A Linguistic Description of Leisure in Terms of Lexis and Syntax

Leisure is one of W.H.Davies` famous poems, which has expressed his attitude towards life, and has recorded his sharp and intense response to the natural world, which also can give every reader a lot of things to think. Today, however, I`d like to analysis this poem based on stylistic theory, and try to find why it can be so different from the rest..

First, I shall begin with words, which seem to be so special in this poem. It`s easy to find words in this poem are almost monosyllable words, except four disyllable words, e.g. beneath, squirrels, daylight and beauty, which makes the poem easy to read, and sounds with good rhythm.

What`s more, every line of the poem almost has the same number of words, it`s 8,8,7,8,8,7,7,8,7,8,8, 8 in each line.So,it endows a kind of structure beauty to this poem..

Then,it can be found that this poem has a good meter. Every stanza has an end rhyme,such as care and stare, bough and cow, pass and grass, daylight and night, glance and dance, and this makes it read more smoothly, and also can heighten the artistic conception of the poem.

If look at the nouns the writer chosed,we can find they are all small common nouns,such as sheep,cows,stars,sky and so on, even primary students can read.But it`s these familiar nouns that create so many images and symbols to make the poem full of aesthetic beauty.

Then, look at its sentence patterns. Most part of this poem are fragments,except tow full sentences, and the middle four stanzas can be looked as the continuous parts of the conditions adverbial clause. So, in this way, it can bring emphasis to this part, and also make a deep impression on readers of what we have lost if we care too much but do not stand and stare.

Except that, this poem is rather notable in terms of its rhetoric. The writer has used many rhetorical figures. The most remarkable one is repetition. The last stanza is almost same with the first one, so it can enphasis the poem, while convenient the head and tail has echoed. As for the whole poem, the six stanzas all have repeated phrases, e.g. no time to, which makes it in a coherent way.

The author also has used simile, e.g. Streams full of stars like skies at night, which makes its language more poetic and romntic.

He has used personification as well, e.g. squirrels hide their nuts in grass, which makes this poem more vivid and lovely.

What`s more, the writor has a particular arrangement at the start and the end. He began with a question to raise readers` interests and guide them to think about this question;Then, he deepened the question in details; At the end of the poem, he anwsred the question with one word---poor. It seems that this poem is just a rhetorical question, brief, but worth to be thought.

To analysis this poem in stylistic way, many special sparkling points of this poem can be found..So,in our next progress of learning literature, we may use more stylistic method ,such as analysis it from its words or sentences,to get a more clear and systematic understanding of one works.

Appendix:                 Leisure  W.H.Davies

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs,

And stare as long as sheep and cows.

No time to see the woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty`s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

A poor life this, if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.