Product Description

Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose examines how readers interact with literary works, how they understand and are moved by them. Mick Short considers how meanings and effects are generated in the three major literary genres, carying out stylistic analysis of poetry, drama and prose fiction in turn. He analyses a wide range of extracts from English literature, adopting an accessible approach to the analysis of literary texts which can be applied easily to other texts in English and in other languages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51281 in Books
• Published on: 1996-07-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 399 pages

Review
 "...;an excellent instance of successful assimilation of linguistic method into literary studies via the stylistics interface."  STYLE  "...;represents a very solid distillation of many years of teaching, writing and reflection on the established topics of literary stylistics."  Journal of Sociolinguistics  "The latest book by Mick Short shows that stylistics is alive and kicking."  Greta

'Clearly, this is an impressive and valuable book.'

Language and Literature, 1998.

From the Back Cover
General Editors-
Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short, Lancaster University
learning about language is an exciting and ambitious series of introductions to fundamental topics in language, linguistics and related areas. The books are designed for students of linguistics and those who are studying language as part of a wider course.
Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose examines how readers interact with literary works, how they understand and are moved by them. Mick Short considers how meanings and effects are generated in the three major literary genres, carying out stylistic analysis of poetry, drama and prose fiction in turn. He analyses a wide range of extracts from English literature, adopting an accessible approach to the analysis of literary texts which can be applied easily to other texts in English and in other languages.
This volume provides a clear and broad-ranging introduction to stylistic analysis - the first to cover all three literary genres in detail. The introduction provides a very useful overview of stylistics as a whole and discusses the links between linguistics and literary criticism. Detailed analysis of each genre follows, with exercises designed to develop ideas further. There is also extended discussion of the exercises and suggestions for further readings for those interested in carrying out their own stylistic analyses. A particularly useful feature of the book is the series of checksheets of style features to look for when analysing texts, which occur at the ends of chapters. This study will be of particular interest to undergraduate students interested in stylistic analysis and the accounts of up to date analytical methods will also be relevant to advanced students and researchers.
Exploring the Language of Poems Plays and Prose is written by a leading authority in the field of stylistics. Mick Short is a senior lecturer in the department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University. He co-authored Style in Fiction (Longman, 1981) with Geoffrey Leech and is the editor of Reading, Analysing and Teaching Literature (Longman, 1989). He is also the founder of the Poetics and Lingusitics Association (PALA) and the founding editor of its international journal Language and Literature.

Customer Reviews

Excellent over-view of stylistics
Although Mick Short is sometimes prone to stating the obvious (did we really need an illustration of two chairs to illustrate deixis? I think most people know the difference between 'that' chair and 'this' chair depends upon where they are..) this is otherwise an excellent book about stylistic analysis, with useful exercises, and checklists to help with carrying out one's own analyses.

Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose
Mick Short produces a fantastic book, ensuring to keep in mind, the reader unfamiliar with academic jargon. Exploring the Language of Poems and Prose is apt at detailing all a novice needs to know about the subject, indeed, it also makes for a handy referrence guide for those already familiar with this strand of linguistics.