Bridging Formalism and Stylistics

A Dual Approach to Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14500/kujhss.v8n2y2025.pp652-664

Keywords:

Elizabeth Bishop, Leech’s Stylistic framework, One Art, Defamiliarization, Villanelle, Stylistic Choices

Abstract

The study explores Elizabeth Bishop's poem One Art (1976) using a bridged approach, combining Russian formalist theories and Geoffrey Leech's stylistic framework to provide a multifaceted analysis of the selected poem. This study aims to demonstrate that the poem’s true artistic value, arguing that a comprehensive understanding of the poem requires a combination of these approaches beyond solely lens analysis. Both approaches shed light on the text itself. Also, this study fills a gap in current literature, using a qualitative descriptive method, it offers an in-depth analysis of the text’s formal elements, such as defamiliarization, figurative language, and form integrated with stylistic elements like graphological, lexical, and discoursal levels, by giving a better understanding of both structure and emotional content. Based on the findings of this study, it has been determined that formalism and stylistics do not oppose but rather complement each other. It examined how fabula and syuzhet work together and focused on defamiliarization as the poem’s main impact. It revealed the villanelle structure and Bishop’s stylistic choices defamiliarize the experience of loss, revealing a complex struggle rather than mastery, and highlighting the use of formalist and stylistic analysis to confront human suffering.

 

 

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Author Biographies

Syako S. Shekho, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Soran University, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Syako S. Shekho holds a Master’s in English Literature from Brunel University London and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Soran University in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He is a lecturer at Soran University, teaching literary studies in the English Department. His research interests include colonial and postcolonial studies, cultural studies, literary genres, literary theory and criticism, gender studies, and nationalism.

Lanja O. Taha, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Soran University, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Lanja O. Taha is a graduate of Soran University's English Department, holding a BA in English Linguistics and Literature. She is currently an English educator at Dayik Private School- Soran for the 2025–2026 academic year. Her research interests include; Poetry analysis, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching, pragmatics, comparative Analysis, and combining different methodologies.

References

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Published

2025-12-24

How to Cite

Shekho, S. S. and Taha, L. O. (2025) “Bridging Formalism and Stylistics: A Dual Approach to Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘One Art’”, KOYA UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, 8(2), pp. 652–664. doi: 10.14500/kujhss.v8n2y2025.pp652-664.

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2025): Issue Fifteen

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Syako S. Shekho Shekho, Lanja O. Taha Taha

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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