Speech Act Analysis Of Conversation Poems

Two levels of performativity can be found in a conversation poem as a special form of conversation. At a macro level, the poet does things with a poem and at a micro level the speaker in the poem does things with words. Because of these two levels of performativity, the conversation poem usually embodies certain pragmatic features, which can be best illuminated if analyzed within the framework of speech act theory, rather than within that of conventional literary criticism.Speech act theory centers on the performativity of utterances, which means saying is doing. Though it has been extensively used in the interpretation of poetry,focus is given almost exclusively to the speech act analysis of the performativity of poetic language, the illocutionary force and perlocutionary effect of poetic content.Few scholars have tried to interpret the pragmatic features of conversation poems from the perspective of speech act theory. For this reason, this thesis attempts to make an investigation into the pragmatic features of conversation poems by analyzing, as a case study, the most typical conversation poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”within the theoretical framework joining Searle’s speech act theory and Van Dijk’s concepts of macro and micro speech acts. The focus of this analysis will concentrate,at macro and micro levels, on the interpretation of the illocutionary force and perlocutionary effect of the poem.Two pragmatic features are found in the speech act analysis of the conversation poem of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. At the macro level, the whole poem is a speech act performed by the poet to realize his major intention of persuading his readers to revere life and to respect God. The perlocutionary effect of the poem indicates that the illocutionary force has been accepted by certain readers and influenced their behaviors. At the micro level, the speech acts of the speaker fulfill thefunction of persuasion that leads to some didactic and interpersonal effects. The mariner as the main speaker attempts to maintain his authority and dominate the conversation. Each of his speech acts may differ in the illocutionary force but makes contributions to the realization of his intention of persuasion. The guest as the main listener, after realizing the speaker’s strong desire for speech, keeps silent in the conversation for the most time. His silence gives the speaker freedom to express himself and demonstrates the interpersonal effect of the speaker’s utterances. At the completion of the conversation, the guest undergoes some changes both in his mentality and his behaviors, which bespeaks the didactic effect of the speaker’s utterances.The speech act analysis of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” as a case study can enrich the speech act theory itself and in the meantime expand the scope of its application. On the other hand, it can also make some contribution to the pragmatic studies of conversation poems and offer some insights for future studies of conversation poems.