Angelyn Choo Tze Hui. (B5)
Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each) describing a sunrise and a sunset over the same place on the same day. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in mood and atmosphere. (June 2007)
That place had something magical, I swear. Even though I had to wake up an hour before sunrise so I could reach my destination on time (using the quickest form of transportation I owned: my bicycle), I was really glad I did. When I finally made it to the abandoned field just a few minutes from my house, the sky was beginning to get light, and the chill of early morning was fading away, as if to hide from the glorious rays of light emerging from dark clouds that were bursting forth unto this small piece of paradise. All darkness departed as the sun rose higher into the sky; I could feel the heat on my skin. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead, arms, back and legs; I began to feel restless. All the silence and calm that protected the night before was being slowly consumed by birds chirping and not long after that, engulfed by honks, screeching of tires, the inevitable humming of car engines and the clanking (and stench) of the garbage truck that just passed by.
Simultaneously, my senses became overwhelmed by all that was going on: the beautiful scenery, the burning sensation on my skin, the intense noises and violent smell that mixed with the morning’s air and caused an electricity of excitement to run through the atmosphere. And suddenly, everything felt vibrant. I could literally feel the new day beginning, a fresh start; all sins from the night before were forgiven, all tears were wiped away. I looked around and saw that the grass held no secrets, the trees kept no hidden thoughts and the sky seized no clandestine hope; everything was in the open. (I wanted to be open as well. Transparent, with nothing holding me back.) Every leaf, every tree and every blade of grass, down to the smallest speck of dust, seemed to embrace the new light, perhaps even as a sort of salutation to the wonder that is the sunrise.
After a few hours, I was back in the field, waiting for the sun to perform her closing act. And without fail, she delivered. The sun’s slow gentle descent into the horizon brought about a familiar chill that surrounded me. I looked around and realized that everything had come to a halt. The clouds gathered in one panoramic view, as if they were wishing the sun a pleasant farewell for the day. All the noises of the harried day seemed to have diminished and a soothing silence reigned over the place. As the sun sank beneath the horizon, the sky mingled hot colors with colds ones; bright orange, fading into dark blue. The soft pinks and pale creamy yellows melted away as the soft darkness brushed across the sky.
A chill ran through my spine as I witnessed this. The sun deserved a standing ovation. The majestic splendor of that moment overtook me and I could not help but let the tears roll down my cheeks. But I was not worried that anyone would see me cry. As the sky turned dark, it felt like a reassurance that all secrets shared within that moment would be locked away safely. The grass and trees were no more in clear view, they were given a silent permission to do as they liked. And so was I. It was the ending of the day for some, yet only the beginning for others. I felt the evening’s cold fingertips brush against my face and decided that it was time to head home. (grade:B)
Mrs Saunders’ comments
Both the sunrise and sunset evoke powerful feelings and a heightened awareness in the narrator. The freshness of the morning fills her with exhilaration and a sense of liberty.
Figurative language to describe the external world of nature (‘the grass held no secrets, the trees kept no hidden thoughts and the sky seized no clandestine hope’) gives us an idea of the internal world of her emotions and thoughts. She felt freedom and joy in sharing all her innermost secrets.
The mood of openness that she experiences at sunrise is finely contrasted with the mood of withdrawal at sunset. The narrator now feels the need to keep her thoughts and feelings private as conveyed in the imagery of ‘locked safely away’. The darkening sky is also an apt metaphor for her state of mind; in the same way the sky at dawn (‘the sky was beginning to get light’) set the atmosphere for her elation that morning.
Rahimah Salaesah Ibrahim (B20)
Write 2 contrasting descriptive pieces (between 300-450 words each) about 2 different times of the day and their effect on a particular place. In describing each time you should create clear contrasts in mood and atmosphere.
The Day
I watched the sun rise high in the sky, smiling down at us; I sat down on the grass, watching people passing by. Nearby flora was blooming, showing their bright attractive colors: purple royal, cerulean, aqua, olive green, sunburst yellow, auburn and fuchsia as if it was an eternal rainbow. The children were at the playground. Most of them were playing hide and seek, others were in the sandbox with their own tools and two girls were seen on the swing. The echoes of their laughter could be heard resonating in the park. Parents were on the side watching the children with blissful smiles on their faces. Suddenly a boy stumbled and started to cry. I stood up and took a step forward but a girl stopped in front of the crying boy and helped him up. They resumed playing after the boy had calmed down and I sat back, assured that everything was fine. At the center of the park, there was the great fountain, symbolizing unity and peace. Its white marble texture and goblet-like structure were enhanced by the gentle flowing of the crystal clear water; it gleamed softly as the golden rays rested on it. There were tourists nearby, each one of them was different yet the important thing was they were having a good time. Birds were seen flying and singing, the squirrels were jumping from tree to tree, bees were buzzing and butterflies flew around the flowers. On the bench, facing the fountain, there was an old woman feeding the pigeons and an old man reading the morning paper right beside her. The gentle wind passed by once in a while, carrying the soft sound of comfort. A small sigh escaped my lips. The day was full of life.
The Night
Sitting down on the bench, facing the fountain, I stare at the dark night. Everything is very different at night. The bright colorful flowers earlier that day are now lifeless and dull as if they have withered and died. The playground is completely empty like an old ghost town, everyone has already gone home and there is not a soul around. The swing squeaks as if there is a child swinging on it yet it is only the wind gently pushing it. The moon is the only source of light that brightens the dark area yet to me it is still dim. The big oak tree stands tall creating an immense shadow, hiding whatever creature or someone lurking beneath it. The fountain emits a faded blue glow, making the surroundings gloomier than ever and the sound of water flowing can be heard more clearly than in the day. Suddenly out of nowhere, a big white owl swoops down and snatches a rat that is feeding nearby the garbage. I follow the owl with my eyes and it lands on the big oak tree branch and swallows its prey whole. I gulped as it stares at me with its big yellow eyes then it flies away leaving me staring at a feather that has fallen and landed on the ground. The sounds of crickets in the night are the only sounds heard other than the sound of the flowing water. The bushes behind me suddenly rattle; it startles me, I turn around and stare at the bush and suddenly a black cat jumps out and sprints away. I blink. I stand up and start to walk; it is time to head back home. The cold wind carries dead leaves and the air feels so dry and so suffocating as it passes by. It is cold and chilly and everything in the night seems mysteriously dead. (grade: C+)
Mrs Saunders’Comments:
Rahimah’s essays show that a simple sentence structure (‘Birds were seen flying and singing, the squirrels were jumping from tree to tree, bees were buzzing and butterflies flew around the flowers’;. ‘Sitting down on the bench, facing the fountain, I stare at the dark night.’ ‘Everything is very different at night.’ ‘The bushes behind me suddenly rattle’) can describe a scene vividly and create atmosphere effectively.
‘The Day’ is written in the past tense, while ‘The Night’ in the present tense. Is there a difference in effect as a result of this? In your view, which tense works better? Why?
The details in ‘The Day’ are concrete (real; can be seen, heard and felt by our 5 senses) but she uses imagery once. Can you spot it?
A striking contrast in atmosphere in the playground has been created in a simple and direct way, in the closing sentence of each piece (‘The day was full of life. ‘/ ‘It is cold and chilly and everything in the night seems mysteriously dead.’)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Blk 1 AND Block 5: June Hols Homework
Paper 2, Section A: Narrative/Descriptive/Imaginative Writing
Choose ONE question. Your essay must be between 600-900 words.
1. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each), one which describes a particular place at the end of a war or natural disaster and one which describes the way it looks after being rebuilt. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in mood and atmosphere. (Nov 2007)
2. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each) describing a sunrise and a sunset over the same place on the same day. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in mood and atmosphere. (June 2007)
3. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each) describing the same character when he/she is young and then old. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in the character’s appearance and outlook on life. (June 2006)
4. Write 2 contrasting descriptive pieces (between 300-450 words each) about 2 different times of the day and their effect on a particular place. In describing each time you should create clear contrasts in mood and atmosphere. (2004)
Please type your assignment if possible (using double spacing)
Deadline: Monday 30 June 2008
Choose ONE question. Your essay must be between 600-900 words.
1. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each), one which describes a particular place at the end of a war or natural disaster and one which describes the way it looks after being rebuilt. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in mood and atmosphere. (Nov 2007)
2. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each) describing a sunrise and a sunset over the same place on the same day. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in mood and atmosphere. (June 2007)
3. Write 2 contrasting pieces (between 300-450 words each) describing the same character when he/she is young and then old. In your writing you should try to bring out differences in the character’s appearance and outlook on life. (June 2006)
4. Write 2 contrasting descriptive pieces (between 300-450 words each) about 2 different times of the day and their effect on a particular place. In describing each time you should create clear contrasts in mood and atmosphere. (2004)
Please type your assignment if possible (using double spacing)
Deadline: Monday 30 June 2008
Blk 1: Model student assignments : DIRECTED WRITING - Based on extract from “The Road to Wigan Pier”
Assignment Question
Basing your answer closely on the style and language of the extract from “The Road to Wigan Pier’ write part of an account expressing your strong dislike of a place, person or thing. (120-150 words)
You may use as many of the following features as possible:
1. The second person pronoun
2. Comparison
3. Diction: superlatives, negative suffix (-less), strong adjectives
4. Irony
5. Parenthesis to share a thought informally with your reader
6. Sentence without a finite verb, only participles (lines 43-48) to highlight the strong presence of an unattractive thing.
Suriati Anak Anyut
An army of trucks, assembling a huge, gloomy building - a hotel to be. Similar to an army of ants building its nest. Except that this construction of a building is far more horrid than that of the timid ants’ nest.
If you pass the construction site, you will realize air is not the only thing that fills your lungs…but also dust. Dust from the loading and unloading of graves of gravel. The dryness of the atmosphere itself even has the potential to suffocate everyone. Grey piles of tiles. Grey pails of paint. Grey masses of timber wood. Grey sacks of harsh cement. They reflect how solid the product will soon be. And oh, the noise! It’s as if the sound of machine guns is being shot right through your eardrums! (Not to mention the killing potential is the same!). (140 words) [Grade: C+]
Tutor's Comments:
Basing your answer closely on the style and language of the extract from “The Road to Wigan Pier’ write part of an account expressing your strong dislike of a place, person or thing. (120-150 words)
You may use as many of the following features as possible:
1. The second person pronoun
2. Comparison
3. Diction: superlatives, negative suffix (-less), strong adjectives
4. Irony
5. Parenthesis to share a thought informally with your reader
6. Sentence without a finite verb, only participles (lines 43-48) to highlight the strong presence of an unattractive thing.
Suriati Anak Anyut
An army of trucks, assembling a huge, gloomy building - a hotel to be. Similar to an army of ants building its nest. Except that this construction of a building is far more horrid than that of the timid ants’ nest.
If you pass the construction site, you will realize air is not the only thing that fills your lungs…but also dust. Dust from the loading and unloading of graves of gravel. The dryness of the atmosphere itself even has the potential to suffocate everyone. Grey piles of tiles. Grey pails of paint. Grey masses of timber wood. Grey sacks of harsh cement. They reflect how solid the product will soon be. And oh, the noise! It’s as if the sound of machine guns is being shot right through your eardrums! (Not to mention the killing potential is the same!). (140 words) [Grade: C+]
Tutor's Comments:
Suriati has done a good job of applying all the features of style.
• Note the opening sentence has no finite verb, just the present participle ‘assembling’.
• Suriati has used comparison not once but twice. Can you spot the second one?
• The repetition of ‘grey’ in four short non-sentences and the alliterative "grey piles...grey pails" are very effective in reinforcing the dull and lifeless character of the building to be. They also convey the quiet disgust of the speaker as she surveys her immediate environment.
• Note the use of ‘even’ to stress the harmful effect of the dusty atmosphere.
• ‘And oh, the noise!’ is an acceptable adaption of that single short sentence in the original extract since she is not referring to smell.
• Note the use of parenthesis.
Diction: Strong adjectives - horrid, harsh; strong verbs - suffocate, shot right through
Now see how far each of the following answers below has used the 6 features of style in the list. Note also the strengths and individual style (the particular way the writer expresses his/her point of view) that make each work unique.
Amirul Hamizan
Antarctica, I would have to say, is the worst place you can ever live in. The place itself is an icy deathtrap; there is no way you can escape, you just have to learn to survive in the cold and tormenting environment. I imagine there are no animals or any living things except for the strange fishes under the ice and some polar bears ready to put you in their menu. All around, white icy flakes and sometimes stones of ice falling from the sky and the floor, so slippery and evil, waiting for someone to slip on it. It is as if Antarctica itself is an evil, cruel and cold serial killer just waiting for the right moment. No one but a bunch of crazy researchers would dare to live in its suicidal conditions. Well, simply put, you would agree with me when I say Antarctica is a much colder version of hell itself. (155 words) [Grade: B]
Jessica Tieng
Personally, I strongly despise judgmental people who see nothing wrong with themselves, yet see everything wrong with everyone else.
These judgmental, prejudiced and biased individuals make false assumptions and far-reaching pronouncements based on limited information. These brainless people decree what is right and wrong.
So basically if you look out for your own negative traits, you are less likely to sit in judgment over your fellow human beings, which will be all the better for you and them.
Yet judgmental people are far less worse than hypocrites who always seem to preach a certain belief or way of life but in fact they do hold these same virtues themselves
Just remember what William Shakespeare said, " Forbear to grudge, for we are sinners and all." (126 words) [Grade: B]
Haswan Hj Maidin
Our school canteen seems to be the dirtiest place in PTEB. The floor is decorated with sweet wrappers, tin cans, plastic containers and left-over food which apparently dominate the whole area so that you have to watch your feet! This litter (which can be seen almost anytime of the day) is so appalling that you could easily lose your appetite. But this is nothing compared to the horrid atmosphere of the toilets, from the distasteful smell to the dreadful sight of the unflushed toilets. The cubicles give a sinister feeling: a door with a broken lock, the dysfunctional toilet flush, the lifeless piece of pipe. Even the lights seem to be dim and scary as the hum of the toilet fan dominates the room. (124 words) (Grade: C+)
Here are 2 written pieces that are not based too closely on 6 listed features of language in the extract from ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’ but are nevertheless very effective in expressing disgust . Muizzah’s account is highly descriptive and vivid with an ironic observation in the closing sentence. Hamada does not adopt the cold and detached ironic tone found in the original passage. Instead she is amused at and affectionate towards her object of disgust, therefore the irony in her writing has a warm humorous quality.
Muizzah binti Kamal
As I entered the indoor fish market, the inevitable smell of fish predictably captivated my senses, and I cringed visibly. The air was thick with the nostalgic, salty scent of the seaside and the horribly offensive odor of dead fish. Walking along the stalls, I felt the growing dampness on my jeans. My gaze lingered on the mini drains which rivaled the large ones in the slums in lack of attention to hygiene. The drain was almost overflowing with substances which were unrecognizable since they did not show any signs of movement. The remnants of crabs and fish were mingling beautifully with the highly viscous, ash-coloured filth. The idea of running for the exit and abandoning Mother in her quest for a salmon was greatly tempting. The most disturbing thing was that the stall-keepers seemed oblivious to these facts.
(141 words) [Grade: B]
Hamadatun Najwa bt Yusuf Wahbi
After one year, I discover that my charming boyfriend has some amazingly disgusting habits. However, I still do love the guy despite my interesting encounter with him last week. Not even my guy friends show me their bad habits, and I've known them for a longer period. You would not imagine how revolting my lunch was that day. A strand of lamb meat stuck in between the teeth (I had already warned him that we were bound to get some meat stuck if we ordered lamb chop) in a mouth widely open with fingers meddling inside it struggling to remove the irritating piece of food remains. His face expressed the great strength he was using to take it out and showed much satisfaction after his successful attempt. What's worse came right after that. He took a glance at the pathetic strand, stayed motionless for two seconds before shrugging his shoulders, and then popped it right back into his mouth! It was absolutely appalling! (163 words) [Grade: B]
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Block 5: Essay Homework
Following the same process we have carried out over the last few lessons, write a discursive essay on the topic "Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones". This means mobile phones in general, not just in school.
Things to remember:
• Taking several lines of argument both for and against
• Expanding and developing the lines of argument
• Presenting lines of argument in an ordered fashion
• Giving evidence to support the lines of argument
• Linking coherently each line of argument
1.Remember to keep the balance between the two sides of the argument, positive and negative, maybe three different points on each side.
2. Express each of these in a topic sentence.
3. Put them in a reasonable order.
4. Expand on each one.
5. Link them together, both within and between paragraphs, with various linking words either to add another point (Furthermore, moreover, also) or to contrast a previous point (However, in contrast etc)
6. Insert an introduction, saying what you are going to be talking about, then a conclusion which is a summary of what you have said, followed by a personal viewpoint. Basically "Say what you're going to say, then say it, then say what you said!"
As a rough guideline, you should write about 600 words, with 10% intro (approx 60 words), 80% main body (approx 480-500 words i.e. about 80 words per line of argument) 10% conclusion (another 60 words).
Things to remember:
• Taking several lines of argument both for and against
• Expanding and developing the lines of argument
• Presenting lines of argument in an ordered fashion
• Giving evidence to support the lines of argument
• Linking coherently each line of argument
1.Remember to keep the balance between the two sides of the argument, positive and negative, maybe three different points on each side.
2. Express each of these in a topic sentence.
3. Put them in a reasonable order.
4. Expand on each one.
5. Link them together, both within and between paragraphs, with various linking words either to add another point (Furthermore, moreover, also) or to contrast a previous point (However, in contrast etc)
6. Insert an introduction, saying what you are going to be talking about, then a conclusion which is a summary of what you have said, followed by a personal viewpoint. Basically "Say what you're going to say, then say it, then say what you said!"
As a rough guideline, you should write about 600 words, with 10% intro (approx 60 words), 80% main body (approx 480-500 words i.e. about 80 words per line of argument) 10% conclusion (another 60 words).
Monday, May 26, 2008
The Language of Advertising
The text of the advertisement below appeared in the Radio Times.
Have you?
The value of experience
Well have you? You know, been there, done that
Anyone who tells you the world’s getting smaller hasn’t driven a Suzuki lately. For over 30 years, Suzuki 4 X 4s have been expanding drivers’ horizons, taking them as far as their imagination leads them. And sometimes beyond. For real adventures, you need a real 4 X 4.
Underneath that smoothly-contoured body shell, the Grand Vitara is pure, uncompromising, off-road engineering with a ladder-frame chassis that’s strong enough and durable enough to take on the toughest of terrains. Long-travel suspension and high ground clearance let you ride easily over rocks, ruts and river-beds. The Drive Select 4 X 4 system, giving you all the traction and control you need – with an effortless switch to 2WD when you get back on the tarmac. You can choose from 2.0 litre petrol and Turbo Diesel engines or a gutsy 2.5 V6. Whatever Mother Nature’s throwing at you outside, inside it’s all comfort, space and relaxation. And wherever life takes you, the Grand Vitara offers unparalleled safety, comfort and driver satisfaction, all at a price that’s a world away from other 4 X 4s. If you expect a lot from your car, we expect your call on 01892-707007.
How do we set about analysing an advertisement? Firstly we need to understand that this is persuasive writing. The author is trying to persuade us to buy something; in this case a car. Advertisers typically like to create needs in us; make us feel that our lives are incomplete unless we buy what they are selling. Very often it's a need we never knew we had.
Look at the heading and the questions. What need is the advertisement creating? Why are there so many questions? Why does the advertisement address the reader directly using you? Why does the author use value and experience? What is the purpose of been there, done that? What tone does all of this create?
In the main body contrast smaller with expanding, as far as, horizons, beyond., What has allowed people to lead a less restricted lifestyle? What is the only thing stopping you achieving this less restricted lifestyle? What's the importance of 30 years? Why is real repeated and what does it contrast with? What, therefore, will buying a Suzuki do for you? What does buying a Suzuki promise you?
Is there a non-sentence in the first paragraph? What is its effect?
In the next paragraph look at the compound modifiers smoothly-contoured, off-road, ladder-frame, long-travel. What do they mean? What are the words that they modify? What do those words mean? If you don't know, it's all jargon (find the meaning of this word). If you do know it's terminology (find its meaning). In either case, what is the effect of these phrases? Do they sound technical and impressive? What then is a drive select 4 X 4 system?
Can you spot a nice piece of alliteration? What effect does that have?
Do we have choice? How? Is the driver in complete control? How?
Find other words in the same lexical field as easily. What effect do they have?
Do the same for pure.
What effect does world away have? Does it echo another part of the advertisement?
Comment on the structure of the final sentence.
Did you find the word need anywhere? It would be very surprising not to find it somewhere.
Contrast the world outside the Suzuki with the one inside it.
Does the writer use contractions? What is their effect?
Can we say anything about sentence length?
Advertisers often hit us with a hard-sell, after all they are spending good money trying to get us to spend ours. Is there a hard-sell anywhere here? If so, how is it achieved?
Think about the audience in terms of age, gender, social status, professional status, income, aspirations and lifestyle. Now, when you are stuck in a huge traffic jam on your way to your boring dead-end job, where are you in your mind? Do you think that owning a Suzuki gives you freedom and choice and control over your life?
Have you?
The value of experience
Well have you? You know, been there, done that
Anyone who tells you the world’s getting smaller hasn’t driven a Suzuki lately. For over 30 years, Suzuki 4 X 4s have been expanding drivers’ horizons, taking them as far as their imagination leads them. And sometimes beyond. For real adventures, you need a real 4 X 4.
Underneath that smoothly-contoured body shell, the Grand Vitara is pure, uncompromising, off-road engineering with a ladder-frame chassis that’s strong enough and durable enough to take on the toughest of terrains. Long-travel suspension and high ground clearance let you ride easily over rocks, ruts and river-beds. The Drive Select 4 X 4 system, giving you all the traction and control you need – with an effortless switch to 2WD when you get back on the tarmac. You can choose from 2.0 litre petrol and Turbo Diesel engines or a gutsy 2.5 V6. Whatever Mother Nature’s throwing at you outside, inside it’s all comfort, space and relaxation. And wherever life takes you, the Grand Vitara offers unparalleled safety, comfort and driver satisfaction, all at a price that’s a world away from other 4 X 4s. If you expect a lot from your car, we expect your call on 01892-707007.
How do we set about analysing an advertisement? Firstly we need to understand that this is persuasive writing. The author is trying to persuade us to buy something; in this case a car. Advertisers typically like to create needs in us; make us feel that our lives are incomplete unless we buy what they are selling. Very often it's a need we never knew we had.
Look at the heading and the questions. What need is the advertisement creating? Why are there so many questions? Why does the advertisement address the reader directly using you? Why does the author use value and experience? What is the purpose of been there, done that? What tone does all of this create?
In the main body contrast smaller with expanding, as far as, horizons, beyond., What has allowed people to lead a less restricted lifestyle? What is the only thing stopping you achieving this less restricted lifestyle? What's the importance of 30 years? Why is real repeated and what does it contrast with? What, therefore, will buying a Suzuki do for you? What does buying a Suzuki promise you?
Is there a non-sentence in the first paragraph? What is its effect?
In the next paragraph look at the compound modifiers smoothly-contoured, off-road, ladder-frame, long-travel. What do they mean? What are the words that they modify? What do those words mean? If you don't know, it's all jargon (find the meaning of this word). If you do know it's terminology (find its meaning). In either case, what is the effect of these phrases? Do they sound technical and impressive? What then is a drive select 4 X 4 system?
Can you spot a nice piece of alliteration? What effect does that have?
Do we have choice? How? Is the driver in complete control? How?
Find other words in the same lexical field as easily. What effect do they have?
Do the same for pure.
What effect does world away have? Does it echo another part of the advertisement?
Comment on the structure of the final sentence.
Did you find the word need anywhere? It would be very surprising not to find it somewhere.
Contrast the world outside the Suzuki with the one inside it.
Does the writer use contractions? What is their effect?
Can we say anything about sentence length?
Advertisers often hit us with a hard-sell, after all they are spending good money trying to get us to spend ours. Is there a hard-sell anywhere here? If so, how is it achieved?
Think about the audience in terms of age, gender, social status, professional status, income, aspirations and lifestyle. Now, when you are stuck in a huge traffic jam on your way to your boring dead-end job, where are you in your mind? Do you think that owning a Suzuki gives you freedom and choice and control over your life?
Advice for Writers
1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying assonance
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are neither apropos nor de rigueur.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Avoid ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. DO NOT use exclamation points and all caps to emphasize!!!
24. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
25. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
26. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
27. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
28. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
29. Who needs rhetorical questions?
30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
31. The passive voice should never be used.
32. A writer must not shift your point of view.
33. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
34. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
35. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
36. Be careful to use the rite homonym.
37. Take care to spel werds corectly
38. And Finally...Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying assonance
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are neither apropos nor de rigueur.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Avoid ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. DO NOT use exclamation points and all caps to emphasize!!!
24. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
25. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
26. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
27. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
28. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
29. Who needs rhetorical questions?
30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
31. The passive voice should never be used.
32. A writer must not shift your point of view.
33. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
34. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
35. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
36. Be careful to use the rite homonym.
37. Take care to spel werds corectly
38. And Finally...Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
L6th EAS Assessment 1. May 2007
Commentary on the text taken from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier”
This text from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier” is in the genre of a report or a social commentary/critique. His purpose is to bring to light or expose the conditions suffered by the working people in the North of England. The audience is likely to be the general public, but more specifically the government. Its tone therefore is critical, descriptive and provocative.
The first paragraph characterizes the South, East and Midlands of England as comfortably bland and uniform, through the use of such lexical items as “accustomed to”, “not much difference”, “not unlike” and “indistinguishable”. He then provides a stark contrast to this with his description of the towns of the North. The repetition of words such as “ugliness” and the use of adjectives like “frightful” and “arresting” heightens the terrible contrast between these comfortable pleasant towns of the rest of England, and those of the North.
The second paragraph consists of a description of Wigan. He uses a myriad of adjectives to describe the terrible scene he witnesses, such as “hideous, planless, functionless, frightful, evil.” All of these combine to create an image of a horrific environment. In the first line he uses the contradictory term “at best” along with the word "hideous" to show that the word is not enough to describe the scene of the slag-heap. That is indeed the best thing which can be said about it.
The simile “like the emptying of a giant’s dustbin” gives us an image of the huge size of the slag-heap. Adjectives such as “jagged” convey a harsh, sharp image of the scene. He then creates an image of hell with the use of the alliterative metaphor “red rivulets of fire, winding this way and that.” The never-ending nature of this horror is emphasized through the description of the “blue flames of sulphur, which always seem on the point of expiring and always spring out again.” There is no relief, no respite from the misery. These slag-heaps will also still be visible “centuries hence”. In the phrase “evil brown grass” he uses personification to show that even natural elements such as grass have this horrible characteristic. The fact that slag-heaps are used as playgrounds seems incongruous, almost ironic. These slag-heaps are compared with the use of a simile to the sharp peaks of “a choppy sea, suddenly frozen” or a metaphor with his depiction of an uncomfortable lumpy “flock mattress”.
In the third paragraph he recalls one particular winter afternoon in Wigan. he uses the alliterative metaphor “lunar landscape” to give the image of a barren, almost alien environment. There is no vegetation, just “cinders” and “frozen mud”. This environment is “criss-crossed by the imprint of innumerable clogs“ the alliteration generating the image of many people suffering under these harsh conditions. The “flashes – pools of stagnant water” intensify the image of this horrific place, as they were covered with “ice, the colour of raw umber”. You might, under normal conditions expect ice to clear or white, but not in this environment. There is an example of personification where the “lock gates wore beards of ice” emphasizing the image of this cold, barren land, from which “vegetation had been banished.”
However, all of this pales in comparison to Sheffield, as evidenced by the use of the intensifier “even”. It is “the ugliest town in the Old World”, with very few decent buildings, even compared to the average East Anglian village of only 500 inhabitants. Ironically, the inhabitants seem to be almost proud of this accolade. The exclamation mark after “…stench!” intensifies the already strong meaning of the word. There is some irony in the fact that even when the sulphur smell is not present, you smell gas. There is no respite, no relief from the unrelenting misery. “The shallow river…is usually bright yellow” and one might normally expect something yellow to be bright, primary and natural, however here, the yellow comes from “some chemical or other”. Throughout the text, Orwell uses colour imagery, “grey mountains…red rivulets…blue flames…brown grass…raw umber…bright yellow…dark red…blackened…blackish… red and yellow brick…rosy…redlit boys” to heighten the vivid effect of his imagery. Even the primary colours are indicative of something horrible.
The description of the thirty-three chimneys is heightened by the fact that it was only the smoke which hindered his view of many more. Further use of lexis such as “frightful…squalor…littered…gaunt” further increase the impression of impoverishment. His ironic use of the word “vista” to describe the ugly panorama is intensified by the repetition of “chimneys, chimney beyond chimney”.
The last paragraph gives us an image of Sheffield at night, a hideous place where there is nothing but “blackness” and the oxymoronic “sinister magnificence.“ The “serrated flames, like circular saws” reprises the “jagged” image from the description of Wigan. Orwell personifies the smoke and flames which “squeeze themselves”, as if they were alive. The vision of hell is once again highlighted with “fiery serpents” and “redlit boys”, and further intensified with the onomatopoeic “whiz, thump…scream.”
Orwell, through his cumulative use of imagery created by a variety of lexis, paints a picture of unmitigated horror. It is clear that his writing was intended to have a very strong effect on his audience.
This text from George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier” is in the genre of a report or a social commentary/critique. His purpose is to bring to light or expose the conditions suffered by the working people in the North of England. The audience is likely to be the general public, but more specifically the government. Its tone therefore is critical, descriptive and provocative.
The first paragraph characterizes the South, East and Midlands of England as comfortably bland and uniform, through the use of such lexical items as “accustomed to”, “not much difference”, “not unlike” and “indistinguishable”. He then provides a stark contrast to this with his description of the towns of the North. The repetition of words such as “ugliness” and the use of adjectives like “frightful” and “arresting” heightens the terrible contrast between these comfortable pleasant towns of the rest of England, and those of the North.
The second paragraph consists of a description of Wigan. He uses a myriad of adjectives to describe the terrible scene he witnesses, such as “hideous, planless, functionless, frightful, evil.” All of these combine to create an image of a horrific environment. In the first line he uses the contradictory term “at best” along with the word "hideous" to show that the word is not enough to describe the scene of the slag-heap. That is indeed the best thing which can be said about it.
The simile “like the emptying of a giant’s dustbin” gives us an image of the huge size of the slag-heap. Adjectives such as “jagged” convey a harsh, sharp image of the scene. He then creates an image of hell with the use of the alliterative metaphor “red rivulets of fire, winding this way and that.” The never-ending nature of this horror is emphasized through the description of the “blue flames of sulphur, which always seem on the point of expiring and always spring out again.” There is no relief, no respite from the misery. These slag-heaps will also still be visible “centuries hence”. In the phrase “evil brown grass” he uses personification to show that even natural elements such as grass have this horrible characteristic. The fact that slag-heaps are used as playgrounds seems incongruous, almost ironic. These slag-heaps are compared with the use of a simile to the sharp peaks of “a choppy sea, suddenly frozen” or a metaphor with his depiction of an uncomfortable lumpy “flock mattress”.
In the third paragraph he recalls one particular winter afternoon in Wigan. he uses the alliterative metaphor “lunar landscape” to give the image of a barren, almost alien environment. There is no vegetation, just “cinders” and “frozen mud”. This environment is “criss-crossed by the imprint of innumerable clogs“ the alliteration generating the image of many people suffering under these harsh conditions. The “flashes – pools of stagnant water” intensify the image of this horrific place, as they were covered with “ice, the colour of raw umber”. You might, under normal conditions expect ice to clear or white, but not in this environment. There is an example of personification where the “lock gates wore beards of ice” emphasizing the image of this cold, barren land, from which “vegetation had been banished.”
However, all of this pales in comparison to Sheffield, as evidenced by the use of the intensifier “even”. It is “the ugliest town in the Old World”, with very few decent buildings, even compared to the average East Anglian village of only 500 inhabitants. Ironically, the inhabitants seem to be almost proud of this accolade. The exclamation mark after “…stench!” intensifies the already strong meaning of the word. There is some irony in the fact that even when the sulphur smell is not present, you smell gas. There is no respite, no relief from the unrelenting misery. “The shallow river…is usually bright yellow” and one might normally expect something yellow to be bright, primary and natural, however here, the yellow comes from “some chemical or other”. Throughout the text, Orwell uses colour imagery, “grey mountains…red rivulets…blue flames…brown grass…raw umber…bright yellow…dark red…blackened…blackish… red and yellow brick…rosy…redlit boys” to heighten the vivid effect of his imagery. Even the primary colours are indicative of something horrible.
The description of the thirty-three chimneys is heightened by the fact that it was only the smoke which hindered his view of many more. Further use of lexis such as “frightful…squalor…littered…gaunt” further increase the impression of impoverishment. His ironic use of the word “vista” to describe the ugly panorama is intensified by the repetition of “chimneys, chimney beyond chimney”.
The last paragraph gives us an image of Sheffield at night, a hideous place where there is nothing but “blackness” and the oxymoronic “sinister magnificence.“ The “serrated flames, like circular saws” reprises the “jagged” image from the description of Wigan. Orwell personifies the smoke and flames which “squeeze themselves”, as if they were alive. The vision of hell is once again highlighted with “fiery serpents” and “redlit boys”, and further intensified with the onomatopoeic “whiz, thump…scream.”
Orwell, through his cumulative use of imagery created by a variety of lexis, paints a picture of unmitigated horror. It is clear that his writing was intended to have a very strong effect on his audience.
Monday, May 5, 2008
George Orwell
If you are interested in reading more about this writer, here is a brief (well, actually, it's quite long!!) biography. I will post a model commentary for the assessment text as soon as everyone has completed it, in a day or two.
AK
George Orwell
George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950) who was an English writer and journalist well-noted as a novelist, critic, and commentator on politics and culture.
George Orwell is one of the most admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, and most famous for two novels critical of totalitarianism in general (Nineteen Eighty-Four), and Stalinism in particular (Animal Farm), which he wrote and published towards the end of his life.
Early life
Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903 to British parents[3] in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Opium Department of the Civil Service. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair (née Limouzin), took him to England when he was one year old. He did not see his father again until 1907, during Richard's three-month visit to England. Eric had two sisters; Marjorie, the elder, and Avril, the younger. He later described his family as "lower-upper-middle class".[4]
Education
At six, Eric attended the Anglican parish school in Henley-on-Thames, where he impressed the teachers. Blair's mother wanted him to have a good public school education, but the family finances were against this unless he could obtain a scholarship. Her brother Charles Limouzin, who lived on the South Coast, recommended St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, Sussex. The headmaster undertook to help Blair to win a scholarship, and made a private financial arrangement which allowed Blair's parents to pay only half the normal fees. At the school, Blair formed a life-long friendship with Cyril Connolly (future editor of Horizon magazine, who later published many of his essays). Years later, Blair mordantly recalled the school in the essay "Such, Such Were the Joys". However, while there he wrote two poems that were published in his local newspaper, came second to Connolly in the Harrow History Prize, had his work praised by the school's external examiner, and earned scholarships to Wellington and Eton.
After a term at Wellington College, Blair transferred to Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar (1917–1921), and Aldous Huxley was his French tutor. Later, Blair wrote of having been relatively happy at Eton, because it allowed students much independence. His academic performance reports indicate that he ceased serious work there, and various explanations have been offered for this. His parents could not afford to send him to Oxbridge without another scholarship, and they concluded from the poor results that he would not be able to obtain one.
Burma and the early novels
On finishing school at Eton, the family could not finance university; his father thought his scholarship prospects poor, so, in 1922, Eric Arthur Blair joined the Indian Imperial Police, serving at Katha and Moulmein in Burma. His imperial policeman's life led him to hate imperialism; on leave in England, he resigned from the Indian Imperial Police in 1927, to become a writer.
The Burma police experience yielded the novel Burmese Days (1934) and the essays "A Hanging" (1931) and "Shooting an Elephant" (1936). In England, he wrote to family acquaintance, Ruth Pitter and she and a friend found him rooms in Portobello Road (today, a blue plaque commemorates his residence there), where he began writing. From there, he sallied to the Limehouse Causeway (following Jack London's footsteps) spending his first night in a common lodging house, probably George Levy's 'kip'. For a while he "went native" (in his own country), dressing like a tramp, making no concessions to middle class mores and expectations, and recorded his experiences of the low life in "The Spike", his first published essay, and the latter half of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933).
He moved to Paris in spring of 1928, where his Aunt Nellie lived (and later died), hoping to earn a freelance writer's living; failure reduced him to menial jobs such as dishwasher in the fashionable Hotel X, on the rue de Rivoli in 1929, all told in Down and Out in Paris and London. The record does not indicate if he had the book in mind as the terminus of those low life experiences.
In later 1929, he returned to England, to his parents' house in Southwold, Suffolk, ill and penniless, where he wrote Burmese Days, and also frequently foraying to tramping in researching a book on the life of society's poorest people. Meanwhile, he regularly contributed to John Middleton Murry's New Adelphi magazine.
He completed Down and Out in Paris and London in 1932; it was published early the next year, while he taught at Frays College, near Hayes, Middlesex. He took the job to escape dire poverty; during this period, he obtained the literary agent services of Leonard Moore. Just before publication of Down and Out in Paris and London, Eric Arthur Blair adopted the nom de plume George Orwell. In a letter to Moore (dated 15 November) he left the choice of pseudonym to him and to publisher Victor Gollancz. Four days later, he wrote to Moore, suggesting these pseudonyms: P. S. Burton (a tramping name), Kenneth Miles, George Orwell, and H. Lewis Allways.[5]
As a writer, George Orwell drew upon his life as a teacher and on life in Southwold for the novel A Clergyman's Daughter (1935), written in 1934 at his parents' house after sickness and parental urging forced his foregoing the teaching life. From late 1934 to early 1936 he was a part-time assistant in the Booklover's Corner, a second-hand bookshop in Hampstead. Having led a lonely, solitary existence, he wanted to enjoy the company of young writers; Hampstead was an intellectual's town with many houses offering cheap bedsit rooms. Those experiences germinated into the novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936).
The Road to Wigan Pier
In early 1936, Victor Gollancz, of the Left Book Club, commissioned George Orwell to write an account of working class poverty in economically depressed northern England. His account, The Road to Wigan Pier was published in 1937. Orwell did his leg-and-homework as a social reporter: he gained entry to many houses in Wigan to see how people lived; took systematic notes of housing conditions and wages earned; and spent days in the local public library consulting public health records and reports on mine working conditions.
The first half of The Road to Wigan Pier documents his social investigations of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It begins with an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half is a long essay of his upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, including a denunciation of the Left's irresponsible elements. Publisher Gollancz feared the second half would offend Left Book Club readers; he inserted a mollifying preface to the book while Orwell was in Spain.
Soon after researching the The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell married Eileen O'Shaughnessy.
The Spanish Civil War, and Catalonia
In December 1936, Orwell went to Spain as a fighter for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War that was provoked by Francisco Franco's Fascist uprising. In conversation with Philip Mairet, editor of New English Weekly, Orwell said: 'This fascism . . . somebody's got to stop it'. [6] To Orwell, liberty and democracy went together, guaranteeing, among other things, the freedom of the artist; the present capitalist civilization was corrupt, but fascism would be morally calamitous.
John McNair (1887–1968), quotes him: 'He then said that this [writing a book] was quite secondary, and [that] his main reason for coming was to fight against Fascism'. Orwell went alone; his wife, Eileen, joined him later. He joined the Independent Labour Party contingent, which consisted of some twenty-five Britons who had joined the militia of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM - Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), a revolutionary communist party. The POUM, and the radical wing of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (Catalonia's dominant left-wing force), believed General Franco could be defeated only if the Republic's working class overthrew capitalism — a position at fundamental odds with the Spanish Communist Party, and its allies, which (backed by Soviet arms and aid) argued for a coalition with the bourgeois parties to defeat the fascist Nationalists. After July 1936 there was profound social revolution in Catalonia, Aragón, and wherever the CNT was strong, an egalitarian spirit sympathetically described in Homage to Catalonia.
Fortuitously, Orwell joined the POUM, rather than the Communist International Brigades, but his experiences — especially his and Eileen's narrow escaping a June 1937 Communist purge in Barcelona — much increased his sympathies for the POUM, making him a life-long anti-Stalinist and firm believer in what he termed Democratic Socialism, socialism with free debate and free elections.
In combat, Orwell was shot through the neck and nearly killed. At first, he feared his voice would be reduced to a permanent, painful whisper; this was not to be so, though the injury affected his voice, giving it "a strange, compelling quietness". [7] He wrote in Homage to Catalonia that people frequently told him he was lucky to survive, but that he personally thought "it would be even luckier not to be hit at all".
George and Eileen Orwell then lived in Morocco for half a year so he could recover from his wound. In that time, he wrote Coming Up for Air, his last novel before World War II. It is the most English of his novels; alarums of war mingle with images of idyllic Thames-side Edwardian childhood of protagonist George Bowling. The novel is pessimistic; industrialism and capitalism have killed the best of Old England, and there were great, new external threats. In homely terms, Bowling posits the totalitarian hypotheses of Borkenau, Orwell, Silone and Koestler: "Old Hitler's something different. So's Joe Stalin. They aren't like these chaps in the old days who crucified people and chopped their heads off and so forth, just for the fun of it . . . They're something quite new — something that's never been heard of before".
World War II and Animal Farm
After the Spanish ordeal, and writing about it, Orwell's formation ended; his finest writing, best essays, and great fame lay ahead. In 1940, Orwell closed his Wallington house, and he and Eileen moved to No. 18 Dorset Chambers, Chagford Street, in the genteel Marylebone neighbourhood near Regent's Park, central London, Orwell supporting himself as a freelance reviewer for the New English Weekly (mainly), Time and Tide, and the New Statesman. Soon after the war began, he joined the Home Guard (and was awarded the "British Campaign Medals/Defence Medal") attending Tom Wintringham's home guard school and championing Wintringham's socialist vision for the Home Guard.
In 1941, Orwell worked for BBC's Eastern Service, supervising Indian broadcasts meant to stimulate India's war participation against the approaching Japanese army. About being a propagandist, he wrote of feeling like "an orange that's been trodden on by a very dirty boot". Still, he devoted much effort to the opportunity of working closely with the likes of T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, Mulk Raj Anand, and William Empson; the war-time Ministry of Information, at Senate House, University of London, inspired the Ministry of Truth in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Orwell's BBC resignation followed a report confirming his fears about the broadcasts: few Indians listened. He wanted to become a war correspondent, and was impatient to begin working on Animal Farm. Despite the good salary, he resigned from BBC in September 1943, and in November became literary editor of the left-wing weekly magazine Tribune, then edited by Aneurin Bevan and Jon Kimche (Kimche had been Box to Orwell's Cox when they were half-time assistants at the Booklover's Corner book shop in Hampstead, 1934–35). Orwell was on staff until early 1945, writing the regular column "As I Please". Anthony Powell and Malcolm Muggeridge had returned from overseas to finish the war in London; the three regularly lunched together at either the Bodega, off the Strand, or the Bourgogne, in Soho, sometimes joined by Julian Symons (then seemingly true disciple to Orwell) and David Astor, editor-owner of The Observer.
In 1944, Orwell finished the anti-Stalinist allegory Animal Farm published (Britain, 17 August 1945, U.S., 26 August 1946) to critical and popular success. Harcourt Brace Editor Frank Morley went to Britain soon after the war to learn what currently interested readers, clerking a week or so at the Cambridge book shop Bowes and Bowes. The first day, customers continually requested a sold-out book — the second impression of Animal Farm; on reading the shop's remaining copy, he went to London and bought the American publishing rights; the royalties were George Orwell's first, proper, adult income.
With Animal Farm at the printer's, with war's end in view, Orwell's desire to be in the thick of the action quickened. David Astor asked him to be the Observer war correspondent reporting the liberation of France and the early occupation of Germany; Orwell quit Tribune.
He and Astor were close; Astor is believed to be the model for the rich publisher in Keep the Aspidistra Flying; Orwell strongly influenced Astor's editorial policies. Astor died in 2001 and is buried in the grave beside Orwell's. Orwell never revealed his pen name, keeping his identity secret and thinking his work did not need a revealed author.
Nineteen Eighty-Four and final years
Orwell and his wife adopted a baby boy, Richard Horatio Blair, born in May 1944. Orwell was taken ill again in Cologne in spring 1945. While he was sick there, his wife died in Newcastle during an operation to remove a tumour. She had not told him about this operation due to concerns about the cost and the fact that she thought she would make a speedy recovery.
For the next four years Orwell mixed journalistic work — mainly for the Tribune, the Observer and the Manchester Evening News, though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and literary magazines — with writing his best-known work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. Originally, Orwell was undecided between titling the book The Last Man in Europe and Nineteen Eighty-Four but his publisher, Fredric Warburg, helped him choose. The title was not the year Orwell had initially intended. He first set his story in 1980, but, as the time taken to write the book dragged on (partly because of his illness), that was changed to 1982 and, later, to 1984.[8]
He wrote much of the novel while living at Barnhill,[9] a remote farmhouse on the island of Jura which lies in the Gulf stream off the west coast of Scotland. It was an abandoned farmhouse with outbuildings near to the northern end of the island, situated at the end of a five-mile (8 km), heavily rutted track from Ardlussa, where the laird, or landowner, Margaret Fletcher lived, and where the paved road, the only one on the island, came to an end.
In 1948, he co-edited a collection entitled British Pamphleteers with Reginald Reynolds.
In 1949, Orwell was approached by a friend, Celia Kirwan, who had just started working for a Foreign Office unit, the Information Research Department, which the Labour government had set up to publish anti-communist propaganda. He gave her a list of 37 writers and artists he considered to be unsuitable as IRD authors because of their pro-communist leanings. The list, not published until 2003, consists mainly of journalists (among them the editor of the New Statesman, Kingsley Martin) but also includes the actors Michael Redgrave and Charlie Chaplin. Orwell's motives for handing over the list are unclear, but the most likely explanation is the simplest: that he was helping a friend in a cause — anti-Stalinism — that they both supported. There is no indication that Orwell abandoned the democratic socialism that he consistently promoted in his later writings — or that he believed the writers he named should be suppressed. Orwell's list was also accurate: the people on it had all made pro-Soviet or pro-communist public pronouncements. In fact, one of the people on the list, Peter Smollett, the head of the Soviet section in the Ministry of Information, was later (after the opening of KGB archives) proven to be a Soviet agent, recruited by Kim Philby, and "almost certainly the person on whose advice the publisher Jonathan Cape turned down Animal Farm as an unhealthily anti-Soviet text", although Orwell was unaware of this.[10]
In October 1949, shortly before his death, he married Sonia Brownell. [11]
Death
Orwell died in London from tuberculosis, at the age of 46. [12] He was in and out of hospitals for the last three years of his life. Having requested burial in accordance with the Anglican rite, he was interred in All Saints' Churchyard, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire with the simple epitaph: "Here lies Eric Arthur Blair, born June 25, 1903, died January 21, 1950"; no mention is made on the gravestone of his more famous pen-name. He had wanted to be buried in the graveyard of the closest church to wherever he happened to die, but the graveyards in central London had no space. Fearing that he might have to be cremated, against his wishes, his widow appealed to his friends to see if any of them knew of a church with space in its graveyard. Orwell's friend David Astor lived in Sutton Courtenay and negotiated with the vicar for Orwell to be buried there, although he had no connection with the village.
Orwell's son, Richard Blair, was raised by an aunt after his father's death. He maintains a low public profile, though he has occasionally given interviews about the few memories he has of his father. Blair worked for many years as an agricultural agent for the British government.
AK
George Orwell
George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950) who was an English writer and journalist well-noted as a novelist, critic, and commentator on politics and culture.
George Orwell is one of the most admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, and most famous for two novels critical of totalitarianism in general (Nineteen Eighty-Four), and Stalinism in particular (Animal Farm), which he wrote and published towards the end of his life.
Early life
Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903 to British parents[3] in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, British India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Opium Department of the Civil Service. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair (née Limouzin), took him to England when he was one year old. He did not see his father again until 1907, during Richard's three-month visit to England. Eric had two sisters; Marjorie, the elder, and Avril, the younger. He later described his family as "lower-upper-middle class".[4]
Education
At six, Eric attended the Anglican parish school in Henley-on-Thames, where he impressed the teachers. Blair's mother wanted him to have a good public school education, but the family finances were against this unless he could obtain a scholarship. Her brother Charles Limouzin, who lived on the South Coast, recommended St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, Sussex. The headmaster undertook to help Blair to win a scholarship, and made a private financial arrangement which allowed Blair's parents to pay only half the normal fees. At the school, Blair formed a life-long friendship with Cyril Connolly (future editor of Horizon magazine, who later published many of his essays). Years later, Blair mordantly recalled the school in the essay "Such, Such Were the Joys". However, while there he wrote two poems that were published in his local newspaper, came second to Connolly in the Harrow History Prize, had his work praised by the school's external examiner, and earned scholarships to Wellington and Eton.
After a term at Wellington College, Blair transferred to Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar (1917–1921), and Aldous Huxley was his French tutor. Later, Blair wrote of having been relatively happy at Eton, because it allowed students much independence. His academic performance reports indicate that he ceased serious work there, and various explanations have been offered for this. His parents could not afford to send him to Oxbridge without another scholarship, and they concluded from the poor results that he would not be able to obtain one.
Burma and the early novels
On finishing school at Eton, the family could not finance university; his father thought his scholarship prospects poor, so, in 1922, Eric Arthur Blair joined the Indian Imperial Police, serving at Katha and Moulmein in Burma. His imperial policeman's life led him to hate imperialism; on leave in England, he resigned from the Indian Imperial Police in 1927, to become a writer.
The Burma police experience yielded the novel Burmese Days (1934) and the essays "A Hanging" (1931) and "Shooting an Elephant" (1936). In England, he wrote to family acquaintance, Ruth Pitter and she and a friend found him rooms in Portobello Road (today, a blue plaque commemorates his residence there), where he began writing. From there, he sallied to the Limehouse Causeway (following Jack London's footsteps) spending his first night in a common lodging house, probably George Levy's 'kip'. For a while he "went native" (in his own country), dressing like a tramp, making no concessions to middle class mores and expectations, and recorded his experiences of the low life in "The Spike", his first published essay, and the latter half of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933).
He moved to Paris in spring of 1928, where his Aunt Nellie lived (and later died), hoping to earn a freelance writer's living; failure reduced him to menial jobs such as dishwasher in the fashionable Hotel X, on the rue de Rivoli in 1929, all told in Down and Out in Paris and London. The record does not indicate if he had the book in mind as the terminus of those low life experiences.
In later 1929, he returned to England, to his parents' house in Southwold, Suffolk, ill and penniless, where he wrote Burmese Days, and also frequently foraying to tramping in researching a book on the life of society's poorest people. Meanwhile, he regularly contributed to John Middleton Murry's New Adelphi magazine.
He completed Down and Out in Paris and London in 1932; it was published early the next year, while he taught at Frays College, near Hayes, Middlesex. He took the job to escape dire poverty; during this period, he obtained the literary agent services of Leonard Moore. Just before publication of Down and Out in Paris and London, Eric Arthur Blair adopted the nom de plume George Orwell. In a letter to Moore (dated 15 November) he left the choice of pseudonym to him and to publisher Victor Gollancz. Four days later, he wrote to Moore, suggesting these pseudonyms: P. S. Burton (a tramping name), Kenneth Miles, George Orwell, and H. Lewis Allways.[5]
As a writer, George Orwell drew upon his life as a teacher and on life in Southwold for the novel A Clergyman's Daughter (1935), written in 1934 at his parents' house after sickness and parental urging forced his foregoing the teaching life. From late 1934 to early 1936 he was a part-time assistant in the Booklover's Corner, a second-hand bookshop in Hampstead. Having led a lonely, solitary existence, he wanted to enjoy the company of young writers; Hampstead was an intellectual's town with many houses offering cheap bedsit rooms. Those experiences germinated into the novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936).
The Road to Wigan Pier
In early 1936, Victor Gollancz, of the Left Book Club, commissioned George Orwell to write an account of working class poverty in economically depressed northern England. His account, The Road to Wigan Pier was published in 1937. Orwell did his leg-and-homework as a social reporter: he gained entry to many houses in Wigan to see how people lived; took systematic notes of housing conditions and wages earned; and spent days in the local public library consulting public health records and reports on mine working conditions.
The first half of The Road to Wigan Pier documents his social investigations of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It begins with an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half is a long essay of his upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, including a denunciation of the Left's irresponsible elements. Publisher Gollancz feared the second half would offend Left Book Club readers; he inserted a mollifying preface to the book while Orwell was in Spain.
Soon after researching the The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell married Eileen O'Shaughnessy.
The Spanish Civil War, and Catalonia
In December 1936, Orwell went to Spain as a fighter for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War that was provoked by Francisco Franco's Fascist uprising. In conversation with Philip Mairet, editor of New English Weekly, Orwell said: 'This fascism . . . somebody's got to stop it'. [6] To Orwell, liberty and democracy went together, guaranteeing, among other things, the freedom of the artist; the present capitalist civilization was corrupt, but fascism would be morally calamitous.
John McNair (1887–1968), quotes him: 'He then said that this [writing a book] was quite secondary, and [that] his main reason for coming was to fight against Fascism'. Orwell went alone; his wife, Eileen, joined him later. He joined the Independent Labour Party contingent, which consisted of some twenty-five Britons who had joined the militia of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM - Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), a revolutionary communist party. The POUM, and the radical wing of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (Catalonia's dominant left-wing force), believed General Franco could be defeated only if the Republic's working class overthrew capitalism — a position at fundamental odds with the Spanish Communist Party, and its allies, which (backed by Soviet arms and aid) argued for a coalition with the bourgeois parties to defeat the fascist Nationalists. After July 1936 there was profound social revolution in Catalonia, Aragón, and wherever the CNT was strong, an egalitarian spirit sympathetically described in Homage to Catalonia.
Fortuitously, Orwell joined the POUM, rather than the Communist International Brigades, but his experiences — especially his and Eileen's narrow escaping a June 1937 Communist purge in Barcelona — much increased his sympathies for the POUM, making him a life-long anti-Stalinist and firm believer in what he termed Democratic Socialism, socialism with free debate and free elections.
In combat, Orwell was shot through the neck and nearly killed. At first, he feared his voice would be reduced to a permanent, painful whisper; this was not to be so, though the injury affected his voice, giving it "a strange, compelling quietness". [7] He wrote in Homage to Catalonia that people frequently told him he was lucky to survive, but that he personally thought "it would be even luckier not to be hit at all".
George and Eileen Orwell then lived in Morocco for half a year so he could recover from his wound. In that time, he wrote Coming Up for Air, his last novel before World War II. It is the most English of his novels; alarums of war mingle with images of idyllic Thames-side Edwardian childhood of protagonist George Bowling. The novel is pessimistic; industrialism and capitalism have killed the best of Old England, and there were great, new external threats. In homely terms, Bowling posits the totalitarian hypotheses of Borkenau, Orwell, Silone and Koestler: "Old Hitler's something different. So's Joe Stalin. They aren't like these chaps in the old days who crucified people and chopped their heads off and so forth, just for the fun of it . . . They're something quite new — something that's never been heard of before".
World War II and Animal Farm
After the Spanish ordeal, and writing about it, Orwell's formation ended; his finest writing, best essays, and great fame lay ahead. In 1940, Orwell closed his Wallington house, and he and Eileen moved to No. 18 Dorset Chambers, Chagford Street, in the genteel Marylebone neighbourhood near Regent's Park, central London, Orwell supporting himself as a freelance reviewer for the New English Weekly (mainly), Time and Tide, and the New Statesman. Soon after the war began, he joined the Home Guard (and was awarded the "British Campaign Medals/Defence Medal") attending Tom Wintringham's home guard school and championing Wintringham's socialist vision for the Home Guard.
In 1941, Orwell worked for BBC's Eastern Service, supervising Indian broadcasts meant to stimulate India's war participation against the approaching Japanese army. About being a propagandist, he wrote of feeling like "an orange that's been trodden on by a very dirty boot". Still, he devoted much effort to the opportunity of working closely with the likes of T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, Mulk Raj Anand, and William Empson; the war-time Ministry of Information, at Senate House, University of London, inspired the Ministry of Truth in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Orwell's BBC resignation followed a report confirming his fears about the broadcasts: few Indians listened. He wanted to become a war correspondent, and was impatient to begin working on Animal Farm. Despite the good salary, he resigned from BBC in September 1943, and in November became literary editor of the left-wing weekly magazine Tribune, then edited by Aneurin Bevan and Jon Kimche (Kimche had been Box to Orwell's Cox when they were half-time assistants at the Booklover's Corner book shop in Hampstead, 1934–35). Orwell was on staff until early 1945, writing the regular column "As I Please". Anthony Powell and Malcolm Muggeridge had returned from overseas to finish the war in London; the three regularly lunched together at either the Bodega, off the Strand, or the Bourgogne, in Soho, sometimes joined by Julian Symons (then seemingly true disciple to Orwell) and David Astor, editor-owner of The Observer.
In 1944, Orwell finished the anti-Stalinist allegory Animal Farm published (Britain, 17 August 1945, U.S., 26 August 1946) to critical and popular success. Harcourt Brace Editor Frank Morley went to Britain soon after the war to learn what currently interested readers, clerking a week or so at the Cambridge book shop Bowes and Bowes. The first day, customers continually requested a sold-out book — the second impression of Animal Farm; on reading the shop's remaining copy, he went to London and bought the American publishing rights; the royalties were George Orwell's first, proper, adult income.
With Animal Farm at the printer's, with war's end in view, Orwell's desire to be in the thick of the action quickened. David Astor asked him to be the Observer war correspondent reporting the liberation of France and the early occupation of Germany; Orwell quit Tribune.
He and Astor were close; Astor is believed to be the model for the rich publisher in Keep the Aspidistra Flying; Orwell strongly influenced Astor's editorial policies. Astor died in 2001 and is buried in the grave beside Orwell's. Orwell never revealed his pen name, keeping his identity secret and thinking his work did not need a revealed author.
Nineteen Eighty-Four and final years
Orwell and his wife adopted a baby boy, Richard Horatio Blair, born in May 1944. Orwell was taken ill again in Cologne in spring 1945. While he was sick there, his wife died in Newcastle during an operation to remove a tumour. She had not told him about this operation due to concerns about the cost and the fact that she thought she would make a speedy recovery.
For the next four years Orwell mixed journalistic work — mainly for the Tribune, the Observer and the Manchester Evening News, though he also contributed to many small-circulation political and literary magazines — with writing his best-known work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. Originally, Orwell was undecided between titling the book The Last Man in Europe and Nineteen Eighty-Four but his publisher, Fredric Warburg, helped him choose. The title was not the year Orwell had initially intended. He first set his story in 1980, but, as the time taken to write the book dragged on (partly because of his illness), that was changed to 1982 and, later, to 1984.[8]
He wrote much of the novel while living at Barnhill,[9] a remote farmhouse on the island of Jura which lies in the Gulf stream off the west coast of Scotland. It was an abandoned farmhouse with outbuildings near to the northern end of the island, situated at the end of a five-mile (8 km), heavily rutted track from Ardlussa, where the laird, or landowner, Margaret Fletcher lived, and where the paved road, the only one on the island, came to an end.
In 1948, he co-edited a collection entitled British Pamphleteers with Reginald Reynolds.
In 1949, Orwell was approached by a friend, Celia Kirwan, who had just started working for a Foreign Office unit, the Information Research Department, which the Labour government had set up to publish anti-communist propaganda. He gave her a list of 37 writers and artists he considered to be unsuitable as IRD authors because of their pro-communist leanings. The list, not published until 2003, consists mainly of journalists (among them the editor of the New Statesman, Kingsley Martin) but also includes the actors Michael Redgrave and Charlie Chaplin. Orwell's motives for handing over the list are unclear, but the most likely explanation is the simplest: that he was helping a friend in a cause — anti-Stalinism — that they both supported. There is no indication that Orwell abandoned the democratic socialism that he consistently promoted in his later writings — or that he believed the writers he named should be suppressed. Orwell's list was also accurate: the people on it had all made pro-Soviet or pro-communist public pronouncements. In fact, one of the people on the list, Peter Smollett, the head of the Soviet section in the Ministry of Information, was later (after the opening of KGB archives) proven to be a Soviet agent, recruited by Kim Philby, and "almost certainly the person on whose advice the publisher Jonathan Cape turned down Animal Farm as an unhealthily anti-Soviet text", although Orwell was unaware of this.[10]
In October 1949, shortly before his death, he married Sonia Brownell. [11]
Death
Orwell died in London from tuberculosis, at the age of 46. [12] He was in and out of hospitals for the last three years of his life. Having requested burial in accordance with the Anglican rite, he was interred in All Saints' Churchyard, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire with the simple epitaph: "Here lies Eric Arthur Blair, born June 25, 1903, died January 21, 1950"; no mention is made on the gravestone of his more famous pen-name. He had wanted to be buried in the graveyard of the closest church to wherever he happened to die, but the graveyards in central London had no space. Fearing that he might have to be cremated, against his wishes, his widow appealed to his friends to see if any of them knew of a church with space in its graveyard. Orwell's friend David Astor lived in Sutton Courtenay and negotiated with the vicar for Orwell to be buried there, although he had no connection with the village.
Orwell's son, Richard Blair, was raised by an aunt after his father's death. He maintains a low public profile, though he has occasionally given interviews about the few memories he has of his father. Blair worked for many years as an agricultural agent for the British government.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
A Joke
Nelson Mandela is sitting at home watching TV when he hears a knock at the door. When he opens it, he is confronted by a man, clutching a clip board and yelling,"You Sign! You sign!" Behind him is an enormous truck full of car exhausts. Nelson is standing there in complete amazement, when the man starts to yell louder,"You Sign! You sign!" Nelson says to him, "Look, you've obviously got the wrong man", and shuts the door in his face. The next day he hears a knock at the door again. When he opens it, the man is back with a huge truck of brake pads. He thrusts his clipboard under Nelson's nose, yelling,"You sign! You sign!" Mr Mandela is getting a bit annoyed by now, so he pushes the man back, shouting:"Look, go away! You've got the wrong man. I don't want them!" Then he slams the door in his face again. The following day, Nelson is resting, and late in the afternoon, he hears a knock on the door again. On opening the door, there is the same man thrusting a clipboard under his nose, shouting,"You sign! You sign!" Behind him are TWO very large trucks full of car parts. This time Nelson loses his temper completely, he picks up the man by his shirt front and yells at him:"Look, I don't want these! Do you understand? You must have the wrong name! Who do you want to give these to?"The man looks very puzzled, consults his clipboard, and says:"You're not Nissan Main Dealer?"
Friday, April 25, 2008
To Blk 1 The Ghastly Blank
Here are the pointers for commentary again in case some of you did not have the time to copy them on Thursday. They are NOT exhaustive and are meant only to help you start writing your commentary and to generate responses OF YOUR OWN to the use of language in the text.
1.The use of negatives and words that have a negative meaning (think about prefxes and suffixes, and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made, antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever-
grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
2.The use of words that suggest the highest degree, complete truth giving the effect of an overstatement
(think about prefixes and suffixes, adjectives and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except fort the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
3. Other features of language (consider the effect of the words in bold)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, (short clauses) just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburr approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it could come to life again.
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made, antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever-
grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
2.The use of words that suggest the highest degree, complete truth giving the effect of an overstatement
(think about prefixes and suffixes, adjectives and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except fort the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
3. Other features of language (consider the effect of the words in bold)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, (short clauses) just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburr approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it could come to life again.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
An Outsider's View of Brunei
Have a look at this interesting travel article about Brunei from a British newspaper, the Daily Mail. As you can see from the description of the first picture, not entirely accurate, but interesting to see how Brunei is viewed by the outside world.http://www.travelmail.co.uk/travel/Brunei/Brunei----don-t-just-fly-by.html?article_id=27156
Also, look at this Youtube video, which is from a BBC travel documentary about Brunei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvApwmbmdo
Looks like a really nice place, must visit there sometime!!
Also, look at this Youtube video, which is from a BBC travel documentary about Brunei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvApwmbmdo
Looks like a really nice place, must visit there sometime!!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Model for Traveller's Check text
The genre of this text is an article from an in-flight magazine. Its tone therefore is likely to be persuasive, as it is in effect an advert for the airlines services, as they only write about places they go to, and only ever in a positive light. It cannot be seen as an impartial opinion.
The purpose is to inform the readers about the North Borneo Railway, in an effort to persuade them to use it, and to use Malaysia Airlines to get there.
There is also a light-heartedness to the tone, which the author establishes early, with the pun in the title, between a possible means of paying for the journey and an introduction to the information to follow about the railway.
The attraction of train travel is outlined in the opening paragraph.: the metaphor “opened up the countryside” makes train travel attractive by suggesting new discoveries or the revelation of something concealed until now. “Head-off” is light-hearted and gives the idea that travel is relaxing and freedom-giving. The mention of Thomas Cook in the second paragraph gives historical accuracy and therefore credibility to train travel as something tried and tested.
The idiomatic usage of “puffin’ billy” is informal which gives the passage an easy feel to it. Train travel is for everyone. The metaphor “paradise” to describe the railway in north Borneo makes the countryside which it passes through seem idyllic., the most beautiful place on earth, or even a beauty which transcends the earth. The structure of the rest of the paragraph makes it easy to follow the rest of the passage because the writer outlines two options for travel on the railway, which then makes it possible to devote a paragraph to one of them. The idiom “trainheads” must mean those who love train travel, again the informal tone makes train travel seem accessible to ordinary people, and the newness of the idiom makes train travel seem modern and possibly an attraction for the young, who are the people who might invent this new slang.
In the fourth paragraph the vocabulary item “narrow rickety” is used to describe the train. Normally these adjectives would not enhance an overall description, but in this case they serve to make the train appear attractively old-fashioned. As if the privilege of having such a historical experience makes it worthwhile to suffer this discomfort. . The “lunatic fringe, fanatical steam train devotees” raises train travel to an almost religious level which is clearly hyperbole. Lunatic fringe is humorous because it suggests that those who like train travel are in some way mentally deranged. Contrast is established when the writer goes on to describe the other, completely different type of travelers (those with only a passing interest) therefore it can be seen that train travel is for all, and so every reader is included as a possible traveller, adding to the persuasive tone of the passage. The vocabulary captures the history and therefore the credibility of train travel in words such as “nostalgia” and “oblivion” with their connotations of long time scales. A simile describing the train as being “like a time capsule’ makers the train seem old-fashioned, by suggesting a trip on it is not only through this part of Malaysia but back through history to a time pre-dating our own modern trains. The metaphor “lifeline” comes from the literal idea of throwing a drowning person a rope with which to be pulled ashore: thus the vital importance of the railway to people’s way of life is underpinned.
In conclusion the writer seeks to persuade people to use these trains through an appeal to their sense of nostalgia.
The purpose is to inform the readers about the North Borneo Railway, in an effort to persuade them to use it, and to use Malaysia Airlines to get there.
There is also a light-heartedness to the tone, which the author establishes early, with the pun in the title, between a possible means of paying for the journey and an introduction to the information to follow about the railway.
The attraction of train travel is outlined in the opening paragraph.: the metaphor “opened up the countryside” makes train travel attractive by suggesting new discoveries or the revelation of something concealed until now. “Head-off” is light-hearted and gives the idea that travel is relaxing and freedom-giving. The mention of Thomas Cook in the second paragraph gives historical accuracy and therefore credibility to train travel as something tried and tested.
The idiomatic usage of “puffin’ billy” is informal which gives the passage an easy feel to it. Train travel is for everyone. The metaphor “paradise” to describe the railway in north Borneo makes the countryside which it passes through seem idyllic., the most beautiful place on earth, or even a beauty which transcends the earth. The structure of the rest of the paragraph makes it easy to follow the rest of the passage because the writer outlines two options for travel on the railway, which then makes it possible to devote a paragraph to one of them. The idiom “trainheads” must mean those who love train travel, again the informal tone makes train travel seem accessible to ordinary people, and the newness of the idiom makes train travel seem modern and possibly an attraction for the young, who are the people who might invent this new slang.
In the fourth paragraph the vocabulary item “narrow rickety” is used to describe the train. Normally these adjectives would not enhance an overall description, but in this case they serve to make the train appear attractively old-fashioned. As if the privilege of having such a historical experience makes it worthwhile to suffer this discomfort. . The “lunatic fringe, fanatical steam train devotees” raises train travel to an almost religious level which is clearly hyperbole. Lunatic fringe is humorous because it suggests that those who like train travel are in some way mentally deranged. Contrast is established when the writer goes on to describe the other, completely different type of travelers (those with only a passing interest) therefore it can be seen that train travel is for all, and so every reader is included as a possible traveller, adding to the persuasive tone of the passage. The vocabulary captures the history and therefore the credibility of train travel in words such as “nostalgia” and “oblivion” with their connotations of long time scales. A simile describing the train as being “like a time capsule’ makers the train seem old-fashioned, by suggesting a trip on it is not only through this part of Malaysia but back through history to a time pre-dating our own modern trains. The metaphor “lifeline” comes from the literal idea of throwing a drowning person a rope with which to be pulled ashore: thus the vital importance of the railway to people’s way of life is underpinned.
In conclusion the writer seeks to persuade people to use these trains through an appeal to their sense of nostalgia.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A Few Quick Jokes
Teacher: Name two pronouns?
Pupil: Who?, me?
Teacher: I'm glad to see your writing has improved.
Pupil: Thank you
Teacher: Now I can see how bad your spelling is though!
Pupil: I don't think I deserved zero on this test!
Teacher: I agree, but that's the lowest mark I could give you!
Teacher: You copied from Ahmad's exam paper didn't you?
Pupil: How did you know?
Teacher: Ahmad's paper says "I don't know" and you have put "Me, neither"!
Pupil: Who?, me?
Teacher: I'm glad to see your writing has improved.
Pupil: Thank you
Teacher: Now I can see how bad your spelling is though!
Pupil: I don't think I deserved zero on this test!
Teacher: I agree, but that's the lowest mark I could give you!
Teacher: You copied from Ahmad's exam paper didn't you?
Pupil: How did you know?
Teacher: Ahmad's paper says "I don't know" and you have put "Me, neither"!
Shanghai Childhood
The genre of this text is from a novel which has been written from an autobiographical viewpoint. The tone is very much one of nostalgia and gentle humour. The writer’s purpose is to look back on childhood in a nostalgic, sometimes rather comical way. It is incongruous to describe a “mound” as having a “summit”. This shows that to small children a slight incline in the garden seems like a mountain. The writer concedes that his memory is exaggerated in the phrases “even at the time” and “hardly matched”: he acknowledges the “splendour“of the houses round the corner, which are described as “residences” rather than merely houses.
A comical picture of little boys is created. Their game is only running about in the garden and yet they are “worn…out” and are “panting”, in need of a rest. The gap between childhood and adulthood for the writer is shown in the words “around six years old”; he does not have an exact memory because it was a long time ago. Nostalgia is created in his closing his eyes “to bring back that picture”, consciously trying to evoke the past. His parents’ nostalgia for the England they have left behind is shown in their weak attempt to recreate an “English” lawn: the inverted commas show their attempt is not entirely unsuccessful in the climate of Shanghai. It is also important to note that tense shift from past to present which further highlights the nostalgic element in the text.
A comical picture of little boys is created. Their game is only running about in the garden and yet they are “worn…out” and are “panting”, in need of a rest. The gap between childhood and adulthood for the writer is shown in the words “around six years old”; he does not have an exact memory because it was a long time ago. Nostalgia is created in his closing his eyes “to bring back that picture”, consciously trying to evoke the past. His parents’ nostalgia for the England they have left behind is shown in their weak attempt to recreate an “English” lawn: the inverted commas show their attempt is not entirely unsuccessful in the climate of Shanghai. It is also important to note that tense shift from past to present which further highlights the nostalgic element in the text.
To Blk 1: Feedback on 'Toads and Dancing Monkeys'
2 things:
1. Please be reminded about the pointer on seeing the passage as a whole when you write commentaries in future.
2. Here are some more references to humour that I did not have time to cover during the feedback on Saturday 12 April.
Seeing the passage as a whole
You need to see how the various language devices work together to achieve the writer’s purpose of informing and entertaining the readers.
Questions to ask yourself:
• What is the general meaning or message in the passage? (Answer: About his journey up the hills in West Africa in a decrepit lorry in the company of a few West Africans. Although he is anxious for his safety , Durrell takes the journey with a sense of humour and is fascinated by the beauty and vitality of the landscape.)
• How does Durrell use language to get across his meaning/message successfully? In particular, how does he use figures of speech to make the account of his journey vivid, humorous and lively?
• Which figures of speech are used most in the passage?
• Which figures of speech are the most effective in emphasizing/enhancing his description? (answer: in this case, personification is the most important device in contributing to the humour and vivid description. Other figures of speech such as alliteration and onomatopoeia are used together with personification (eg 'It stood there on buckled wheels, wheezing and gasping with exhaustion')
References to humour
(1)
Most West African lorries are not in what would call the first flush of youth... (l.1)
Understatement - this is a sarcastic and humorous way of saying these lorries were practically worn out by old age.
(2)
.....I consigned myself and my loads to it with some trepidation. The driver, who was a cheerful fellow.... (‘ 4-5)
Humour is produced from the contrast between narrator’s fear and driver’s complete oblivion (lack of awareness) to it.
(3)
Secondly, I had to keep a stern eye on the clutch, a wilful piece of mechanism, that seized every chance to leap out of its socket (l 8-9)
The clutch is personified as stubborn and mischievous.
(4)
Not even a West African lorry driver could be successful in driving while crouched under the dashboard in a pre-natal position...., (l 10 )
The word ‘even’ suggests he marveled at the skills of West African drivers but also humorously implies that their skills lay in handling decrepit vehicles. The position ‘crouched under the dashboard in a pre-natal position’ is described hyperbolically for comic effect.
(5)
Home again, home again,
When shall I see my home?
When shall I see my mammy?
I’ll never forget ma home… (l.20-24)
The song sounds like a lamentation (a song expressing grief or mourning) but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves singing it ( ‘the boys lifted up their voices in song’; the driver and the narrator ‘harmonized’ and the driver ‘played a staccato accompaniment on the horn’. Hence humour is derived from the contrast between the appropriate mood of the song and the actual mood of the singers.
(6)
...the driver and I harmonized and sang complicated twiddly bits (l.27)
‘To twiddle’ means to twirl or rotate something without purpose. ‘Complicated twiddly bits’ probably refers to the nonsensical parts of the song that were hard to sing but were splendidly managed by the good-humoured Durrell.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Toads and Dancing Monkeys - Model
Here it is!! What you have all been waiting for with bated breath. Yes, it's Mr David Thomson's model answer for the Toads and Dancing Monkeys text commentary. This is what you should have done.
Sample Commentary – Toads and Dancing Monkeys
Durrell’s autobiographical account of his travels in West Africa during the early 1950s is humorous His intention is to transport the reader from her English sitting room through the brilliantly colourful jungle which teems with life and is full of exotic sights and sounds. Everything here is alive, from the ancient lorry to the sounds of the birds. Everything has a mind of its own, from the sentinel trees and ferns to the willful components of the truck. By bringing the scene so vividly to life, Durrell’s writing serves as a metaphor for the exuberance of life in the jungle. We can see that he considers the jungle to be a single living entity in his image of the forest, a thick pelt of green undulating into the distance. This then is his purpose, to make the scene come bursting alive, and the language which he uses achieves this aim wonderfully well.
In the first paragraph we are cleverly introduced to the pitiful clapped out jalopy of a truck. The negatively expressed and understated not in what one would call the first flush of youth leads us to expect a means of transport perhaps verging on cantankerous and unreliable middle age. However, the antique vehicle which arrives is personified as a geriatric human struggling for breath, and the alliterative wheels, wheezing and onomatopoeic gasping bring to vivid life its asthmatic condition, especially when it cannot cope even with the gentlest of slopes. Its component parts are also alive and possess minds of their own and thus Durrell has to take control of them like a strict schoolmaster watching over unruly pupils with his stern eye. One pupil, the handbrake, is surly, while the other, the clutch, is playful. Here we find the strange simile seized every chance to leap out of its socket with a noise like a strangling leopard. The noise of the clutch is surely a matter for the imagination of the reader, but one function of this simile is to remind the reader that she is in the distant jungle and that the decrepit lorry still has something of the wild animal in it and remains part of the jungle around. Durrell obviously has a high opinion of the skills of West African lorry drivers, as he says that not even they can drive in impossible positions. Here, the adverb even serves to compare West African lorry driver favourably with their counterparts elsewhere. Durrell introduces more humour when he describes the truck as noble, a royal quality it obviously acquires from its sedate and stately speed of 20mph. This is made more humorous with the idiomatic threw caution to the winds and careered along in a madcap fashion at twenty-five. This is a piece of hyperbole as 25mph is anything but fast, but of course to the clapped out wagon it is very quick indeed.
Having brought the lorry to life, Durrell moves on in paragraph two to bring the jungle around him to life and endow the flora with surprising purpose. Here we have the trees standing in solid ranks as soldiers guarding something, but what? Later the metaphor is repeated as the ferns become guardians of a new landscape. Could these provide a clue as to Durrell’s purpose in Africa? In the same paragraph we are introduced to the boys who sing a simple song in a simple dialect. All that interests them is going to ma home to ma mammy. They do not notice and have no interest in the wondrous sights around them. The driver too is deferential to Durrell, worried that he will object to the song. Durrell is obviously the boss, he knows everything about the forest, and compared to his rich and flamboyant language, the natives appear to be little more than simpletons who are merely there to help him on his dark purpose. This paragraph also contains beautiful, evocative descriptions of the love of Durrell’s life, the animals that inhabit the forest. The alliteration of the fricative f in flocks of hornbills flapped brings these exotic birds vividly to life. The onomatopoeia of honking conjures their call, and the simile like the ghosts of ancient taxis evokes a mystical, spiritual rather than physical presence and serves to remind the reader of the other worldliness of this domain. Then we meet the agama lizards who are alliteratively draped decoratively, an image of curtains in keeping with the nature of the forest and one which gains credence when their colour is described as sunset, a myriad of changes from orange through red to deepest violet. Once again the lizards are full of life as they nod their heads furiously. Furiously at what, one wonders – is it simply the speed of movement, or is it their anger and knowledge of Durrell’s purpose? The road too has life, looping its way in languid curves. The lengthy l sounds accentuating the long and lazy path it takes. All of this alliteration and onomatopoeia serve to bring the sounds of the forest to the readers’ ears.
In the third paragraph, we meet a new landscape, that of the uplands. This is much less luxuriant than the lowland forest, but nevertheless is described in vibrant terms. There are tree ferns which stand around plotting and planning with fronds like delicate green fountains, a simile which easily captures how they look and suggests the renewing life giving qualities of fountains. The hills become bare; they shrug themselves free of a cloak, because, of course, they too are alive. We find golden grass rippling, an echo of the undulating forest below. To close this section we return to the lorry, which has, against all the odds, made it to the summit exhibiting all the signs of illness and age previously mentioned. Though by now it truly seems to be on its last legs spouting steam like a dying whale. It is with a sense of relief and release that the passage ends with the closure of switched off the engine.
Whilst the use of language clearly plays the major role in how Durrell achieves his aim, there are some areas of structure which require comment. He uses colons, firstly to explain in detail why this particular lorry was worse than any he had met before. Secondly to list the operations he was required to supervise whilst in the lorry. The effect is to lead the reader to expect that in each case more information will be provided. Durrell also uses present participles rather than finite tenses to de-emphasise actions and thus focus more on the image presented. Thus we find that the agama lizards lay, blushing into sunset colouring: the focus clearly being on the picture of them blushing. Similarly we see massive tree-ferns standing in conspiratorial groups, and the effect helps us visualise them as humans.
Durrell easily conveys his enthusiasm for the forest and its inhabitants through his flamboyant use of language. The experience for the reader is to be transported with him onto the lorry and into the forests of West Africa; to an exotic location where everything is alive and conscious.
Durrell’s autobiographical account of his travels in West Africa during the early 1950s is humorous His intention is to transport the reader from her English sitting room through the brilliantly colourful jungle which teems with life and is full of exotic sights and sounds. Everything here is alive, from the ancient lorry to the sounds of the birds. Everything has a mind of its own, from the sentinel trees and ferns to the willful components of the truck. By bringing the scene so vividly to life, Durrell’s writing serves as a metaphor for the exuberance of life in the jungle. We can see that he considers the jungle to be a single living entity in his image of the forest, a thick pelt of green undulating into the distance. This then is his purpose, to make the scene come bursting alive, and the language which he uses achieves this aim wonderfully well.
In the first paragraph we are cleverly introduced to the pitiful clapped out jalopy of a truck. The negatively expressed and understated not in what one would call the first flush of youth leads us to expect a means of transport perhaps verging on cantankerous and unreliable middle age. However, the antique vehicle which arrives is personified as a geriatric human struggling for breath, and the alliterative wheels, wheezing and onomatopoeic gasping bring to vivid life its asthmatic condition, especially when it cannot cope even with the gentlest of slopes. Its component parts are also alive and possess minds of their own and thus Durrell has to take control of them like a strict schoolmaster watching over unruly pupils with his stern eye. One pupil, the handbrake, is surly, while the other, the clutch, is playful. Here we find the strange simile seized every chance to leap out of its socket with a noise like a strangling leopard. The noise of the clutch is surely a matter for the imagination of the reader, but one function of this simile is to remind the reader that she is in the distant jungle and that the decrepit lorry still has something of the wild animal in it and remains part of the jungle around. Durrell obviously has a high opinion of the skills of West African lorry drivers, as he says that not even they can drive in impossible positions. Here, the adverb even serves to compare West African lorry driver favourably with their counterparts elsewhere. Durrell introduces more humour when he describes the truck as noble, a royal quality it obviously acquires from its sedate and stately speed of 20mph. This is made more humorous with the idiomatic threw caution to the winds and careered along in a madcap fashion at twenty-five. This is a piece of hyperbole as 25mph is anything but fast, but of course to the clapped out wagon it is very quick indeed.
Having brought the lorry to life, Durrell moves on in paragraph two to bring the jungle around him to life and endow the flora with surprising purpose. Here we have the trees standing in solid ranks as soldiers guarding something, but what? Later the metaphor is repeated as the ferns become guardians of a new landscape. Could these provide a clue as to Durrell’s purpose in Africa? In the same paragraph we are introduced to the boys who sing a simple song in a simple dialect. All that interests them is going to ma home to ma mammy. They do not notice and have no interest in the wondrous sights around them. The driver too is deferential to Durrell, worried that he will object to the song. Durrell is obviously the boss, he knows everything about the forest, and compared to his rich and flamboyant language, the natives appear to be little more than simpletons who are merely there to help him on his dark purpose. This paragraph also contains beautiful, evocative descriptions of the love of Durrell’s life, the animals that inhabit the forest. The alliteration of the fricative f in flocks of hornbills flapped brings these exotic birds vividly to life. The onomatopoeia of honking conjures their call, and the simile like the ghosts of ancient taxis evokes a mystical, spiritual rather than physical presence and serves to remind the reader of the other worldliness of this domain. Then we meet the agama lizards who are alliteratively draped decoratively, an image of curtains in keeping with the nature of the forest and one which gains credence when their colour is described as sunset, a myriad of changes from orange through red to deepest violet. Once again the lizards are full of life as they nod their heads furiously. Furiously at what, one wonders – is it simply the speed of movement, or is it their anger and knowledge of Durrell’s purpose? The road too has life, looping its way in languid curves. The lengthy l sounds accentuating the long and lazy path it takes. All of this alliteration and onomatopoeia serve to bring the sounds of the forest to the readers’ ears.
In the third paragraph, we meet a new landscape, that of the uplands. This is much less luxuriant than the lowland forest, but nevertheless is described in vibrant terms. There are tree ferns which stand around plotting and planning with fronds like delicate green fountains, a simile which easily captures how they look and suggests the renewing life giving qualities of fountains. The hills become bare; they shrug themselves free of a cloak, because, of course, they too are alive. We find golden grass rippling, an echo of the undulating forest below. To close this section we return to the lorry, which has, against all the odds, made it to the summit exhibiting all the signs of illness and age previously mentioned. Though by now it truly seems to be on its last legs spouting steam like a dying whale. It is with a sense of relief and release that the passage ends with the closure of switched off the engine.
Whilst the use of language clearly plays the major role in how Durrell achieves his aim, there are some areas of structure which require comment. He uses colons, firstly to explain in detail why this particular lorry was worse than any he had met before. Secondly to list the operations he was required to supervise whilst in the lorry. The effect is to lead the reader to expect that in each case more information will be provided. Durrell also uses present participles rather than finite tenses to de-emphasise actions and thus focus more on the image presented. Thus we find that the agama lizards lay, blushing into sunset colouring: the focus clearly being on the picture of them blushing. Similarly we see massive tree-ferns standing in conspiratorial groups, and the effect helps us visualise them as humans.
Durrell easily conveys his enthusiasm for the forest and its inhabitants through his flamboyant use of language. The experience for the reader is to be transported with him onto the lorry and into the forests of West Africa; to an exotic location where everything is alive and conscious.
See! It's easy really!!!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Punctuation
Here are a couple of absolutely fascinating links about punctuation. Well, maybe not absolutely fascinating, but interesting. Well, maybe not even that, but they are of mild interest to you. Well, OK then, they are a bit boring, but they are very useful, so have a look at them
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/marks.htm
http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/
http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=Paintball
The third link is a game which you might like, then again you might not. Please yourselves.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/marks.htm
http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/
http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=Paintball
The third link is a game which you might like, then again you might not. Please yourselves.
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