Stylistics and Emblematics: Accounting for the Evolution of English Emblematics from a Relevance Theoretic Perspective

The article discusses the evolution of English emblematics and the changing patterns of its relationship with the reader from a relevance theoretic point of view. As multifaceted and multimodal forms of communication, and profoundly plural forms of textuality able to suit the most various ideological needs, emblem books make up a very interesting corpus of texts, while Relevance Theory, with its emphasis on a participatory reader, provides a significant theoretical model for their stylistic analysis and for the examination of the causes and effects of the transformation of their hieroglyphic essence into a conservative didactic one. A stylistic analysis can shed light on the variations and the ideological relevance of emblems in a period rife with political and social tensions; it is therefore particularly suitable for the analysis of the different rhetorical strategies deployed by opposing political or religious factions to direct the reader in the process of recognising the narrator’s communicative intention.