Can a poet effect or change a Language
The widely accepted definition of literature is that it is the interpretation of life. As a branch of literature, poetry handles human subjects and it influenced or changed the language. If one analyzes the various stages of English language and literature, it is clear that many English poets have influenced the growth of language. Each and every poet has his own particular style of using the language in literature, such as selection of words, using figurative languages, lexical features and various dialects. In old English period, most of the poets and writers used Anglo-Saxon language. Many old English works have contributed number of new words and usages. For example the great epic Beowulf has contributed number of new words in to English language. When it reached the time of Norman period, considerable changes occurred in the field of language. The highly thought-provoking thing was that the changes of influences in the above mentioned period has never marked the name of a particular poet or a writer. Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English language had introduced number of changes in English language.
He had borrowed a lot of new words from French language and blended with native usages. He is the man who effectively used affixation for word formation. Chaucer established a new word order and helped to create a self identity to English language. But during the time of great Elizabethan period, one can see the influence of particular poets on the language. There is no chance of a question about the influence of William Shakespeare on English language. Shakespeare had introduced number of new words in English and established new syntax and semantic patterns. Shakespeare’s ‘blank verse’ is the most important of all his influence. Like William Shakespeare, John Milton, another great English poet also has contributed much to the vocabulary of English language.
The journal article entitled John Milton –our greatest word-maker gives a clear idea about Milton’s influence on the language. It says; “A new meaning for an existing word – he was the first to use space to mean “outer space”; a new form of an existing word, by making a noun from a verb or a verb from an adjective, such as stunning and literalism; negative forms, such as unprincipled.” (Crace). After the analysis of Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost one can find number of words used in a new meaning or new sense which were different from existing meaning. Milton made some changes in parts of speech in English, for example making some nouns from verbs and verbs from adjectives. He introduced number of new compounds and new words. The word ‘Pandemonium’ (Paradise Lost- John Milton) which means hell is an example for new word. Even Milton’s style is difficult, highly complicated but it is more beautiful and attractive in aesthetic level and Milton’s ‘grant style’ became highly popularized in English language.
Style of a particular poet can influence or change the language. Word order, use of vocabulary, use of literary devices, and choice of word meanings and language phrases of a poet play a significant role in the process of language variation. During the time of Neo-Classics (16th century English literature), number of Greek and Latin words and phrases reached in English language. Poets like John Dryden and Alexander Pope had expressed rationalism in their works and their languages. Exceeding use of synonyms, phonemic variations, and the Great Vowel Shift etc. are the major changes included into the language. One can see massive changes in the production of long vowels in English during fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Dryden had used number of disyllabic and polysyllabic words in his poems and these usages were too much difficult for the common people to understand. It is very easy to justify the statement that a poet can effect or change the language, when one analyses the arriving of Romanticism in to English literature. Eminent romantic poets like William Wordsworth, John Keats, S T. Coleridge and William Blake have contributed a simple and flexible English language. Wordsworth provided large number of simple words related with nature. Most of the romantic poets had portrayed the simple life of village people and they had developed a rhythmic language in their works. Wordsworth’s poems are easy and simple and are used to express what the poet has experienced and felt. In his work David Rosen clearly remarks the variety usage of English language. The author says: “Where eighteenth century prose, however plain, remains a creature of syntax, Wordsworth understands of the metrical line tilts the balance to discrete images and words.” (Rose , 39). Wordsworth’s language was free from complex structure and difficult words.
To conclude, one can infer that a number of poets have influenced English language and literature. Through various ages poets had introduced new word order, new words, usages and types of sentences in their works. Great poets like Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton and Wordsworth have contributed much to the language and played significant roles in the growth and formation of different words in English language.
Works Cited
Crace, John. John Milton – our greatest word-maker. Guardian.co.uk. 2009. Web.
Rose, David. Power, plain English, and the rise of modern poetry. Yale University Press. 2006. Web.