Structure and meaning in literary discourse

Linguistics – Structure and Meaning in Literary Dis Thesis ment: Foregrounding is a major technique for literary aesthetic purposes and one finds ample evidences of linguistic deviation and over-regularity in the poem ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings which together produce foregrounding.
Linguistic and Literary Issue 1: Foregrounding, which ” refers to a form of textual patterning which is motivated specifically for literary-aesthetic purposes,” contributes greatly to the appreciation of poem ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings. (Simpson, 50)
Linguistic and Literary Issue 2: Lexical deviation, grammatical deviation, graphological deviation, phonological deviation, and deviation of meaning are elements of linguistic deviation and many of these are apparent in ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings.
Linguistic and Literary Issue 3: Phonological over-regularity, grammatical over-regularity, and lexical over-regularity are the components of linguistic over-regularity and in ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings exhibit many of these.
Linguistic and Literary Issue 4: Significantly, ” the linguistic deviation and over-regularity produceforegrounding” and these elements which are in abundance in ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings which contribute a complete appreciation of the poem. (Appreciation of E. E. CummingsPoetry from the Perspective ofForegrounding.)
Linguistic and Literary Issues concerning ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings
One of the foremost stylistic and syntactic innovators in the history of American poetry, E. E. Cummings always disregarded linguistic norms, syntactic arrangement and traditional rhymes of poetry. He has been masterly in the use of foregroundingtechnique which ” deviates from a linguistic norm or, alternatively, where an aspect of the text is brought to the fore through repetition or parallelism.” (Simpson, 50) The use of foregroundingtechnique in his poems usually assists Cummings to better convey his poetic concerns to the readers. An analysis of his ” in Just” suggests how effective Cummings was in the use of this specific literary and linguistic technique. It is also significant to note that the linguistic deviation and the linguistic over-regularity are at work throughout the poem and they enable theforegrounding technique in the ” in Just”. Examples of graphological deviationand lexical deviationwhich are integral part of linguistic deviation are abundant in the poem. Thus, the poem lacks a central title which is just a clause that runs through the poem which also suggests the poet’s wish to understand the poem in its totality. The graphological deviationin the poem requires the reader to find the essential meaning in its wholeness and every line becomes meaningful in relation to the subsequent lines. The use of several compound nouns throughout the poem points to its lexical deviationand ‘mud-luscious’, ‘balloonman’, ‘eddieandbill’, ‘bettyandisbel’, ‘puddle-wonderful’, ‘goat-footed’ etc are prime examples of these. These are the literary inventions of the poet to enable his technique. Lexical over-regularityis a basic component of linguistic over-regularity and the poet achieves this quality through the constant duplication of words and phrases. These repeated words and phrases include ‘spring’, ‘whistle’, ‘ballooman’, ‘far and wee’ and ‘come’ and they contribute to the linguistic over-regularity in the poem. Therefore, the linguistic deviation and over-regularity are the two factors that ensure the use of the foregroundingtechnique in the poem ” in Just” by E. E. Cummings.
Works Cited
Appreciation of E. E. CummingsPoetry from the Perspective ofForegrounding. Chapter Nine. 12 Oct. 2008. .
Simpson, Paul. Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge. 2004. P 50.