Susie Asado; Stylistic Analysis

 

Module: Literary Linguistics

Module Code: ENGL 2034

Module Convener: Andrine Ong Theng Theng

Word count: 

TITLE 

Cohesion and incoherence via external deviation in Susie Asado by Gertrude Stein.

INTRODUCION AND AIMS

This stylistic analysis on Gertrude Stein’s poem ‘Susie Asado’ (1913) delves into its linguistically deviant textual forms while unpacking how they can be described as a trip into the domain of cohesive but incoherent literature in the linguistic sense. Subsequently, we explore how the lack of conventional coherence foregrounds the poem’s strong sonic imagery through cohesive devices such as repetition and reference. By the end of the essay, it will be shown that the cohesion of foregrounded features (cite) in Stein’s poem prompts and even forces readers to re-evaluate and repurpose their understanding regarding the denotative sense of words (Mugair et al., 2018). 

BACKGROUND

As Gertrude Stein was a major proponent and patron of the Modernist art movement (Kevern 2020), she endorses ideas of the abstract whilst claiming to dig closer to the perceptions of truth (cite modernist finding meaning)—via the medium of the written word. The linguistic deviations used in Stein’s literature were likely inspired by collage and fragmentation (cite), which is reminiscent of Sir Philip Sidney (16ce) quipping poetry to be speaking pictures. The foregrounding effect pertaining to the deviant usage of language is intensified as Stein experiments with grammatical and lexical patterns, drawing our attention to unconventional ways that words evoke experience and convey alternative meaning. Furthermore, as aesthetic lenses in Stein’s time posit ideas embracing art for art’s sake (cite), readers should engage with Stein’s literary abstraction to find a plethora of meaning in the apparent lack of meaning itself. 

COHESION FOR INCOHERENCE

REFERENCE AND REPURPOSING

Halliday and Hasan (1976, p. 305) posits referencing as a type of cohesion that utilises semantic relation to knit textures which elucidate the contextual characterisations and linear functions of subjects in a text. In other words, referencing encourages textual transparency. It is important to note that the use of discursive practices is absent in the grammatical configuration of Susie Asado, as its sentence structure are more or less straightforward. Namely, by using the diction of referencing such as 'which is', 'this means,' ‘it is’,  'this is,' 'these are’ etc, we can infer that Stein is probably not symbolising; she is expressing everything exactly as they are in their truest forms— for a rose is a rose (Stein 1922). 

Interestingly enough, although a usage of clear demonstrative reference helps to develop textual (or more specifically grammatical cohesion), Stein deliberately crafts an unconventional texture with a lack of shared knowledge in the cohesive sense (cite), which results in an ideationally incoherent poem, making it hard to find clear grounds of a ‘reality’ or story. For example, the actors present are ambiguous to the point of abstraction, and their tangibility is likewise limited only to the demonstrative reference to an exophoric subject. For instance, while we do know that there are subjects present and referred to in ‘This is a please’ and ‘These are the wets’, we are justifiably unable to identify (via Halliday’s systemic functional grammar) their participative forms due to the subjects’ incompatibility of relational sense. This loss of meaning applies even in terms of reading the aforementioned lines using the existential process type, which is a function to state that something exists (cite). We observe that the use of ‘This’ and ‘These’ are seen as dummy subjects instead of circumstance (its usual form in other processes) (cite), and that ‘please’ and ‘wets’ are lexically repurposed words and therefore rendered to be incomprehensible Existents by linguistical norms. Evidently, these clauses are possibly incomplete and are definitely lexically deviant in the repurposing of word functions, in this case, from a verb and adjective respectively to nouns. Hence in this case, the foregrounding feature towards incoherence would be the largely unclear and incongruous clausal subjects despite the poem’s very active and explicit degree of agency.

It is true that some critics determinedly analyse the poem’s various declarative statements that feel symbolic in the poem such as ‘A nail is unison’ or ‘bobolink has pins’, usually via feministic or erotic lenses (cite). However, while the supposed metaphors and symbols in question are open to personal interpretation, Stein’s unique usage of words (cite) can be challengingly cryptic enough to be intrinsically meaningless in the conventional sense. 

REPETITION

Another obvious method of foregrounding is repetition,  (Mick short)

Repetition as deviation: 

‘slips slips hers’

Drink pups x3

Sweet x15

Repetition as cohesion:

 Is clean…is yellow…is a silver seller

It shows a nail. What is a nail. A nail is unison.

Incy is short for incubus

SOUND OF POETRY

SONIC ELEMENTS: 

Lack of meaning, just powerful sonic imagery 

Although the structure of the poem can be described as wantonly chaotic (cite), it does read euphonically with the heavy use of alliterative ‘/s/’ sounds in ‘silver seller’, ‘saids’, ‘shade and shove’, ‘sash…see it shine…shows’, as well as the refrains of ‘this is a please’, and ‘sweet…Susie Asado’

The key to reading Stein is to do just the opposite, don't read it; instead have it read to you by some obliging soul. Don't ever try to find some hidden meaning, for that would do nothing more than detract from the true symphonic nature of her poetry. I promise you, after hearing this poem as it was intended to be perceived, it's true beauty will become clear.

In this poem, Stein was stressing sound more than visual imagery and for that matter even words' definitions. Susie Asado was a Spanish dancer, and the prominence of the "s" sound throughout the whole poem alludes to the dance slippers against the floor. The placement of the "s" sounds also develops a rhythm, not necessarily metered, but also creates the rhythmic aspect of dance

assonance relation (a parallelism) 

The whole thing is one long Mickey-take if "you see as I do" (Susie Asado)!

Yes Gertrude is being a real sweetie (Sweet Tea). She is a national treasure (Tray Sure). Sat there in her slippers (Slips Slips Hers)she must have had lots of fun dipping her pen in her ink pot (Incy ... a Pot). Perhaps she was wearing a bobble hat to keep warm (old Vats are in Bobbles).

So raise a glass  to Mz Stein and drink up everybody (Drink Pups), presumably she is having an ale (A Nail) and if your head hurts reading this then take an aspirin (Has Pins).

Oh yes to my mind Mz Stein is definitely a big, stammering sweetie (Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Tea)!   

CONCLUSION:

This language-based descriptive analysis. how the literary text is crafted and how this texture contributes towards your reading. Stein’s proclivity for deviated language through repetition and reference reflects her pursuit of truth. Modernist works; abstraction and purity of meaning. She said, & Samuel Beckett as well, who said sometimes a rose is just a rose

? This poem is exactly what it looks like and nothing else

REFERENCES

Stein, G. (1922). Susie Asado: Geography and Plays. The Four Seas Press: Boston.

Stein, G. (1922). Sacred Emily: Geography and Plays. The Four Seas Press: Boston.

Leech, G. N. (1970). 'This Bread I Break' -language and interpretation. D. C. Freeman (ed.) Linguistics and Literary Style. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp.119-28.  

Epstein, A. (2016). ‘Two Poems by Gertrude Stein’ https://www.berfrois.com/2016/09/susie-asado-preciosilla-gertrude-stein/ [Accessed 15 Oct 2021]

Kevern, R. (2020) ‘Gertrude Stein, The Mother Of Modernism’ https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2020/04/18/gertrude-stein-the-mother-of-modernism/ [Accessed 19 Oct 2021]

APPENDIX

Susie Asado

Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.

Susie Asado.

Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.

Susie Asado.

Susie Asado which is a told tray sure.

A lean on the shoe this means slips slips hers.

When the ancient light grey is clean it is yellow, it is a silver seller.

This is a please this is a please there are the saids to jelly. These are the wets these say the sets to leave a crown to Incy.

Incy is short for incubus.

A pot. A pot is a beginning of a rare bit of trees. Trees tremble, the old vats are in bobbles, bobbles which shade and shove and render clean, render clean must.

Drink pups.

Drink pups drink pups lease a sash hold, see it shine and a bobolink has pins. It shows a nail.

What is a nail. A nail is unison.

Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.