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The Use of Language and Structure from the Extract of Silent Spring.

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The Use of Language and Structure from the Extract of Silent Spring.
In the given extract the author uses several ways to convey changes in the mood and meaning, the first of these I will examine is the sentence structure. The short sentences in the second paragraph make the reader take note to the issues narrated to them the language also becomes more urgent and darker. The longer sentences use nicer descriptive phrases like “Even in winter the roadsides were places of beauty…” , this makes the places seem welcoming. The darker sentences are just as descriptive, but use shorter phrases for example “Everywhere was a shadow of death.”

The second area I will look at is the narrative voice of the author , in the first paragraph of extract the author tells a story which is calm and lulls you into a sense of peace and still, this is then broken by the second paragraph of death and dismay which jolts the reader into a much darker frame of mind than if they had started on that second paragraph, the author then goes onto the third and final paragraph of the extract to tell the reader that the things are a possibility and not yet a reality, but will explain in the rest of the book how they could become a reality. The author of this extract uses echoes of parts of the first paragraph in the second, this lets the reader know they are talking about the same place in the first paragraph she talks about the farms and birds, in the second paragraph she revisits these areas to tell of the death and destruction that is now found there. In another poem “In Flanders Fields” the author John McCrea uses similar echoes he starts us off walking through the fields and then goes onto tell of the death and destruction that happened there.

In this final paragraph I am going to cover the language of the words themselves in all of the extract the words are unambiguous and simple. The message is clear so does not confuse the meaning or mood of the portrayed picture, similarly in the poem “In Flanders Fields” the language is simple and does not leave much



Bibliography: Carson, Rachel Silent Springs TMA1 Extract McMrea, John In Flanders Fields Preparatory Material p.42

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