The Stylistic Features of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from the Perspective of Corpus Stylistics

Abstract

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was Irish writer James Joyces first published novel. The novel tells the story of the protagonist Stephen grow from a little child to an artist. Although Joyce uses third-person narration in the novel, he describes the surrounding society from Stephens point of view everywhere. When Stephen grew up, his thoughts gradually matured, and he gradually changed from obedience to rebellion. The stylistic features of the novel also changed a lot in this process. Corpus stylistics is a scientific stylistic research method which combines qualitative research with quantitative research. With the support of corpus stylistics, the author studies and analyzes the stylistic changes in the novels during Stephens childhood, adolescence and youth, and explains the causes of the corresponding characteristics. Through profound analysis, the author finally draws the conclusion: With the growth of the protagonist, the vocabulary of the novel becomes increasingly difficult and rich, the use of sentence grammar gradually becomes mature, and the difficulty of the text gradually increases. The style of the novel is closely related to the growth of the characters and the theme of each stage.