Analysis of 5 Love letters: Word meanings (collocation, synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms)

Henry VIII’s letter:

• As the letter begins with ‘My heart and I surrender’, this collocation of ‘surrender’ and ‘heart’ creates a somewhat clichéd phrase. A cliché’ is formed when a certain collocation is used frequently to convey the same implied meaning, resulting in a shared knowledge being built so that when the collocation is next used, no explanation is needed for its meaning. Clichés like the one used here are uncommon in informal speech, and give a somewhat elevated and formal tone to the letter.
• Word like ‘augment’, ‘diminished’, ‘indissoluble’, and ‘supplicate’ are examples of uncommon synonyms of more readily used words. The writer may have chosen to use these over a more common synonym could have been to again create formality within the letter; a kind of poetic effect.
• When looking at how these are uncommon usages of words, we have to take into context the time in which the letter was written. These words certainly sound more formal when comparing them to the letters from the 21^st Century because we are familiar with most words used in the modern ones since they are still in usage and in fashion. However we can assume that this letter, with its poetic style, was not intended to be read as informal.

Beethoven’s letter:

• Similar to the letter by Henry VIII, unusual collocates like ‘ideas yearn’ and ‘immortal beloved’ create a poetic style that, unlike the cliché need to be thought about to interpret, due to their unconventional and metaphorical usage.
• Beethoven has chosen to use lots of synonyms and antonyms of words associated with happiness e.g. ‘joyfully’, ‘sadly’, ‘miserable’, ‘happiest’, ‘unhappiest’. This communicates the range of emotions that are associated with love, and changing the synonym but conveying the same feelings maintains the emotive imagery throughout the letter without it becoming repetitive.

Marilyn’s letter:

• Again cliché’s are used within this letter, however unlike with the cliché’s used in Henry VIII’s letter, these are a little more common in informal speech, e.g. ‘I miss you so much’ and how she thinks of him a ‘hell of a lot’. These phrases seem to appear alone as a single sentiment as if in attempt to keep up with the form of a love letter whilst also telling of events currently happening.
• This could be because the letter’s purpose is not just to convey loving feelings, but also to provide the addressee with news. Telling of news could be the primary purpose of the piece, so these cliché’s are added to keep in the secondary purpose of a love letter.

Fiancé’s letter:

• Unlike Beethoven’s letter, the writer chooses simpler, very common synonyms over more formal ones, e.g. ‘little’, ‘loveliest’ and ‘peck’. This creates a very informal, almost child-like tone to the letter, taking a much less serious stance than the other four letters. This could possibly be because the writer is not declaring love, or saying goodbye, but their love is already confirmed in the context of the marriage referred to in the letter.
• The use of ‘Snooze Land’ is a collocation that would normally only occur in children’s stories, again giving a child-like informality to the letter. It is interesting to see that feelings of love can be communicated through both very formal language, and also very informal language.
• Again, a cliché is used somewhat playfully in the phrase ‘too lonely for words’. This cliché is formed of a grammatical pattern, in which an emotive adjective can be interchanged within this framework: ‘too [adjective] for words’, to create an effect.

Mat’s letter:

• Mat uses the word ‘leave’ four times in three sentences where he could have chosen to use a synonym for ‘leave’, like Beethoven chooses to use different synonyms for happiness. However this frequent use of the same word creates a repetition that build up the effectiveness and the emotions behind the word. It puts an emphasis on ‘leave’ that makes it clear leaving is a big topic and cause of emotion within the letter.
• ‘So return’ is a very unusual collocation. The use of ‘so’ doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence, and it appears here as an adverb. This uncommon usage could possibly have been used to add a formality and emphasis to the verb ‘return’.
• ‘Time will fly’ and ‘one in a million’ are more examples of clichés, which is something that has appeared in all five letters.