Yasar Ikram,

Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad.

(Lahore Campus)
 TOPIC

Stylistic Analysis of the given text

‘The Last Word’
by
A.R. Tabassum
 Contents
TOPIC PAGE #
ABSTRACT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Doctor A.R. Tabassum
3.2 Setting
3.3 Characters
3.4 A Bird’s Eye-view on “The Last Word”
4. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
4.1 Multi-clause Sentences
4.2 The Largest Sentence
4.3 Direct Narration
4.4 Interrogative Sentences
4.5 Negative Sentences
4.6 Imperative Sentences
4.7 Address Terms
4.8 Obligatory Sentences
4.9 Adjective and Adverb
5. STYLISTICS
6. WHAT IS STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
7. FIGURE OF SPEECH
8. MAJOR FIGURES OF SPEECH USED IN THIS ARTICLE
8.1 Allegory
8.2 Anaphora
8.3 Metaphor
8.4 Personification
8.5 Repetition
9. AND HOW THESE FEATURES ENHANCE MEANING
(STYLISTIC ANALYSIS-1)
9.1 Allegory
9.2 Anaphora
9.3 Alliteration
 9.4 Symbol/Metaphor
9.5 Personification
9.6 Rhyming
9.7 Repetition
10. DISCUSSION (STYLISTIC ANALYSIS-2)
10.1 Diction
10.2 Cohesion
10.3 Theme
10.4 Some unique explanations
10.5 Story in my words
11. FINDINGS AND INTERPRETITION
12. CONCLUSION
REFFERENCES
 ABSTRACT

This paper is about the stylistic analysis of an article ‘The Last

Word’ written by A.R. Tabassum. It was published in the daily
English paper The Dawn. An introduction to the writer Dr. A.R.
Tabassum is given followed by the introduction of characters and
the article ‘The Last Word’ as well. Introduction is followed by a
structural and statistical analysis. In which number of sentences
used in the article, their types and structure is discussed. Light is
also thrown on the writer’s word choice. Then Stylistics and
Stylistical Analysis are defined. Major stylistic features used in this
article and how these features enhance and manifest the writer’s
point of view are also discussed with citation. After that findings
are discussed in detail with appropriate examples from the given
article. In the end, before literature review a conclusion is given to
sum up the whole discussion.
 1. INTRODUCTION
Dr. Abdur Rehman Tabassum was one of the outstanding Pakistani
literary authorities. He has written dozens of articles especially short
stories. He wrote this story in an allegorical perspective as it deals with
dual meanings in parallel. Its theme is a mystic slogan “Die before
death”. Nine times use of ‘addressing term’ makes this story a speech
which is delivered by the head of some workmen who work in a garden.
The speaker has to leave the garden and his fellow workers. So, he
gathers them and delivers his farewell speech. It is narrated in a first
person narrative. The speaker is the protagonist. He not only speaks of
himself but also he is a spokes man of all other characters. He conveys
his fellow-workers’ thoughts and also conveys the words of his sweet-
heart. Generally, people are afraid of death but to the protagonist death
is beautiful like his beloved, it is a sweet-heart to him. His fellows are
afraid of his departure but he is confident of his success and believes
that man is he what he is. He should not fall a prey to inferiority complex
due to his apparent poor and devastated condition but he should be
proud of his real self. Recognition of self removes man’s fears and makes
him a brave, courageous and self-confident person.
 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Though, quantitative methodology is also used to perform structural and statistical analysis
but mainly Stylistical Analysis is focused as Research methodology. This story is narrated in
a first person narrative. The speaker is the protagonist. He is such a subtle and wise man that
he reads his listeners’ mind and conveys their words and thoughts to the reader. He is the
mouthpiece of all the characters in the story.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Doctor A.R. Tabassum
Dr. Abdur Rashid Tabassum was one of the outstanding literary
authorities. He was a professional journalist. He served as editor-in-chief
of fortnightly 'Inqalab-i-Nau'. He was the first winner of the Patras
Bokhari Award for English literature, instituted by the Pakistan Academy
of Literature. He is the author of more than three dozen books on diction
and poetry, all originally written in English, Persian and Urdu. Dr.
Tabassum was an old Ravian, who not only excelled in examinations but
also earned great fame as a poet, debater, public speaker and story writer
and won many prizes and medals at GC.

In English, the book, 'A Window to the East', by Dr Tabassum,

published by Vantage Press, New York, USA, was declared the best one
and thus the English Book Award, along with Rs. 20,000, was given to
the author by the President of Pakistan on Oct 6,1983.

He also served as secretary-general of the Pakistan-United Nations

Association. He was elected president of the Pakistan Federation of
Writers Associations, representing 52 cultural and literary organizations
from all over Pakistan.

3.2 Setting
The writer portrayed the scene of a garden, where many workmen of the garden are
gathered to listen to the speaker, who is the main character of the story. The sun is descending
and the dusk has begun to hold the atmosphere. The gardeners have left their tools, i.e. shovel,
basket and scythes. The protagonist is the speaker who himself has been one of the workmen
at the garden. But it seems that he is their leader or the senior man. And his time to depart is
at hand. He is addressing his successors and juniors for the last time. He is going to deliver
his final speech, ‘The last word’.
3.1 Characters
There are not many characters in the story. Whole the story is knitted with only three
characters. One is the protagonist who is the speaker, second is gardeners who are dealt as a
collective noun and posed singularly and the third character is “she”, the protagonist’s
“sweet-heart”. No character is given a name. All characters are anonymous. The protagonist
is delivering his farewell speech in a garden and his audience, the fellow workers, is very
much concerned with the fate of the protagonist.
3.4 A Bird’s Eye-view on “The Last Word”
‘The Last Word’ is a metaphorical masterpiece written by Dr. Abdur Rashid Tabassum. He
conveys the fact of life and death, which cannot be falsified, through the metaphor of garden and
‘she’. Its apparent as well as latent meaning and the writer’s portrayal of the scene are so
powerful that the reader cannot but appreciate. The protagonist’s last moment is close and he is
going to deliver his farewell speech to his fellow workers. He tells his audience that his sweet-
heart is calling him and his farewell cannot be postponed. The fellow- workers are greatly
concerned with the protagonist’s fate. Their concern is revealed through these words, “His body
is disfigured with bruises and wounds and his heart is bleeding. His hair is unkempt, his face is
not given a wash and his skin is sunburned.” They are afraid that, “He will not find favor with
her. She will reject him.” So they advised him not to go because they are scared of his failure in
front of his sweet-heart. But he is well confident of his love and success and he is determined to
go to her because his sweet-heart’s call cannot be over heard. He tells them that last night ‘she’
came to his room, appreciated his struggle and gives her consent to him. They look incredulous
and thought him mad. The protagonist intuits their thoughts and does not give weight to their
suggestion. He is sure to go.
4. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
The given text occupies 79 lines of different size consisting of 1 to 17 words. The whole
story comprises of 9 address terms and 65 sentences.
4.1 Multi-clause Sentences
The author uses long sentences which are multi-clause. These multi-clause sentences are
compound and complex both.
4.1 The Largest Sentence
The largest sentence has 6 clauses, “During the last watches of the last night while lying in
my dark room I could not sleep, for my wounds pained, my heart ached, and despair made my
face the agony of death.”
4.2 Direct Narration
For the 3 times the author used direct narration; firstly and secondly both, when he interprets
the whispering of his fellow- workers “Some of you are pointing your finger toward me and
saying in despair, ….”and thirdly, while repeating his sweet-heart’s words, “Then she smiled
and said to me …”
4.3 Interrogative Sentences
There are 3 interrogative sentences which are in a consecutive sequence. And all three
questions begin with the question word “why”; why have you dropped …?, why has sweat
suddenly …?, and why have you turned pale?
4.4 Negative Sentences
There are 9 negative sentences, 1 is spoken by the fellow-gardeners, “he should not go”, 4 by
the protagonist, “worry you not”, “I could not sleep”, “don’t wink at each other”, “I was
never a wayward”, and other 4 by “she”, the sweet-heart, “I could not scan”, “could not
gauge”, “could not hear the beats”, “could not feel the bruises”.
4.5 Imperative Sentences
There are 6 imperative sentences. “Take up your scythes and get to work”, “he should not
go” (suggestion), “worry you not”, “come to me before the sun of morrow sets”, “come to
me and get the wage of your love” and the last sentence “Now come and bid me farewell with
a smile”.
4.6 Address Terms
For the 9 times, the speaker uses address terms. 5 times he uses “Mates and friends!”, 3
times he addresses the flowers, “O rose!”, “O tulip!” and “O narcissus!”, and once “O
beauties of the garden”.
4.7 Obligatory Sentences
There are 6 sentences exhibiting obligation; in 5 sentences “must” is used and only 1 has
“have to”.
4.8 Adjective and Adverb
This type of stories is abundant with adjectives and adverbs but there are only 38 adjectives
and 14 adverbs used in this short story.
5. STYLISTICS
“General stylistics deals with the whole range of non-dialectal varieties encountered within a
language: literary stylistics deals with the variations characteristic of literature as a genre and
of the ‘style’of individual authors.”
[David Crystal], A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell 1985
“The study of literature from a linguistic viewpoint; the application to the study of literature
of ideas drawn from linguistics.
[Brumfit and Roberts, Language and Language teaching, Batsford 1983]
The study of the distinctive styles found in particular literary genres and in the works of
individual writers. (English Oxford Living Dictionary)
6. WHAT IS STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
Stylistic analysis in linguistics refers to the identification of patterns of usage in speech and
writing. Stylistic analysis in literary studies is usually made for the purpose of commenting on
quality and meaning in a text.
Widdowson (1975) defines it as “the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation”.
According to Short and Candlin (1989) stylistics is an approach to the analysis of literary texts
using linguistic description.

7. FIGURE OF SPEECH
Figures of speech are a very important method of communication in our society. They
specify between different shades of meaning and give more accurate descriptions. Some
examples of common figures of speech include the simile, metaphor, pun, personification,
hyperbole, understatement, paradox and oxymoron. It may be a word or phrase that has a
meaning other than the literal meaning. It can be a metaphor or simile that's designed to further
explain a concept. Or it can be the repetition of alliteration or exaggeration of hyperbole to give
further emphasis or effect.
8. MAJOR FIGURES OF SPEECH USED IN THIS ARTICLE
Major figures of speech used in this article are Allegory, Anaphora, Alliteration, Metaphor and
Personification,

8.1 Allegory

An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning. First, there's the surface of the story. You
know, the characters and plot and all that obvious stuff. Then there's the symbolic level, or the
deeper meaning that all the jazz on the surface represents.

8.2 Anaphora

Anaphora is a technique where several phrases (or verses in a poem) begin with the same word
or words.

8.3 Metaphor

Metaphor compares two unlike things or ideas.

8.4 Personification

Personification is giving human qualities to non-living things or ideas.

8.5 Repetition
Repetition is the re-occurrence of something that has already been said or written.

9. AND HOW THESE FEATURES ENHANCE MEANING

9.1. Allegory
It is an allegorical story as there are two levels of sense. Apparently, a gardener is
delivering his farewell speech. His speech is too impressive and beautiful to be delivered by a
gardener. But anyway speaker, the gardener, is informing his fellow-gardeners about his
departure, advising them to pick up their tools and work to keep the garden in order. He also
tells them about his sweet-heart.
Latently, in disguise of metaphors he talks about world, the last moments of man, death,
and the journey in the life after death. Garden, tools, flowers, and beloved everything has
hidden meaning in it. For the world the metaphor of garden is used, and the death is his
sweetheart. Rising sun denotes beginning and growth of life whereas descending sun is the
symbol of the time close to death.
9.2. Anaphora

There are many examples of anaphora can be found in the story; here is my shovel, here
is my basket, here is my dusty shirt. Why have you dropped your scythes …?, why has
sweat suddenly dried …?, why have you turned pale? His body is disfigured …, his heart
is bleeding, his hair are unkempt, his face in not given a wash and his skin is sunburned.,
I moaned, I screamed, could not scan the dust on your face, could not gauge the depth of
your wounds, could not hear the beats … and could not feel the bruises you had. She
paused, she pondered., O rose!, O tulip!, O narcissus, and O beauties of the garden.
9.3. Alliteration
Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent
or closely connected words. Alliteration can also be found in the text. Some of the
examples are as under;
here is my dusty shirt smeared with sweat and dirt.’ ‘Why has sweat dried suddenly
on your forehead?’ ‘During the last watches of the last night while lying in my dark
room….’ ‘Then she smiled and said to me:’ ‘You are exactly what I wanted you to be.’
‘….the nightingale sang a sweet and melodious song. ‘………beauty of my man .
‘……the lovely drops of dew…… “And the dark and stormy night is drawing
nigh…….’
9.4. Symbol/Metaphor
Metaphor is to compare two unlike things or ideas. The vivid example of metaphor is “O
rose! You are the queen…” A symbol is a figure of speech where an object, person, or
situation as another meaning other than its literal meaning. This story is a fantastic
master piece of symbolic writing. It is full of symbols, the list of the symbols is given
below with the objects or ideas they symbolize.

Symbol/Metaphor Symbolizes
The world, where man lives
The garden
The creator of the world, the owner of the world
The gardener
The struggle and hard-work man does his whole life
Shovel
Earnings, achievements, profits, wages of life’s work
Basket
His self, soul, that is heavy with the struggle of life
Shirt
Death, eternity
Sweet-heart
Little works
Scythes
 Run out of energy, exhausted
Turn pale
Perfect and true love, royalty
Tulip
Balance, promise, joy, hope and new beginning
Rose
Re-birth and the new beginning
Narcissus
Evils, culprits, sins, wickedness, immorality
Weeds
To remove evils, sins, wickedness, immorality, etc.
Pruning
To cherish, to look after
Watering
Time near to death
Dusk
Life before death
Day-light
Little emotional injuries or failures
Bruises
The losses, despair, grief, big sorrows, deprivations
Wounds
Loosing energy
Bleeding heart
Long life after death, life in grave
Long path
Grown old, feeble, weak, tired of life’s work
Clattering bones
Responsibilities or obligations of life in this world
Heavy loads
The whole life
All the day
Strong and brave man
Man
Before death
Before the sunset
A good news
Melodious song
New beginning, balance, true and mature love,
Beauties of the garden
None to guide, no light-house, no signs
Dark night
Common men
Gardeners

9.5. Personification
Personification is giving human qualities to non-living things or ideas. The writer very
skillfully used this figure of speech too. Examples are:
My sweet-heart (death or eternity) has called me back…, The wind howled tauntingly…, the
storm thundered at me…, wrapped in the darkness of night…, the lovely drops of dew
beckoned me to follow them…,
9.6. Rhyming Scheme
Though, it’s not a piece of poetry but it has such a beautiful rhyming scheme that the
reader becomes confuse, he has to ponder many times to decide that either it is prose or
poetry. Examples are:
Here is my dusty shirt
smeared with sweat and dirt,
finish your work
before dusk
You heave a sigh
Night is drawing nigh
Heavy loads he carried all the day
certainly he will perish on his way
I moaned.
I screamed.
Felt with her hand
all the bruises I had,
She paused
She pondered,
then she smiled and said to me
You are exactly what I wanted to be,
I loved beauty as a whole
I sang the songs of you all,
tulips are to be cleared of weeds
the bushes of rose need,
some of you are pointing your finger
toward me and saying in despair.
9.7. Repetition
Repetition is the re-occurrence of something that has already been said or written. A lot
of the examples of repetition are found in the story. As repetition is used to emphasize
something or to manifest the importance of something, the author abundantly used the
technique. He used many words, phrases and clauses. The most prominent phrase that is
repeated six times is Mates and friends. The clauses and phrases occurred repeatedly are,
My sweet-heart has called me back, I must depart from you, I am disfigured, hear is my
…, aching heart, heart beats, come to me, depth of wounds, dust on face or head, disfigured
body, scythes, sweat, bruises, wounds, sobbed, dust, face, ominously, bush, tulip, rose,
narcissus, garden, despair, sweet-heart, and many more.
10. LITERARY DISCUSSION
10.1. Diction
The author used emotive diction mostly, to arouse empathy for the protagonist. Some of
the emotive words and phrases used in the article are; dusty shirt, smeared with sweat and
dirt, disfigured body, wounds, bruises, bleeding heart, unkempt hair, unwashed face,
sunburned skin, heaved a sigh, dark and stormy night, long dreadful path, he is tired and
worn, bones clatter, heavy loads carried all the day, could not sleep, wounds pained, ached
heart, despair, agony of death, screamed, sighed, sobbed, face and head covered with dust,
etc.
10.2. Cohesion
Apart from coherence, cohesion runs through-out the story. Matchless cohesion depicts
the whole story as one single thought. Each word, each phrase, each clause and each sentence
is perfectly placed and conveys the thought hidden behind it perfectly. The reader is,
unconsciously, caught into the net weaved by the author.
10.3. Theme
Its theme is “Die before death”. It is a slogan related to mystic Sufis. They believe that, to
find out the eternal truth man should die before death. He should diminish his self to Lord’s
consent. It is the key to eternal success in this world and the world hereafter.
10.4. Some unique explanations
“Why has sweat suddenly dried on your forehead?”
Sweat dried suddenly because they were shocked to hear the news of their senior man’s
departure. They were wonderstruck and left their work at once, their body temperature fell
suddenly and the sweat on their forehead dried suddenly.
“My sweet-heart has called me back”.
“Called me back”, shows that firstly he had been there in the past. Then he was sent to the
world. World is not actually a place to home permanently. And now he has been called back
to his actual home again.
 “I must go to her as I am”
Man cannot and should not falsify the reality. he should face and accept the reality. He
should be proud of what he is.
“and forced her way into the room.”
Death is powerful, death cannot be stopped, and death makes his way whatever the
circumstances are. One likes or not, one wishes or not, death has to come, no one can stop it.
“the lovely drops of the dew, beckoned me to follow them to her and then they
ominously left the bush”.
The life of dew drops is very short, after a while they fall down to the earth, absorbed into the
earth and lose their identity. “They, beckoned man to follow them to go to her”, means they
ask man to remove his identity, his proud and his self and bow to God. This is the eternal
success. An Urdu poet says,
Mita de apni hasti ko agar kuch martaba chahe
Ke daana khaak me mil kr gul o gulzar hota ha

11. FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION

It is one of the best allegorical stories as it deals with two levels at a time. Its vivid meaning
is not hard to understand for any reader. But at the pragmatic level it ranges far beyond its
apparent diction and meaning. Every object mentioned, every word spoken and every feeling
expressed is symbolic and has deeper metaphorical sense. The prospect that is portrayed, is of a
garden which symbolizes the world where man lives, works, earns, makes relations and friends,
loves, hankers after the worldly needs and gets tired in the end. Shovel, scythes, dust, dirt and
sweat, symbolize hard-work and the struggle that man does to fulfill the demands of life in this
world. Basket means the achievements, reward, prize, honour, benefit, profit, loss, consequences
and outcomes of his life’s work. Dusk, sunlight and night denote different phases of man’s life.

Workmen at the garden have given up their work and left their tools i.e. shovel, basket and
scythes and are gathered in the garden attend to the speaker, who is the protagonist, who has
received call from the death, his last moments are close and he is going to have a last meeting
talk with his fellow workers. Just like Emily Dickinson who says in her poem “Because I could
not stop for death”,
Because I could not stop for death –

He kindly stopped for me –,

to the protagonist the call of death is not dreadful thing as he calls it her sweet-heart. He, many
times, repeats “my sweet-heart has called me back.” Then he throws light on this universal truth
that people come and go but it doesn’t make any difference to the routine-wise flow of the
world,… “Many of our mates and friends have departed from time to time but we kept the
garden in order”. “You will do the same when I am gone”, he advises his successors to work
hard to keep the garden in order. Arrival and departure of none disturbs the world. “The tulip are
to be cleared of weeds” he says, true love has to be secluded from false and immature love, “the
bushes of the rose need pruning”, symmetry and balance needs to be reviewed, rules are to be
reconsidered, “the bed of narcissus requires watering”, new beginning has to be cherished and
looked after. “The gardener is hard to please”, it is very hard to get consent of God. We work the
whole life but even then we are not sure that either we are successful or fail. He is ready to
depart but his fellows thought of his apparent pitiable condition. They thought him disfigured,
bruised and wounded. They are doubtful about his success but he is sure of it as he says, “Worry
you not if the way is long …”. He is determined to leave the garden. Moreover, he tells them his
meeting with his sweet-heart the last night. In the beginning, when she peeped through the
window and couldn’t see his bruises, wounds, dust on his face, she was annoyed and sad as she
thought he had failed her but afterward, when she forced into his dark room and felt his bruises
and wounds, listened to the throbs of his aching heart and scanned the dust on his face and head,
she smiled, became pleased and showered her aspiration on him and declared him ‘his man’ and
says, “Wounds, bruises, dust on the head and face and aching heart are the beauty of my man”,
and she becomes eager to see him soon and says, “Come to me before the sun of morrow sets. I
want to see all this in the daylight”. In the end he addresses the beauties of the world, ‘balance,
which is the pivot of the world’ … “O rose”, ‘true, sincere and mature love’ … “O tulip”, and the
new beginning … “O narcissus” and says to them “I have always loved and worshipped you all”.
Then he asks his fellows, “Now come and bid me farewell with a smile”.

12. CONCLUSION
The story “The Last Word” by Dr. A.R. Tabassum, is a fantastic piece of allegorical prose. Its
diction is emotive, sentences are very long and of several types. Its apparent story is typical but
metaphorically hidden meaning is matchless and contains a very impressive and moving story. A
reader cannot stop but praising. The author’s use of figurative language is impressively fabulous.
Use of alliteration, symbols, metaphor, repetition, personification, allegory, and rhyming scheme
is matchless. The author, very skillfully, placed each word, phrase, clause and sentence in its best
place. He also skillfully described his characters and their narrative too. Repetition is prominent
in the article and is very effective. It, rightly, can be called a rhetorical master-piece of prose.

REFFERENCES
1. MUNAWAR S. KHALID “Doctor A.R. Tabassum remembered”

The Dawn, November 02, 2009. Lahore

2. [David Crystal], A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell 1985
3. [Brumfit and Roberts, Language and Language teaching, Batsford 1983]
4. Widdowson (1975)
5. Short and Candlin (1989)
6. Stylistic Analysis of the Short Story ‘The Last Word’ by Dr. A. R. Tabassum
Abdul Bari Khan University of Lahore (Sargodha Campus), Pakistan. Madiha Ahmad
(Corresponding author) University of Lahore (Sargodha Campus), Pakistan, Sofia
Ahmad University of Lahore (Sargodha Campus), Pakistan, Nida Ijaz University of
Lahore (Sargodha Campus), Pakistan.