Citation: Bagayang, Linda ABAKASA (2021). A Stylistic Analysis of H.G. Spaffords’s Hymn ‘It Is Well with My Soul’. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. 9, Issue 1. Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660
A STYLISTIC
ANALYSIS OF H.G. SPAFFORDS’S HYMN ‘IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL’
And
Bagayang, Linda ABAKASA
Abstract
This paper
examines the stylistic use of different linguistic items in the hymn “It is
well with my soul”. The analytical procedure for this paper follows the Crystal
and Davy’s (1969) model of stylistic analysis. The diction and semantics of
this hymn show that the message of grief imbedded in the Christian hymn, which
the composer looks beyond the seemingly bad situation, with the hope for a
better future makes the expression “It is well” handy, giving a fresh and
unique style of expressing hope. Findings show that the collective moods,
emotions, thoughts and experiences of the composer is expressed in the language
of bereavement through the creative and conscious selection of lexical items in
a balanced syntactic arrangement without deviation from the rule of syntax. The
choice of the lexical items, with the highest percentage of mono- syllabic
words depicts the brevity of life and the sadness of death. The deliberate
pauses created by the use of commas brings about emphasis and drives home a
particular point.
Keywords:
Stylistics, Hymn and it is well.
1.0
Introduction
Linguists
continue to carry out studies on various kinds of texts, such as manuals,
recipes, as well as novels and advertisements and in recent years
media-discourses such as films, news reports, song lyrics and political
speeches have all been within the scope of interest of stylistics. Thus, this
paper stylistically analyses the Christian hymn, “It is well with my Soul”. The
intent is to make a close reading of the text of the hymn, focusing on the
linguistic formations, features and characteristics. This will form the bases
of evaluating, determining and describing both message, meaning, and impact of
the hymn. The use of stylistics to examine the texts of the hymn is based on
the presupposition that, stylistic features of a piece of literary text
distinguish and set it apart from linguistic norms and conventions of
non-literary discourse. Furthermore, the choice of stylistics as a method of
study and interpretation of the hymn is based on the recognition that the text
is a cohesive literary unit that we could apply all the tools and kits of
stylistics. In carrying out this stylistics analysis therefore, this study will
adopt and apply a functional stylistics model to establish and maintain the
connection between the style and the message of the text of the hymn.
In addition,
stylistics discusses individual style, when it comes to language usage. It also
expands and discusses linguistic features of any given text. Thus, the paper
discusses the content of the hymn, ‘It is Well with my Soul’ from the angle of
stylistics because it creates a good foundation for different aspects of style,
since hymn composers each have their individual and unique styles which usually
characterize their personality. Thus, the paper aims at drawing more attention
to the stylistic devices that characterize the style of writing of the hymn.
1.1
Stylistics: Meaning and Context
Any work of
art, be it a story, a picture, a painting, a sculpture, a spoken or written
text is uniquely recognized and identified through its style. Style can be the
way or manner in which language is used in a particular genre, for instance
prose, poetry, drama and others. It is all “embracing phenomenon” (Segre, 1973,
p. 19). In order to come to terms with the concept of style, one examines the
message as well as the manner in which it is conveyed. One can also identify
the period in which a work is written as well as the school of thought by
looking at the style. This is because stylistics picks out several items of a
given text, such as structure, terminology, vocabulary, phraseology,
punctuation, capitalization, framework, grammar etc for analysis and
description based on the literary and linguistic school of thought one belongs
(Malmkjaer, 1991, p.438). Thus, stylistics is broadly and simply described as
the study of style in a given text: be it written or spoken. Style, itself, is
identified by Graves, (1974, p. 189) as “not mere decoration, nor is it an end
to itself; it is rather a way of finding and explaining what is true. Its
purpose is not to impress, but to express”.
Linguistic
stylistics according to Turner (1973, p. 7) is “that part of linguistics, which
concentrates on variations in the use of language often, but not exclusively,
with special attention (paid) to the most conscious and complex of language in
literature”. In a similar perspective, Enkvist (1973, p. 27) considers
stylistics as a branch of linguistics which concerns itself with the
distinctiveness and peculiarities of a text. This partly involves looking at
those linguistic features that set the text apart against conventional norms.
Hence, we could say that stylistics is linguistics, because it is linguistic,
is also scientific in its methodology. It encompasses analysis of both literary
and non-literary materials. Linguistic stylistic analysis involves
participating in an inventory of linguistic devices and analyzing their effects
in a text. It is the study of varieties of language in context. It concerns itself with
the examination of grammar, lexis, semantics, as well as phonological properties and discursive devices.
Stylistics examines both oral and written texts in order to determine
influential and important characteristic linguistic properties, structures and
patterns that both enhance and influence perception of the texts.
Style can be
identified through the extraordinary way or manner an individual does or
performs actions. Style is also perceived as a deviation from the norm.
Therefore, “doing a thing contrary to the norm implies a deviation according to
Bossan, (2015, p. 195). Thus a common slang “I dig your style” among youth has
the meaning “I like your style”. There is also a school of thought which denies
the existence of style with the common saying “every mistake is a style”.
According to Enkvist (2016, p. 1);
Far fewer are
those who deny the very existence of style. Indeed, most people have accepted a
tacit, ontological argument: the fact that the idea of style is so widespread
and so useful proves that there is an object entity underlying this idea. “so
many people cannot be wrong” has been one of the silent tenets of many
stylistician’s creed.
The style of
writing of an individual depends on the context, mood, academic background,
life experience and exposure, fantasy and creativity, imagination and many
others that make the message fresh and new. Leech and Short (2007, p. 9)
succinctly state that “the way in which a language is used in a given context,
by a given person, for a given purpose, and so on” is style. Stylistics is the
scientific analysis of linguistic style. According to Short (1996, p. 1)
Stylistics can
sometimes look like either linguistics or literary criticism, depending upon
where you are standing when looking at lt. So, some of my literary critical
colleagues sometimes accuse me of being an unfeeling linguist, saying that my
analysis of poems, say, are too analytical, being too full of linguistic jargon
and leaving un sufficient room for personal preference on the part of the
reader. My linguistic colleagues, on the other hand, sometimes say that I’m no
linguist at all, but a critic in disguise, who cannot make his descriptions of
language precise enough to count as real linguistics. They think that I leave
too much to intuition and that I am not analytical enough. I think I’ve got the
mix just right, of course!
Jaafar (2008,
p. 238) states that: “Stylistics works as a linking bridge between two
important fields i.e., linguistics and literature”. Ayeomoni (2004, p. 177)
sees linguistic Stylistics as “an analytical approach that helps reader to
objectively study both literary piece and non-literary materials”. Linguistic
stylistics is concerned with the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of
texts of all categories, whether literary or non-literary, constructed with the
verbal apparatus of language, from the perspective of linguistics.
Some scholars
see Stylistics as the study and interpretation of text from a linguistic
perspective. Other features of stylistics include the use of dialogue,
including regional accents and people’s dialects, descriptive, the use of
grammar, such as the active voice or passive voice, the distribution of
sentence lengths, the use of particular language registers among others.
1.2 Methodology and theoretical framework
The methodology
and framework adopted for this paper is that of Crystal and Davy’s (1969)
general levels of Stylistic Analysis. They consider Stylistic to be an academic
field, which studies some aspects of language variation. Thus, they stress that
stylistics aims at “analyzing language habits with a view to identifying from
the general mass of linguistic features common to English as used on every
conceivable occasion…” There are a few benefits for adopting and applying the
general stylistic method of analysis here. Firstly, it lays bare the structural
patterns of the language diffused in a text so that we are able to single out
the outstanding or critical stylistic features of the text. It also enables
analysts to be consciously aware of the kind of social variations which the
inherent linguistic features are associated with. This strategy also helps and
lets analysts to become cognizant of the technique of putting these
characteristics down systematically in order to disclose the internal pattering
of various texts. This finds the support of Crystal and Davy (1969) who argue
that the important criteria of stylistics is to prove a single clear technique
of description with which to cope with any piece of language. In their own
words: “The central requirement of any linguistic oriented approach to the
classification of stylistic effect is that it should provide a single, clear
technique of description which will allow the student to cope with any piece of
language he wants.” (Crystal & Davy: 1969, p. 13-14).
Consequently,
the stylistic approach is usually synchronically applied to the codes available
in the English language as in this study. This method of description is what
and Crystal and Davy (1969) refer to as codes and linguistic levels of analysis
respectively. Therefore, the analysis of the hymn “It is well with my Soul”
focuses on the phonological, graphological, lexical and syntactic aspect of
language as well as the use of figures of speech.
1.2.1 About the Hymn ‘It is Well with my Soul’
Horatio G.
Spafford, a lawyer and a devout Christian, lived with his wife and four
daughters, in Chicago. One day in 1873 he stood on the quayside in Chicago and
bid farewell to his family as they set sail to visit relatives in far off
Europe. Some days later, their ship, bound for Le Havre in France collided with
another steamship in mid-Atlantic, and sank almost immediately. Fortunately, a
lifeboat spotted Mrs. Spafford and she was rescued. When she arrived in
Britain, she sent her husband this terse, but telling message: “SAVED ALONE”.
The words
stroke Horatio Spafford with full force, and, plunged him into deep sorrow. He
left for England, without delay to comfort his grief-stricken wife. Some of his
friends came down to London to sympathize with them, they found their friend in
surprisingly good spirit, strong in faith and able to say through their tears,
it is well; the will of God be done”. Three years after that tragedy, Mr.
Spafford wrote his hymn ‘it is well with my soul’, in memory of his four
precious daughters.
1.2.2 The Text of the Hymn
1. When peace,
like a river attendth my Chorus
Way. It is
well, it is well,
When sorrow
like sea billows roll, With my soul, with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Whatever my
lot, 2. Though Satan should buffer,
Thou hast
taught me to say Tho trial should come.
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate.
1.2.3
Textual Analysis
Analysis at
the Lexical Level
The author
deliberately made use of monosyllabic and bi-syllabic words with only two
exception occurring once in each of the stanzas. These are ‘attendeth’ and
‘regarded’. This is a conscious stylistic choice. The monosyllabic words
include; when, my, way, sea, roll, well, and soul. The bi-syllabic words are;
whatever, Satan, sorrows, billows, control, helpless and so on.
1.3Graphological
Analysis
There is the
copious use of the comma in the hymn. A look at the line presentation in the
hymn shows a deliberate effort at making emphasis and also projecting the
feelings of the composer. The deliberate pauses created by the use of the
commas bring to light this feeling. For example, in the hymn:
When peace,
like a river attendeth my way. The comma inserted after the word peace creates the pause that
reveals the threnody in the hymn. The colon after the line thou hast
taught me to say: draws our attention to the refrain. If the colon is
removed, it may be difficult for us to see this link. Even the apostrophe in
the word tho’ suggests that it is pronounced on the short form
all adding to tempo and rhythm of the hymn.
Capitalization
is an important element in the structure of the hymn. The style employed in
writing of the hymn is manifested by not violating the regular rules of
capitalization or punctuation in general. The first word of every sentence, or
every proper name, is capitalized in the hymn. In this hymn there few areas of
the graphological deviation. Examples from the hymn include; the use of full
stops, which comes only at the end of every stanza of the hymn. Each stanza
then could be taken for a long sentence.
1.3.1Analysis
at the Morphological Level
The words used
in this hymn are those which figure in language of bereavement or domain of
sorrow and loss. They are related to suffering and are meant to console,
reassure and to invoke trust in divine providence. So they evoke the world of
religious and their interests. These can be treated as words of a set of their
associated words or collocated words. For example: ―river – peace – sea –
trials – sorrow – assurance – Satan – Christ. All these are the words from a
set. Each invokes what appears to be like its opposite and each counter the
effect of the other. In addition, each implies the other almost as if wherever
you find one, the other is not far from there, thus, capturing the reality of
human existence, gain and loss, hope and despair, life and death, trials and
triumphs. They create or evoke an atmosphere of sorrow, symbolized by the sea
and Satan, but there is sure help in Christ. It distinguishes the two people,
Christ and Satan and what they bring to the life of the believer, peace and
trial respectively.
1.3.2Phonological
Analysis
Phonologically,
there is an obvious rhyming scheme as a stylistic device. There are instances
of alliteration for example sorrows like sea billows, Satan should.
Rhyming
Scheme:
The hymn has two stanzas each with four lines and three lines chorus. The
rhyming scheme for the two stanzas is: enclosed rhyme “ABBA” while the chorus
is a terza rima rhyme scheme of “ABA”
1.3.3
Diction and Semantics
The diction of
this hymn is that of a standard variety of English. From the choice of words
“peace like a river attendeth my way”,‘Sorrows, like sea billows roll’. The
calamity caused by great waters is captured. It appeared like a search for a
narrative hook, to re-echo in order to arrest the attention of God. This is
achieved by presenting the event with apt and carefully selected words and
phrases. It reveals the contrasting reality of the present state when;
Whatever my
lot, Thou has taught me to say It is well…
This is
obviously a philosophical statement hinged on the belief system of the
composer. He is very much in pain but because he believes in the express word
of God which teaches him to bear with all situations stoically by putting up
with the situation. My lot here simply presents the
excruciating pain he is undergoing as a result of the very terrible incident
that has befallen his family. It is well which the opposite is
‘lot’.
There is
another note-worthy word that Horatio Spafford deliberately employed to suit
his story; Though Satan should buffet though trials will come brings
the message more forcefully as it foregrounds the state of mind of the
composer. He is well aware that he is open to attacks by forces of evil, but
the next line reveals how much more matured and resolute in his confidence to
his God as he takes solace in the promise of let this blest assurance
control. The blest assurance which helps to assuage his situation is the
belief about his redemption by Jesus and the fact that Jesus had shed
his own blood. The composer, views his situation as of less consequence
compared to the great sacrifice of Jesus. That is why he ends with the
refrain it is well with my soul.
The diction of
the hymn is further heightened by the style of English used which helps us to
understand the setting of the hymn. Words like attendeth, tho’,
blest take us back in time and space. They all add up to define the
rhythm of the hymn. The suggestion is if the Standard English were to be used
in the hymn and the words are to be converted to something like attend,
though, blessed, the diction of the hymn will most certainly change.
Overall, the
composer seems to be endowed with the maturity and fortitude of a good
Christian. Another notable aspect of diction is his use of words and phrases in
such a way as to make the embarrassing, or the unpleasant appear acceptable to
him. The repetition of this phrase “it is well, it is well with my soul” is for
emphasis of the absolute acceptance, for if one can in difficult moment such as
this, say ït is well” it means that one’s level of contentment is extremely
high. This can only be achieved within a very high spiritual realm. There is a
deliberate use of action words which exposes the state of mind of the composer,
too. Verbs like attendeth, roll, taught, say, buffet all add
to the crescendo which we find in the refrain where the composer gets comforted
with the words ‘it is well with my soul’.
1.3.4Analysis
at the Syntactic Level
The sentence
structure of this hymn relies heavily on short cryptic clauses and phrases with
a lot of messages embedded in those brief poetic narrations. This is the craft
of good and effective poetry which uses economy of words. The imagination of
the reader is elevated as he/she reads just the few cryptic words like when
peace like a river… a lot is said in just those few words; meanings
are implied. Syntactic features mainly relate to sentence formation or the
structures of the sentences used in a piece of writing or literary work. For
instance, in the case of the hymn under study, there is no use of long
convoluted compound sentences where meaning can easily be lost, but the
economic use of these words ends up giving the reader a chance to ponder and
generate more meaning as much as he can, sense of empathy and bringing out the
threnody in the hymn.
Note the punctuation marks in the hymn. There are only
two full stops, one apostrophe and several commas. The punctuation marks
employed in the hymn effectively divide the hymn into two distinct sentences.
The first sentence begins from stanza one and ends with the chorus while the
second stanza stands distinctly as the second sentence.
Looking at the components of a sentence, it can
be said that a sentence consists of a string of words that come together for
meaningful expression. However, with a close look, it is easy to see that the
words occur in groups. Such is the case with this hymn and a re-arrangement of
the text clearly shows what is discussed herein.
When peace, like a river attendeth my way, When
sorrows, like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say: It
is well, it is well, With my soul, with my soul, It is well, it is well, with
my soul.
Syntactically it is not very helpful to think of the
individual words and phrases in isolation. What, for example, is the
relationship between each and resemble? In fact, they do not have a direct
relationship. They are more closely related to other words in the sentence than
they are to each other. We can appreciate some of this structure by dividing
the sentence into some of its component parts.
Now we can say that this sentence breaks down into
several units that we can rightly call constituents. A constituent is any word
or group of words that functions together as an entity. Most rules of syntax do
not, in fact, apply to individual words but to larger constituents. There is no
limit, in principle, to the size of a constituent. It may be one or two words,
or it may be hundreds of words long. This hymn for instance is mainly made-up
of simple sentences with simple clauses. Examples include: ‘it is well’, ‘it is
well with my soul’ etc.
At its heart,
grammatical analysis involves deciding what the constituents are in a sentence.
Syntax consists of the rules by which different constituents relate to one
another, so constituency is the central issue in grammatical analysis, and in
interpreting sentences in general. The most important constituents when
discussing syntax are phrases, clauses, and sentences.
1.3.5 Phrases
The constituent that we will see most is
the phrase. A phrase consists of a single main word, called
the head of the phrase, and other words that modify or give
grammatical information about the head. These other words in the phrase are called
the phrase's attributes. Informally, we might say that the head word is
the main idea of the phrase. For instance; ‘When peace, like a river attendeth
my way’. The phrase is talking about a kind of peace. ‘Like a river
attendeth my way tell us what specific or kind of peace we are talking
about. Peace therefore is the head word.
The lexical category of the phrase's head gives its
name to phrase. Thus a noun is the head of a noun phrase (abbreviated NP), a
verb the head of a verb phrase (VP), and so forth. Since peace is
a noun, is a noun phrase.
Other Examples:
|
(a) |
Tho’ trials should come |
Verb clause (VC) |
|
(b) |
like
seabillows roll |
Adjectival clause (AC) |
|
(c) |
Let this blest
assurance control |
Adverbial
clause(AdvC) |
|
(d) |
Thou hast
taught me to say |
Prepositional
clause (PC) |
1.3.6
Figurative Use of Language
1. When sorrows, like sea
billows roll/When peace, like a river attendeth my way. These two lines are metaphors, which mean an implied comparison between
two things of unlike nature.
2. When peace, like a river
attendeth my way,
Independently we can take the second line as a simile.
Notice the use of the word ― ‘like’ to compare the smooth and quiet flowing of
the river with peace. A simile is a figure of speech by which one thing,
action, or relation is likened or explicitly compared, often with ‘as’ or
‘like’, to something of a different kind or quality.
3. Synecdoche: This figure of speech refers to the substitution of a part
to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for the part. In other words, a
smaller or larger part of something is made to represent the whole thing. “my
soul” here is made to represent the whole of human person. Therefore, the
expression “it is well with my soul” is a synecdoche.
4. Repetition:
It is a figure of speech in which a word, phrase or idea is expressed more than
once in a piece of poetry, drama etc for the purpose of musicality or emphasis.
For example: It is well, it is well,
With my
soul, with my soul,
It is well,
it is well, with my soul.
5. The entire hymn is paradoxical. A paradox refers to a statement which
seems on its face to be self-contradictory or absurd, yet turns out to make a
good sense or be true. Each sentence in the stanzas contradicts the other. For
example; Sorrows like seabillows ....
contradicts When peace like a river....
and the chorus: It is well ... reveals the truth.
6. Symbol: A symbol is a narrative technique used by a writer to pass
information. In this hymn, river is used as a symbol of
peace. Seabillows symbolises sorrow.
7. Imagery: This refers to the selective and effective use of words to
create pectoral impressions in the imagination of the reader or audience or to
appeal to the senses. River create the imagery of a flowing water which the
composer equates with peace, calm, serene etc. Seabillows (storms) creates a
picture of sorrows.
8. Mood: mood means the underlying attitude which runs through the hymn.
The mood of the hymn is meditative or reflective, agony, sorrow.
9. Refrain:
Refrain refers to a word, phrase or any expression that is repeated at regular
intervals in a poem, often after a group of lines. It is comparable to the
chorus which sometimes follows a song track or church hymn. Refrain of this
hymn thus: well, it is well,
With my
soul, with my soul,
It is well,
it is well, with my soul
1.4 Findings
The hymn “It is
well with my soul” describes the exercise of faith, daunting challenges of life
and the real life situations and experiences which lies concrete on the faith.
By using different stylistics devices, the author of the hymn successfully describes
his point of view. Stylistics devices give deeper meaning to any literary piece
of writing like this hymn. Adding to this also, the stylistic analysis of this
him ‘it is well with my soul’ has helped to bring out the hidden or underlying
meaning of the hymn. The author employed simple words and phrases to make the
hymn understandable and to clarify the intentions. By using different
metaphors, symbols and images, the author made the hymn more effective to
convey a special message. Finding shows that the hymn is written in first
person singular, with these expressions it is well with my soul,
attendeth my way, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, my helpless
estate. This means that anyone can personalize this hymn because it
speaks to the individual directly. Finding also confirms thatby doing a stylistic analysis, one can easily recognize the patterns of
alliteration, repetition, and all figurative expressions and examine these
patterns, which contribute to meaning and interpretation of the contents and
effects. Besides,
it is an attempt in convincing anyone that stylistics is important in
interpreting literary and non-literary texts.
1. 5
Conclusion
The paper
dwells on Crystal and Davy’s (1969) level of Stylistic Analysis. In this
study, the paper reveals that there is a conscious selection of lexical
items which convey the message of hope imbedded in the hymn in these words: “it
is well”. From the stylistics analysis, finding shows that the hymn is written
to encourage, strengthen and inspire belief in God. This is stylistically
expressed through different linguistic elements under graphological, lexical,
semantic, and syntactic levels. The hymn is not so much about making meaning,
but about the art of exercising hope and faith in God. This is clearly
expressed in ‘ít is well’ and ‘it is well with my soul’ as used in the hymn.
Nothing else could be in place of a right and appropriate use of language in
order to achieve the purpose of informing and stirring up the emotions of the
readers who have put their hope in God. This analyses and interpretations are
not dogmas and do not necessarily need to be the same for everyone. Neither do
they need to march the intentions of the authors. This interpretation therefore
does not cancel out or replay those of the author. This is the judgment and
conclusion arising from the facts presented by the texts. It is only obvious
that these facts found in the text are the primary influence in the conclusion.
And there could be other conclusions too. Interpretations should not be
presented as fact or truths. What is said here are opinions and should be
treated as such in an area where there could be many opinions. This exercise
only demonstrates the possibility of applying stylistics techniques in
analyzing systematically the hymn to dig out the ecstatic, creativity and
linguistic style of writing.
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