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Full page photoA Road to Aesthetic StylisticsALLS 7(4):95-112, 2016
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river(36)
thought(44)
beauty(49)
truth(49)
truth(49)
beauty(49)
earth(50)
all breathing human
passion(28)
a burning
forehead(30)
a parching tongue(30)
garlands
dressed(34)
mountain-built
with peaceful
citadel(36)
maiden
overwrought(42)
the sacrifice(31)
green alter(32)
mysterious priest(32)
that heifer(33)
the skies(34)
her silken flanks(35)
little town(36)
sea shore(36)
peaceful citadel(36)
this folk(37)
this pious morn(37)
little town(38)
attic shape(41)
fair attitude(41)
a brede (41)
marble men((42)
forest branches(43)
the trodden weed(43)
silent form(44)
eternity(45)
Cold Pastoral(45)
old age(46)
this generation(46)
other woe(47)
a friend (48)
Regardless of the pronouns which serve as substitutes for the agents in the beginning of the clause structures, out of
the total 75 noun groups scattered throughout the five- stanza Ode, no less than 50 noun groups consisting of (M) H. It
is of significance to point out that the verbal and the prepositional groups in the text include in their grammatical
constituency a set of nominal phrases, as in,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tine
,(14)
beneath the trees
,(15)
thou
canst not leave/ thy song
, (15-6)
that is all/ ye know on earth
(50). The question that comes to one's mind here: What
are the distinctive characteristics of these nominal group categories?
It is of no great effort to suggest that the nominal groups in the Ode are static rather than dynamic, or else what motion
or act could be detected in groups like,
sylvan historian
,
green alter
, or
this pious morn
? These static or silent painting
will be of significance to the aesthetic interpretation of the Ode, as we shall see. The second stylistic feature is that the
nominal groups are
paradoxical
in formal structure. The first two noun groups in the onset of the Ode realize two
groups in paradox-
still unravished bride of quietness
,(1) and
foster-child of silence and slow time
(2). Both groups are
of (M)H(Q) category. At the same time, the earlier stanza also witness another instance of paradox: while the speaker
stresses the tranquility of the urn by diction like
still
, and
silence
, he calls it
historian
, which has the ability of telling
stories. Paradox, viewed as a stylistic device, can be detected in the Relational clause, in terms of Halliday's FG, where
the relational process is that of
being
. Once more, the paradox is between the
unheard melodies
, which are
sweeter
than
heard melodies
. Not only that , there is a paradoxical distance between"
the sensual ear
", meaning
physical,
and "
the
spirit ditties of no tone
."
The language of the Ode, in general, and the noun group, in specific, witness language economy; the language is
compact, captious and
intense
. What lies behind a nominal group like
wild, ecstasy
, is that entire pleasure aroused by
seeing the marble urn, or the artistic form that creates that sense of beauty. What lies beneath the texture of the
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