BBL 3207

Assignment 2

1. THE GRAMMAR OF COMPLEX SENTENCES (15 marks)

1. Find 2 examples of linking, listing and nesting each from any literary texts (please provide the source of your examples)

2. Carry out SPOCA analysis on the linking and nesting examples

2. Poem Analysis (15 marks)

Choose a song / poem that has been written from the year 2007 onwards. Conduct a stylistic analysis on the song/poem. This will involve using what you have learned in this course to describe the language of your chosen text, and to explain the meaning and effects.

The focus of your assignment should be on linguistic choices /patterns and their significance. You should start with a brief introduction, where you express your understanding of and response to the song/poem. Then you should move on to the analysis itself, which should be clearly structured and divided into sections (using heading such as ‘Graphology’, ‘Deviation’, ‘Parallelism’, ‘Figurative Language’ and so on). You should finish with a brief conclusion summarising your findings, and possibly reflecting critically on the analysis itself.

You do not need to include a biography of the poet, nor do you need to rely on literary critical discussions of the poems (such discussions are only relevant as possible responses/interpretations which the analysis could help explain or question.) You also do not need to review the various analytical frameworks before applying them (i.e. there is no need for an introduction to foregrounding or metaphor). It is sufficient to refer to the relevant sources which will have to be included in the list of references at the end. If you use any material from the web, don’t forget to include the relevant websites in the references.

If you are unsure about the form a stylistic analysis should take, look at some analyses of poems in print (see samples of articles in the student portal).

Length: Between 2,000 and 2,500 words. This will provide you enough space to do a good job. Do NOT go beyond the maximum word limit. There are no prizes for length.

3. Essay question (10 marks)

Write an essay that discusses how the study of stylistics / language in literature can help improve one’s English language

Length: Between 1,500 to 2,000 words.