English epithets

Studying of epithet in modern stylistic, its notion and classification. Analysis of stylistic functions of epithet by different writers. Functions of epithet in literature and its usage in teaching English. Understanding the transferred epithet.

Рубрика Иностранные языки и языкознание
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Язык английский
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CONTENTS

Introduction

CHAPTER I. STUDYING OF EPITHET IN MODERN STYLISTIC

1.1 Notion of Epithet

1.2 Classification of Epithets

CHAPTER II. ANALYSIS OF STYLISTIC FUNCTIONS OF EPITHET BY DIFFERENT WRITERS

2.1 Functions of Epithet in Literature

2.2 Stylistic Functions of Epithet in short examples

CHAPTER III.USE OF EPITHETS IN TEACHING ENGLISH

3.1 The transferred Epithet:What it is and How to use it

Conclusion

Key-words

Bibliography

Introduction

Epithet is a figure of speech that is quite commonly used, but is considered to be poor writing choice, as most often it doesn't relate to the action at hand. They were more prevalent in epic poems and writings, where proper names and nouns were bolstered with an adjective for a more dramatic and descriptive effect. The epithet is used to denote a certain characteristic in a person or a thing, which the reader can identify with. Epithets were widely used in earlier times to help the reader visualize the characters and bring color and vividness to the narrative. Nowadays, good writings rely on good description rather than on epithets. Epithets were also used as descriptive titles in earlier times like Charles the Bald or Charles the Fat to distinguish the bearers. They were also used as a mark of respect as in Alexander the Great. In contemporary usage, epithets generally carry a negative connotation as in racial epithets. The medical community defines an epithet as a portion of a scientific name that identifies a species, variety, or other subdivision of a larger unit or specimen. The more common definitions of the word epithet include a characterizing word or phrase that accompanies or occurs in the place of a thing (usually a person). In modern usage, it is most often a disparaging or abusive word or phrase. Many epithets are used in political and social discourse to characterize opposing groups of people in a negative light.

Epithets vs. Adjectives

The epithet and the adjective are joined to a substantively to modify the principal idea by accessory ideas. But the idea suggested by the adjective is necessary in order to determine and complete the sense of the proposition. The idea supplied by the epithet is only useful as giving beauty and force to the expression.

Take the adjective from a sentence, and it is incomplete, or rather, it is another proposition : deprive it of an epithet, and the proposition still remains complete, but it will be disfigured or enfeebled. The adjective belongs to grammar and logic but the epithet to poetry and rhetoric.

CHAPTER I. STUDYING OF EPITHET IN MODERN STYLISTIC

1.1 Notion of Epithet

An expression added to a Name as a characterizing description, before it in glorious Devon, after it in Richard Crookback, with a definite article inWilliam the Conqueror,Scotland the Brave,Alexander the Great ike a discriptive title.

2. Also Homeric epithet,poetic epithet. A formulaic phrase containing an adjective and a noun, common in epic poetry: grey-eyed Athene,rosy-fingered dawn,the wine-dark sea.

3. A word or phrase that substitutes for another: man's best friend for dog,the water of life for whisky.

4. A word or phrase used to abuse and dismiss: bastard, bugger, shit, especially when used directly (You shit!, You son of a bitch!) or as a description (The silly old cow!).

5. Such a phrase as that idiot of a lawyer and a devil of a doctor.

6. An adjective or other descriptive word.

Epithets are such attributes which describe objects expressivily.

Assigned features. It is essential to differentiate between logical attributes and epithets proper.

Logical attributes are objective and non-objective.

a round table,green meadows,next day,second boy,loud voice.

Epithets proper are subjective and evaluating,mostly metaphorical.

These qualities make epithets expressive:

loud ocean,wild wind,glorious sight,irresistible charm,crazy behaviour.

1.2 Classification of Epithet

Epithets may be classified on the basis of their semantic and structural properties.

Semantically,epithets fall into two groups:epithets associated with the noun modified and epithets not associated with the nouns modified.

Associated epithets point out typical features of the objects which they describe.Such typical features are implied by the meaning of the nouns themselves:

if forest,then-dark;

if attention,then-careful;

if seas,then-salty;

if tears,then-bitter;

if sky,then-blue;

Unassociated epithets ascribe such qualities to objects which are not inherent in them.As a

result of this,metaphors emerge fresh,unexpected,original and expressive:

voiceless sands,helpless loneliness,thirsty deserts,blank face,murderous weather

Unassociated epithets may be called ''speech epithets''because they are created right in the process of communication.

Original unassociated epithets are used in belles-lettres style and poetry in abundance. In newspaper style we can come across a lot of cases of phrase and sentence epithets. Tried epithets are most powerful expressive means of the language in abundance.

Associated epithets are mostly language epithets.Their use with certain nouns has become traditional and stable.Thus,they are language as a system elements.

As to their Structural composition,epithets are divided into simple,compound,phrasal and

clausal.

Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives;

magnificent sight,tremmendous pressure,overwhelming occupation

Compound epithets are expressed by compound adjectives:

mischief-making pupil,curly-headed boy,heart-burning desire

Phrasal epithets are expressed by word-combinations of quotation type:

do-it-yourself command,go-to-devil request,head-to-toe beauty

Clausal epithets are expressed by sentences:

I-don't-want-to-do-it feeling,I-did-it-myself statement

There is no clear barrier between associated and unassociasted epithets. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between these two notions [restless sea].

Not every adjective is an epithet. An epithet is especially recognizable when its function is largely decorative, such as if "cloud-gathering Zeus" is employed other than in reference to conjuring up a storm., Walter Burkert has noted that "The epithets are decorative insofar as they are neither essential to the immediate context nor modelled especially for it. Among other things, they are extremely helpful to fill out a half-verse".

"Эпитеты декоративны поскольку (в той мере), поскольку они не являются ни необходимым непосредственного контекста, ни моделируется специально для него. Среди прочего, они очень предупредительны, чтобы заполнить половину стих".

CHAPTER II. ANALYSIS OF STYLISTIC FUNCTIONS OF EPITHET BY DIFFERENT WRITERS

2.1 Functions of Epithet in Literature

Epithets are often used by writers to develop characters, as epithets can be used as a nickname or a title. There are endless ways that epithets can be used. Epithets can not only shine a spotlight on the characters or persons that they are attached to, but they also allow writers variations in terms of how a character is referred to. One of the most powerful attributes of epithets is that when they are used correctly, the reader readers can explore their own minds to imagine what characters look like. Here is a look at the use of epithets within verbal and written forms of expression, which includes the definition of epithets as well as the usage of epithets and the influence they have in pop culture, politics, and social change.

Epithets are used in poetry, as well as classical literature.

Homer was especially known for using epithets, almost to excess. Examples of some well known epithets include:

Grey-eyed goddess

Rosy-fingered dawn

Swift-footed Achilles

God-like

In poetry, these epithets also served a poetic function. Poets like the Homer or Sappho could use standard stock-descriptions during spontaneous performance to flesh out a line if they forgot some bit as they recited a verse, or use them as mnemonic bridges to the next section of the poem. Additionally, when trying to create verse like dactylic hexameter, poets would use epithets because they served as appealing "filler" to complete the last few necessary syllables in a line. Often, the Greek or Roman epithets were perfectly suitable for inserting in either a three-syllable or six syllable section of poetry, so a single hexameter or two hexameters were always available in the poetic toolbox. Here are some common epithets we've taken from Walter Burkert's Greek Religion (Cambridge, 2003):

Epithets for Aphrodite:

Aphrodite Urania-Aphrodite the heavently

Aphrodite the Golden

Epithets for Demeter:

Demeter Epaine-Awesome Demeter

Demeter Karpophoros-Demeted the fruit-bringer

Epithets for Hermes/Mercury:

Hermes Chthonias-Hermes,guide into the Underworld

Mercury Fortunus-Mercury,god of luck

Epithets for Poseidon:

Poseidon Hippios-Poseidon,creator of horses

Poseidon Petraios-The rock Poseidon

Epithets for Zeus:

Zeus the Storm-gatherer

Zeus the Shepherd of the Clouds

Epithets for Hera:

Hera Teleia-Hera as watcher over the ultimate goal of marriage

Hera Zygia-Hera,protector of lawful marriage.

2.2 Stylistic functions of Epithet in short examples

Epithets in English emotive prose can fulfil different stylistic functions: a descriptive function (to describe characters, views, situations, different things and feelings); an expressive function (to make the texts more expressive and emotional). The third function of epithets in the emotive prose is the evaluative function (to express the evaluation of the described characters, feelings and things) also epithets can fulfill the individualizing function as they are ysed to describe some individual characteristics of people and things. There are examples and they will give us an idea on how epithets are used:

In Literature

"I've come,

As you surmise, with comrades on a ship,

Sailing across the wine-dark sea to men

Whose style of speech is very different..." - The Odyssey by Homer

"God! he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a great sweet mother? The snot-green sea. The sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks! I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look." - In 'Ulysses' by James Joyce

"The earth is crying-sweet,

And scattering-bright the air,

Eddying, dizzying, closing round,

With soft and drunken laughter..." - In 'Beauty and Beauty' by Rupert Brooke

"My restless blood now lies a-quiver,

Knowing that always, exquisitely,

This April twilight on the river

Stirs anguish in the heart of me." - In Blue Evening by Rupert Brooke

"Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold

A sheep-hook, or have learn'd aught else the least

That to the faithful herdman's art belongs!" - In Lycidas by John Milton

"Here of a Sunday morning

My love and I would lie,

And see the coloured counties,

And hear the larks so high

About us in the sky." - In 'Bredon Hill' by A.E. Housman

In Sentences

Sitting by his side, I watched the peaceful dawn.My careful steps reached the attic.

Her stifled laughter made everybody nervous.

In the face of such a tragedy, his laughing happiness seemed queer.

I had reached a delicate corner.

The idle road stretched for miles.

All I can say is that he had an honest end.

It was a sweet beginning to a tragic end.

Her depressing ways ruined her mother's health.

Epithets For Men And Women In Homer

Swift-footed, godlike, shepherd of the people, son of Peleus, and leader of men for Achilles.

Wide-ruling, lord of men, godlike, and glorious son of Atreus for Agamemnon.

Proud, royal son of Telamon, huge, glorious, and loved of Zeus for Aias.

Leader of the Trojans, lord of men, great-hearted, son of Anchises, and counselor of the Trojans for Aineias.

Daughter of great-hearted Eetion white-armed for Andromache.

Nestor's splendid son for Antilochus.

Lovely-haired for Ariadne.

Godlike great hearted, Tydeus' son, great spearman, strong, the horse-tamer, master of the war cry for Diomedes.

Boxer for Polydeukes.

Leader of the Lycians, lord, and godlike for Sarpedon.

Loose-tongued for Thersites.

Epithets For Gods And Goddesses

Lord of the dead, and mighty for Aidoneus.

Smiling goddess, Kypris, golden, and daughter of Zeus for Aphrodite.

Son of Zeus, loved of Zeus, god of the silver bow, the unshorn, rouser of armies, and the lord who shoots from afar for Apollo.

The archer-goddess and of the golden distaff for Artemis.

The bright-eyed, Atrytone, daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis, and Tritogeneia for Athene.

Epic poems most notably that of Homer, depended a lot on epithets to bring out certain characteristics in people, places and things. Even now, it is more suitable to use epithets in poems to convey vivid imagery in fewer words.

Epithets are characteristic of the style of ancient epic poetry, notably in the northern European sagas as well as epithets in Homer. When James Joyce uses the phrase "the snot-green sea" he is playing on Homer's familiar epithet "the wine-dark sea". The phrase "Discreet Telemachus" is also considered an epithet.There are also specific types of epithets, such as the kenning which appears in works such as Beowulf. An example of a kenning would be using the term whale-road instead of the word "sea".

In William Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet, epithets are used in the prologue, used in "star-cross'd lovers" and "death-mark'd love."

Epithets were in its layman's terms a glorified nickname that could be used to represent ones style, artistic nature, or even geographical reference. Originated to simply serve the purpose of dealing with names that were hard to pronounce or just unpleasant. It from there went to something that could be very significant assigned to you by elders or counterparts to represent your position in the community or it could be just a useless representation of whomever you wanted to be or thought you were. The elegance of this movement was used throughout history and even modern day with many examples ranging from "Aphrodite The heavenly & Zeus The Protector of Guests" all the way to "Johnny Football & King James."

CHAPTER III.USE OF EPITHETS IN TEACHING ENGLISH

The modern approach to teaching English suggests that communication tasks involve learners in the process of conversation in English. It removes the teacher domination, and learners get chances to open and close conversations, to interact naturally in English.

There are some problems arising when teaching conversational English. Taking these problems into consideration, the present-day teacher should implement some quite new methodological principles of teaching apart from some innovations in single methods and teaching techniques.

We can suggest teaching students to find, analyze and use epithets when teaching them to read and speak English. The system of the tasks suggested can be used when teaching vocabulary, and training students to read and speak. Students should know the notion of epithet to be able to recognize them in the texts and use in their own oral and written speech. It will undoubtedly broaden their vocabulary and make their speech more expressive and beautiful.

3.1 The transferred Epithet:What it is and How to use it

As you work on a poem, play, novel, or other written work, one device you might want to consider using is the transferred epithet. The odds are pretty good that you're already familiar with this type of language, because writers use it very frequently. A working definition for the technique, as well as a simple explanation of how they usually are applied, can make it easier for you to insert them into your own writing. In the long run, this can make your work more concise and colorful.

You'll see transferred epithets most often in poetic writing. In fact, some experts assert that transferred epithets are what distinguish poetry from regular prose. Writers such as W.B. Yeats, John Keats, and Homer frequently used this device. Even so, you also can find them in "regular" writing, such as plays and novels. Shakespeare, for example, used them often.

Transferred epithets maintain all the qualities of standard epithets. When you use one, however, you put your descriptor on the "wrong" element in the sentence. For instance, you might say, "My weary car quit running." Here, "weary" is a transferred epithet. It makes sense grammatically, but a car can't be weary, because it's inanimate. You have transferred the quality of a living thing--tiredness--onto something that isn't alive to get your idea across in a more interesting way. The transferred epithet has become synonymous with hypallage, which is taking elements in a sentence and rearranging them into less logical positions.

In the second example, we have personification without a transferred epithet. The house is described as 'run-down', which it can be without having any human characteristics. It is described not as depressed - which is a human characteristic - but as seeming depressed to the human. If the house was described as a 'depressed house' or even as 'a cheerful house' this would be a transferred epithet, because it describes a mood the house does not have. (Houses don't have moods.)However a house can be run-down, and even look as if it has a human mood, but still be just a house without any human qualities.

Conclusion

Epithets are one of the main lexical stylistic devices.Epithets are used in literature, and even everyday speech, yet you may not realize it. The novelty of our work is that the epithet is inspected as the necessary component of the functional whole-text; the investigation of metaphorical epithet, from the position of intentional and implicational components of meaning.

From the theoretical point of view this work presents the comprehensive study of epithet that makes it possible to reveal its linguo-stylistic and functional features.

The research of structural characteristics of epithet and revealing its role in text formation makes the certain contribution to a further work in linguistic text.

Nowdays,Journalists often use epithets to indoctrinate the readers toward a positive or negative train of thought while avoiding running the risk of appearing to editorialize a person or a subject.Take,for example,"Reality Star Phaedra Parks," "Oscar Nominee Leomardo DiCaprio," or "Tennis Champion Serena Williams." Each of these epithets leads the reader to think about the subject in very specific way. epithet stylistic literature teaching

Paying attention to epithets can help us identify propaganda and hype,letting us from our own opinions in a more deliberate way.

Key-words

· compound epithets

· epithet

· lexical stylistic device

· phrase epithets

Bibliography

1.James Jermyn.Book of English epithets, literal and figurative,London, 1840.

2.Harmer, Jeremy. How to teach English. An introduction to the practice of English language teaching, Longman, 2004.

3.Tom McArthur. "EPITHET" Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998.

4.http://web.cn.edu/Kwheeler/epithets.html

5.http://fos.iloveindia.com/epithet-examples.html#sthash.qp9wscBD.dpuf

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