40-love

Vol.5,No.6AsianSocialScience118StylisticAnalysisof“40-Love”WrittenbyMcGoughMeihuaXuSchoolofForeignLanguagesandLiterature,ChongqingNormalUniversityChongqing400047,ChinaE-mail:[e-mail]theskillfulcombinationofrhythmandstructuretocreatenumerousgreatworksallovertheworld.Thisarticletriestoanalyzetheuniquefeaturesinstructure,words,phonology,syntaxandrhetoricinthepoemof40-LovebyBritishpoetRogerMcGoughinordertohaveadeeperunderstandingofthecontentandformofapoem.Keywords:McGough,40-Love,Love,Style1.IntroductionItiswellknownthatinavarietyofliterarygenres,theformofpoetryhasbeenstressedmost.Effortshavebeenexertedontheskillfulcombinationofrhythmandstructuretocreatenumerousgreatworksallovertheworld.ModernAmericanpoetE.E.Cummings(1884-1962)isagoodcaseinpoint.Heisfamousforoddstyle,novelanduniqueforminthepoeticworld.His“l(a”hasbeenregardedasthe“themostelegantandbeautifulstructureoftheliteraturecreatedbyCummings”.(Kennedy,1980).Therefore,hispoemsarerenownedas“poempicture”or“visualpoetry”,ortheconcretepoetrythatwearequitefamiliarwith.Thefeaturesofitisthatvividvisualimagesofwordscomingfromirregularsyllables,letters,punctuation,syntax,formatandprintstrengthentheinternalimaginationofpoetry,deepentheartisticconception,conveyandenrichtheconnotation.(Abrams,2005).Coincidentally,besidesE.E.Cummings,contemporaryBritishpoetRogerMcGough(1937-)isanothermasterinwritingconcretepoems.His40-Lovecanbeconsideredasoneofthegreatestconcretepoems.McGoughisthesecondofthethreeinLiverpoolGroup.TheothertwoareHenryAdrianHenriandPatanBrianPatten.McGough,bornin1937,5yearsyoungerthanHenry,isalwaysinnaughtymentality.Hispoemsarefullofsecularfunanddisplaymoreprofoundlifefromtheperspectiveofachild.Thisarticle,fromtheviewpointofstylistics,analyzesthefeaturesofstructure,words,phonology,syntaxandrhetoricinthepoemof“40-Love”inordertogainadeeperunderstandingofthispoem.2.StylisticAnalysisGreekpoetSimonidesoncesaid,“Poetryisthepicturewithsoundwhilethepicturesarethesilentpoems.”(Zhu,2005).Thatistosay,thecontentofapoemmustbecombinedwithitsformtoachieveitsperfection,namely,thecombinationofformandspirit,whatweoftencherish.HerewewilltrytofindhowMcgoughdoitinhis“40-Love”.Thepoemtellsthatamiddle-agedcoupleisplayingtennis.Thentheygohome.Butthenetisstillbetweenthem.Itreflectsthegapbetweenmiddle-agedcouples.Iwillquotethepoemheretohelptoexplainmyopinion.40-Love(Peng,2000)middleagedcoupleplayingten-niswhenthegameendsandtheygohomethenetAsianSocialScienceJune,2009119willstillbebe–tweenthem2.1StructureAsawhole,thepoemhasatotalof20words.Butthetwowords“tennis”and“between”areseparatedbyhyphenstobesymmetricinstructure.Thewordsinthepoemaresetintwosequences,liketwosidesofthecouple.Themiddleblankoremptyislikeanettoseparatethetwo.Thereareonlytwowordsineachlinetosymbolizetheboutsoftheball.Thetitleof40-love,thetopofthenet,isrightonthetopofthepoem,signifyingthescoreboard.Thispoemlookslikeatenniscourtwithanetbeingusedtoseparatethewords.Itislikeatennisgame.Thissideservesandtheothersidehitsback.Manyboutsformthepoem.Theinvisiblenetislikethebarrierbetweenthemiddle-agedcouple.Eveniftheyfinishthetennisgame,theystillhavethenet,whichstillexistsinvisibly.However,itisthisnetthattheycandependontohandletheirmarriageandhavetheresponsibilitiesnottobreaktherules.Thereisanetintennisandtherearerulestoobey.Withthenet,therearemoredifficultyandmoreinterests.So,accordingly,moretrainingandattentionisamust.Imaginingthat,whenplayingtenniswithnonetorrules,peoplewouldfeeldifficulttolasttheirgamesforlongerperiod.Inaddition,onlytheletterofLofLoveinthetitleiscapitalizedandtherestisde-capitalized,whichshowsthat,tosomeextent,thecouplehasnotbeeninthepursuitoftheperfectdetailsagain,becauselovebetweenthemiddle-agedcouplehasfadedaway.Furthermore,thereisnopunctuationinthewholepoem,indicatingthatlifeofmarriageisclosedanduninteresting.Sincethereisnoend,gapappears.2.2WordsThepoetpaysspecialattentiontothewordsinthepoem.Firstofall,thetitle“40-Love”oneofinterestsembodiedinthepoem.Thefigureof40standsfortheageofmiddle-agedpeople.And40-Loveisascoringtermintennis.Tennisscoringislove,15,30and45insequence.Loveheremeanszero.Threegoalsscores40.Nogoals,noscore.Thus,thetitleisofpunwithtwomeanings.Onereferstobe40-year-oldloveandtheotheris3:0.Whether40-year-oldloveisvainornotdependsonattitudesofthetwoparties.Letcometotwowordsof“middle”and“aged”inthefirstline.“Middle-aged”meanspeopleareintheirmidlife.Thepoetdeliberatelyseparatesittoachievethereunificationofformandothers.Italsosymbolizesthatmiddle-agedhusbandandwifecannotbeintegratedagain.Thetwoimportantwordsof“tennis”and“between”areplacedintwoverticalcolumnstogetametaphoricalmeaningthatthereisaninvisiblenetintheemotionalworldofthemanandthewoman.Theyarenotintimateanylonger.Gameinthefifthlinecanbereferredaseitherplaygameorsport.Thescoringintenniscompetitionismorecomplex.Tennisgamehasgamesandsets.Inagame,thosewhowin15,30and45willgetonepoint.Andtheplayerwhogets6pointswillwinoneset.Inthepoem,thecoupledo