything existing between them (he and his soul). The words “turn, return, hold, cling, begin”, are used as dynamic verbs which reveal the poet’s wish to revisit his past. The adverb “so” , adds to the semantic level of the poem in which the poet wants to be near to his soul in a way “so close” that people would not be able to distinguish them from each other . The model auxiliary verb “would” is repeated in the third, fifth, and sixth lines, to indicate that the poet intensely, with all his senses, is really misses and dreams of his past such that he longs to embrace it.

B. Grammatical Categories

In the analyses of grammatical categories: sentence types, sentence complexity, sentence length, sentence structure, clause types and structure, noun or verb phrases, and word classes (prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, auxiliaries, and interjections) are examined. In brief, grammatical categories present the general features of sentence structure in the poem “So Close”.

In the poem, we notice that the poet uses a conditional if clause: “If God would turn the wheel”, in order to return his youth so his dream would come true. In the first line, the definite article “the” underlines the circle of time “wheel”, as well as refers to the poet’s past. In the last line, again the article “the” precisely highlights that the poet does not want to be separate from his soul: “where one of us began” “and the other ended”. In line six, the “ing” form is placed perfectly to ring a sound in “telling” as if no one on earth would be able to tell the difference between the body

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another. Their uniting becomes visual with the flow of the lines as he omits punctuation in the final three lines. Moreover, the first three lines are separated by commas to express the poet’s desire clearly, but the last line ends with a full stop to conclude the poet’s aspiration. The sentence lengths and number of words in each line are almost the same, except the first and third lines in which he depicts the pace of a turning wheel, a wish full of desire, “I’d hold you, sweetness of soul”, and “If God would turn the wheel”.

C. Figures of Speech

In this category the study of grammatical and lexical schemes, phonological schemes, and tropes (syntax, semantic, and graphlogical), deviations are included because they convey meaning in the deeper structure. In the analysis of grammatical and lexical schemes, the main focus is on the repetitions and parallelism; whether there are formal or structural repetitions on the rhetorical effect of the climax, and anticlimax. In this category the study of preposition can also be included.

In the poem “So Close”, repetition is categorized as semantic and syntactic repetition. Semantic repetition occurs when each of the verbs (turns, return, hold, cling) convey the same meaning in the poem. The syntactic repetition includes the repetition of forms, structure and events. In the first, second, fifth, and sixth lines we have almost the same structure with the repetition of the word classes (would turn, would hold, would cling, and would be). Parallel structure in the narration of the poem is conveyed with the poet’s wish for a unity with his soul.

In the analyses of phonological schemes of the poem “So Close” , the main concern is about the phonological patterns of rhyme, alliteration, and assonance; the use of vowel and consonant sounds; and interaction of phonological features with meaning. In the poem, there are internal rhymes (words inside of individual lines)

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These rhymes contribute to the musical quality of the poem and like rhythm it affects the sound pattern in the poem. In other words, the use of consonants, vowels and rhymes affect the reader’s feelings. The poem’s subject matter is emphasized better and it also helps the reader to memorize the poem easily.

Words (turn, the, to, sweetness, soul, so, be, began), are alliterations which function as emphatic sounds in the poem. The poet composes like a piece of music to create sound effects in the semantic level of the poem and it holds the reader’s attention to what he wants to underline. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds that can be found anywhere in a word. The title “So Close” has assonance. (Turn, return, there, Where, be, began), are also assonances to reflect the sound pattern in the poem. Finally, in the study of tropes the semantic (symbol, paradox, irony, image, simile, metaphor, personification) and syntactic (phonological or graphological) deviations are also the main concern of figurative speech.

Symbolizing is an indirect representation. In the poem “So Close”, the word “wheel”, symbolizes the circle of time. The poet wishes if God turns the “wheel” of time he would embrace his past, “youth” with pleasure. He uses a paradox, when the reminiscences of the past are trustworthy and the past seems to be existing in the present. Therefore, he concludes that if he had a chance to return to his youth “there’d be no telling” “Where one of us began” “and the other ended”. The symbol is a unified body with the soul. When the body and soul unite, he would feel more powerful and confident.

Image in poetry is the picture that the poet is drawing in our mind. Thereby, we can perceive it through our five senses. It helps the poet to convey his subject as it is, not in an abstract term, but in a more perceptible and concrete form. In the poem “So Close”, the “wheel”, image helps the reader to visualize the process with our mind’s eye. The poet uses this image to compare it with the circle of time. He gives the reader the feeling that if his “youth”, or his past turns like the vivid image of a

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which we speak of an inanimate object, or an abstract concept, as if it has a living body. The poet personifies his soul when he uses the pronoun “you” instead of “soul” in these lines “I’d hold you”, “I’d cling to you so close” “where one of us began”. Besides that, the soul is also personified as having a nature which is “sweet”.

D. Context and Cohesion

Under context analyses, the main focus is on the poet’s relation with his reader whether he is subjective or objective and how he conveys his subject matter to the readers. But in cohesion analysis, the links between sentences (coordinating conjunctions, or linking adverbials), and the connections of meaning are the main concern to be analyzed.

In the poem “So Close”, the poet’s relation with his readers is objectified by the use of “I” and “My”. So the poet has a different identity from his readers, however the reader is invited to share his vision in the sixth and seventh lines as “there’d be no telling”, “where one of us began and the other ended”. Moreover, the use of definite article in the first line “If God would turn the wheel” is part of a more general strategy of involving the reader to witness what might happen in his journey to the past. The most notable feature of cohesion in the poem is the repetition of “would”, which highlights the poet’s desire for being young throughout the poem. Prepositions such as (of, against, to), adds to the meaning of nouns (soul, and bosom). Moreover, the subjective pronoun “I”, and objective pronoun “us”, helps the reader to grasp the theme of the poem more easily. Flow and musicality are also a part of cohesion. The intensive closeness is almost visualized with the rhythmic tone of the poem.

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3.

Break the Arm

A soft breeze touches the purple flower. My eyes weep a river of tears.

Today my gazelle is burning with grief. Oh God, break the arm of the butcher.

The title of the poem conveys an order related to violence. It reflects a negative action for those men who oppress and destroy nature for their own benefit. Thus, the poet is sorrowful and wants not himself but God to “break the arm”, of such evil people.

The poem in the first line opens with the existence of a peaceful harmony in nature “A soft breeze touches the purple flower”. The poet is affected by the beauty of nature and appreciates nature’s power. Like a Romantic poet he can read the language of nature and it is its aesthetic beauty that makes life meaningful. He wants to declare that a great harmony exists in nature but people do not appreciate it and don’t have the sense to see it. In the second line, he is moved and cannot control his feelings. Here we witness a spontaneous overflow of feelings. Instinctively, his eyes shed tears like a “river”. How can men destroy such a beauty? He is distressed and helpless. So he uses the metaphor “river” to display his agony. In the third line, he gives the image of an innocent and harmless creature such as “gazelle”, which is disturbed by the evil action of mankind in this world. When he says “my gazelle”, it implies that he is the only one aware the destruction, not others. Therefore, in the fourth line, he wants God to punish such evil people; the hunters who also slaughter other creatures in the universe. To conclude, all these depictions imply that there is a longing for the existence of peace in nature.

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A. Lexical process

The poet’s choice of words and their meaning in the poem is significant. The emphasis is on the words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and their function in the development of the poem. The study of nouns indicate whether the nouns are concrete or abstract; whether they occur frequently or they refer to events, perceptions, moral qualities or social qualities. Moreover, what use is made of collective nouns and proper names is also considered in the study. The poem “Break the Arm” has a number of concrete nouns (flower, eyes, river, gazelle, arm, and butcher), which describe the poet’s subject matter. These concrete nouns help the reader to visualize the scene in their mind’s eye. Moreover, these concrete nouns signify the abstract meanings of (breeze, and grief), in the poem.

In the study of verbs, the main focus is on whether the verbs play an important part in the meaning of the poem; whether they are stative or dynamic (refers to actions, events) or whether they are transitive or intransitive. Two types of verbs are used in the poem: transitive and intransitive. The verb “touches” is transitive, it has an object complement which is “the flower, while the verbs such as “weep”, and “burning” are intransitive, they do not need an object complement, but express the complete meaning of the poem. These verbs are also called dynamic verbs; it is because they convey actions in themselves. In the third line, the verb “is” is used to describe the noun “gazelle”, which burns with grief.

For an adjective analysis, the main focus is about the frequency and kinds of adjectives (physical, psychological, visual, auditory, colour); whether they are restrictive or not; gradable or non – gradable; and attributive or predicative. In the poem, the adjective “soft” is attributive; it describes the abstract noun “breeze”. They unite and complete each other. The adjective “purple”, tells us about the colour of the concrete noun “flower”, and the possessive adjective “My”, characterizes the referent of the nouns “eye” and “gazelle” directly. The adverb “Today”, functions as an

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suffer forever. The exclamation “oh” in the final line is stated with “God” to create a specific effect of helplessness and disappointment. “Oh God”, he orders “break the arm of the butcher”. The reader is aware that with the exclamation “oh” the poet is reluctant in uttering the order but is urged to do so.

B. Grammatical categories

In the study of sentence types, the main focus is on whether the poet uses only statement sentences, or questions, commands, and exclamations. The poem consists of declarative sentences, except line four, in which the poet exclaims to God to “break the arm of the butcher”, who harms nature. The first and second lines are in simple present tense. The poet expresses a present condition. Harmony exists in nature but unfortunately, human beings destroy it. Therefore, his tears flow like a “river”. The poem has a simple and plain structure. The first line, “A soft breeze touches the purple flower”, helps the readers to clearly imagine the scenes in their minds and how harmony exists in nature. In the second line, the poet gives his identity for he longs for such a harmony as a human being “My eyes weep a river of tears”. He uses the metaphor “river”, in order to describe his sensitiveness. He is moved by such a delicate sight.

It is significant that although the sentence length slightly varies the first three lines consist of seven words, but the last line with two definite articles ends with eight words, to summarize the theme of the poem: “Oh God, break the arm of the butcher”. The prepositions “with” and “of” “, are used to convey a relation between two entities. In the second line, the preposition “of”, adjuncts two nouns “river” and “tears” but in the third line, “with” functions as predicative adjunct. “Today my gazelle is burning with grief”. In the fourth line, “of” functions to relate two noun phrases “the arm” and “the butcher”.

Stylistic analyses of Khalili`s `Assembly of Moth'and Wordsworth`s `Lyrical Ballads

T.C.

Seljuk University

Institute of Social Sciences

Faculty of Letters

Department of English Language and Literature

STYLISTIC ANALYSES OF KHALILI`S ‘ASSEMBLY OF

MOTH’AND WORDSWORTH`S ‘LYRICAL BALLADS’

Farida ANSARI

MASTER’S THESIS

Supervisor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... iv

OZET ...v

ABSTRACT ... vi

INTRODUCTION ...1

CHAPTER I: Poetry as a Major Form of Literature ...8

CHAPTER II: Khalili’s Biography and a General View on “Assembly of Moth” 17

CHAPTER III: A Stylistic Analyses of Khalili’s Poems ... 19

Conclusion ...94

ACKNOWKEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

Poetry as a Major Form of Literature

1. Afghan Modern Poetry

2. English Romantic Poetry

CHAPTER II

Khalili’s Biography and a General View on the

Assembly of Moths

( 1908 – 1987 )

CHAPTER III

A Stylistic Analyses of Khalili’s Poems

Break the Arm