Syntactic Deviations / Stylistic Variants in Poetry: Chaucer and T.S.Eliot as Models

This study is meant to investigate the syntactic deviations : word order (fronting, postponement, discontinuity or broken order), pleonasm, and ellipsis in the poetic language in general and that of Chaucer (14th century) and T.S.Eliot (20tth century) in particular from stylistic point of view. The data of the study mainly comprise Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales to represent the 14th century, and T.S.Eliot’s The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and The Four Quartels to represent the 20th century. The significant finding of this study is that the syntactic deviations / stylistic variants utilized by both poets refer to the fact that their forms of language are similar to the spoken language and their syntax is flexible as they permit themselves considerable freedom in word order for different purposes. Moreover, the findings of this study may be helpful for teachers, students, and translators.