A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF POETRY AND POETRY TRANSLATION

Abstract

THE THESIS STUDIES THE COMMON POETIC DEVICES FROM THE LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE BASED ON THE ENTIRE CORPUS OF SHAKESPEARE?S SONNETS, AND SELECT POEMS BY MILTON, YEATS AND THE SINGAPOREAN POET EDWIN THUMBOO. I DEVELOP A USAGE-BASED MODEL OF METER AND METRICALITY, AND ALSO A QUANTITATIVE METRIC OF ENJAMBMENT. IN ADDITION TO THE QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO METER AND ENJAMBMENT, I DOCUMENT THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF THE POEMS WRITTEN BY THUMBOO AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION, AS REVEALED THROUGH TRANSLATION. SINCE LINGUISTIC FORM IS INTIMATELY TIED TO POETIC MEANING, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE UNDERSTAND THE FORM-FUNCTION CONNECTION IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THROUGH TRANSLATION THE FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POET.