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Truth is Stranger than Fiction. Lesson Four: Understand how atmosphere can be built through the accumulation and juxtaposition of words (building and contrasting), focusing on nouns, verbs and adjectives. Sunset. Loneliness. Twilight. Has anyone seen a ghost?. Wind. Crawled. Echoes.
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Truth is Stranger than Fiction Lesson Four: Understand how atmosphere can be built through the accumulation and juxtaposition of words (building and contrasting), focusing on nouns, verbs and adjectives.
Sunset Loneliness Twilight Has anyone seen a ghost? Wind Crawled Echoes Uninhabited Deserted Awakened Vacant Lost
Ghosts: truth or fiction? • There were heated debates in the 19th century about whether ghosts were real. • Mary Shelley (1797-1851, author of Frankenstein) was fascinated by ghosts but never saw one. Here, she recounts a strange experience that she had…
Looking at language • Find examples of noun phrases which convey emptiness e.g. “vacant chambers” • Find examples of contrasts or juxtapositions and discuss the effect that they have, e.g. “city” and “heath”
Noun Phrases which convey emptiness • vacant chambers • far mountains • no wind • empty bed • vast halls • spacious apartments • uninhabited heath • Did you find any others? • What pattern do these all have? • What is the effect of this ‘build up’ of phrases?
Contrasts and Juxtapositions • midst of a city / uninhabited heath • I walked through / vacant chambers • tranquil atmosphere / grew leaden-coloured • leaden-coloured / golden stars • the chimes of the Ave Maria / bell hung moveless • beauty / grief • living frame / caged by walls • earth is a tomb / gaudy sky a vault • No wind / wind rising • Did you find any others? • What is the effect of these contrasts?
Building and Contrasting Add another paragraph to your description • Include words and phrases which suggest isolation, loneliness and emptiness • Include contrasts like light/dark, moving/still, living/dead
Share with a partner Read your passage. Explain: • What atmosphere were you trying to create? • How did your choice of words help to create that atmosphere?