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Opposition in poetry

Opposition in poetry. Lesley Jeffries Professor of English Language University of Huddersfield. Audience participation bit. Write down a noun Collect up another noun from your neighbour Put them into one of the following frames: She wanted a X. He wanted a Y. It was a X, not a Y.

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Opposition in poetry

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  1. Opposition in poetry Lesley Jeffries Professor of English Language University of Huddersfield

  2. Audience participation bit... • Write down a noun • Collect up another noun from your neighbour • Put them into one of the following frames: • She wanted a X. He wanted a Y. • It was a X, not a Y. • It was more X than Y • However silly it sounds, think of a context in which it could be used.

  3. Structure of talk: • Introduction – constructed opposites • Conventional opposition • Constructed opposites – examples and triggers • Textual meaning

  4. 1. Introduction Constructed opposites: Your examples.... It’s a cowpat, not a roundabout! She wanted a diary, he wanted a pond.

  5. 2. Conventional opposition Lexical semantics – sense relations Complementary – mutually exclusive: alive/dead; right/wrong; man/woman Converse – mutually dependent: borrow/lend; husband/wife; above/below Gradable – range between extremes: hot/cold; tall/short; beautiful/ugly Reversive – two directions in a process: raise/lower; break/mend

  6. 2. Conventional opposition Complementary – mutually exclusive: alive/dead; right/wrong; man/woman Logical relationship – you can only be one or the other: She is not alive = she is dead. You are not wrong = you are right. It was a man = it was not a woman.

  7. 2. Conventional opposition Converse – mutually dependent: borrow/lend; husband/wife; above/below Logical relationship where both or neither must exist: If there is a husband, there must be a wife. If someone is borrowing, someone is lending. If something is above, there is something below.

  8. 2. Conventional opposition Gradable – range between extremes: hot/cold; tall/short; beautiful/ugly Although often treated as complementaries (you are not beautiful = you are ugly), in fact there are many levels between and the test is to see if you can ‘intensify’ using very or quite to show how much is relevant: She is very tall / not so tall / rather short. This room is terribly hot / rather cold.

  9. 2. Semantic opposition Reversive – two directions in a process: raise/lower; break/mend These opposites reverse the direction of a process, though of course you cannot always do so in practice! There is no obvious ‘test’: First he raised the flag and then he lowered it. Can you mend the vase I have broken?

  10. 2. Conventional opposition is learned

  11. 3. Constructed opposites - Philip Larkin The North Ship (Faber 1943): Is it for now or for always, The world hangs on a stalk? Is it a trick or a trysting-place, The woods we have found to walk?

  12. 3. Constructed opposites - Philip Larkin The North Ship (Faber 1943): Is it for now or for always, The world hangs on a stalk? Is it a trick or a trysting-place, The woods we have found to walk?

  13. 3. Constructed opposites - Philip Larkin Is it a mirage or miracle, Your lips that lift at mine: And the suns like a juggler's juggling-balls, Are they a sham or a sign? Shine out, my sudden angel, Break fear with breast and brow, I take you now and for always, For always is always now.

  14. 3. Constructed opposites - Philip Larkin now or always trick or trysting-place mirage or miracle, sham or sign now and for always, for always is always now.

  15. Opposition: examples • Until Wednesday I couldn’t decide whether Russell Brand was a fatuous buffoon or a misunderstood genius. by Simon Kelner, The Independent

  16. What’s going on here? Parallel structures in two noun phrases: a fatuous buffoon or a misunderstood genius Result is to set up two sets of oppositions: fatuousvsmisunderstood buffoon vs. genius

  17. 4. Constructed opposites – Conservative Party • LABOUR SAYS HE’S BLACK. • TORIES SAY HE’S BRITISH. • X says he’s Y • X = Labour vs. Tories (conventional opposites in Britain) • Y thus expected to be opposite • This produces textual opposite: • BLACK  BRITISH

  18. 4. Constructed opposites – triggers • I started the development of a list of opposition ‘triggers’: • Negation (not X but Y) • The politicians that the public likes best are not the aloof ones but the human ones. • Parallel structures • We took coffee, in industrial quantities, Mr Blair, as usual, took nothing for granted. • Coordination (and, but, or) • a struggle (…) between politicians as soap powder and parties as vehicles for informed debate

  19. 4. Constructed opposites – Big Bang Theory • Big Bang Theory (U.S. sitcom): • A bit like but with nerdy scientists… • I’m a physicist, not a hippy: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b5V0QY1d904

  20. 4. Constructed opposites – Big Bang Theory • I’m a physicist, not a hippy: • Trigger: negation (X, not Y) • Opposition type – complementary • Underlying conventional opposition – rational vs. emotional • Evaluative intention: good vs. bad • Humour: the value system of the nerdy… from the outside!

  21. Textual construction of the female body Nor am I the kind of guy who only goes for earthy types (you know, girls who prefer eco-terrorism to experiencing life and refuse to, like, shave and stuff). (from Jeffries 2007:113-4)

  22. Doorsteps Cutting bread brings her hands back to me - the left, with its thick wedding ring, steadying the loaf. Small plump hands before age shirred and speckled them.

  23. Doorsteps Cutting bread brings her hands back to me - the left, with its thick wedding ring, steadying the loaf. Small plump hands before age shirred and speckled them.

  24. Doorsteps Bread: Colour Spread Presentation

  25. Doorsteps Bread: Colour – Always white, coburg shape stoneground wholemeal Spread Presentation

  26. Doorsteps Bread: Colour – Always white, coburg shape stoneground wholemeal Spread – already softened butter butter’s counterfeit Presentation

  27. Doorsteps Bread: Colour – Always white, coburg shape stoneground wholemeal Spread – already softened butter butter’s counterfeit Presentation – herringboned across a doylied plate falling forward into the crumbs

  28. Song of the Non-existent This is the hour between dog and wolf the sky becomes lighter and darker at the same time something adrift and homeless Is caught and pronounces itself a nightingale your sudden reluctance to remember How hard it was, and how beautiful, to live.

  29. Textual meaning • A coherent set of textual meaning functions: • Naming and Describing • Representing Actions/Events/States • Equating and Contrasting • Exemplifying and Enumerating • Prioritising • Implying and Assuming • Negating • Hypothesising • Presenting others’ speech and thoughts • Representing time, space and society

  30. Thanks for listening

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