The Stylistic Approach in Teaching Literature by Marichelle G

 The Stylistic Approach Approach in Teaching Teaching Literature Literature by Marichelle G. Dones, Dones, MA (January, 2008  The stu!y o" literature literature is a "ascinating acti#ity that o$ers both both teacher an! learner %ani"ol! an! tre%en!ous bene&ts. 'or hat other acti#ity oul! enable the rea!er to enter into a %ultiplicity o" orl!s an! sa#or the on!ers o" encountering, albeit #icariously, a #ast #ariety o" people (inclu!ing %agical creatures, creatures, cultures, places in reality an! beyon!) !e"y the boun!aries o" ti%e to tra#el to an! "ro in the !istant past then hi* bac+ to the present at the turn o" a page  The greatest #alues #alues to be gaine! "ro% these these bene&ts are the potential potential "or groth in +nole!ge an! is!o%) the ac-uisition o" a +een un!erstan!ing o" hu%an nature an! o" hu%an relationships) an! the "ree!o% o" choice to enter into each characters heart an! %in! an! li#e his li"e, his a!#entures "ully !uring the course o" one story, one no#el, one poe%. Such are the ac+nole!ge! #alues o" engaging in the pleasurable stu!y o" literature.  To  To stu!y literature, literature, speci&cally to be able to teach teach it e$ecti#ely, e$ecti#ely, %eans that one %ust be "a%iliar ith the #arious %etho!s, approaches, techni-ues, an! strategies co%%only utili*e! in such a serious tas+. To stu!y literature %eans to stu!y language "or literature an! language are ine/tricably ine/tricably boun! together. together. Language in!ee! is the bloo! an! %eat o" literature. ence, the co%petent teacher o" literature %ust +no the structure o" the language o" the literary or+ being stu!ie!, be it ritten in 1nglish, 'ilipino, 'rench, 'rench, Spanish, etc.  To  To +no a language %eans to +no its soun! syste% (phonology, (phonology, its %eaning syste% (%orphology, an! its syntactic syste% (synta/ hich !eals ith the structure o" the utterances in the language. The three branches, lin+e! together in the science o" linguistics, are great ai!s in un!erstan!ing the language o" literature. literature. esi!es these three, to other #ery i%portant branches o" linguistics are se%antics an! the %ost recent a!!ition, stylistics. 3n this article 4% procee!ing on the assu%ption that %any, i" not all, o" the teachers o" 1nglish an! particularly pa rticularly o" literature ha#e ha! courses in linguistics an! possess so%e +nole!ge o" se%antics an! stylistics. Stylistics, ha#ing to !o largely ith style, is a !iscipline concerne! concerne! ith the stu!y o" language o" literature.5 4t is the stu!y o" language as art.5 As the

stu!y o" style, it 6see+s to e/a%ine the e/pressi#e an! suggesti#e !e#ices hich ha#e been in#ente! in or!er to en"orce the poer an! penetration o" speech.5 At the outset 4 suggest that the teacher shoul! &rst utili*e all the tra!itional %etho!s o" e/plicating a literary or+ an! then atte%pt to intro!uce a re"reshing ne !i%ension, an inno#ati#e ay o" loo+ing at the style o" a speci&c literary piece "ro% the point o" #ie o" stylistics. This acti#ity coul! ell "all un!er the enrich%ent acti#ity as an e/citing challenge to the %ore a!#ance! classes in literature.  These con#entional approaches hich e ill re"er to as the 6e/trate/tual approaches,5 inclu!e7 the the%atic approach, the interpretation o" characters, the ele%ents o" narration, i%agery an! the poetic (e/pressi#e an! suggesti#e !e#ices. These constitute the %aor ele%ents ine#itably !iscusse! in the analysis o" all "or%s o" literary !iscourse. 4. The%atic Approach  The the%e o" any literary or+ is the %ain i!ea or %essage that the author ants to con#ey. The the%e %ay ha#e psychological, sociological, ethical, or !i!actic #alue. 4t is the s+eletal "ra%eor+ or the 6peg5 "ro% hich the hole story hangs. The author co%es up ith an i!ea. 4t obsesses hi% an! he is co%pelle! to e/press it) to gi#e 9esh an! all the 6trappings5that gi#e it a concrete "or%) an! to e%bellish it, so0 to spea+, so that it ill ha#e both internal an! e/ternal #alues. These #alues !istinguish it "ro% all other or+s o" literary art.  Thus, language beco%es the authors %ain linguistic tool:using soun!, %eaning, an! sentence structure. ut apart "ro% the linguistic co%ponents, the author ill ha#e to clothe his story ith style. This is ho the the%e is e/pan!e!. 3therise, there ill be no story or poe%. 44. 4nterpretation o" ;haracters