文學場的組織功能探析:以布萊克詩歌<倫敦>為例

1. Introduction

The literary field theory of Pierre Bourdieu， adopting the sociological angle of view， reckons that “the interpretation of literary phenomena must combine the context， the personality of the author， social background and cultural capital of the literature work by placing the literature in a certain field， which is also known as literary field. In the theory， Bourdieu shows how “literary practices have become constituted in a social set of agents (authors， publishers， critics) and of rules that forms a specific space.”(Bourdieu 395) The space， the so-called literary field that is created by the author， has its own distinguish structure， and is considered to be a system that organizes all the literary elements. And this certain sort of organizational function is known as the internal function of literary field. Due to the organizational function of the literary field， all the literary elements of the literary works， such as images， linguistic experiences， and even the themes of them can be united as a complete whole; due to the organizational function of the literary field， the literary works， endowed with tons of essence of its individual elements， accomplish many splendid， sparkling， household legends.

William Blake， as a visionary poet and an illustrator of the Romantic period， is considered one of the major poets of English literature. His artistic ingenuity and the passion for originality and imagination nourish his creation of a unique writing style which embraces both visionary and auditory images and present a flawless fusion of visual art， auditory art and poetry. London， one of Blake’s lyric ballads， is regarded as the “mightiest brief poem” by famous critic Oliver Elton. The poem serves as a terrific material to start my discussion.

The paper makes a research on the organizational function of Blake’s literary field， in terms of the theory of the literary field and the unique writing style of Blake， the paper focuses on the aesthetic performance of the visual and auditory images which are weaved by the poem as well.

2. The Organization Function of the literary field of London

Many writers view the city of London as an obstacle to artistic inspiration; “the crowds， unsanitary conditions， corruption， crimes， and pollution， they argue， obscure the nature beauty of the world”. (Kirszner and Mandell 90)While William Blake holds a quite opposite sentiment， considering that the aspects of city life provide unique insights into the human condition. His poem London， can be interpreted as a literary field in its own entirety. And the certain literary field， featuring in organizing all the poetic elements in the poem， such as voice， diction， imagery， figures of speech， sound， form and theme， makes the poem as a united whole that carries profound meanings and mirrors the superb artistic technique of the poet himself.

2.1 The Organizational Function of Gathering Similar Images

William Blake， a republican， was against the monarchy and probably the aristocracy who supported them. Therefore， with a grim， dull or even ugly mood in the poem， the literary field of London that was created by him pervades such an overwhelming atmosphere of great anguish and suffering. The poem， adopting a sad and sorrowful tone， writes ironically of the images in order to demonstrate the condemnation of Man’s lack of freedom and the causes of this lack. Various of images， therefore， whatever they are closely knitted or relatively irrelevant， are gathered by the organizational power of the literary field.

Taking those ironic images in the poem London， for instance， the poet utilizes “the chartered street” and “the chartered Thames”， which implicates that the public facilities and the natural landscape are ridiculously granted to those people who have superior power. Obviously， street and river belong to different categories. But because they shed light on some similar connotation， they are absorbed by the literary field to show that London at that time was such a place where everything has unfair rules or boundaries. In the following lines， Blake uses the image of “the mind-forged manacles”. As another inapposite image， it is assembled in the literary field to reflect that the freedom of people’s thinking and actions have been taken away.

A close resemblance occurs in the diction of the poem. It is said that Blake has his own version of Christianity， so the literary field of his poem calls some Biblical words together， like “harlot” and “new-born infant”.

2.2The organizational Function of Composing the Integrated Internal Structure

Dedicating his spirit to the poem， William Blake uses his language and the unique writing style to condense experience into an intensely concentrated literary field， with each sound， each word， each image， and each line carrying great weight. Benefiting from the miraculous power of the poem’s literary field， the internal structure as consummately fulfilled.

The main function of composing the integrated structure can be divided into three aspects.

Firstly， Blake takes full use of visual， auditory images and figures of speech under the great power of literary field to form such a picturesque， sensible， poetic charm.

The poem depicts people， their actions and the stagnant social reality. What’s more， the description of the colorized visual images stressed a strong visual impact and color-contrast-ratio- intensity. The scarlet blood of a soldier and the blackening church are used by the poet to lay an oral culture in a series of elaborately visual engravings to create drama.

Likewise， the poet devotes a lot of auditory images to show a constant denouncement of institutions and a system of enslavement for the city's woes. “The chimney-sweeper’s cry” reveals that the city (esp. ordinary people)， is eager to eliminate the ashes and shadow that cause its depression; “the hapless soldier’s sign” discloses that soldiers are drafted into war and have no choice but to serve their country， even to sacrifice themselves， as their “sigh runs in blood down palace walls”; “the youthful harlot’s curse” unfolds that the child-prostitute who has suffered from the sexually transmitted disease would pass the tragedy on to the next generation， consequently， the new birth is no happy event but continues the cycle of misery.

Additionally， the poem also applies some figures of speech owing to the work of the literary field. The utilization of metonymy， the paper has already mentioned above. “The institutions of power--the clergy， the government--are rendered by synecdoche， by mention of the places in which they reside.”(Bloom 493) And the last image “marriage hearse”， “a vehicle in which love and desire combine with death and destruction” (Reinhart 47)， creates a paradox that the disaster is the truth behind the respectable ideals of marriage by using oxymoron.

Secondly， the organizational function of the poem’s literary field works to maintain the continuity of the poem’s mood. And this power mainly developed by launching the perfect ABAB-rhyme-scheme and a continuing sound. The poem creates this elaborate Iambic Tetrameter by means of using repeated words and phrases and reverse word order. “Repetition is the most striking formal feature of the poem， and it serves to emphasize the prevalence of the horrors the speaker describes.”(Paley 316) The word “every” and “mark” have been repeated so many times，which builds up of distinct emotion throughout the poem， and makes the sound of the poem continuing. On the one hand， it gives readers a deep impression that everything is the same and has an order. On the other hand， it develops the rhythm into a furious “wave”， which sounds stronger and stronger. Moreover， it reinforces the sense of stricture the reader feels upon reciting the poem aloud. Another point is that the poem also uses alliteration to express the emotional significance which is implied.

Last but not least， the organizational function of the poem’s literary field perfects the form of the poem. The closed form and the short lines make the poem more compact， make the rhymes more noticeable， and build up of a sense of anger and shock.

In short， the organizational function of the poem’s literary field gets the poem enjoyed a perfect structure， balanced color scheme， and trenchant sound.

3. Conclusion

The literary field produced by Blake involves all the fascinating literary elements and intellectual artistic ingenuities. And the brilliant combination of the visual and auditory imagery well-organized by it highlights “the gift of a great visionary painter like Blake.”(Parini 2772)

Undoubtedly， the study of the organizational function of literary field is worth researching and sustaining. Since the theory the literary field is highly complicated， the research in this paper is so limited， and there are still numerous points that the paper doesn’t cover. Anyway， the far-reaching significance of both the function of literary field and Blake’s unique style should be discussed always.

Works Cited

Bourdieu， Pierre. Essquisse pour une auto-analyse. Paris : Raisons d’agir， 2004， p.359.

Bloom， Harold. ed. Modern Critical Views: William Blake. London: Chelsea House， 1985， p. 493.

Kirszner， Laurie G and Mandell， Stephen R. Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol.176. Detroit， Michigan: Gale Research Company， 2003. 90.

Reinhart， Charles， \"William Blake，\" Dictionary of Literary Biography， Volume 93: British Romantic Poets， 1789-1832， First Series， Gale， 1990， pp. 47.

Paley， Morton D.， editor， Twentieth Century Interpretations on \"Songs of Innocence of Experience.\" London: Prentice-Hall， 1969. pp.316.

Parini， Jay. Ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research， 1986. p2745-2773.

（謝楠：（1986-），女，云南昆明人，云南師大外國語學院2008級英語語言文學專業英美文學研究方向在讀碩士研究生）