The following passage is from D. H. Lawrence’s 1915 novel, The Rainbow, which focuses on the lives of the Brangwens, a farming family who lived in rural England during the late nineteenth century. Read the passage carefully. In your blog, analyze how Lawrence employs literary devices to characterize the woman and capture her situation. Do not be afraid to look up some literary devices. If you do not start using the terminology, you will forget it. Think back to our poetry unit. And if you saved it, you should have a nice list of literary terms from the beginning of the year. If not, they are easy to find on line. Good luck!
It was enough for the men, that the earth heaved
and opened its furrow to them, that the wind blew to
dry the wet wheat, and set the young ears of corn
wheeling freshly round about; it was enough that they
5 helped the cow in labour, or ferreted the rats from
under the barn, or broke the back of a rabbit with a
sharp knock of the hand. So much warmth and
generating and pain and death did they know in their
blood, earth and sky and beast and green plants, so
10 much exchange and interchange they had with these,
that they lived full and surcharged, their senses full
fed, their faces always turned to the heat of the blood,
staring into the sun, dazed with looking towards the
source of generation, unable to turn around.
15 But the woman wanted another form of life than
this, something that was not blood-intimacy. Her
house faced out from the farm-buildings and fields,
looked out to the road and the village with church and
Hall and the world beyond. She stood to see the far20
off world of cities and governments and the active
scope of man, the magic land to her, where secrets
were made known and desires fulfilled. She faced
outwards to where men moved dominant and creative,
having turned their back on the pulsing heat of
25 creation, and with this behind them, were set out to
discover what was beyond, to enlarge their own scope
and range and freedom; whereas the Brangwen men
faced inwards to the teeming life of creation, which
poured unresolved into their veins.
30 Looking out, as she must, from the front of her
house towards the activity of man in the world at
large, whilst her husband looked out to the back at sky
and harvest and beast and land, she strained her eyes
to see what man had done in fighting outwards to
35 knowledge, she strained to hear how he uttered
himself in his conquest, her deepest desire hung on
the battle that she heard, far off, being waged on the
edge of the unknown. She also wanted to know, and
to be of the fighting host.
40 At home, even so near as Cossethay, was the vicar,
who spoke the other, magic language, and had the
other, finer bearing, both of which she could perceive,
but could never attain to. The vicar moved in worlds
beyond where her own menfolk existed. Did she not
45 know her own menfolk; fresh, slow, full-built men,
masterful enough, but easy, native to the earth,
lacking outwardness and range of motion. Whereas
the vicar, dark and dry and small beside her husband,
had yet a quickness and a range of being that made
50 Brangwen, in his large geniality, seem dull and local.
She knew her husband. But in the vicar’s nature was
that which passed beyond her knowledge. As
Brangwen had power over the cattle so the vicar had
power over her husband. What was it in the vicar, that
55 raised him above the common men as man is raised
above the beast? She craved to know. She craved to
achieve this higher being, if not in herself, then in her
children. That which makes a man strong even if he
be little and frail in body, just as any man is little and
60 frail beside a bull, and yet stronger than the bull, what
was it? It was not money nor power nor position.
What power had the vicar over Tom Brangwen—
none. Yet strip them and set them on a desert island,
and the vicar was the master. His soul was master of
65 the other man’s. And why—why? She decided it was
a question of knowledge.
Line
Literary devices. Commence!
ReplyDeleteMotif – A major motif in this passage is knowledge. The poor, sheltered farm lady, who plays the main character role, thirsts for knowledge. She desires the hustling and advancing society of the modern world in the city. She is sick of the sheltered life that she lives on the farm with her simple-minded husband. But why?
Characterization and alliterations and symbolism – the characters that are developed in the passage represent different aspects of life. The farmer, Tom Brangwen, (the husband) represents the “fresh, slow, full-built men… native to the earth”, who perhaps as a whole symbolizes the ‘old-fashioned’ human race. The vicar represents the total opposite. He is the foil to the farmer. He symbolizes the “higher being” and the “master”. The last sentence of the passage sums up this man as the “question of knowledge”. In other words, his pool of knowledge is vaster than the farmer’s. Therefore, he has control over him. Finally, the main character is developed through her wistfulness by looking out toward the city that she “deeply desired” (alliteration). She desired the knowledge and advancement of the city, and because of its “dominance and creativity”. She desired the dominance of knowledge that the vicar possesses.
Parallelism and rhetorical questions – The narrator of the passage uses parallelism to compare Tom Brangwen’s power to the vicar’s authority. She continually compares Tom’s (and common man’s) dominance over creation, more specifically bulls, to the power that the vicar has over the common man. She asks the rhetorical question, “What was it in the vicar, that raised him above the common men as man is raised
above the beast?” which also contains parallelism. She knows the answer. She knows that it is knowledge, education, and advancement. She even recognizes that it is “not money nor power nor position” that decides the vicar’s authority. She claims that it is a “question of knowledge”. She knows that is why if the two men were deserted on an island, “stripped of everything”, the vicar would be above Tom Brangwen because of his broader expanse of knowledge. The knowledge she desires.
Rachel,
DeleteI think that you did a great job of finding devices in this passage. I didn't even think of the motif for knowledge. So I am glad that you pointed that out. I agree that the vicar and the husband are used to contrast each other, since their lives are very different. I also said that there were rhetorical questions, those are my favorite cause they are so easy to pick out. Well great job!
Rachel,
DeleteI liked your discussion of the people as being symbols. I saw that the vicar was a contrast to the husband, but the fact that each character was a symbol for something didn’t really even click with me. I must be too tired because now it seems obvious. I also found the rhetorical questions so that was a nice job. Also nice job with the motif. I would never even have thought about using that. Great thinking Rachel.
The beginning of the passage starts by describing a man, which is presumably the woman's husband. Lawrence uses strong imagery such as, "set the young ears of corn" and "help a cow in labor" to help the reader visualize the duties of the man. Lawrence closely associates the man with nature when describing him. Lawrence uses symbols of the farm to describe the husband, like cows and the fields. The tone at the beginning of the passage is very fond and calm, taking on the perspective of the farmer, who has a deep passion for what he does and a large appreciation for the environment around him such as, "staring into the sun, dazed with looking towards the source of generation." The farmer is content where he is in life, he enjoys his work and doesn't have a desire for anything else in life.
ReplyDeleteThen the tone of the passage shifts as the woman is now described. Lawrence compares the woman with buildings and civilization such as she is looking towards, "the road and the village with the church." Instead of gazing admirably out into the fields like her husband. Here again Lawrence uses imagery for the reader to picture the farm and then off in the distance there is a group buildings with chapel. The woman looks longingly towards those buildings, which she refers to as "the magic land". The woman wants to be a part of the "world of cities and government" however she is tied to the land of "blood intimacy" by her husband. In this passage the setting along with the tone describes the woman's situation and her desires.
The vicar serves as a juxtaposition to the husband. The vicar is described as looking small standing to the farmer. While the farmer looks dull and boring compared to the vicar. The lives of the two men deeply contrast. However, the woman has revelation as to why the vicar is above her husband and why her husband is above the animas on the farm. She uses rhetorical questions to ask why the vicar is superior to her husband. It is knowledge that rises a man in the social ladder of society and it is knowledge that the woman craves.
Michaela,
DeleteI love your blog. You are absolutely right about the vicar being a juxtaposition to the farmer. He does not have any knowledge which makes him inferior to the vicar. I also love your discussion of imagery, but then again I am a sucker for it. Imagery is my favorite device. I also really liked your discussion of tone. You have such a good mastery of tone. Nice job!
Michaela,
DeleteI thought that your blog was very interesting and well done. I think that the rhetorical devices that your found were very good. I think that the use of juxtapostion was a great find, and I did not notice that. Also I thought that the way that you talked about the shift in tone was very interesting. Nice job!
Michaela Cashmer,
ReplyDeleteWow! This blog is excellent! You found various literary devices. I really respect your discovery of juxtaposition. I always forget what that word means. Thanks to your blog, I totally know now. Also, your description of the imagery in the passage is very effective, especially how it contrasts the husband and the wife. Your finding of tone is spot on about how the woman is wistful and desires to be part of the advancing world. I think you unlocked the meaning behind the passage through literary devices. Great work!
One of the most important literary devices that can be found in this piece is imagery. The author uses quite a few different images, such as “the young ears of corn wheeling about.” Imagery is always important in a story because it encourages the reader to look through the eyes of the narrator and see the picture unfold in front of you. Another important image is the way that the wife is looking upon the city from her farm house. Her longing for that place is evident in the way that it is being described. It is described as “the world beyond.” This seems to indicate that the woman wants to get out of their little farm business and join the rest of the world as they learn.
ReplyDeleteAnother device that sticks out is the rhetorical questions. The vicar is one large question to the woman. She continually believes that the vicar has some power over her husband, but it is not in the transitional way. She is confused as to what it is about the vicar that is so captivating to her husband. The questions are asked such as “and why-- why?” These questions are very important to the story because the vicar is exactly what the wife seems not to be. They are strong even when they have every right to be weak, but the wife seems to be weak even when she needs to be strong. She looks up to the vicars strength, and hopes to one day achieve that. She also realizes that she most likely will never find the strength that she needs.
A symbol that seemed to stick out to me, but that may be completely wrong is the city. It is described as a place “where secrets are made known and desires are fulfilled.” I think that this symbolizes the situation of the woman really well. She longs to be able to say that she doesn’t want to live on the farm, but she can’t tell her husband who is happy there. The cities represents her being able to share how she feels. It also represents her being able to find more than the simple knowledge of the farm. She will be able to grow and learn just as the other people do in the city, if only she could get there.
Megan,
DeleteI also found imagery to be the most prominent device in this piece of literature. I think that you did a good job explaining why these were used and how it affected the selection as a whole. I also liked your paragraph on rhetorical question. I think that this was crucial to the entire selection. Nice job!
Megan,
DeleteGood blog this week. I liked the imagery and also thought it was essential to the passage and the most used device. I liked the rhetorical question, and I really liked the symbolism you found. Seeing it in your perspective I can see how it can add deeper meaning to the passage. Nice job!
Megan,
DeleteThis was very good, Megan! You talked well of imagery (imagery buddy) and applied it well to the story. I was most impressed, however, by your discussion of the rhetorical questions which is a literary device I did not discuss in my own blog. I like how you talked about the way these continual questions reflected the curiosity of the woman described in the story. It is so true. They really prove to depict her as a curious individual yearning to learn. Great job.
The literary device that stood out to me most throughout this passage was imagery. I thought that the author used imagery very well, especially when introducing new topics into the passage. The very first paragraph of the passage said “wet wheat,” “young ears of corn wheeling,” and “enough that they helped the cow in labour.” All of these uses of imagery give the reader an added sense of what the author really means. By describing the wheat as wet, for example, the author allows us to know that the scene most likely takes place in a rural area where wheat is growing. Also we know that the has probably either been a rain storm or morning dew that has covered the wheat with moisture. The use of imagery, especially to introduce new topics, was very important to the passage.
ReplyDeleteThe next literary element I found was parallelism. Although there is not one specific example of this, the entire passage is paralleling the power the vicar has to the power, or lack thereof, of Tom Brangwen. The author uses this comparison to show that both of the men are similar, and both should be treated equal. The author makes it clear that there is not a median for the power, but the vicar controls everything.
Finally, I found the use of rhetorical question. The author says “What was it in the vicar, that raised him above the common men as man is raised above the beast?” This is a rhetorical question. The author is not actually asking a question, but rather showing the audience the injustice that is taking place. He is not expecting an answer, but rather forcing the audience to realize there is no reason that there is so much injustice.
Luke Kraus,
DeleteQuality blog. I guess we found a lot of similarities in our blogs. I guess great minds think alike. Anyways the rhetorical question with the vicar was good. I found a lot of them and this happened to be one of them. Good work.
Luke Kraus,
DeleteNice analyzing! I really like your introduction paragraph about imagery. The imagery is tantalizing for sure, and I would just like to point out that "wet wheat" is an alliteration. Hehe! Smarty pants Rachel here. I'm not I totally agree with your interpretation of the passage. You mentioned that their is injustice. I do not think that has anything to do with the passage. Rather, I think it has to do with the thirst for knowledge and the power of education. I could be wrong, but that was my take on it. Other than that, good blog, Kraus!
ReplyDeleteAlrighty then.
I found this passage to be packed with imagery. Throughout the first couple of stanzas the narrator describes the setting with a lot of detail. He describes the farm so that somebody might be able to imagine it easily. He makes the setting very clear by pointing out that it might be a wet spring or summer day on a farm. He uses such phrases "wet wheat,” “young ears of corn wheeling,” and “enough that they helped the cow in labour.” To give the reader a sense of the scene. And this is only the first stanza. There is imagery throughout the entire passage that is relevant and gives significant meaning. It sets the tone of the passage.
The next literary device I found was rhetorical questions. The author makes it clear that the vicar is omnipotent over the people, and over Tom. Even though he is more powerful, the vicar and Tom, as well as everyone, should be treated fairly and equally, as the narrator suggests. Even though the vicar has power over Tom, it doesn't effect his daily life. He just carries on with life and ignores the guy. They are compared through rhetorical question for some time in this passage, and the idea of politics is shown in the desert island example.
I guess it wasn't that Tom ignored the vicar as a rhetorical question as much as it was parallelism, but nevertheless it was still a rhetorical question. Parallelism was the major theme of the passage. The narrator compares the authority if the man to the power of Tom over his bulls and all of his other possessions on the farm. And he goes on talking about this for a while. "What power had the vicar over Tom Brangwen—none. Yet strip them and set them on a desert island, and the vicar was the master." This is where the politics come into play.
Matt,
DeleteNice blog. You found a lot of quality literary devices, a lot of which I did not mention in my blog, and did a good job explaining them. Additionally, you did very well with pulling specific quotes from the piece in order to back up what you were saying. However, one thing I would work on is applying what it is you have uncovered to the meaning of the piece as a whole. I the first paragraph you talk about how the imagery adds great meaning to the piece but how and why? Still though, we all need work on this. Nice job!
Ooh. I really liked that passage.
ReplyDeleteOkay, analysis time!
The beginning of the passage, and really the piece as a whole, employs imagery in a way that adds great meaning to the story. All of the images used at the beginning of the tale were all very natural. Cows in labor, earth heaving and furrowing. We know immediately that we are discussing the simple yet rewarding life of farmers, people who find themselves innately attached to the natural world.
The content tone of the opening paragraphs eventually takes a shift as the narrator begins to focus less on the Brangwen men and more on the women. The tone and imagery no long are of calm, natural scenes but rather of bustling towns and of a yearning for the unknown. Additionally, the scenes are no longer viewed from the back of the house, but from the front of the house which is also representative of this tonal shift. The opening paragraphs are necessary so that this shift in the piece is observed, for this sets the woman distinctly apart from the men as an individual who understands that there is more to life then crops and harvests and beasts.
Juxtaposition and parallelism are extremely important to understanding the unusualness of the woman and her quest for knowledge in comparison with her simpleton husband. The husband is not only compared to the townsfolk but even still to the vicar as being "in his large geniality, seem dull and local." This is said in contrast to the vicar's "quickness and range of being." The two are also contrasted harshly when the image of them being trapped on an island together is described, claiming that the vicar's soul would prove to be superior to her husband. These comparisons now move beyond the woman and her husband, but to the vicar and all of man, pondering what it is he possesses that makes even his frailty dominant.
Lastly, in terms of diction, it is of a realm of eloquence. It is very formal and employs frothy descriptions which add a richness to the piece, however, it is interesting that such a formality would be used considering the simple folk upon the piece is centered. It is almost as though the individual narrating the piece is an individual like the vicar. An individual who is educated in both scholastics and the magical realms beyond. The narrator acts as a representation of what it is the woman wishes to fulfill for herself or her children, and that is the pursuit of knowledge.