‘Letters From France 1790-1796’ , From Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology

Question 1

Genre and mode

Answer 1

-Letter.

Question 2

Text producer and text receiver

Answer 2

-Recipient of the letters (presumed a close friend).
-Once published, historians interested in 18th century post revolution.

Question 3

Variation, register and representation

Answer 3

-Formal register; personal and euphoric.

Question 4

Lexis and semantics

Answer 4

-Descriptive high frequency adjectives “impetuous” displays her passion and interest through the imagery created.
-Material verbs “assembled” “kneeling” convey the activity of the people and their sense of purpose.
-Dynamic verb “dragged” very forceful shows a lack of power.
-Lexical borrowing shows knowledge.
-Occasional colloquial phrases.

Question 5

Grammar

Answer 5

-Long complex sentences show excitement as the narrator is overwhelmed by what is happening around her.
Hyperbolic expressions “transported with joy” present the people as happy.
-Active voice.
-Short sentences “good god” show her disappointment.

Question 6

Phonetics

Answer 6

-Plosives and sibilance to show brutality.

Question 7

Graphology and mode

Answer 7

-Written.

Question 8

Pragmatics

Answer 8

-Embodied knowledge is strong and there are many detailed descriptions of the celebrations.
-Schema is rich.

Question 9

Narrative and discourse

Answer 9

-Very structured and crafted as it was written after the event.
-In the first letter, she moves from being political to evocatively descriptive throughout the letter as she gets more passionate and swept up by her excitement.