對《祖魯姑娘》的文體學分析

摘要: <祖魯姑娘>是南非著名詩人羅伊 卡普威爾的一首廣為流傳的詩歌。羅伊 卡普威爾是一個備受爭議的作家，出生于南非的杜邦，其成就在兩次世界大戰期間達到頂峰，爾后日漸衰落。盡管詩人的名字已被人淡忘，但這首詩卻依然煥發出非凡的生命力，震撼著現代讀者的心靈。這首詩魅力長存的秘訣何在?本文旨在通過文體學分析，從語音、語法、語義的角度進行探究，為欣賞該詩提供一個全新的視角。

關鍵詞:文體學，語音，語法，語義

[作者簡介] 王萍(1986-)，女，山東濱州人，華南理工大學在讀研究生，從事英美文學方向研究。

A Stylistic Analysis of Zulu Girl

Wang Ping

(School of Foreign Languages， South China University of Technology， Guangzhou510640)

1. Phonological analysis

As a way of saying， “probably its most obvious feature is its strongly marked rhythm”. Zulu Girl is a traditional poem with a regular rhyme scheme—a b a b， although the first few decades in the last century are characterized withmodern poetry in free forms. And furthermore， all of the five stanzas are in the same one. The regular rhyme scheme possesses a quality of music， creating a beauty in the sound level.

2. Grammatical Analysis

2.1 Vocabulary

On the first hand， the author chooses the words with great caution and endows almost every word with deep-seated meanings. For example， in the first stanza， three verbs with delicate connotations--“ply”， “fling” and “torment”， are employed. “Ply” means “work at (one’s trade) regularly; use or work steadily with (a tool)”， therefore， it is not merely “work”. As to “fling”， which means “throw violently or with force， esp. with lack of care for the object”， although is a synonym to “throw”， can never be replaced by it. Another word “tolerate”， in its passive form， vividly portrays the picture of a baby suffering from flies. Although there are other words sharing the similar meaning， such as “trouble”， it is might impossible to reach the expected effect. Although “fling” and “throw”， “tolerate” and “trouble” share very close meaning， the effects produced are totally different. The adoption of “throw” and “trouble” or some other words， will sharply weaken the effect of expression.

To some extent， it can be said that it is the author’s great efforts on the choice of words make the poem a reputable and popular one.

On the second hand， the adoption of large amount of modifiers is a distinctive characteristic. Almost every nuclear word is followed by a adjective or adverb as a modifier. From the point view of this paper， the large amount of modifiers has the following functions: firstly， in a large extent， it enriches the meanings of the vocabulary and renders it with connotations; secondly， the meaning is made more specific so as to assure the author’s intentions for the theme of the poem， his attitude could be successfully achieved.

2.2 Sentences

In this poem， more long sentences have been employed rather than short sentences. Long sentences are capable of conveying complicated thoughts while short sentences are better at the expression of concise meanings. Moreover， a feeling of hard to breath will be perceived while reading the poem， for the sentence is quite long. The adoption of long sentences is in accordance with the theme， which intended by the author—to manifest the hard and miserable life Zulu people are living. Undoubtedly， it is a heavy theme. The long sentences not only slow down the advance of reading the poem， but also resemble the long， tedious labor which makes the Zulus hardly breathing freely. In a word， the employment of long sentences is not a random decision of the author， but a result of deliberate arrangement. It contributes to produce a smothering feeling and form the unique style of the poem.

3. Semantic analysis

“Imagery， to some extent， is capable of organizing a poem serving as a starting point for interpreting the structure of a poem.” Therefore， in order to perceive the theme of a poem， it is necessary to find out the imagery first.

There are a series of images in this poem， such as broad river， drowsy stream， unquenched unsmotherable heat， hill， cloud and harvest. All of above images form into one powerful image—Rage， the rage of the treaded nation， the rage of Zulu people living a miserable life. Unless possessed with a master of the imagery， we will never gain a through understanding of this poem.

4. Conclusion

From the above analysis on three levels: phonological， grammatical and semantics， readers may gain a better perception of Zulu Girl and could appreciate this poem from a more objective view. Furthermore， a vague knowledge of Roy Compwell’s high skilled literary strategies may as well be perceived.

References:

[1]邵錦娣，白勁鵬編著.文學導論. 上海: 上海外語教育出版社， 2006， (357)

[2]王佐良，丁往道. 英語文體學引論. 北京: 外語教學與研究出版社， 1999， (11)