A detail from ‘The Pic-Nic’ by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), painted in 1846. It shows scattered groups gathered by a pond, talking and sharing a meal. One party boasts a young musician, who strums upon a guitar, and perhaps sings too. People of strong religious conviction did not always approve of Sunday leisure, especially if it involved sports or other frivolous activities; but Irving was happy to go on record as believing that getting away from the city once a week, and reacquainting ourselves with Nature, was of the highest benefit to health and to society.
Members of the family can now gather together, who are separated by the laborious occupations of the week.* A school-boy may be permitted on that day to come to the paternal home; an old friend of the family takes his accustomed Sunday seat at the board, tells over his well-known stories, and rejoices young and old with his well-known jokes.
On Sunday afternoon the city pours forth its legions to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the sunshine of the parks and rural environs. Satirists may say what they please about the rural enjoyments of a London citizen on Sunday, but to me there is something delightful in beholding the poor prisoner of the crowded and dusty city enabled thus to come forth once a week and throw himself upon the green bosom of nature. He is like a child restored to the mother's breast; and they who first spread out these noble parks and magnificent pleasure-grounds which surround this huge metropolis, have done at least as much for its health and morality, as if they had expended the amount of cost, in hospitals, prisons, and penitentiaries.
From ‘The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon’ (1820, 1905) by Washington Irving (1783-1859).
* See also Mothering Sunday.
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St Clement Danes, Strand: London Surprise Royal
Washington Irving was much taken with the sound of bell-ringing on a Sunday morning in London. This is the sound of the bells of St Clement Danes in The Strand, London.
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Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
Sunday dinner, Irving had found, was a precious opportunity for middle-class families scattered by weekday labour to come together and renew the bonds of kinship. Afterwards, they would make for the countryside and return to Nature. Those who first created these public spaces had, he said, done as great a social service as any department of Government. (57 / 60 words)
Sunday dinner, Irving had found, was a precious opportunity for middle-class families scattered by weekday labour to come together and renew the bonds of kinship. Afterwards, they would make for the countryside and return to Nature. Those who first created these public spaces had, he said, done as great a social service as any department of Government.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, despite, if, may, not, otherwise, since.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Accuse.
2.
Ancient.
3.
Handy.
4.
Harmony.
5.
Important.
6.
Negligent.
7.
Question.
8.
Sober.
9.
Thin.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding un-.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
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Your Words ()
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