Written Commentary As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
Written Commentary As I walked out one midsummer morning by Laurie Lee
The extract given to us was taken from “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning” written by Laurie Lee in 1969. From the passage we are not able to tell whether we are dealing with a fictional or non-fictional text, hence it could be an autobiography, however this does not affect my interpretation of it. For this purpose I will assume that it is a non-fictional text, because of the memoir like aspect to it. The setting is a coastal region in Spain, where the protagonist arrives from England. He arrives in the early morning as we can tell from the text and the extract shows his first day in a totally new environment.
The dominating theme throughout this passage is the theme of beginning a new life, leaving the past behind. The narrator expresses this idea in line ten. “But it was Spain, and the new life beginning”. The fact that he intents to stay in Spain and wants to start a new life is also shown by his decision to buy a ticket without return (line 11). The “No return ticket” could also be a metaphor for his life journey, that England is not an option for him anymore, and that he cannot possibly ever return. In contrast to his idea to start a new life in Spain we have the fact that he only brought a knapsack, a blanket, spare shirt and a fiddle, which doesn’t seem very much considering the fact that he wants to start a new life in Spain. Maybe this is because he had very little in England and from the fact that he has to sleep in the open, we can tell, that he is probably short of money. The fact that he brought nothing with him can also be seen in connection with his young age. His actions make him appear naïve and innocent. Also the fact that the only Spanish he knows is how to ask for a glass of water (line 12-13) lets him appear even more naïve and we get the impression that he is rather lonely, due to the fact that he can’t speak to anyone. We can assume that the protagonist left
The extract given to us was taken from “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning” written by Laurie Lee in 1969. From the passage we are not able to tell whether we are dealing with a fictional or non-fictional text, hence it could be an autobiography, however this does not affect my interpretation of it. For this purpose I will assume that it is a non-fictional text, because of the memoir like aspect to it. The setting is a coastal region in Spain, where the protagonist arrives from England. He arrives in the early morning as we can tell from the text and the extract shows his first day in a totally new environment.
The dominating theme throughout this passage is the theme of beginning a new life, leaving the past behind. The narrator expresses this idea in line ten. “But it was Spain, and the new life beginning”. The fact that he intents to stay in Spain and wants to start a new life is also shown by his decision to buy a ticket without return (line 11). The “No return ticket” could also be a metaphor for his life journey, that England is not an option for him anymore, and that he cannot possibly ever return. In contrast to his idea to start a new life in Spain we have the fact that he only brought a knapsack, a blanket, spare shirt and a fiddle, which doesn’t seem very much considering the fact that he wants to start a new life in Spain. Maybe this is because he had very little in England and from the fact that he has to sleep in the open, we can tell, that he is probably short of money. The fact that he brought nothing with him can also be seen in connection with his young age. His actions make him appear naïve and innocent. Also the fact that the only Spanish he knows is how to ask for a glass of water (line 12-13) lets him appear even more naïve and we get the impression that he is rather lonely, due to the fact that he can’t speak to anyone. We can assume that the protagonist left