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Authorial and Text Style
Task A - Initial impressions: Lawrence passage
If the Jane Austen passage was biased, this one is arguably even more
so. We are left in no doubt about how to think of the two main characters
portrayed. The characters are described entirely in internal terms (an
although it should be pointed that, unlike the other two passages, this
description is not the very first for the characters concerned, even their
first descriptions in the story were as much in internal as external terms).
Our style characterisation chart for this passage is:
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Prosaic
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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Poetic
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Objective
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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Biased
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External
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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Internal
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Simple
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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Complex
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Straightforward
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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Rhetorical
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In terms of sentence construction, this passage feels much simpler to
us than the Austen passage, but not as simple as the Steinbeck. But it
is even more overtly rhetorical than the Austen, and feels more poetic,
partly because of the strength of the emotions portrayed and partly because
a number of the constructions are unusual semantically (cf. the metaphors
in 'green flares of hellish hate' 'cunning heart' and 'unfresh, stagnant
men').
Aunt Cissie is clearly the daughter of Granny, and refers to her as the
Mater. Aunt Cissie appears to be pretty unpleasant, her mother is even
more so. And, unlike the Austen description, the relations among the characters
has more to do with strong emotional feelings than social matters - although
we should note that their different names (the old lady is called 'Granny'
by her grandchildren and 'Mater' by the children's Aunt Cissie) indicate
clear family relations among the characters.
Back to task
A
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