Q2. Look in
detail at lines 3-10
How does
the writer use language here to describe the narrator’s first impressions of
the countryside?
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The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I
wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all
around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight. It was
knife-edged, dark, and a wicked green, thick as a forest and alive with
grasshoppers that chirped and chattered and leapt through the air like
monkeys.
I was lost and didn’t know where to move. A tropic heat oozed up from
the ground, rank with sharp odours of roots and nettles. Snow-clouds of
elder-blossom banked in the sky, showering upon me the fumes and flakes of
their sweet and giddy suffocation. High overhead ran frenzied larks,
screaming, as though the sky were tearing apart.
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EXEMPLAR
ANSWER A
The writer
uses language to describe the narrator’s first impressions of the countryside
as dangerous. Firstly the word choice of “towered” suggests overpowering, being
oppressive and something to be scared of as it is bigger and dangerous. This
shows the narrator feels the countryside is overwhelming and unavoidable.
Secondly the word choice of “tattooed” suggests leaving a permanent mark, of
something that causes pain and of something that harms the body. This shows the
narrator to feel the countryside as being something that has damaged them in a
lasting manner. Finally the word choice of: “knife-edged” suggests damage, hurt
and severe danger. These words all show the narrator’s first impressions of the
countryside to be that it is dangerous and could cause them serious, lasting
harm.
EXEMPLAR ANSWER B
The
narrator’s first impressions of the countryside are threatening and scary. The
writer describes the grasses surrounding him with frightening, aggressive
imagery. The grass is described using the word “blade” alluding to the
“knife-edged” shadows which now show as “wicked green” in the darkness and
confusion of the new surroundings. These shadows coupled with the light falling
through the trees and shining on him are also described as being “tattooed with
tigerskins”, an image of being hunted by a primitive enemy, being a hunter and
indulging in violence, and being permanently marked by this experience.
