Stylistic Analysis: Insight into the Subtle Delivery of Meaning

文筆分析 : 探究達意技巧微妙處

COURSE CODE: GENG9125 // Course Page

 Student A, 31 May 2024

Why students should sign up for the course? 

"Firstly, the course can expand the knowledge, and fulfil the curiosity, if I might say, of people interested in how writers convey intended meanings to their readers. Writers somehow do it too subtly for readers to realize, and through the course, one can learn ways to spot and apply them in one’s writing. The course is suitable for language students, teachers, and the public who engage in creative industries such as advertising. "

What do I get out of this course?

"The very first thing I have learned from this course is theory-based knowledge and skills in terms of rhetorical techniques. The course covers a wide range of rhetorical strategies authors may use, and how and why they are used, which inspires me to read some texts differently. The course is especially precious to me because I have had a chance to try something new: read poems and interpret a poem. I think the reading materials used in the lessons were wisely selected as they are skilfully written with deep meaning. Most importantly, the teacher is very knowledgeable and resourceful. He is always very willing to help his students in sorting out problems in their studies. I appreciate that very much."

 Student B, 30 May 2024

Hi Peter, I am thoroughly impressed with the overall structure of the course and the depth of the analysis presented in your notes. As a former student who took a similar course during my undergraduate studies in the HKU BEd programme back in 2006, I am pleased to see that the focus has expanded beyond conversational analysis. In my time, the course primarily explored turn-taking organization, repair organization, paralinguistic features, and some pedagogical implications in the ESL classroom.

The past weeks have been an eye-opening experience for me. Engaging in deep conversations on various text types, including prose, poems, drama, and speeches, has broadened my understanding of the subject matter. I must commend you on successfully aligning the course content with the objectives outlined in the course introduction. I can confidently say that I thoroughly enjoyed the course.

 Student C, 02 June 2024

As a student, what I hoped to get out of this course, I have got out of this course:

• Identify how novelists / poets / journalists use stylistic features (such as literary devices and language patterns) to deliver a piece of writing to more readers and/or to make an impact on readers.


• Learn to make meaningful interpretations of a text and identify why it is effective; e.g. how the stance of a journalist can be shown implicitly through language.

 Student D, 02 June 2024

I have had an amazing time during this course, like always, like the other courses by Peter. The learning experience with Peter is always full of adventures. We are always exploring knowledge out of my comfort zone. There are so many new and exciting things to learn about.

Before the course started, I was expecting to gain a deeper understanding of and enjoyment from the famous works such as those by Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf.

In the end, not only my expectation has been met. We are also equipped with various skills to dig into different pieces of writing, to get closer to the author, to go beyond the wall between author and audience, to enjoy the most of a piece.

During the course, speech & thought presentation is one of my favourite topics. I am amazed by how the interpretation varies by just a little flick of change; how a seem-to-be neutral editorial journalism article can be subtly inclined to a side by different use of speech & thought presentation modes.

Rhythm & metre is a relatively challenging topic to me. How amazing it is Peter can break the non-native barrier for us and we can just understand without turning to a native speaker.

We have been exposed to a wide variety of work to exercise us with our new skills, acting as a professional stylistic analyst. This is a wonderful journey in my language learning experience.

 Student E, 29 May 2024

Taught by a literary connoisseur, HKU SPACE’s stylistics course introduces one to the tools and techniques necessary to understand critically, analyse and make sense of a text, ranging from a convoluted contract clause to a celebrated author’s masterpiece.  By sleuthing through a piece of writing for linguistic strategies (or identifying their absence), one can develop a heightened awareness of how a writer conveys meaning and creates effects, which may at times be as nuanced as the use (and placing) or omission of a mere comma.

‘The style is the man himself,’ as the pithy saying goes.  On this philosophical note, the study of style may even shed light on one’s understanding of a writer’s personality and outlook on life, which can in turn subtly, and possibly subconsciously, shape and inform one’s own writing style and way of looking at life.