Style

Style is the system of characteristic linguistic and figurative means that determines the distinctiveness of a literary work, of a writer's oeuvre, of a literary movement or of a whole age. In the broad sense, style is the unity of content and form, a mode of artistic thinking manifested in the selection of vocabulary, syntax, imagery, rhythm and composition. A distinction is drawn between the individual style of an author, the style of a movement (Romantic, Realist), the style of an age, and also the functional styles of language (artistic, scientific, journalistic, official-business, colloquial). Style is the bearer of the aesthetic and world-view stance of the artist, and so its analysis is a central task of stylistics and literary studies. The concept of style unites linguistic and art-historical aspects, revealing how linguistic form becomes a means of the artistic mastery of reality.