Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

Activity
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With respect to the poem, consider the following questions:
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How many speakers are there in the poem and how can we work this out from
the text?
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When is the poem set, and how do we know?
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What sort of vocabulary is used by the poet? That is, is it modern or archaic,
formal or conversational?
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Can you identify a rhyme scheme in the poem? If so, what sort of scheme is it?
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Can you spot any marked or unusual features of grammar (see A3) in the poem?
My own response to these questions are that the text as it stands satisfies many of
the generic conventions of a lyric love poem (see A2). A single speaker expresses an
emotional state, and mediates this through the popular symbol of the rose. Other
devices work to sustain this reading and to suggest that this is the written style of a
bygone era. Some of the vocabulary is clearly archaic, as in the obsolete diminutive
form ‘floweret’ or the contracted form ‘flow’r’. The rhyme scheme is tightly config-
ured into an 
abab 
pattern, and is maintained even on the trisyllables ‘floweret’ and
‘amulet’. In terms of its grammatical organisation, many of the poem’s clauses are
structured in such a way as to bring to the front elements other than the grammat-
ical Subject. In fact, the clause ‘All tenderly his messenger he chose’ is particularly
marked in this respect because it is fronted by two elements, an Adjunct and then a
Complement, with the Subject occurring in sentence-final position (cf. ‘He chose his
messenger all tenderly’). No doubt many more features could be identified which, in
the conventional sense of the term, make this text feel like ‘literary’ writing.
With its third stanza now reinstated, read the poem again. Think particularly about
how the addition of the final verse impacts on your initial reaction to and interpre-
tation of the first two verses. Once you have read it, go back and reconsider your
answers to the set of questions listed above.
One Perfect Rose
A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet –
One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret;
‘My fragile leaves,’ it said, ‘his heart enclose.’
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.
100
E X P L O R A T I O N
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