Research Article

Stylistic analyses of Philip Larkin's Ambulances and Harold Pinter's Victoria Station

Number: 31 December 21, 2022
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Stylistic analyses of Philip Larkin's Ambulances and Harold Pinter's Victoria Station

Abstract

Stylistics can be defined as analysing literary texts by employing some linguistic tools. Thus, there is a powerful relationship between stylistics and literary criticism and combining them while doing literary analysis helps literary critics to be more aware of the process of the interpretating literary texts. In this context, this study sets out to examine two significant works in 20th-century English literature within the framework of concepts and theories introduced in the studies of stylistics. The study first analyses Ambulances (1961) by Philip Larkin, a prominent author in post-war England and a nationally favourite poet. While doing so, it focuses on Larkin’s repeating themes and subjects, involving pessimism, death, and fatalism. Then, the present study examines Harold Pinter's Victoria Station (1982). An English playwright and eminent British dramatist who has won many awards, Pinter has written a lot of plays and dramatic sketches. In his plays, one can mostly see complex ambiguities, elegiac mysteries, and comic uncertainties. Therefore, this study is centred on Pinter's authorial and textual styles in Victoria Station by often referring to his explicitly political critiques. In both cases, the study employs Mick Short's stylistics toolkit, a methodology provided as an online course at Lancaster University (2005).

Keywords

References

  1. Culpeper, J., Short, M., & Verdonk, P. (1998). Introduction. Exploring the Language of Drama: From Text to Context. London: Routledge, 1-6.
  2. Ellegard, A. (1962). A Statistical Method for Determining Authorship. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg Press.
  3. Grice, P. (1989). Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  4. Hartley, J. "Philip Larkin (1922–1985)." Poetryarchive.org. 2008. Retrieved 01 December 2022.
  5. Moran, E. V. (2002). A People's History of English and American Literature. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
  6. Pinter, H. (1993). "Victoria Station." Harold Pinter: Plays 4. London: Faber and Faber, 95-104.
  7. Short, M. (1996). Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. Essex: Longman-Pearson.
  8. ---. Language and Style. Department of Linguistics and English Language (LAEL). Lancaster University. July 2005.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Creative Arts and Writing

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 21, 2022

Submission Date

November 2, 2022

Acceptance Date

December 20, 2022

Published in Issue

Year 2022 Number: 31

APA
İşçi, V. (2022). Stylistic analyses of Philip Larkin’s Ambulances and Harold Pinter’s Victoria Station. RumeliDE Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 31, 1401-1419. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1222297

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