Stylistics and Its Relevance to the Study of Literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” as an Illustration Author: Yu-Fang Ho(Department of English Language and Literature, Tzu Chi University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 55, No. 2
Date：September 2010
Pages：137-157
DOI：10.3966/207451922010095502006

Abstract：

The primary purpose of this paper is to introduce a stylistic analytical approach to the study of literary texts. Stylistics is generally considered as the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation (e.g. lexis, syntax, sound patterns, semantics, etc). It explores how readers interact with the language of texts, i.e. how we understand and are affected by texts when we read them. As Wales (2001: 373) states more precisely, stylistics is a discipline principally concerned with describing the linguistic features of texts and the functional significance of these features in relation to our interpretation of the text. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” - a tale of terror and a perfect manifestation of Poe’s “single effect” theory - is used to exemplify and demonstrate how the sense of “terror” is conveyed through the language and how readers are affected accordingly.

Keywords：“The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe, style and effect, stylistic analysis

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