Stylistic Analysis of Robert Bridges’ Poem “I Have Loved Flowers That Fade”

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring Robert Bridges distinctive style in portraying themes, images, and figurative language in his poem "I have Loved Flowers that Fade". The present study proposes to make an exposition of a stylistic device in the poetry of Robert Bridges by applying stylistic analysis. The analysis depends on stylistic features underlying Robert Bridges poetry. The analysis takes up three levels: Lexis, figurative language, and graphology. Furthermore, Robert Bridges poetry is considered as a good example of Modern British poetry. The paper concludes that there is a relationship between distribution of some lexical items and themes of the poem. The figurative language of the poem focuses on certain literary devices such as personification, imagery, simile and metaphor. For example, visual imagery that invokes colors, shapes, or things that can be seen in the following line "Notes, that pulse with fire". Moreover, the frequent use of exclamation marks in this short poem is also visible.