ABSTRACT
Foregrounding is a stylistic term with two main implications. 1 Its broader implication refers to ways in which linguistic details may be emphasised.
This type of foregrounding involves deviation from an established norm and may be illustrated by the disruption of the rhythmic pattern in a poem, by heavily punctuated passages in a novel, by the occurrence of patterned alliteration, by the use of incongruous collocations or by violating the set conventions for the representation of speech and narrative. It is a means of establishing a hierarchy of significance whereby the reader is consciously or unconsciously made aware of the structural and/or semantic priorities of the writer. In ‘The Outing: A Story’, for example, Dylan Thomas uses unconventional narrative techniques to foreground his ideas:
If you can call it a story. There’s no real beginning or end and there’s very little in the middle. It’s all about a day’s outing, by charabanc, to Porthcawl, which, of course, the charabanc never reached, and it happened when I was so high and much nicer.
