Abstract

This paper probes a stylistic analysis of poem of eminent Pakistani English Poetess Moniza Alvi.  The well-known poem by Moniza Alvi is titled "The Sari." Alvi received a Cholmondeley Award for Poetry in 2002, and Bloodaxe released Alvi's retrospective collection, Split World: Poems 1990–2005, in 2008. Her voice is restrained, indirect, fantastical, kind, and unique. She possesses a special understanding of cultural and emotional splits. Here, the researcher tries to approach Alvi's poetry "The Sari" from the perspective of stylistics. The paper also analyses the poems using linguistic methods in order to elucidate their meaning. It is significant to emphasise that many who teach and research the English language and literature find stylistics to be a very helpful scientific field. Whether English is your first language, second language, or third, stylistics can help native English speakers as well as overseas students. Both linguistic and literary talents can be acquired.

Key Words

Stylistic Analysis, Language Features, The Sari

Introduction

Background of the study

Writing is a kind of self-expression that uses words as the building blocks for ideas and pictures. According to Moddy, literature has four purposes: 1) to develop language proficiency; 2) To increase understanding of the various facets of human existence, including religion, culture, and so forth. It helps readers or viewers develop their characters; 3) it fosters creativity and feeling; and 4) it supports character development. (1984, p. 5)

One of the literary genres in creative writing. The creative writing genre includes works like novels, short tales, and poetry. Given that creative writing has no restrictions (Anggdewi, 2020). The author's point of view on the creating event is typically represented in creative writing.

To ensure that the appreciation of literary work is not solely based on presumption, stylistic analysis in literary texts tries to show how language style produces meaning (lsti'anah 2017). So, literary works are analysed using stylistics. Simply put, stylistic refers to the scientific study of style. "Style leads to structure, patterns, and word placement to build a sentence in spoken or written form," it added (Leech, 1989). In order to determine a style's goals and outcomes, stylistics analyses a style's use of language by looking at the word choices and sentence structure. The researchers used four language analysis aspects in this study. To be more precise, this research tries to analyse the poem's phonological, graphological, grammatical, and semantic levels in order to use those qualities to illuminate the poem's content.




Statement of problem

language use differs significantly from person to person.  One element that sets apart the writing styles of various authors or poets is the usage of linguistic oddities. The study that follows examines Moniza Alvi's use of poetry. Her The Sari has been selected as one of the most well-known poems to be examined. The reader is also given explanations in the research as to the employment of particular language features and how they impact the meaning of the poem "The Sari" by Moniza Alvi. The stylistic components of poetry by Moniza Alvis are examined in this article.1.3




Research Question

Following is the research Question:

1. What kind of poetic style does Moniza Alvi used in her poems?




 Objective of the study

One primary goal has been established for the research. The first objective is to describe the poetic style that Moniza Alvi uses. The poems contain a few stylistic elements. These are visible at the phonological, graphological, grammatical, and semantic levels. Finding the linguistic devices used in the poem is the aim of the study. A poem is written using words. In order to generate continuity from one word to the next, the words are properly organised. The phonological level in a poem can be used to analyse stylistic elements. Phonology, as was previously said, is the study of sound. At the phonological level, there are two categories of sound features: suprasegmental and segmental. Alliteration, consonance, and assonance are examples of segmental features, while rhyme and metre are examples of suprasegmental qualities. The rhyme was the sole thing the researcher examined for this study.




About the Author and the Poems

About Author 

Moniza Alvi was reared in Hatfield after her family relocated to England when she was only a few months old. She was born in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Her first full collection, The Country at My Shoulder, which earned her a spot on the New Generation Poets list in 1994, delves deeply into her experience of "growing up... and feeling half-Pakistani... on the border of everything." She has now published seven collections of poetry (plus an anthology of older poems), for which she has garnered nominations for a number of accolades, including three slots on the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist and a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors in 2002. She translated French poet Jules Supervielle's Homesick for the Earth in 2011 and At the Time of Partition, a twenty-part poem, in 2013. As she explains in the recording's preface, At the Time of Partition is inspired by her grandmother's 1947 voyage from India to the newly constituted Pakistan. Alvi is now a freelance writer and poetry tutor, primarily for the Poetry School, after spending several years teaching secondary school (and having several of her poems widely examined in schools).

In 2011 she delivered Homesick for the Earth, her reimaginings of French writer Jules Supervielle, and in 2013 she delivered At the Time of Partition. Alvi's verse is described by "linescape[s]," duality, contrast, dislodging, boundaries, and edges, yet it is additionally a verse of life; of probability, experience, and an approach to fashioning associations, similar to the colossal, generous piece of clothing in "The Sari," which "extended from According to Deryn Rees-Jones, "[m]uch of Alvi's work interfaces with a] fantastical or strange universe of divided and somewhat recuperated identity...," and she is special in her ability to strongly yet impeccably occupy such a universe, where a mother turns into a "glass window," where her settler family members move "through the rooms of stranded furnishings" in the wake of moving into a home left empty by a Hindu or Sikh family following segment.

Alvi is characterised by her capacity to summon a setting or personality in a state of smoothness or split the difference using a basic, clear vanity. The notable sonnet "I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro" compactly, however, gently communicates the sensation of being "not an ideal circle," awkward, and the erratic strains that help it (what she alludes to in the presentation of one more sonnet as "the opportunity, the mishaps and the weirdness of having been brought into the world in a specific spot or time, to a specific culture"). She has arranged smoothly yet beneficially "nearly liveliness [...] a fantastic construction," but she all the while keeps a feeling of excitement, practically honest beguilement in the meantime. The sensationalist succession of sonnets starting "How the World...," which were written in direct reaction to 9/11, investigate the more obscure implications of relocation in a voice Ruth Padel has contrasted with a "newly stripped fantasy." It is fascinating how softly and sparingly Alvi suggests a universal conflict in wording that is skewed yet practical and unoffending.




Delimitation

The sole subject of the current investigation is the style of writing used by Moniza Alvi. Despite the fact that she has written many other poems, this research will only focus on one of the—"The Sari"—to illustrate the style of writing she employed.

Literature Review

Stylistics is defined by various Linguists “A literary discourse from a linguistic alignment is known as stylistics”. Widdownson (1975) defines stylistics as the study of literary dialogue with a linguistic focus. Thus, stylistics can be defined as the study of literary discourse in language and its linguistic goals.

Styles can be evident in a range of linguistic levels, especially in poems. To distinguish himself or herself from other poets, a writer cultivates a distinctive literary style. The writing style of a writer can be determined by their use of diction, word choices, punctuation, word patterns, metaphorical language, and other characteristics. Additionally, style can be used to communicate meaning to the reader. Applied with a particular objective in mind. For instance, a poet can use figurative language and semantic features to convey a hidden meaning in a poem that can change the poem's overall declared meaning. When literary works employ stylistic aspects, the reader is subjected to particular interpretations and effects. 

According to Simpson's(2004)  Language Theory, stylistic analysis can be applied to four levels of language characteristics. The way words are spoken orally is known as phonology, taking into account the phonological, graphological, grammatical, and semantic levels. Graphology is the study of language patterns in writing. Grammar is the method used to integrate words to form phrases and sentences. Semantics is the study of word and sentence meaning.

Wales (1989) asserts that it is challenging to define "style." The reader's ability to understand it is tied to the cause of this challenge. This could have an impact on a linguistics-related feature called stylistics. She has also included a list of the term's most prevalent characteristics. A poet develops his or her own writing style to set themselves apart from other poets. Diction, word patterns, punctuation, the use of metaphorical language, and other elements can all be used to identify a writer's style. Additionally, style serves as a conduit for explaining to the reader what something means. Applied with a specific goal in mind. For instance, if a poet wants to convey a hidden meaning in a poem that can alter the stated meaning of the entire poem, he or she can do so by employing figurative language and semantic elements.

Similarly, Ashfaq (2022) contends that dislocation is a primary worry for all colonial indigenous peoples, serving as a paradigm for the phenomena of diaspora. This results not only in the cultural assignment but also in cultural rotation. The research is guided by Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffith's foundational book, The Empire Writes Back, in analysing how the writer's dislocation from a region causes issues about identity and authenticity. This methodology focuses on the use of an external language in the description of indigenous people in postcolonial diaspora literature. Krippendorff's textual analysis method, "Content Analysis," is utilised to examine and collect issues related to women, men, and place from Moniza Alvi's poetic works, using a postcolonial theory in the background. The current study examines how Moniza Alvi's diasporic sensibility discursively produces indigenous men in Split World Poems and indigenous females in Black Bird Bye Bye ( Ashfaq,2022).

The researchers used stylistic analysis on various poems, and some features of Moniza Alvi's writing are also highlighted, although no significant work has been done on Moniza Alvi's writing style. As , this research will assist readers in comprehending the writing style of this excellent poetess.

Methodology

Three sections make up this chapter. They are the purpose of the study, its methodology, and its strategy. the subject of the study is a poem that is examined through its linguistic elements. The methodology of the study covers the approach used in the current study to evaluate the characteristics of language. The methodology of the study describes how the researcher gathered and analysed the data.




Data Analysis Technique

Since the current study is concerned with the stylistic analysis in the poems of Moniza Alvi titled "The Sari", the researcher adopted a stylistic approach. According to Short, stylistics is the linguistic study of style (1981. P.13). Bradford also adds that "any contribution to the wide, diverse science of literary studies will include an engagement with style," calling it "an elusive and slippery topic" (1997). Since style is present in all literary works, it can be claimed that literary studies are directly related to style. It is allowed to employ stylistic as the study's approach because the current study examines a literary work's use of language in Moniza Alvi 's poem "The Sari".

The present study used a stylistic method as the guiding concept to examine a poem as a literary work. The poem includes phonology, graphology, grammar, and semantic language elements. Each language level's style level would indicate the linguistic component. After identifying the linguistic components, the researcher outlines how they are used to illuminate the poem's meaning.




The organisation of the study

The research is divided into five chapters. The first chapter of the study covers the introduction (Background of the study, Statement of the problem, Research questions, Objective of the study, about the author and the poem, Text of the poem, Delimitation). The second chapter includes a literature review (Stylistics, Style, Phonological level, Graphological level, Grammatical level, Semantic level). The third chapter discusses methodology (study data, data analysis methodologies, and study organisation), while the fourth section discusses analysis findings and discussions. The conclusion is discussed in the fifth and final chapters.

Chapter 04 Analysis Results and Discussions

The researcher explains the study and discussion of the poem by Moniza Alvi, "The Sari" in this chapter. The first examination is of the language features of the poems, which the researcher used to develop Moniza Avli's literary style. The second study looks at how the language features were employed to deduce the meaning of the poem.

A. Language features in poems by Moniza Alvi.

This section responds to Moniza Alvi's stylistic qualities in the poems. The language features are studied using Simpson's theory, which was introduced in prior chapters. The traits are examined at the phonological, graphological, grammatical, and semantic levels.

 

Phonological level

Sonnets are comprised of words that are painstakingly coordinated to create coherence, starting with a single word and then onto the next. The investigation of expressive elements in the sonnet can be seen at the phonological level. Phonology as recently said, is the investigation of the sound framework. In the phonological level, there are two kinds of sound highlights: segmental and suprasegmental. Similar sounding word usage, consonance, and sound similarity are instances of segmental highlights, while rhyme and meter are instances of suprasegmental characteristics. The scientist exclusively checked out at the rhyme in this examination.

Segmental Sound Feature

In the poem "the Sari," the researcher discovers alliteration, consonance, and assonance. As a result, certain sound properties are explored; this investigation aids the researcher in establishing the author's purpose.

 

Alliteration

The rehashing of a consonant sound toward the start of words in a similar line of verse is known as alliteration word usage (Hashmi,2019). Similar sounding word usage, as per Bradford(2005), is the repeat of a group of indistinguishable consonant sounds inside individual lines and across successions of lines. It very well might be expressed that similar sounding word usage happens when a similar beginning sound is rehashed in a similar line in the sonnet's refrain. Similar sounding word usage is utilised to accentuate explicit sentiments, to reflect the depicted thought or feeling, and to upgrade the magnificence of composing. Coming up next are a few instances of similar sounding word usage in the sonnet "The Sari." In line 01, Inside My mother,

In line 02 I peered through a glass porthole,

In line 03, The world beyond was hot and Brown.

In line 10My English Grand Mother.

In line 11 took a telescope

In line 12 and gazed across Continent.

In line 18 shot through with stars

In line 23 they wrapped and wrapped me in it.

 

Where alliteration appears in the poem

Line 01   “m”, “m”,

Line 04   “b”, “b”,

Line 05   “m”, “M”

Line 07   “t”, “t”

Line 08   “a”, “a”

Line 10   “s” “s”

Line 11   “B”, “s” “b”, “s”

Line 12   “s”

Line 14   “s”, “s”

 

Consonance

Alliteration and consonance are analogous. The initial consonant sound is repeated in the alliteration. Meanwhile, consonants are repeated in the middle and conclusion of the sentence. Cuddon (2013, p. 153) defines consonance as the near repeat of the same consonant sound after a different vowel.

An example of consonance in the poem The sari”.

In line 02, I, through a glass porthole, the world beyond was hot and brown. There are a big concept in this metaphorical poem telling us what happened to her in Early life, which creates the image of a baby in the womb it then continues to suggest that she was born in Pakistan.




 

Table 1.

Where the consonance appear in the poem	Consonance	Frequency
Line 01 “n””,r,”” t”.	/r/	28
Line 02  “d”, “r”, “g”, “p”, “t” “s”	/t/	25
Line 03 “t”, “r”, “d”, “n”, “n”, “t”, “d”, “r”	/s/	21
Line 04 “t”, ‘r”, “n”, “g”, “n”,	/n/	19
Line 05 “t”, “r”, “n”, “d” “ t” “r”	/d/	18
Line 06 “t”, “t”, “p”, ”r” “s”
Line 07 “s”, “t”, “r”, “p”
Line 08 “s”, “d”, “r”, “b”, “s”
Line 09 “n”, “d”, “d”, “n”, “s” “r” “t” n” t” s”
Line  10 “t”, “p”, “p”, “n” “r”, “d” “s”
Line 11 “t”, “s”, “r”, “t”, “d”, “r’, “r” d “ r” b” d”
Line 12 “r”, “d”, “s ”, “s”“ r ”, “n”, “s” “s”,
Line 13, “s”, “t”, “r”, “t”, “s”, “r”, “s”
Line 14 “t”, “t”, “r”, “n”, “t”, “s”, “r” “ r’ s” “s”
Line 15 “t” “ t “r” “d” d t t “r ““d” s”
Line 16 “n” “d” n “s” n “ d”
Line 17. “ n” “ t”
Line 18 “t” “ r” p” “p” “ d” n” “t”
Line 19 “s” “p” r” n”r” b” “ n” t “ r,

 




In "The Sari”the researchers find out that there are five consonances used by the poetess.

The consonances used were   /t/, /d/, /s/, /n/and /r/.

The consonance /t/ is the most prominent one in the poem "The Sari." The consonance /r/ is used twenty-four (28) times in poetry. The alveolar voiced sounds are the phonetic characteristics of the consonance /r/. Feel the vibration of your vocal cords when you speak. The constant is voiced if there is a vibration. The words "perred" and "porthole" in line 02 serve as examples of the consonant /r/. In the poem, the consonant /r/ appears twenty-eight times.

The second consonance is /t/ it occurs twenty (25) times. The phonetic features of consonance /t/ are alveolar voiced less sound. The example of consonance /t/ can be seen through the words “took”, “and” “telescope” in line 11. Consonance /t/ is repeated twenty five times in the poem.

The third consonance is /s/, it occurs fifteen (15) times. The phonetic features of consonance /s/ are alveolar voiceless fricative. The example of consonance /s/ can be seen in line 11 from the words "stretched". Consonance /s/ is repeated twenty-one times in the poems.

There are fourteen (14) occurrences of the fourth consonant, /n/. Alveolar voiced sound is one of the phonetic characteristics of the consonant /n/. The words "brown" and "beyond" in line 03 provide an illustration of the consonance "n." Nineteen times in the poems, the consonant /n/ is repeated.

The last consonant, /d/, appears thirteen times (13) total. Alveolar voiced sound is one of the phonetic characteristics of the consonant /d/. The word "gazed" in line 12 serves as an illustration of the consonant "r." In the poems, the consonant /d/ appears nineteen times.

 

Supra Segmental Sound Feature                                                                                   

Rhyme and metre are two features of supra segmental sound. However, the only supra segmental sound component that will be examined is rhyming.

 

Rhyme                                                          

Rhyme, as per Wales, (2011) is a kind of phonetic reverberation tracked down in section: all the more explicitly, a phonemic coordinating (2011). Rhyme is characterised as the reiteration of indistinguishable sounds inside a similar refrain. The artists deliberately use rhyme in the sonnet. The style of rhyme found in the sari sonnet is delineated underneath.

Rhyme in the poem “The Sari””

Slant rhyme is used within the poem “The Sari”                    

Slant Rhyme

 Slant rhyme is the reiteration in both beginning and last consonants.

1. The world beyond was hot and brown. (Line 3)

2. They wrapped and wrapped me in it. (Line 18)

 

Syllables

A vowel or vowel-like sound, including diphthongs, should be available in every syllable. The most widely recognised sort of syllable in language has a consonant (c) before the vowel (v) and is generally composed as CV. The primary components of the syllables are the beginning (one consonant, one vowel), trailed by the rhyme. Rhyme (frequently spelt "rime") is comprised of a vowel as the core and any consonant(c) that follows as the coda.

A syllable is divided into two branches onset and rhyme, onset (consist of a consonant) while rhyme are further divided into nucleus and coda, nucleus (consist of a vowel) while coda is (consonant).

 

wrapped

How many syllables in wrapped?

Word syllables consist of two syllables: wrap-ed

Stressed syllables in present: wrapped

How to pronounce wrapped: Rapt

 

Porthole

Word porthole consist of two syllables: port-hole

Stressed syllables in prevent:   port-hole

How to pronounce prevent: port-hole

 

Graphological level

This level breaks down the state of the poem. The poem "The sari" comprises of 22 lines. It is a sonnet comprised of five refrains and one couplet. In the poem "The sari"the researcher sees that the poem has punctuation to demonstrate compression and direct discourse. The utilisation of punctuation in writing show the game plan of word tending to a nonexistent individual or a theoretical thought in such a manner we were available and fit for grasping sentiments. The first graphological is withdrawal; the constrictions that happen in the poem "The sari"are shown.




 

Table 2.

Contraction	Representation	Frequency	Example
It  compelling	it stretched	1	it stretched
Anything	anything worth	1	The pronouncement anything worth writing down.

 




Only three times do contractions appear in the poem "The Sari." The author clearly uses a contraction or shortening form.

Period (. ), comma (, ), colon (: ), question mark (?), quotation mark (""), semicolon (;), and dash / hyphen are some examples of punctuation that is examined (-). When a sentence's main concept is done, a period is used, and a comma is used to show that the statement is still incomplete. A comma is used to give the reader a moment to pause or to separate their thoughts.

Moniza Alvi uses period at the end of the sentences. The period is used seven times in the poem "The sari”.

The comma is also used by Moniza Alvi in the poem "The sari” it is used five times.

Question mark is also used by Moniza Alvi in the poem ““The sari”question mark is not used in this poem.

The quotation mark is also used by Moniza Alvi in the poem "The sari” quotation mark is not used in this poem..

Colon is also used by Moniza Alvi  in her poems poems but  in  “The sari” colon is not used  in this poem.

The separator dash is more effective than commas, less formal than colons, and more informal than parentheses (Strunk William, 1999, p. 20). Dashes are used to separate word groups. En dash (-) and em dash are two of the three types of dashes used in the poem "The Sari" ( ). En dashes are frequently used to indicate relationships as well as time ranges and numerical ranges.

Conclusion

The findings of the analysis conducted in the earlier chapters are presented in this chapter. The study aims to acknowledge the contributions made by various linguistic levels and aesthetic elements in illuminating the intended meaning of each line. Understanding the author's message to the reader is what matters most, despite the fact that each reader may interpret a poem differently. After all, the major purpose of a poem is to convey a specific idea to the reader. By dissecting the stylistic elements and analysing how they are employed to construct the content of the poem "The Sari," the meaning of the poetry can be investigated in this study.

The poems by Moniza Alvi titled "The Sari" are examined in this study. The concept of "diaspora" and the physical location of "home" encompass the socio-cultural experiences connected to migration and different types of displacement. The female author contributes a gendered perspective to the discussion of the diaspora. By their very nature, diasporic works usually settle in a space between cultures, while female immigrants struggle to carve out a place for themselves in an even more constrained environment because they are a minority inside a minority.

They typically have significant nostalgic undertones in their thinking concerning spatial motions. This study intends to investigate how women can relate to two homes simultaneously. Moniza Alvi, a poet who was born in Pakistan, resides and is active in the UK. Women are the only ones with this ability to connect two worlds from different countries. The novel and short story genres have been prominent themes in South Asian Diaspora literature. The result of this search for poetry in the body of work by immigrant women writers.

The results of the study show that Moniza Alvi, the author of the poem "The sari," used these stylistic components to express the poem's meaning. This study also shows how stylistic analysis can be utilised to correctly interpret and understand the message of a poem. The study encourages other researchers to do comparable analyses on a range of objects in order to improve stylistic analysis for forthcoming investigations. The study might focus on other poems or other literary works. The analysis can be strengthened by looking into the language proficiency levels. since only four language levels were looked at in this study.

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