Anthology Flashcards
Charlie Brooker: Too much talk for one planet: why I’m reducing my carbon emissions
Mode: Article
Audience: Public audience= guardian readers, left wingers, educated, fans of Brooker, fans of satire
Purpose: To entertain, to inform, express opinion on the harmful effects of social media
Content and Context: Writer= satirist (a way of criticism of society usually through humour), producer, presenter, creator of Black Mirror (Netflix TV show), rising numbers of social media users lead to trolls, regular writer of the Guardian, Private Eye (online satirical magazine)
Voice= Reflective/self aware “I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of jabber in the world- it’s a vast cloud of blah”- headline, vague language, extended metaphor- communication= pollution
Voice= Direct/confrontational= “Incidentally, I’m aware this is Olympic-level navel gazing, but you’re a human being with free will who can stop reading any time. Here, have a full stop. And another. And another. There are exits all over this building”- Adverb- conversational, direct address, hyperbole, imperative, minor sentences
Voice=self aware/critical- “Firing more words into the middle of all that began to strike me as futile and unnecessary. I started to bite myself as yet another factory mindlessly pumping carbon dioxide into the toxic sky”- Extended metaphor from opening headline, determiners, semantic field
Voice= satirical/incongruous- “I’m an elderly man from the age of steam[…] so now I’m sitting grumpily in a spaceship with my arms folded, wearing a stovepipe hat. Ridiculous.”- hyperbole, self deprivation, incongruous metaphor, minor sentence
Parodies voices of trolls near the end
Ian Birrell- As gay people celebrate
Mode= Article
Audience= public audience- reader of the ‘i’/ independent readers, left stance, educated, fans of birrell, those interested in rights of disabled/marginalised groups
Purpose= Raise awareness/inform/persuade
Context= His daughter has a disability, Birrell- weekly columnist for the ‘i’, contributing editor of the mail, foreign correspondent, campaigner for those with autism and other learning difficulties.
Voice= Anecdotal- “They were clearing up the confetti, nursing hangovers and disappearing on honeymoons yesterday after the first batch of gay marriages in Britain”- semantic field of celebration, 3rd person plural pronoun, triad, metaphor
Voice= Reflective- “We should rejoice at the speed with which people who were once jailed, mocked and used as a political football have taken their correct place at the heart of society”- 1st person plural pronoun- collective, modal verb (should), triad, metaphor, semantic field of time
Voice= critical/ mocking- “So instead of invitations to drinks after work and weekend dinner parties, there is befuddled British embarrassment at best, coldness at worst, towards people with disabilities”- Declarative, frontal conjunction, uses a normal hypothetical situation, plosive alliteration (mocks stereotypical british accent), juxtaposition/antonyms, idea of prejudice and exclusion of minorities
Oscar Wilde: De Profundis
Mode: Autobiography/letter
Audience: Private audience- himself/bosie, love letter Public audience- critics/fans
Purpose: to educate, inform
Context: alive 1954-1900, died from TB, text was written whilst he was in prison because he tried to sue Bosies farther for criminal libel for being homophobic towards him and for gross indecency (homosexuality), and published in 1905 by his friend Robbie Ross, then whole copy was published in 1960’s, lover= bosie (lord alfred douglas), imprisoned in Reading Gaol, his wife=Constance Wilde
Voice=Reflective- “I want to get to the point when I shall be able to say quite simply and without affectation that the two great turning-points of my life were when my Father sent me to Oxford, and when society sent me to prison”- Present tense verb- he’s not there yet, adverbials (quite simply, without affectation)- a need for truth and honesty, balances coordinate clauses, syntactically parallel, repetition, agency (Father=subject Wilde=object, same with society and Wilde)
Voice=Confident/declarative- “The supreme vice is shallowness. Whatever is realised is right.”- emotive pre modifier/attributive adjective, epigrammatic form (two declarative sentences), simple sentence, repetion
complex sentence
Voice=anecdotal-“when first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice.” - adverbials (when first)- conversational, vague language/indefinite determiner, simple declarative, emotive pre modifier
Maya Angelou- Mom & Me & Mom
Mode= Autobiography
Audience= Public audience- fans of angelou, readers of literary autobiography
Purpose= to entertain/inform
Context: alive=1928-2014, writer, poet, political activist, 7 autobiographies, very famous, includes many key themes such as racism identity and family, at times her life was very harrowing had a rough relationship with her Mother (Vivian Baxter), was sent to live to her Grandmother, was raped by her Mothers boyfriend, was murdered when he left prison and Angelou blamed herself for it, she went mute for years, the text is all about difficulties with her and her mom, didn’t call her mom mom she called her lady
Voice= humorous- (description of landlady) “Spaghetti at her table, which was offered at least three times a week was a mysterious red, white and brown concoction. We would occasionally encounter an unidentifiable piece of meat hidden among the pasta”- juxtaposition between landlady and mother, motif of food, pre modifier creates humour, triad of colours- disgust?, semantic field of mystery, conversational tone
Voice=Bitter/disappointed- “Mother picked up Guy twice a week and took him to her house, where she fed him peaches and cream and hot dogs, but only went to Fulton Street once a month and at an agreed-upon time”- Proper nouns and vocatives- formality, highlights nature of their relationship, juxtaposition to treatment of son, semantic field of food, triad of stereotypical American, indulgent food
Voice=Optimistic- “I thought “Suppose she is right? She’s very intelligent and often said she didn’t fear anyone enough to lie. Suppose I really am going to become somebody. Imagine. At that moment when I could still taste the rest rice, I decided the time had come to stop my dangerous habits like smoking drinking and cursing. Imagine, I might really become somebody. Someday.”- Dialogue, reports mothers words-shows she’s mulling it over, sense of disbelief through repetition of verb suppose, minor sentence, link and symbolism of food- her mothers belief in her (sense of warmth and comfort) triad of dangerous habits- shows her mothers words have had an impact, all hyponyms of dangerous habits, repetition of imperative verb (imagine), minor sentence/adverb
Alan Bennett- What I did in 2013
Mode: Diary
Audience: Public audience- fans of bennett (those who read yearly diaries- he came out with a series), readers of literary non-fiction Private audience- himself
Purpose- To entertain/ inform, to reflect
Context= alive=1934- present writes a lot about the traits of the british, political in his writing, an actor, author, playwright, famous for his yearly diaries, attended Oxford- well educated, Richard Griffiths- famous english actor, worked with Bennett on “History Boys”, both shared intellectual curiosities.
Voice= humorous/childlike- “The place is of course empty and though it is quite muddy underfoot, an illicit delight. Its warm and windless, the stones of the abbey sodden and brown from the moisture they’ve absorbed. Spectacular here are the toilet arrangements”- illicit- idea of abbey being forbidden (childhood rebellion), adverb reiterated the trespass, pathetic fallacy, alliteration, sensory imagery, inverted syntax (spectacular here are the toilet arrangements), hyperbolic- humour
Voice=cynical- “Richard Griffiths dies. We’ve been away for a couple of days so are spared the unctuous telephone calls that always come from the tabloids on such occasions, ‘We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings’ - simple declarative sentence- simple, attributive adjective (unctuous)- suggests the disingenuous nature of the tabloids, cultural reference, shift back to personal, mimics voice of tabloid through dialogues-mocking, juxtaposing simple language with hyperbolic emotive language of tabloids
Voice=nostalgic/admiring- “Richard had an intending repertoire of anecdotes and an enviable spontaneous wit besides. I was working with him at the time when Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary arose was being laboriously raised from
the depths of the solent”- hyperbole, impact of attributive adjectives (unending, enviable), anecdotal, subject specific lexis, literary/emotive- change of language
B.Neyland- Eye witness account from a young radio officer in WW1
Mode- Memoir- edited version of diary entries
Audience- intended private audience- himself to reflect and record. Later audience was intended public audience- modern historians, interest in warfare/military (WW1), readers of diaries and eye witness accounts
Purpose- to inform (reflection of experiences)
Context= a young sapper (technical engineer) in WW1 specialising in wireless communications, served between 1916-1919, impact of WW1 propaganda on young people
Voice= bleak/critical- “When our guide led me into a trench filled waste deep with muddy water, I could not believe he was serious- and I hesitated- I was wearing brand-new riding breeches, puttees and boots”- brutal reality of trenches , sense of helplessness and inferiority, parenthesis, triad- suggests expectation
Voice=emotive/descriptive- “Hewitt clambered up over the figure of Christ just as a German machine gun swept the line, the Verey lights revealing Hewitt distinctly. He soon fell into a depth of slime, frightened, but unhurt. It was our first experience of enemy machine-gun fire.”- Verb (clambered)- inexperience, sense of panic. Sense of danger. Literary tone, emotive language, inclusive possessive pronoun- collective experience
Voice=Literary- “It is an eerie sensation to climb over an effigy of Jesus, to dig your feet into any parts of the figure offering foothold, to hold on to the outstretched arms, and to breathe on to the downcast face, to fix a rope somewhere on the Cross and to hear the German machine gun tat-tatting all around”- Declarative, long complex-compound sentence- literary tones, anaphoric structures (to dig to hold to fix), onomatopoeia- adds atmosphere, description is linked to common depictions of jesus’ power, incongruous feel, literary/emotive tone, parallel between jesus giving up his life and them giving up theirs.
George Scott- A ride of two halves
Mode- Blog, online
Audience- private audience- himself to reflect and record. intended public audience- cycling/outdoor sports enthusiasts, travel enthusiasts, fans of George Scott
Purpose- to inform, entertain, persuade people to cycle
Context- written in 2014, assistant editor of road cycling UK (popular website), experienced cyclist, Wheels on Wheels- training camp for cyclists
Voice=conversational- “A ride of two halves…Day twos mountain ride left most of the group with sore legs ahead of the third day of training camp so we set out for a four hour loop on the flat coastal roads north of Mojacar”- plays on idiom- paradoxal to different experiences of cycling, temporal discourse markers, informal tone, lexis of time, shared knowledge (exophoric reference), challenge to cycling
Voice= Pride/enthusiasm for adventure- “After a short descent we took a de-tour off our de-tour with James, who had previously visited the area on a training camp[..] for Wheels on Wheels”- discourse markers- linear structure, repetition- sense of freedom, reference to company-credibility
Voice= emotive/descriptive- “By now we were in the middle of nowhere, not entirely sure of the route and with only a farmer and his herd of goats for company, but this is what cycling is about- exploring uncharted territory with the wind and sun on your back, and the traffic-free road rising before you”- temporal discourse marker, hyperbole, familiar collocation, sense of freedom, declarative, sense of isolation, allusion to irish blessing- makes experience feel spiritual, his adoration and appreciation of cycling
Past Masters Podcast- The truth is here
Mode-podcast (multi modal- originally a spoken piece which has been transcribed), pre planned
audience- public- followed and fans of podcast, those interested in UFO’s, conspiracy theorists, fans of sci-fi
Purpose- to inform/entertain
Context- came from the national archives, surrounding UFO sightings, been produced because of the Freedom of Information Act passed by Tony Blair, cultural reference to X-files popular tv show in the 90’s
Voice= Welcoming/friendly- “Bob: Hi there, you are listening to Past Masters from the National Archives in London. I’m Bob. Jo: And I’m Jo. Bob: And this month we’re looking at one of the strangest sets of records we have here at the Archives- the British governments very own X-Files”- phatic exchange, frontal coordinate conjunctions- conventions of speech, informality, temporal discourse marker (this month)- monthly podcast, superlative, sibilance- narrative hook, hyphen- dramatic pause, repeated cultural allusion
Voice- Accommodating vs challenging- “Jo: Now, scepticism is very healthy but I think when you’ve heard some of these documents you might not be so sure. Bob: I think that’s very unlikely. What have you got? Jo: We’ve got dozens of files containing careful kept records of hundreds of sightings”- discourse marker, Jo attempts to save face through discourse markers- conversational, repeated hedging juxtaposed by counter arguments, declarative, deletion, interrogative- direct address towards Jo, second person pronoun, contrasted by Jos use of first person plural pronoun, adverb- adds credibility, lexis of statistics
Voice=Factual vs hesitant- “Bob: Well, since they went on to bomb cities up and down Britain in 1915 that sounds very sensible. But it’s nothing to do with aliens. What else have you got? Jo: Oh, okay, World War 2. Throughout the war British and American pilots report seeing strange patterns of lights on bombing runs over Germany. Bob: Like the lights you get on aircraft? Jo: Well, sort of but not- Bob: That’s another mystery solved then. I’m getting good at this.”- historical lexis, declarative structure, sensible tone, frontal coordinate conjunction-opposes Jo, repeated direct address, interrogatives, false start, hedging, definite interruption through hyphen, determiner- Bob is more powerful, declaratives- self congratulatory tone
Panorama- interview between Martin Bashir and Princess Diana
Mode: Interview (transcribed) pre prepared answers
Audience: incredibly widespread- 23 million viewers in UK, subsequent viewers post controversy, panorama audience, those interested in the royals/ diana/ current affairs
Purpose- bashir- to inform/ entertain/ provoke? diana- share her side (inform)/ raise awareness
Context- separated from prince charles, camilla parker bowles, diana suffers from bulimia/ depression, diana controversially talks about her personal private life, bashir created false bank statement in order to gain the interview
Voice=rhetorical/inspirational- “Diana- I think the British people you need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels”- asyndetic listing, rhetoric- carefully planned, opening complex sentence, anaphoric clauses- each clause begins with infinitive verb, juxtaposition/ metaphor, long turn taking
Voice=frustrated/ emotional- “Diana- They don’t care. People don’t care anymore. They’ve been so force fed with marital problems, whatever whatever whatever, that they’re fed up. I’m fed up of reading about it, I’m in it, so God knows what people out there must think.”- repetition, connectives-informal, generalised nouns, simple declarative sentences, metaphor- dig at the media, colloquialisms, repetition of verb phrase (fed up)- diana is united with the people, vague pronoun repetition
Voice=evasive/ defensive- “Bashir- would it be your wish to divorce? Diana- No, it’s not my wish. Bashir- Why? Wouldn’t that resolve matters? Diana- Why would it resolve matters? […] Diana- but what about the children? Our boys- that’s what matters, isn’t it?”- conditional tense, hedging from bashir, politeness strategies, diana uses declarative, adjacency pairs, interrogatives, subverts form of interviews- diana challenges form as she repeats question, flouting maxim of quantity, rhetorical question, her love for her children, juxtaposition between public and children, inclusive pronoun- possessive, tag question
Jay Lenos Tonight Show- Interview with President Obama
Mode- interview (television, transcript, pre prepared)
Audience- political, fans of obama, people that watch the show
Purpose- Leno- to inform, entertain
Obama- to persuade, presentation of self, gain support for his political party
Context- tonight show (comedic for audience but about current affairs)- obamas presidency ran 2009-2017, at time there was closure of 22 US embassies because of security threats due to al qaeda
Voice= welcoming/phatic- “Q: Welcome the President of the United States- Barack Obama (applause) Welcome back, sir. Obama: Thank you. It’s good to be back (applause). Q: Well, we’re thrilled to have you.”- typical discourse structure, leno abides by etiquette, hyphen- dramatic pause, respectful vocotives, establishes sense of familiarity, conventions of transcript, emotive adjective, adjacency pairs- mirroring- friendly tone
Voice=self deprecating/familiar- “obama- we tried to play a little basketball. And it was a sad state of affairs. (laughter). Q: Really? Obama: A bunch of old guys. Where’s the Ibuprofen and all that stuff”- frontal coordinate conjunctions, self deprecating, idiom, humourous, interrogative- disbelief, repetition, colloquial minor sentence- informality, rhetorical question/ vague language
Voice=shifts from humorous/ informal to formal- “Obama: No. (laughter and applause) That’s why we’re celebrating our 21st anniversary (laughter). Q: As I’m married 33 years I know exactly what you’re saying (laughter) I’ve got to ask you about this. Everyone is concerned about those embassy closings. How significant is this threat?”- reminded of strong relationship between obama and michelle obama, sudden topic shift, declarative sentence, auxiliary verb (got)- sense of urgency, demonstrative pronoun (this), indefinite pronoun (everyone), demonstrative determiner (these), interrogative- marks shift in tone, reassurance
Conventions- article
Headlines, headings, subheading plus bylines
visuals, tables, graphs
cohesive structure with clear paragraphing- structure is not necessarily linear
conscious awareness of audience- direct address/varying levels of formality
a clearly structured argument (maintaining sense of balance)
quotations and other points of view- subtle mix of fact and opinion
rhetorical devices to persuade, inform and convince
conventions- autobiography
first person narrative often with a clear sense of audience (direct address)
literary non fiction features- highly descriptive/figurative devices
written retrospectively- largely in past tense, may be shifts in tense, tone is largely personal, at times emotional
range of contexts
linear structure with headings for dates etc.
conventions- diary/memoir
usually structured chronologically, structure with dates as headings for entries
audience- themselves/personified diary/ could be intended for publication
reflective tone- short and long term past
written retrospectively- largely in past tense, may be shifts in tense, tone is largely personal, at times emotional
range of contexts- everyday/wider social/historical
memoirs more likely to feature literary non-fiction devices- figurative language
conventions- digital texts/ blogs
online/interactive features
short,regular- perhaps as a part of a series/thematic thinking
personal in tone/informal register/spoken language features
direct address to audience/web speak (emojis etc.)
range of contexts- everyday/wider social/historical
convention- podcast
spoken language features- spontaneous?
largely informal register
structured argument- follows intro
direct address to audience
rhetorical devices to engage
interview format
