Referents, Repetition, Alliteration
Introduced| English |
|---|
| antecedent/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/ |
| Alliteration/əˌlɪtəˈreɪʃn/ |
Every pronoun points somewhere
- An antecedent 先行词 is a word, phrase or clause that precedes its referent.
- Referents may be pronouns, nouns, phrases or clauses — not only it and she.
- Tracking what points to what is the most basic close reading there is, and poems break it deliberately.
If “it” has three possible owners, the pronoun has lost its name tag.
An antecedent is...
And referents may be pronouns, nouns, phrases or clauses — not only it and she.
Ambiguity is a technique
- Referents are ambiguous if they can refer to more than one antecedent, which affects interpretation.
- In prose that is usually an error; in a poem it is usually a choice.
- When it could mean two things, the poem is holding both — say so, rather than picking one.
In a poem, an ambiguous referent should be resolved by choosing the likelier meaning.
Ambiguity affects interpretation; the poem is holding both, so say so.
Repetition
- Words or phrases may be repeated to emphasize ideas or associations.
- The second use of a word is never identical to the first: it now carries where it has been.
- So analyse a repetition by saying what happened to the word in between.
Which word-level device is at work?
Sort each observation by the device the CED names.
Analyse a repetition by saying what happened to the word in ____.
The second use is never identical to the first — it carries where it has been.
Noticing alliteration is not analysing it. The CED says alliteration emphasizes those words and their associations — so the analysis names which words the sound binds together and what they now share. "There is alliteration in line 4" earns nothing.
Select all the parts of an alliteration analysis.
Syllable-counting is metrics, not an account of what the alliteration emphasizes.
Alliteration
- Alliteration 头韵 is the repetition of the same letter sound at the beginning of adjacent or nearby words.
- Its stated purpose is to emphasize those words and their associations or representations.
- So an analysis must name the words it binds — not merely note that a sound recurs.
Match each device to the question that analyses it.
Each question forces the analysis past merely spotting the device.
A word-level pass
- Trace every pronoun to its antecedent, and mark any that has two.
- Circle every repeated word and say what changed between uses.
- For alliteration, name the words bound together and what they now share.
"the still, shut, sunless room" binds three words by sound. Analysis: the alliteration makes still, shut and sunless read as one property rather than three descriptions, so the room is not merely dark — it is a single closed condition the speaker cannot separate into parts.
An antecedent precedes its referent; referents may be pronouns, nouns, phrases or clauses, and ambiguous ones affect interpretation — in a poem, usually on purpose. Repetition emphasizes ideas or associations. Alliteration repeats an initial sound to emphasize those words and their associations — so name the words it binds.