Tolkien As a Literary Artist : Exploring Rhetoric, Language and Style in The Lord of the Rings

This book takes a fresh look at Tolkien’s literary artistry from the points of view of both linguistics and literary history, with the aim of shedding light on the literary techniques used in __The Lord of the Rings__. The authors study Tolkien’s use of words, style, narrative techniques, rhetoric and symbolism to highlight his status as literary artist. Dirk Siepmann uses a corpus stylistic approach to analyse Tolkien’s vocabulary and syntax, while Thomas Kullmann uses discourse theory, literary history and concepts of intertextuality to explore Tolkien’s literary techniques, relating them to the history of English fiction and poetry. Issues discussed include point of view, speeches, story-telling, landscape descriptions, the poems inserted into the body of the narrative, and the role of language in the characterization of the novel’s protagonists. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of literature, corpus linguistics and stylistics, as well as Tolkien fans and specialists. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 About the Authors 9 List of Tables 10 1: Introduction 11 1.1 Tolkien’s Status in Literary History 11 1.2 Corpus Stylistics 14 1.3 Metaphor and Metonymy15 18 1.4 Intertextuality32 28 Works Cited 44 Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts 44 Critical Works Cited 45 2: Tolkien as a Stylist: Key Words and Key Collocations in The Lord of the Rings 49 2.1 Characterizing Tolkien’s Style 49 2.2 Methodology 52 2.3 Key Words in The Lord of the Rings2 53 2.3.1 Key Words Shared with Nineteenth-Century Fiction 54 2.3.2 Key Words Shared with Modern Fiction 56 2.3.3 Key Words Shared with Tolkien’s Translation of Beowulf 60 2.3.4 Key Words Exclusive to The Lord of the Rings 62 2.4 Key Collocations in The Lord of the Rings 64 2.5 Key N-Grams in The Lord of the Rings 69 2.6 Frequent Semantic Fields in The Lord of the Rings 70 2.7 Tolkien as a Stylist: Conclusion 74 Appendix 74 Key Words Exclusive to The Lord of the Rings 74 Negative Key Words 76 Works Cited 78 Primary Texts 78 Critical Works Cited 78 3: The Narrative Syntax of The Lord of the Rings 80 3.1 Background and Method 80 3.2 Dispreferred Constructions 81 3.2.1 Word Level 81 3.2.2 Phrase Level 81 3.2.3 Clause Level 83 3.3 Overused Constructions 86 3.3.1 Word Level 86 3.3.2 Phrase Level 87 3.3.3 Clause Level 87 3.4 Narrative Syntax: Conclusion and Two Sample Paragraphs 94 Works Cited 96 Primary Text: 96 Critical Works Cited: 96 4: Points of View 97 Works Cited 134 Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts 134 Critical Works Cited 134 5: Landscape Descriptions 136 Works Cited 163 Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts 163 Critical Works Cited 163 6: Speeches and Declarations 166 Works Cited 196 Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts 196 Critical Works Cited 197 7: Storytelling 199 Works Cited 232 Primary Texts 232 Critical Works Cited 232 8: Poems and Songs 233 Works Cited 261 Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts 261 Critical Works Cited 262 9: Language and Character 265 Works Cited 301 Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts 301 Critical Works Cited 301 10: Tolkien’s Position in Literary History 303 Works Cited 312 Primary Text 312 Critical Works Cited 312 Index 314 This book takes a fresh look at Tolkien's literary artistry from the points of view of both linguistics and literary history, with the aim of shedding light on the literary techniques used in The Lord of the Rings. The authors study Tolkien's use of words, style, narrative techniques, rhetoric and symbolism to highlight his status as literary artist. Dirk Siepmann uses a corpus stylistic approach to analyse Tolkien's vocabulary and syntax, while Thomas Kullmann uses discourse theory, literary history and concepts of intertextuality to explore Tolkien's literary techniques, relating them to the history of English fiction and poetry. Issues discussed include point of view, speeches, story-telling, landscape descriptions, the poems inserted into the body of the narrative, and the role of language in the characterization of the novel's protagonists. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of literature, corpus linguistics and stylistics, as well as Tolkien fans and specialists. Thomas Kullmann is Professor of English Literature at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. He has published widely on Shakespeare and the English Renaissance, English children's literature and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century novel. Dirk Siepmann is Professor of English as a Second Language at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. He has 25 years of experience in applied linguistics, with an extensive background in corpus linguistics and language teaching. He has authored 12 books, including two major monographs on translation studies and one on contrastive linguistics, and has co-authored or edited a further 14 volumes This book takes a fresh look at Tolkiens literary artistry from the points of view of both linguistics and literary history, with the aim of shedding light on the literary techniques used in The Lord of the Rings. The authors study Tolkiens use of words, style, narrative techniques, rhetoric and symbolism to highlight his status as literary artist. Dirk Siepmann uses a corpus stylistic approach to analyse Tolkiens vocabulary and syntax, while Thomas Kullmann uses discourse theory, literary history and concepts of intertextuality to explore Tolkiens literary techniques, relating them to the history of English fiction and poetry. Issues discussed include point of view, speeches, story-telling, landscape descriptions, the poems inserted into the body of the narrative, and the role of language in the characterization of the novels protagonists. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of literature, corpus linguistics and stylistics, as well as Tolkien fans and specialists. Thomas Kullmann is Professor of English Literature at the University of Osnabruck, Germany. He has published widely on Shakespeare and the English Renaissance, English childrens literature and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century novel. Dirk Siepmann is Professor of English as a Second Language at the University of Osnabruck, Germany. He has 25 years of experience in applied linguistics, with an extensive background in corpus linguistics and language teaching. He has authored 12 books, including two major monographs on translation studies and one on contrastive linguistics, and has co-authored or edited a further 14 volumes