STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF PSALM 8

Mae Diadame Tanesa

Stylistics and Discourse Anayis

South Philippine Adventist College

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyse Psalms 8 by King David of Israel from the perspective of

stylistics and analysis. The analysis is made under the aspects of phonology, graphology and

lexico-semantics to provide an interpretation to the poem objectively. He uses multiple literary

devices to enhance the aesthetic side of poetry along with the message he was trying to convey.

In these Psalms David pour out his heart, expressing his most profound and pure trust alone in

God. One of the primary themes recurring at some point of the book of Psalms including Psalms

8 is God’s remarkable Power. Psalm 8 is the eight psalm in the Book of Psalms and was known

because the beginning and ending of the psalm suggest that it is essentially a hymn of praise. The

studies have been conducted also on strategies for students and teachers to help them improve

their stylistic analysis. It also helps analyze the structure and style of King David’s poetry and

his themes, views and treatment of the nature.

Keywords: stylistic analysis, style, avenger, suckling

1
 INTRODUCTION

Style

The word style is derived from "stylus" in Latin which means "writing with anything." St

yle is the principal feature of any literary piece which helps an authors to present their ideas by

selecting words, vocabulary, literary instruments, and certain strategies for improving the tone

(Ashraf, 2015). It contributes to establish the identity of writer, poet and novelist as well. Thus,

Style is immediate and obvious. It exists in the writing itself; it is the sum of the actual words,

sentences, paragraphs. Style is therefore a medium whereby writer is identified with his

philosophy. According to Bradford (2013), style is the man himself and Riffaterre (1959) further

explained it by defining style as the way in which the author guarantees that the readers not only

absorb the information supplied by concepts, ideas and thoughts in the literary work but

appreciate the author's beliefs and opinions about it.

Style is the distinguishing factor that placed a poet in a prestigious spot in the field of

literature. Leech and Short (1981) define style as ‘it refers to the way in which language is used

in a given context, by a given person, for a given purpose, and so on”. Style is a way in which

the author writes his ideas. It is a unique fashion to express the author’s message, to preserve

mood and picture. Style is the poet’s special way of sending messages and using semantics and

syntactic or lexical elements to convey abstract thoughts and feelings. Nevertheless, style varies

from person to person and context to context of the same person (Whales, 1983). Mugair and

Abbas (2016) agree with this by stating that style of writer often varies from work to work; there

is usually enough uniformity in one’s article to allow the readers to notice that this overall style

differs from the other’s style. In other words, style attempts to draw attention to the characteristic

or peculiar use of language in a specific text, author or period. Furthermore, Whales (1983)

2
explains that it is the explanation of the same picture with the same theme but in different unique

ways. So, it is important to study style to comprehend the writing of any author.

Stylistics

Writers write to express and share ideas and thoughts but more importantly they aim to

expound the ways words designate meaning, the manner readers create meanings and the reasons

readers respond to meanings. Stylistics is branch of applied linguistics concerned with the study

of style in texts. Stylistics is coined from the word style and linguistics. Stylistics is the study of

the devices and terms writers use to create powerful and beautiful literary art and pay attention to

the unique usage of language and subtle ways the objectives e and effects are presented in a

literary piece. (Verdonk, 2002). Stylistics analysis is interpretation of literary style by giving

objective and scientific commentary using quantifiable information and approaches in the

systematic way. The stylistics analysis is commonly deals on the traits of the text phonologically,

lexically, grammatically or semantically. Thus, the majority of the style analysis concentrate on

the literary works. In interpreting literature, stylistics analysis in literary studies is usually made

for the purpose of commenting the quality and meaning in the text. Moreover, stylistics analysis

sharpen the understanding and deep appreciation of literary composition and according to

Carter (1996) it is a “way in” to a text as it ushers the means to a detailed and insightful

interpretation texts.

The aim of stylistics is not only to describe the formal elements of texts , but also to show

the functional importance for the text interpretation; or to show the relation of literary text to

linguistic effects where these are considered relevant (Khan, Raffique and Sadiqque, 2014).

Studies of style improve literary awareness and appreciation. To achieve a particular effect or

purpose, literary works use various devices and the tools are typically reflecting the work’s

3
theme. However, different readers have different understanding used in the literature works. In

the process of discussion, a new understanding of the works begins to emerge as a more coherent

description emerges. The stylistic study can sharpen the understanding and appreciation of

literary works (Mugair and Abbas, 2016).

Introduction to Psalm 8

The Psalms are hymn to the All Powerful God, Creator of the universe. They speak

highly of the goodness and grace of God, strength and justice of Christ. In these Psalms David

pour out his heart, expressing his most profound and pure trust alone in God. Its authorship is

traditionally assigned to King David. According to the biblical narrative, David was the second

king in the ancient Kingdom of Israel who helped to establish the everlasting throne of God.

Former shepherd, David was known for his zeal for Christ, his touching psalms and musical

abilities, his inspiring bravery and skills in battle, his good looks. Like Psalms 81 and 84, this

psalm opens with a direction to the chief musician to perform upon the gittith, which either refers

to a musical instrument, a style of performance, or alludes to persons and places in biblical

history (Merrill, 1985).  “To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David”

is the title of the verse. It indicates the audience of the Psalm (the Chief Musician), the author of

the Psalm (of David) and the sound of the Psalm (the instrument of Gath). In this Psalm David

speaks of the glory of God, and how the glory of man and his destiny reflects upon God.

Though the bulk of the psalm describes man and his dominion over the universe, the first

and last verses make clear to the reader that the psalm was written primarily to exalt the Creator.

The speaker of this poem, as a conscious being, believes mankind to be entitled to rule over all

things, a right granted by God's own authority. Not just by discussing man's right to rule over the

domesticated animals and the "beasts of the woods" at the time of his writing, he asserts rights

4
over all creature species mankind had not yet managed to control those still flocking or

swimming (Merrill, 1985). The psalm does not question if it is the will of God to reign over the

world for mankind, but is presumed the right without any further inquiry. This psalm reflects the

ongoing struggle of mankind to recognize its meaning, to see where it blends into the great

works of God and the failure of the common life on earth. The reason is, people are "just a little

lower than angels and "crowned" with "glory and honor. Psalm 8 is the eight psalm in the Book

of Psalms and was known because the beginning and ending of the psalm suggest that it is

essentially a hymn of praise. 

Theme

One of the primary themes recurring at some point of the book of Psalms including

Psalms 8 is God’s remarkable Power. On this specific poem, the primary stanza sings

approximately of God’s greatness and glory. The praise continue at full strength, and even if in

the succeeding verse mentioned the enemies are given power, does not lessen His sovereignty

toward His creature. It is considerable that the power that God ordains, or decrees in the world

comes out of the people (Merill, 1985). It would be impossible for God to have enemies who are

more effective than Himself, due to the fact God is omnipotent, however this poem accepts the

enemies of God as people who ought to oppose Him by using swaying humans’ minds, by means

of turning the human race towards Him. Furthermore, God consequently credited here with

instilling humans with an innate experience of His glory, with a sense of Him already within

“babes and sucklings”. The enemies of God are therefore stopped with the aid of human beings

worship Him (Merrill, 1985)

In psalm 8, repetition of words and phrases are visible. It should be remembered that the

repetition of a certain phrases increases the rhythm of the verses. In other word, the syllable

5
stresses not only fall into a particular pattern, but also the words themselves repeat to make

harmonic sound. The term “of the” is three times present in verse 8, giving the passage a

pleasing sound, a little bit like a chant and it adds color and meaning to the verse. Psalm 8

actually makes a different between natural things and the things that can be done by humans,

however this psalm glorifies human superiority rather than a lament for the old time when human

beings hadn’t been in control of nature.

Level of Stylistics Analysis

The following are the levels of stylistics, we analyze the text according to these level.

1. Phonological Level: Refer to how sounds is organized to mean. Sound pattering

functions linguistically in poetry to project a poet’s purpose or concerns in a work.

2. Graphological Level: It is the analogous study of a language‘s writing system.

Graphology means the arrangement of words based on their meanings.

3. The Lexical level: It is the study of the way in which individual words and idioms tend

to pattern in different linguistic context; on the semantics level in terms of stylistics.

Semantics: It deals with meaning. The meaning of a word, phrase, sentences or text. It is

to propose exact meaning which lead to readers to believe a word has many possible

meanings.

4. Syntactic Level: At this level, just like any other level of language descrption, significant

statements of meaning can be made based on the observation of the choices that a

writer/speaker has made and the genre of literature and the peculiarities of the text

involved.

6
 1. PHONOLOGICAL LEVEL

1.1 Alliteration

King David used alliteration, a literary device in which a series of word begin with the

same consonant sounds. In Psalms 8, alliteration can be seen in verses 2 and 4. In verse 2 it says

“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,

that thou mightiest still the enemy and the avenger”. The sound effect created by the selection of

words gives the reader a view that God is consequently credited here with instilling humans with

an innate experience of His glory, with a sense of him already within “babes and suckling.” The

enemies of God are therefore stopped with the aid of human beings worshipping him. Another

evidence that the author used alliteration is in verse 4, it says, “What is man, that thou art

mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”, This verse emphasizes the

insignificance of man and how big is the Lord, but amidst his greatness He still cared and e his

mindful of His creation.

1.2 Assonance

Assonance is the reiteration of the vowel sound in a verse of poetry. It is used to create a

harmonious and pleasant effect. In the 2nd verse the reiteration of “o” in out, mouth, and thou; in

verse 3, consider, work and ordained; also in verse 5, lower, glory and honour. On the other

hand, the “a” sound is also reiterated in Psalms 8, in verse stars and hast; in verse in verse 8

passeth and path.

1.3 Consonance

It is the repetition of consonant sounds within a sentence or phrase. Consonance creates a

melodious affect to the poem. The repetition of “r” in fingers and stars in verse 3 and son and

man in verse 4.

7
 1.4 Tone modulation

Tone modulation is present in a piece when the author started a line with a question. This way

the writer will catch the attention of the reader and make them think:

Verse 4: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest

him?

2. GRAPHOLOGICAL LEVEL

2.1 Capitalization

Capitalization helps the readers easily identify key words, and impacts their

comprehension because it emphasize the importance of the words. Further, capitalization

indicates the significance of the words in the ideas and messages of the poem. To give emphasis

on the word “LORD” the letter are all capitalize in verse 1. In the same verse, “O” and another

“Lord” is capitalize. “Out” is capitalize in verse 2, “When” in verse 3, “What” in verse 4, “For”

in verse 5, “Thou” verse 6, “All” in verse 7, “The” in verse 8 and another “O”, “LORD” ,“Lord”,

is capitalize. Therefore, capitalization highlight important words and main idea of a poem.

2.2 Punctuation

Punctuation is an aid in creating drama, emphasizing feelings and adding meaning. It

used primarily for grammatical correctness. The punctuation allows a pause to think about the

ideas and to place an emphasis to both ideas that are separated by the comma.

Comma. In this chapter of Psalm there are 9 verses. In verse 1and 2 have one comma, verse 3

have three, verse 4 have two, verse 5 have one , verse 7 and 8 have two, and verse 9 have one.

Commas are appropriately placed to connect two or more contrasting or continuing ideas or a

series of ideas.

8
Exclamation. The exclamation point is used to express surprise, amazement and excitement and

other powerful emotions. Verse 1 and 9 contains exclamation point to express the author

adoration and praise to the Lord. According to Quackenbush and Quackenbush (2019),

exclamation point ends the line of the stanza, indicating emphasis of the message of the entire

poem.

Colon and Semi-colon. Colon is used chiefly to direct attention to a matter like a list,

explanation or quotation while semi-colon is used to separate two major parts in a sentence and

to separate items in a series if the items contains comma. The semi colon is used as a half full

stop compared to the period which is a full stop. In Psalms 8, it contains 3 semi-colon,

specifically located in verses 3, 6 and 7. On the other hand, the chapter consist of only one colon

at the end of verse 6.

Period. Period is used to indicate a full stop in a sentence to show finality and completeness of

statement. This poem contains 4 periods all placed at the end of each verse. Periods are located

in verses 1, 2, 5 and 8.

Question Mark. It is used after a direct question or to indicate that something is uncertain. It

sometimes conveys a feeling of doubt and uncertainty. Verse 4 consists two question marks, to

emphasize that the author is wondering and questioning how an All-powerful God, creator of all

things can give so much care and compassion to insignificant humans. This technique catches the

attention of the reader making them wonder and question themselves.

3. LEXICO-SEMANTICS
9
 3.1 Lexical Relations

Lexical Relations is the semantic field theory which holds that the meaning represented in the

lexicon are interrelated because they cluster together to from fields of meaning which in turn

metamorphose to a larger field of entailment (Ajulo, 1994).

Synonyms. A word that has the same meaning as another word in the same language. It can also

be phrase that very strongly suggest a particular idea or quality. In Verse, there mentioned babes

and sucklings which meanings are synonymous. Similarly, in verse 2, the word enemy and

avenger is used. Looking into the context it either means someone who hates or harm another. At

the same time in verse 5, glory and honour shared the same meaning which is respect and praise

that is given to the Lord.

Antonyms. A word with a meaning that is opposite to the meaning of another word. This is to

suggest oppositeness. Looking into the whole chapter, the author didn’t used any contrasting

words.

Hyponymy. It is the relation inclusion. The writer used several hyponymy in this chapter. For

instance, “firmament” have a co-hyponyms: moon and stars. Similarly, “animals” have a co-

hyponyms: sheep, oxen, fish and fowl.

3.2 Denotative Meaning

It refers to the conceptual meaning of a word. It is the plain or central meaning of a word. It is

the type of meaning that is easily expressed in terms of feature of the components. The following

are the observed denotation in Psalm 8.

Babes: a very young child

Sucklings: a young unweaned animals

Strength: physically strong

10
Enemy: someone who hates another

Crowned: to put a crown on

Heavens (verse 1): the place where God lives

Passeth through the paths of the sea: those who travel and cross the sea including sea vessels

Excellent: very good

Dominion: the power to rule

Earth: the planet

3.3 Connotative Meaning

Connotative meaning is a kind of additional, suggestive, personal or cultural meaning.

Connotation point to the associative or figurative dimension of word meanings. The following

are the connotative meaning of the listed words above.

Babe: Vulnerable

Sucklings: Weak

Strength: An innate experience of His glory

Enemy: Satan

Crowned: Give authority and respect

Heavens: Creations

Excellent: All-powerful

Passeth through the paths of the sea: all sea creature

Dominion: work, responsibility

Earth: Creations

3.4 Figure of Speech

11
Hyperbole. Hyperbole is the exaggeration of detail to render truth. The example of hyperbole

can be seen in verse 5, “hast crowned him with glory and honour”. The author here is trying to

explain how God have given man respect and authority toward His creation. Similar case in

verse 6, “thou hast put all things under his feet” which signifies that man responsible to take care

of God’s works.

Synecdoche. A figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole. For example, “a fowl of the

air” for bird and “beast of the field” for four-legged animals.

4. SYNTACTIC LEVEL

4.1 The Group

A group or a phrase is a grammatically coherent word without a subject and a finite verb,

unless it is verbal group. In English the nominal group has (M) H (Q) structure. The most

important word in the group is the “head (H)”. The following below are the example:

The fowl of the air

M H Q

The beast of the field

M H Q

4.2 The Clause

It is defined as group of grammatically coherent words with a subject and finite verb.

Below is the example:

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings/hast thou ordained strength.

4.3 The Sentence

It is the highest or the largest of the grammatical units mentioned at the beginning of the

unit. Sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.

12
Complex sentences. Two ideas or statement are linked in such a way that one is subordinate to

the others.

“For thou hast made him a little lower than angel, and hast crowned him with glory and

honour.”

Compound-complex sentence. It combine both the feature of compound and complex.

“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine

enemies, that thou mightiest still the enemy and avenger.”

CONCLUSION

Psalms 8 is indeed proves about God’s remarkable power. It is beautifully written

by King David to express his praise and honor to the Lord. In this Psalm David speaks of the

glory of God, and how the glory of man and his destiny reflects upon God. Though the bulk of

the psalm describes man and his dominion over the universe, the first and last verses make clear

to the reader that the psalm was written primarily to exalt the Creator. The speaker of this poem,

as a conscious being, believes mankind to be entitled to rule over all things, a right granted by

God's own authority. Furthermore, the elements and the level of Stylistic Analysis used by the

author added more flavor and meaning to the pieces. Stylistic Analysis explores the deeper

meaning off the text making the readers appreciate more the message of the piece. In conclusion,

stylistics analysis can show how the linguistic features of a poem are directly related to meaning

and it highlight elements of the poem that contributes to the appreciation of its form and

language. Although it is written centuries ago, it is still relevant in today’s time and can still be

understood through looking into its elements.

13
 References
Ajulo, E. (1994). Investigation Lexis in English: Problems of Theory and Pedagogy. Ibadan:

Stirling-Horden Publishers.

Ashraf, A. (2015). Representation of Death in Poems of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost: A

Stylistic Analysis Because I could not Stop for Death.

Bradford, R. (2013). Stylistics. Routledge.

Carter, R. (1996). Look both ways bedore crossing: developments in the language and literature

classroom. In R. Carter and J. McRae (Eds.), Language, Literature & the Learner:

Creative classroom practice (pp. 1-15). London: Longman

Khan, A. B., Raffique, S., & Saddique, G. (2014). Stylistic Analysis Of The Poem" The Onset"

By Robert Frost. European Journal of Language Studies Vol, 1(2).

Mugair, S. K., & Abbas, A. J. (2016). A Stylistic Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s the Nightingale and

the Rose. International Journal of Social Sciences & Education, 6(4), 389-395.

Collins, B. S., & Mees, I. M. Practical Phonetics and Phonology: A Resource Book for Students

(routledge English Language Introductions).

Quackenbush, K. C., Quackenbush, D. A., Epe, P. K. C., & Epe, P. I. T. C. (2019). Stylistics

analysis of sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. IJAR, 5(5), 233-237.

Riffaterre, M. (1959). Criteria for style analysis. Word, 15(1), 154-174.

Wales, K. (1993). Teach yourself rhetoric: an analysis of Philip Larkin’s “Church Going”.

Verdonk (ed.), 87–99.

Merrill, H. (1985). "Numbers," The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, ed. John F.

Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1985), 215.

14
 APPENDIX

Psalm 8 King James Version (KJV)

8 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the
heavens.
2 
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained;
4 
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and
honour.
6 
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under
his feet:
7 
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the
seas.
9 
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

15