Stylistic Features of Oscar Wilde’s Wrightings

2Parallel constructions36025%

3repetition36020%

4chiasmus36015%

5enumeration3609%

6inversion3603%

O.Wilde resorts to the use of syntactical stylistic devices , and the most favourite of them is antithesis.

As it is seen from the tables the number of all stylistic devices is not equal. But all of them are based on the effect of defeated expectancy. All these stylistic devices are accompanied by one and the same stylistic phenomenon, which creates a single – whole – Oscar Wilde’s brilliant style. At the same time stylistic devices reflect various kinds of phenomena: everyday events, strange happenings, social reality and fantasy. They are all vital in creating a social atmosphere of those times.

For example, the sentence “In England a man who cannot talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a serious politician.”, shows clearly the English Society of that time.

Some stylistic devices are rarely used in O.Wilde’s plays: chiasmus, inversion, metonymy and others.

I do not think it testifies to their rare occurrence in English in general. It is evidence of O.Wilde’s private likes and dislikes as an artist.

Oscar Wilde has no rival in the brilliancy of his dialogue. There seems to be no plot in his plays – only brilliant performance of witty remarks.

“The plots are slight, and mainly serve as thin thread holding together the large collection of gay, brightly coloured decorations that are his epigrams.”35

The plays produce an unforgettable impression not only due to the context but also to a great extent, I am sure, due to the author’s language, his individual style in which the use of stylistic expressive means and stylistic devices is the very important part.

The fact that none of his comedies has lost its aesthetic value now, proves that the secret of their long life lies in Wilde’s brilliant style and in his individuality.

Bibliography

1.”Learner’s Dictionary of Current English ”, by Hornby, Oxford, London, 1994.

2.”Oscar Wilde” by R.K.Miller, Frederick Ungar publishing Co.,

New York, 1984.

3.”Oscar Wilde” by H.Montgomery, Eyre Methuen, London, 1976.

4.”Oscar Wilde. The Critical Heritage” by K.Beckson, London,

Rotledge and Kegan Paul, 1970.

5.”A Short Guide to English Style” by A.Warner, London, 1976.6.”Style in language” by T.A.Sebeok, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1960.

7.”Analitical Reading” by Sosnovskaya V.B., Moscow, 1974.

8.”A Book of Practice in Stylistics” by Kukharenko V.A., Moscow,