A Stylistic Analysis of A Red Red Rose

1. Introduction

A Red， Red Rose is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns， a Scottish poet and lyricist. The poem has impressed its readers by its various features since its publication. Up to now domestic researchers， for example Zhou Yaqiong （2010）， Gao Jieping and Xia Zhijian （2013）， have conducted stylistic analysis at different levels. Based on those previous studies， this paper chooses to carry out a more comprehensive stylistic analysis of the poem at lexical level to further illustrate the theme.

2. Lexical studies based on seven types of meaning

According to Leech （1974）， there are seven different types of meaning. Conceptual meaning is logical， cognitive， or denotative content. Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to， over and above its purely conceptual content. Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in its environment. Affective meaning is the level of meaning that conveys the language user’s feelings， including his attitude or evaluation in shaping his use of language. Social meaning is that which a piece of language conveys about the social circumstances of its use.

There are several dimensions of socio-stylistic variation：dialect， time， province， status， modality， singularity.

3. Analysis

In the first stanza the writer compares his lover to a just-blossoming red rose in June. “Rose”， by its conceptual meaning， is a flower with a sweet smell that grows on a bush. While by connotative meaning， red roses are commonly recognized as the symbol of love. The “red rose”， as suggested by its dazzling color， embodies the vigorous and passionate affection between the two true lovers. It can also be associated with young ladies. Just like the red rose， the young lady whom the writer portrayed has a beautiful face， a grace figure and pleasant fragrance.

Connotative meaning can also be found in “While the sands o’ life shall run”. “Sands o’ life”， by its conceptual meaning， refers to the sand in the hourglass. While by connotative meaning， it is commonly accepted as the embodiment of time. It can also represent the writer’s life. Thus， the whole line can be interpreted as “though time of my life elapses， my eternal love to you will not alter. I will love you till the end of my life.”

There are several words that make unusual collocative meanings in this poem， which are “seas” and “dry”， “rocks” and “melt”. Sea， in general circumstances， serves as an object of the verb in a sentence， and usually collocates with verbs like “look” （look at the sea） or “go” （go to sea）. But in this poem the writer regards “sea” as a subject and makes a collocation of “sea” and “gang dry”. The same is also true for “rock”. “Rock” never serves as a subject and collocates with full verbs and can never “melt” in daily usage. The collocations here are a kind of hyperbole.

As the writer wrote， his lover is a “melodie” that is “sweetly played in tune”. Affective meaning of the poem is conveyed explicitly through the repetition of the word “sweet” and the repetition of “love” and “my love”. Both words reveal the writer’s deep admiration to his lover.

Another feature of this poem is perceived through different dimensions of its social meaning. It is easily perceived that the poem was written in a different time dimension from now （in 1794）. For example， words like “luve” and “thee”， which mean “love” and “you”， are usages of old English. Similarly， more stylistic features of this poem can be explored from the dialect and modality dimension. The poem is composed based on tradition Scotland folk music， thus its style is a combination of poem and folk songs. There are several Scotland dialects and abbreviations in this poem， say， O （oh）， art （are）， a’ （all）.

4. Interpretation

At the level of word， the writer employed foregrounding elements of both over-regularity and deviation.

Deviation is achieved through the unusual collocations of “seas” and “dry”， “rocks” and “melt”. There is obviously a paradox in the saying “And I will luve thee still， my dear， Till a’the seas gang dry.” The writer can only love his lover during his lifetime， but situations like “seas gang dry” and “rocks melt” can never happen in a human’s short lifespan. So here “seas gang dry” and “rocks melt” stand for infinite time span. Thus， those unusual collocations can be interpreted as：the writer’s love to his lover is eternal and it won’t fade away as he dies. Those bizarre collocations make the poem outstanding.

The repetition of the word “luve” constitutes over-regularity. There are seven “luve”s in this poem. The repetition of “luve” stands for different meaning， which is “lover”， “affection” and “love” （as a verb）. He also repeated “my dear” for three times. It may possibly be argued that the repetition has a special purpose， which is to highlight the theme of the poem- the writer’s intense love to his lover.

5. Conclusion

A Red， Red Rose is one of Robert Burns’s most well-known lyrics， which is outstanding for its stylistics features and its form of Scottish ballad. It has been popular since it had come out and enjoys enduring love and praise from all over the world. The linguistic achievements not only make the poem a masterpiece in lyrics， but also perpetuate the poet’s deep love.

References：

[1]Thornborrow，J.，& Wareing，S.（2000），Patterns in Language.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.