The stylistic construction of verbal imagery in poetry: shooting distance and resolution in Wilfred Owen, Marianne Moore and Philip Larkin
The stylistic construction of verbal imagery in poetry: shooting distance and resolution in Wilfred Owen, Marianne Moore and Philip Larkin

Author(s): Davide Castiglione
Subject(s): Semiotics / Semiology, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, Other Language Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: mimesis; imagery; image-frame; noun phrase; reference; shooting distance; resolution; Owen; Moore; Larkin
Summary/Abstract: The notion of imagery is central to literary criticism as it underpins some of the most palpable experiences we have when reading fictional literary texts, prose and verse alike. Yet, its practical use is fraught with impressionism as the verbal image appears based on a relativist ontology that varies with readerly differences, both intrinsic and strategic (e.g. one may have a more visual or a more auditory memory, or give emphasis to more abstract, propositional aspects of a text). As a consequence of this, the verbal image also appears substantially independent from linguistic forms, which makes it problematic for stylistic analysis. This paper addresses and undermines the latter assumption and, in doing so, sets out the basis for a stylistic model of verbal imagery. My approach is twofold: on the one hand, I identify a “nuclear” image on the basis of semantic and syntactic criteria – this I call the image-frame as opposed to more extensive realizations (i.e. image-complexes) or dynamic ones (i.e. image-scenes); on the other, I attempt to map semantico-grammatical variables onto perceptual eff ects, focusing on shooting distance and image resolution. In doing so, I draw inspiration from the complementary attempt of Kress and van Leeuwen, who in “Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design” (2006 (1996)) propose an array of correspondences between visual strategies and grammatical structures. All the verbal images presented and discussed in this article come from Wilfred Owen, Marianne Moore and Philip Larkin: three poets who have effectively exploited the potential of realist mimesis (i.e. a faithful reproduction of external reality) within a twentieth century aesthetics.

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