The figurativeness of the language of St. Teresa of Ávila

This paper aims at analyzing The Interior Castle of St. Teresa of Ávila using a stylistic approach. The Interior Castle was inspired by the author’s vision of the soul as a diamond in the shape of a castle containing seven mansions, which she interpreted as the journey of faith through seven stages, ending with union with God. The stylistic analysis of the chosen text combines intuition and detailed linguistic analysis of the text. The form and style of the text are an integral part of the work’s meaning and value. In our analysis of The Interior Castle, lexical and syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices are discussed in order to explore the figurative meanings of the language employed.