ENGLISH
- Plan Of Interpretation (ED Winter Examination Session 2003 / State Exam 2003)
- Angel Pavement by J.B. Priestley (Essay)
- Overview
of Christianity in Britain
1.Introduction
- the title
- the author
- the source
+ summary of the text or annotation (if required)
2. Subject matter
- the theme of the essay
- main idea (point, contention)
3. Type of writing: scholarly or publicistic
4. The chain of reasoning
- is the main point appropriately placed (it should be placed in the 1st paragraph)
- is the main point developed further
- are there sufficient arguments, details or examples to support main idea.
5. Has the author used references effectively (other opinions)?
6. Do you think the author's reasoning is sound, convincing and logically presented?
7. Has the author used cohesive (connection) devises between the text, paragraphs (e.g.: so, nevertheless, well etc.)
Comment on the use of statistic daters (tables, charts, figures, dates, diagrams).
8.The authors intention.
What do you think was the author's main purpose, what impression he/she wanted to do?
Has the author achieved his purpose successfully?
9. Style, tone, attitude, language.
What type of essay (if it is an essay) it is?
- narrative
- informative
- descriptive
- expository (plays on emotions)
Is the style of presentation approached and appealing?
Style: formal, informal Tone: neutral
10. Comment on the choice of idioms and words (vulgarisms, colloquials) and what is the effect they produce?
Do the expressive means underline the important idea (stylistic devices)?
Do the expressive means reflect the author's attitude and tone. What other means has the author used ( contrast, humor, framing, irony, etc.)?
11. The title
- comment on the title and the subheading
- does the heading feet the overall topics
- does it arouse the readers interest
- is it eye-catching
12. Conclusion
Explain your own evaluation and impression of the text. Remember that your opinion and impression must always be supported by evidence from the text.
Write as many examples as you can.
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Angel Pavement by J.B. Priestley (Essay)
Angel Pavement is an excellent of that how one book can kill in a person
the interest in English literature. In order to create such killing effect
the author should use certain techniques and stylistic devises. Today
I'm going to speak about the language and the style of the novel.
The novel has a specific form with the prologue and epilogue, every chapter
is devoted to the description of characters which appear in the novel
one after another. Priestley is a master of description, he could describe
somebody or something within hours or even weeks. The descriptions are
usually used in order to present deep psychological analysis of the characters,
to create gloomy reality showing the life conditions of the personages.
A slow chain of events is complicated by numerous enumerations, which
sometimes occupy several pages and devoted to the description of London,
London's streets, shops, parks, offices, squares, men in caps, men in
bowler hats, men in blue helmets and everything that Priestley managed
to describe in London.
But among a huge number of boring descriptions and enumerations, a sophisticated
reader can find different manifestations of humor. The ironical position
of the author is underlined by the frequent use of the similes with conjunction
"as if", which adds a light shadow of modality to the context and creates
humorous effect by showing the difference between the real state of things
and described events.
The humorous effect is also achieved by the combination of the words and
word combinations with different meanings: "this face… began by being
almost bold at the top", "his stomach forgot about it", "desperate bicycles"
etc.
Another example of Priestley's attempt to inject humor into the novel
is based on the usage of grotesque in the description of restaurant "Bundle's"
where Mr. Golspie and Miss Matfield ate "the red dripping half of a roasted
ox" and "legs and shoulders" that "came trundling up from all directions".
And the last thing that should be mentioned while speaking about the style
and the language of the novel is speech characteristics of the characters.
Priestley uses different types of English language adopting it to the
social and physical peculiarities of his characters. The individualization
of the speech and pronunciation can be viewed on the example of Goath's
speech: "Sala'y to end of mun' an' commision to yesserday "(salary to
the end of the month and commission to yesterday), "wha' I say tha' ma'ers"
(what I say that matters), "tha's the feller"(that's the fellow). Another
example is Mr. Pelumpton , who speaks cockney and lisps: "yersh"(yes),
"a norfish"(an office), "a ninteresh"(an interest). Showing different
social backgrounds of his characters, Priestley violates the grammatical
and stylistic norms of English language.
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Overview of Christianity in Britain
Of the religions practised in modern Britain, Christianity is the most
long-established and widely observed. It was first brought to Britain
during the days of the Roman empire. There are, in fact, forty churches
still in regular use, parts of which date from that period. With the departure
of the legions and the Anglo-Saxon invasions of the fifth century Christianity
was reduced to pockets of support in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This
situation changed with the arrival of missionaries sent by the Pope led
by Augustine in 597. The next few centuries saw Christianity established
throughout Britain. Augustine, meanwhile, became the first Archbishop
of Canterbury, the holder of which position remains the most important
figure in the Church of England.
Bishops were also established in a number of other centers, and by the
end of the eleventh century a system of dioceses and parishes had been
established across much of England. This system, with the creation of
additional parishes and dioceses in the nineteenth century to cope with
population growth and urban development, remains the basis of the structure
of the Church of England. The Reformation of the sixteenth century did
not disturb this structure. It did, however, fracture the Christian community
in the British Isles. Links with Rome were broken and an established church
owing its allegiance to the English crown replaced the medieval Church
in England, Wales and Ireland. In Scotland it was replaced by the established
Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Roman Catholicism survived in strength
only in Ireland.
The Reformation was followed by further divisions. Conflicts over theology,
church order and freedom of conscience led to a series of secessions from
the Church of England in the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
These Free Churches, as they are now called, were joined in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries by the Methodist products of the Evangelical
Revival. This and the resurgence of Roman Catholicism throughout Britain
in the course of the nineteenth century, largely as a result of immigration,
particularly from Ireland, produced an increasingly diverse religious
scene. Further immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has
added to this diversity. There are now over 200 different Christian denominations
in Britain.
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