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2 | Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

UNIT 2:
LITERATURE AS A TEXT AND DISCOURSE

2.0 Intended Learning Outcomes

a. Comprehend objectively literary piece as viewed as a text; and
b. Analyze literary piece, not as a text, but as a discourse.

2.1. Introduction
There are four primary disciplines are of interest including; linguistic analysis,
literary criticism, discourse analysis, and stylistics analysis with respect to literature
analysis. Of these, the latter two are comparatively new sciences and are used
interchangeably by educators when teaching stylistics. Stylistics is applied to areas
such as discourse analysis and literary criticism. However, there is a lack of clear
understanding of the nature and study of these four disciplines, as seen in teachers’
presentation of classical criticism, bibliographical criticism and practical criticism as
a single course of stylistics. A primary reason for this is owed to their inability to
distinguish between these disciplines or approach a text analysis stylistically. Since
biographical and practical criticism focuses on abstract emotions and justification
that have no physical grounds in the literary text, they do not play a direct role in
the analysis of literary texts. For this reason, bibliographical critics require extensive
experience and sensitivity.
According to Abdulmughni (2019), stylistician’s require an extensive
knowledge of language to explore how literary texts work, and the impact of
language in creating and transforming a literary text. Style is the manner of
linguistic expression in prose or verse. It is how a speaker or writer says whatever
he says. It refers to the way in which language is used in a given context by a specific
writer of speaker for a specific person. The teachers fail to effectively teach stylistics,
because it draws from linguistics, psychology and literary criticism, since a majority
of them are well-versed in linguistics, applied linguistics, literature or teaching
methodology. Therefore, they either teach grammatical analysis or literary criticism
when teaching stylistics. Teachers should have a complete understanding of both
linguistics and literature since literature is composed of language.

2.2 Literary Analysis

The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes

evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis,
this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. Examining the
different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in itself but rather a process to
help you better appreciate and understand the work of literature as a whole. For
instance, an analysis of a poem might deal with the different types of images in a poem
or with the relationship between the form and content of the work. If you were to
analyze (discuss and explain) a play, you might analyze the relationship between a
subplot and the main plot, or you might analyze the character flaw of the tragic hero

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by tracing how it is revealed through the acts of the play. Analyzing a short story
might include identifying a particular theme (like the difficulty of making the
transition from adolescence to adulthood) and showing how the writer suggests that
theme through the point of view from which the story is told; or you might also
explain how the main character’s attitude toward women is revealed through his
dialogue and/or actions.

REMEMBER: Writing is the sharpened, focused expression of thought and study. As you
develop your writing skills, you will also improve your perceptions and increase your
critical abilities. Writing ultimately boils down to the development of an idea. Your objective
in writing a literary analysis essay is to convince the person reading your essay that you
have supported the idea you are developing. Unlike ordinary conversation and classroom
discussion, writing must stick with great determination to the specific point of development.
This kind of writing demands tight organization and control.
Therefore, your essay must have a central idea (thesis), it must have several
paragraphs that grow systematically out of the central idea, and everything in it must be
directly related to the central idea and must contribute to the reader’s understanding of that
central idea.

How to Create a Literary Analysis:

1. Read the text closely several times. Focus on the ideas that are being
presented. Think about the characters’ development and the author’s writing
technique. What might be considered interesting, unusual, or important?
2. Brainstorm a list of potential topics. Highlight important passages in the text
and take notes on these passages. Later, when writing the paper, these notes
should help a writer to remember which aspects of the story caught his/her
attention. The topic chosen should always be based on a writer’s interpretation
of the author’s message. Here are some things a writer may want to consider
when brainstorming for a literary analysis.
Character: What observations might a writer make about the characters?
Are there discrepancies in what they think, say, or do? Are the
observations a writer makes different from what other characters say?
How does the author describe the characters? Are the characters
“dynamic” (a dynamic character is a character that undergoes important
changes throughout the work)? Are the characters “static” characters (a
static character is a character that stays the same throughout the work)?
Are the characters “flat” characters (a flat character is a character that
does not have vivid character traits) or “round” characters (a round
character is a character that has vivid character traits)? Are the
characters symbolic or representative of some universal quality? Is it
possible that two characters in the text might be compared or
contrasted?

Setting: Is there a relationship between the work’s setting and its mood?
Does the setting reflect the work’s theme? How does the setting impact
the characters? Does a change in the setting affect the mood, characters,
or conflict?

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Plot: How might the beginning of the work be interpreted? How does
the plot build suspense? Does the author use techniques such as
foreshadowing or flashback? Are
there patterns of cause-effect relationships? Do events occur in a logical
order? Examine the events that lead to the climax and determine how
the work ends?

Theme: What is the major idea or theme of the work? How does the
author relay this theme? Is there a greater meaning to the details given?
How do the characters’ moods affect the theme? What allusions are
made throughout the work? Are there repeating patterns or symbols?
What does the title say about the theme?

Dialogue: What is the purpose of the dialogue? Is the dialogue

appropriate in terms of word choice or sentence length? How does the
dialogue impact the characterization? How does the author use the
dialogue to show the mood of the characters? How does this aid the
author’s message? How does the dialogue impact the plot?

Imagery: In what way might a specific image or series of images be

analyzed? How might the development of images throughout the work
be explained? Are the images important to the meaning of the work?
How are images interrelated with other literary elements?

Figures of speech: How are figures of speech such as similes,

metaphors, and hyperboles used throughout the text? How are these
figures of speech important in relation to the meaning of the text? Are
figures of speech interrelated between other literary elements?

Tone: How might the attitude of the author or the tone of the work be
described? Is the tone serious, playful, casual, formal, or somber? How
does the author achieve this tone? How does the tone impact the
author’s message? Does the author say one thing but mean another?
Does the author take the subject seriously or treat it lightly?

Rhyme/Rhythm: Do the author’s words, sentences, or paragraphs seem

to share a similar rhyme pattern? What type of rhythm does the author
seem to be creating? How is this rhyme/rhythm impacting the author’s
message? Does the author use the different rhymes/rhythms as a sound
device for the literary work? How does the author do this?

Point of View: What point of view do the characters display? First,

second, or third? How does this point of view affect the theme, plot, or
conflict of the work? How might the author’s point of view impact a
writer’s analysis? Might the character’s first person point of view draw
a writer to feel as though he/she is hearing a personal account and cause
him/her to feel an intimate connection with the character? Might the

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author’s third person account cause a writer to feel as if the author is

acting as the narrator of the story? Or might it cause a writer to believe
that the narrator is an omniscient being who is distant but knows the
character’s thoughts and feelings?

3. Think about what the author is trying to say. Why is this important? When viewing
this work as a piece of art, what might a writer’s response be? What might a writer’s
reactions be to the ideas presented in the work? Are these ideas truthful or relevant to
today and how? If a writer were asked what they thought of this work how might
they respond? What points might a writer make?”
4. Select a topic that has sufficient supporting evidence. A writer should make sure to
include specific details to support the topic. Use highlighted sections of the book as
evidence to support the topic that has been chosen.
5. Write a working thesis. The analysis will need a strong thesis that states a writer’s
perspective but also allows it to be debated. The thesis should state a writer’s opinion,
but it should also allow readers to arrive at their own conclusions.
Example of a debatable thesis:
Pride and Prejudice is about Elizabeth Bennet’s effort to overcome her own
proud behavior and discrimination towards Mr. Darcy, as well as how her family is
affected by the haughtiness and preconceptions of the society around them.
(This is a debatable thesis because it asks the reader, “Does Elizabeth actually
exhibit haughtiness and preconceptions? Is this why she doesn’t get along with Mr.
Darcy? How is Elizabeth’s family affected by the haughtiness and preconceptions of the
society around them?”)

Avoid a non-debatable thesis:

Pride and Prejudice is about five sisters and their journey to find love.
(This thesis is non-debatable because it is undisputable. The paper is framed as a
summary rather than as a literary analysis.)
6. Make an extended list of evidence. Find more evidence from the text to support the
working thesis. Then select the evidence that will be used in the paper.
7. Refine the thesis. Make sure the thesis fits with the evidence that has been presented.
8. Organize the evidence. Match the evidence to the order of the thesis. Delete any of
the original textual supports that may no longer follow the thesis, and gather new
evidence if needed.
9. Interpret the evidence. When writing a literary analysis, it is very important for
writers to make sure they express their own personal interpretation of the work. Be
careful that the literary analysis is not a summary.
10. Create a rough draft. When writing a rough draft, there are several methods that
may aid a writer in creating a strong final draft. Here are a few methods:
Outline: An outline will help a writer to organize his/her thoughts and ideas.
It will remind a writer of the order of the thesis, as well as the supporting points
he/she would like each topic sentence to have.
Free-write: A short, ten minute free-write will help to get all of a writer’s
thoughts on paper. It will allow a writer to focus on the content, rather than the
punctuation and spelling. Once the free-write is complete, a writer can read
through it and circle the points that are strong, as well as omit the ones that are

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2 | Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

not. Provided by the Academic Center for Excellence 4 Writing a Literary

Analysis Paper
Bubble Map: A bubble map will allow a writer to draw connections from one
idea to the next. It will give a writer a visual idea of the direction of the literary
analysis, as well as help a writer to see the connections between the topics. This
can help a writer transition from one topic to another more fluidly.
11. Revise the Analysis. After completing the first draft, revise the analysis by
considering the following questions:
Is the thesis clearly stated in the first paragraph?
Is the sentence structure varied?
Does the structure of the analysis emphasize the main ideas?
Is the third-person point of view used throughout the entire essay?
Has the present tense been used to discuss the work and past tense to describe the
author’s background?
Have quotation marks been used around direct quotations?
Have the sources been cited correctly according to MLA style?
Has extraneous information that does not support the thesis been eliminated?
Have clear transitions been used between sentences and paragraphs?
12. Proofread. Once the content of the essay is well-developed, it should be proofread
for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. It is often helpful to read the paper slowly
and clearly out loud. If possible, another person should listen and read along as the
paper is being read. The paper should be printed and proofread several times until an
accurate final copy is created. Be alert to common grammatical errors such as sentence
fragments, comma splices, or run-on sentences.

Assessment Activity 1:
Directions: Below is a poem entitled ‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allan Poe. Write a literary
analysis following the above-mentioned steps. Start your analysis from the character down
to your point of view.
Note: Write your COMPLETE NAME, COURSE, YEAR & SECTION, SUBEJCT AND
PROFESSOR.

ANNABEL LEE
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—

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With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

1.2.1 Text vs. Discourse in Literature

In Discourse, text simply means any instance of language in use. This
comprises not only written language but also spoken language. A text could be as
small as a word or sentence and could also be as large as a paragraph (Aziz, 2016). A
text could equally be a whole chapter, a news item or a conversation. For a piece to be
qualified as a text, Halliday and Hassan believe, it must form a “unified whole”. When
that happens, it can then be regarded as a semantic unit.
A text is meant to have a texture. Texture, as used here, is the parameter that
distinguishes a text from something that is not a text. Information in a text flows

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2 | Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

within and among sentences through the interplay of coherence and cohesion.
Coherence concerns with sense in a text. That is to say that when a text makes
sense to a reader or a hearer, it is said to be coherent (Ogunsiji, 2013). Cohesion on the
other hand is a Latin word for ‘striking together’. It is a term in Discourse that relates
to how texts are held together lexically and grammatically as a whole. A text without
cohesion is only a disjointed speech which may not generate any meaning. The
following examples can be used to illustrate coherence and cohesion:
1. Mr. Oko slapped his wife. His wife did not cook for him. (Coherent but not
cohesive).
2. Mr. Oko slapped his wife because she did not cook for him. (Coherent and
cohesive).
Note: The conjunction “because” and the pronouns “she” and “him” in the
second text are cohesive ties or devices employed to enhance coherence and
cohesion in the text. They are conjunctive cohesion and referential cohesion
respectively.
3. Mr. Oko slapped his wife because South Sudan is the newest African country.
(Not coherent but cohesive).
4. Mr. Oko slapped his wife. South Sudan is the newest African country. (Not
coherent and not cohesive).

Discourse, Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis could be

described as a three- in one discipline mostly used interchangeably especially
by non-linguists. Discourse is not the same as Discourse Analysis. While
Discourse is communication, Discourse Analysis on the other hand is a way of
analyzing communication (Aziz, 2016). When the analysis of a particular
discourse aims at exposing the covert ideology embedded in such a discourse,
it can then be said to be at the domain of Critical Discourse Analysis. To put it
very simple, when Discourse Analysis becomes more critical (when the hearer
or reader uses all linguistic features available in the said to generate meaning
of the unsaid in a manner that exposes power and abuse of power, dominance,
inequality and invested ideologies), it becomes Critical Discourse Analysis.
Generally speaking, every discourse is structured by dominance and the
dominant structures are legitimated by the ideologies of powerful groups
Discourse Analysis basically studies and examines how an addresser structures
his linguistic messages for the addressee and how the addressee in turn uses
some linguistic cues to interpret them (the messages) (Brown & Yule, 1983).
Coherence in a discourse manifests by the extent to which a particular
instance of language in use is able to match a shared belief, knowledge and
social conventions of interlocutors in a social context. Unlike cohesion which
establishes the linguistic connectivity of sentences and utterances using
cohesive ties, coherence in discourse relates basically to the establishment of
some relationships between utterances through an interpretation of
illocutionary acts. There is an obvious manifestation of coherence in the
following conversation between two interlocutors:

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2 | Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

Speaker A: Sir, the visitors from Daura are already waiting at the
reception.
Speaker B: I’m taking my lunch.
Speaker A: It’s alright Your Excellency.

The discourse above can be interpreted vis- a- vis the social conventions of interaction which
include:
Speaker A requests speaker B to perform an action.
Speaker B gives the reason why he cannot comply.
Speaker A understands and proceeds to perform a legitimate action (his duty).
It is discovered that there are no cohesive ties in the above discourse but the needed cues to
identify coherence are conventional structures of interaction, and this is a shared
understanding by the interlocutors. That is the crux of coherence in discourse.

Assessment Activity:
Directions: Below is a poem entitled ‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allan Poe. Write a literary
analysis following the above-mentioned steps. Start your analysis from the character down
to your point of view.
Note: Write your COMPLETE NAME, COURSE, YEAR & SECTION, SUBEJCT AND
PROFESSOR.

ANNABEL LEE
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

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2 | Stylistics and Discourse Analysis

Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me

dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

2.3 References

Ahmad, Z. (2016). Stylistics and Discourse Analysis: A Contribution in Analyzing Literature.

Academy of the Punjab in North America.
Brown, G. & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.Google Scholar
Carter, R. (1991). Language, Literature and the Learner: Creative Classroom Practice. London:
Longman.
Chapman, R. (1973).Linguistics and literature: an introduction to literary stylistics. London:
Edward Arnold.
Gurry , P . C . ( 1964 ). Teaching English As An International Language . London , OUP .
Frisby , A . W . ( 1957 ). Teaching English . London , Longman .
Ogunsiji, A. (2013). Literary Stylistics. Lagos: National Open University of Nigeria. Literary
Stylistics. Lagos: National Open University of Nigeria.
Widdowson, H. G. (1975). Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature. 1st Edition London.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315835990

2.4 Acknowledgment
The information and images contained in this module were taken from the references
cited above.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay