Linguistic Parallelism in “La Belle Dame Sans Mercy” by John Keats and Urdu Poem “Husan ki Divy” by Shevan Rizvi

Abstract

Linguistic parallelism, the tendency of using similar forms together within a continuous discourse, is a very strong linguistic phenomenon in literature. Linguistic parallelism means the repetition of a syntactic construction in successive sentences for rhetorical effect. In Linguistics parallelism means the use of parallel or similar syntactical structure in a text. Parallelism can be practiced at different levels, i.e. from word to the sentence level. It is common in many languages around the globe. This research work demonstrates that “La Belle Dam Sans Merci” by John Keats and “Husan ki Divy” by Shevan Rizvi exhibit more similarities than differences with regard to this constraint. These two products of literary genius exhibit thematic affinity and formal congruity despite their production in regions separated by miles of land and water, in cultures lacking any shared values, and in languages having no common ancestry. This paper presents linguistic analysis of the two poems in terms of intra textual analysis of the English poem, intra textual analysis of the Urdu poem, and a comparative analysis of both the poems.