Dickens' style of writing
In this extract we will look closer at Dickens' writing comparing a graded reader with the original. As you work on a particular section of text from A Christmas Carol, look for the following characteristics of Dickens' writing: Charles Dickens ⦁ Dickens was once a newspaper reporter; his descriptions show a wonderful eye for detail. ⦁ Dickens loved words, and liked to produce a 'pretty piece of writing' in different styles. He included lots of powerful adjectives, and is famous for his use of metaphors and similes. His descriptions often present people, their surroundings, and even the weather, in ways which reinforce each other, so that a certain 'feel' is built up through the passage. ⦁ In 1849 he began public readings of the story which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870. His writing is rhythmic and designed to be read out loud. He loved to make young women in his audience laugh or weep, so many of his characters are either hilariously comic or heart-breakingly sentimental. ⦁ Dickens was a master of dialect and used what is called 'substandard' speech to add to the picture of a character he was building up. ⦁ Dickens is famous for his exaggeration, which critics have linked to his love of the stage. Here you can read the first paragraphs of the novel, first in the original version, then in a simplified version. Comparing the simplified version, from a graded reader to the original version can help you to understand more difficult words. 1) MARLEY was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say Saint Paul’s Churchyard for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weak mind. Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him. Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas. 2)It is important to remember that Jacob Marley was dead. Did Scrooge know that? Of course he did. Scrooge and Marley had been partners in London for many years, and excellent men of business they were, too. When Marley died, Scrooge continued with the business alone. Both names still stood above the office door: Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people who were new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. He did not care what name they called him. The only thing that mattered to him was the business, and making money. Oh! He was a hard, clever, mean old man, Scrooge was! There was nothing warm or open about him. He lived a secretive, lonely life, and took no interest in other people at all. The cold inside him made his eyes red, and his thin lips blue, and his voice high and cross. It put white frost on his old head, his eyebrows and his chin. The frost in his heart made the air around him cold, too. In the hottest days of summer his office was as cold as ice, and it was just as cold in winter. Find the equivalent phrases for 1 to 10 in the simplified text 1) It was all the same to him. 2) Scrooge knew he was dead? 3) tight-fisted / squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous / no steel had ever struck out generous fire 4)hand at the grindstone 5) sharp as flint 6) secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster 7) grating voice 8) A frosty rime was on his head 9) he iced his office 10) in the dog-days a) clever b) In the hottest days of summer c) Did Scrooge know that? d) The frost in his heart made the air around him cold e) He did not care f) Mean g) voice high and cross h) The only thing that mattered to him was the business, i) It put white frost on his old head j) There was nothing warm or open about him. He lived a secretive, lonely life Which are for you the most difficult aspects of Dickens’ style? Which are the most interesting? Share your thoughts with me. Sites for further research https://learnenglishwithdemi.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/conversational-deletion/ http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/mean https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/grindstone
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What is this?When I started lostinclassics I looked for language lessons in the books I was reading, such as for example the use of phrasal verbs or inversion in conditionals and I explained them through examples found in the text. I also did reviews of the books I read and tried to give some advice on how to read classics using the various resources I know of. Then I switched to just reviews and lately I have been doing a bit of creative writing inspired by my reading. Who knows what I will come up with next! Archives
September 2020
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