FUNCTION OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN A POETIC TEXT (BASED ON G.MEREDITH’S “MODERN LOVE”)

Modern system of linguistic research tends to combine grammatical and stylistic analysis. A poetic text is characterized by the usage of stylistically determined grammar means in general and personal pronouns in particular.

Personal pronouns in G. Meredith’s sequence mark two narrative plans. The author uses the first person narration (I-narration) and the third person narration (he-narration). As a result there appear the images of a narrating author and a lyrical hero. The third person narration creates the author’s view point domineering over that of the lyrical hero. The author’s critical assessment of the events described is compositionally arranged as the beginning and the ending of the sequence and as lyrical digressions. The first person narration is typical of lyrics. It allows shifting the accent to the description of the lyrical hero’s inner world dynamics. This is combined with the change of verbal tense forms as the past tense is replaced by the present.

Meredith uses both modern and ancient forms of the second person pronoun, you and thou. But he definitely prefers the former while the latter is emotionally and semantically loaded. The opposition I – you is used in the first person narration, the opposition I – thou is typical of the third person narration where it contrasts the principal characters.

Their separation is emphasized by the rare usage of the pronoun we which often refers to the narrator and the reader joined together as representing certain values and opinions. Similarly, the pronoun they functions as contrasting the principal characters to other people they see around them.