Role of Dynamic and Stative Verbs in Two English Ballads: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This paper investigates how the different types of dynamic and stative verbs are used in two lyrical ballads
composed by two contemporaneous English romantic poets in order to find out which verb category is
statistically dominant in each poem. The two chosen poems have been qualitatively and quantitatively
examined, using an eclectic model incorporating Quirk et al. (1985) and Kreidler’s (1998) classification of
stative and dynamic verbs. Results of data analysis demonstrate that the category of dynamic verbs rate
higher than stative verbs in both Wordsworth’s Strange Fits of Passion have I Known and Keats’s La Belle
Dame Sans Merci. However, no single one lower category of dynamic or stative verb is comparatively
equally dominant in both poems.