The Aphoristic Units in the Sonnets of William Shakespeare

Authors

  • Людмила Владимировна Глуханько Mohylovskyi derzhavnyi universytet imeni A. O. Kuleshova

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31812/filstd.v16i0.117

Keywords:

Middle English, Shakespeare, sonnet, aphorism, semantics, structure, transformation

Abstract

In masterpieces of literature of different times and nations, in scientific works, in everyday life – practically in all spheres –we come across vivid, witty, memorable utterances. Some of them are frequently reproduced in speech by a definite number of speakers, others are just seldom quoted, but are not widely used. Such utterances usually express an interesting or unusual idea, convey a moral principle or a unique judgement. No doubt, that such utterances have their creators, but very often they lose their associative connection with the author; but there are also cases when the name of the author and the utterance are closely connected and go side by side. Such utterances are often called aphorisms. In everyday life the word “aphorism” is used to define any laconic and vivid utterance of a well-known author or an anonymous one (including those of folklore origin). The aphorism is a complex phenomenon of human creative activity that belongs both to language and speech.

The article deals with the aphorism as a word and a notion and semantic peculiarities and thematic variety of aphorisms in W. Shakespeare’s sonnets. The semantics of the aphorisms singled out from W. Shakespeare’s sonnets are rich. Sometimes the aphorism taken from the sonnet conveys the main idea of the whole verse, sometimes contradicts it. Practically all of the sonnets deal with such topics as Love, Death, Time, Fame, Immortality, Good and Evil. The biggest thematic groups of the aphorisms analysed in the research are “Love” (32%) and “Human soul. Good and Evil in human soul” (28%). The most insignificant in quantity is the group “Power, wars and politics” (less than 2%). It is also necessary to mention that very often aphorisms as intertextual elements are transformed in this or that way. So, it was taken into consideration in the process of singling out the aphorisms out of the sonnets.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...
Abstract views: 137 / PDF downloads: 98

Author Biography

Людмила Владимировна Глуханько, Mohylovskyi derzhavnyi universytet imeni A. O. Kuleshova

mahistr filolohichnykh nauk, starshyi vykladach kafedry teoretychnoi i prykladnoi linhvistyky

References

Английский сонет XVI–XIX веков : на англ. языке с параллельным русским текстом / сост. А. Л. Зорин. –М. : Радуга, 1990. –698 с.

Голикова Ж. А. Перевод с английского на русский= Learn to translate by translating from English in to Russian: [учеб. пособие] / Ж. А. Голикова. –М. : Новоезнание, 2003. –287 с.

Иванов Е. Е. Автономность афоризма в тексте (на материале произведений У. Шекспира) / Е. Е. Иванов, Е. Г. Тесленко // Вестник Полоцкого гос. ун-та. Серия А, Гуманитарные науки. –2013. –No 10. –С. 86–90.

Иванов Е. Е. Лингвистика афоризма : [учеб.-метод. пособие] / Е. Е. Иванов.–Могилев : МГУ им. А. А. Кулешова, 2016. –156 с.

Иванов Е. Е. Об основных типах афористических высказываний/ Е. Е. Иванов // Веснік Магілёўскага дзярж. ун-та імя А. А. Куляшова. –2009. –No 1 (32). –С. 126–132.

Іваноў Я. Я. Афарыстычныя адзінкі ў беларускай мове : [манаграфія]/ Я. Я. Іваноў. –Магілёў: МДУ імя А. А. Куляшова, 2017. –208 с.

Іваноў Я. Я. Праблема ўласна лінгвістычнага вызначэння паняцця «афарызм»/ Я. Я. Іваноў // Веснік Гродзенскага дзярж. ун-та імя Я. Купалы. Сер. 3. Філалогія. Педагогіка. Псіхалогія. –2011. –No 1 (108). –С. 95–102.

Тесленко Е. Г. Контекстуально зависимые афористические высказывания в речи (на материале произведений У. Шекспира) / Е. Г. Тесленко // Вестник МГЛУ. Серия1.Филология. –2013. –No 6. –С. 89–97.

Ivanov E. E. Etymology of English Proverbs / E. E. Ivanov, J. A. Petrushevskaia // Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & SocialSciences. –2015. –Vol. 8, No5. –P. 864–872.

Published

2017-10-27

How to Cite

Глуханько, Л. В. (2017). The Aphoristic Units in the Sonnets of William Shakespeare. Philological Studies: The Scientific Publication of Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, 16, 311–317. https://doi.org/10.31812/filstd.v16i0.117

Issue

Section

Linguistics and poetics of the text