Travel Anthology Notes

Key points of the texts from the Travel Anthology.

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  • Created by: Toni
  • Created on: 12-05-11 11:06

Text 1 - Passport

  • Watermark and Royal Crest shows authority.
  • Professional and educated.
  • Cursive font - Archaic.
  • Difficult to counterfit.
  • 'European community' - Represents unity of community.  European languages.  Bond of european community.
  • Symbolic power (weight behind it)
  • Elaborate antiquated font conotes high standard, 'royal', powerful.
  • Authenticity, quality.
  • Numbers at the bottom - Digital, unstylish, administrative.
  • Impersonal.
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Text 2 - Postcard 1

  • 'Still in the land of the living.  I will get in touch soon' - Suggests that they are not close.
  • Feels obliged to write.  Perhaps isn't keen.
  • 'Weather worse than in Bolton' - Distance?
  • Highly informal.
  • Unofficial.
  • Casual.
  • Abbreviations.
  • Friendly.
  • 'The "Hadj" was worth it!' - Shared/inside jokes/knowledge.
  • 'Private data' - Needs to be decoded by intended recipent.
  • On holiday.
  • Lack of complere info.
  • Basic.
  • 'Land of the living' - Idiomatic phrase.
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Text 3 - Postcard 2

  • 'Can you spot us in the photo?' - Joke?
  • 'To be perfectly accurate' - Language not rushed.
  • Personal.
  • Informative.
  • Comfortable.
  • Natural.
  • Not forced.
  • Shared knowledge suggests close relationship.
  • In contact regularly.
  • Quite detailed.
  • More sociable.
  • Wanting to share.
  • Seem to enjoy talking to each other.
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Text 4 - The Lonely Planet Series

  • Text 4 and 5 are dealing with the same subject.
  • Subjective opinions (biased).
  • Mixture of formal and informal.
  • Historical.
  • Basic information.
  • Facts in case you want to visit.
  • Factual informative texts with some subjective opinions.
  • Statistics.
  • Potted/tragic history.
  • 'The only fright you'll get' - Attempt at humour.
  • Organised text.  Looks like a reference book.
  • Emboldened locations.
  • Light style.  Not too serious.
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Text 5 - Walpole and Otranto.

  • Negative start - 'dry and hateful', 'Stirs up the liver', 'short-tempered and argumentative', 'equally loathed'.
  • Strong imagery and poetic opinion - 'Gentle waves that curled over every now and then with a sound that resembled the laziest of sighs'.
  • 'Castellated' - with a castle.
  • 'A feat which must always arouse the envy of slower practitioners.' - Personal.
  • 'Sonorous' - Sounded good on the tongue.
  • Dry?  Serves its purpose.
  • Subjective view of Otranto.
  • More personal impact.
  • Room for discussion and elaboration.
  • What the writer knows.  Their personal perspective.
  • 'Vague outlines pencilled against the sky and tipped with snow or cloud.' , 'I could see, as through several layers of green glass, the purple weeds swaying in the water' - More poetic imagery.
  • Actual visit.
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Text 6 - Always our Likely Finale

  • Imagery.  Strong descriptions of the water.
  • Finite journey.
  • 'Beneath the arch-browed brick' - Describing the bridge.
  • 'Just past the bridge' - Sets the scene.
  • 'Aqueduct' - Carries a canal.
  • 'Oak scrub' - Bench that's been scrubbed clean.
  • 'Suburban road that I could name' - Familiarity.
  • The journey hasn't been done in one session (working)
  • 'Oily maze' - Polluted.
  • 'Rigged in rusty blue-grey and iron-latticed.
  • 'Urban ending' - Back to the city/town.
  • 'Topography' - The way the land looked.
  • The ambition has been fulfilled.
  • 'Never made another trip' - Once it's been achieved, it's not an adventure.  Moved on.
  • Got a sense of place.
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Text 7 - Carnet de Voyage

  • Sketches to show what is occuring.
  • Comic *****.
  • Informative facts.
  • Graphic travel log of stories.
  • Graphic imagery to represent her words.
  • Political.
  • Flexible.
  • French.
  • Expressionism.
  • Subtleties/Nuances - Little meanings.
  • 'PERDN!' - Lost.
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Text 8 - Lancashire

  • Advertising to campaign.  Designed to attract.
  • Emboldened title to catch attention.
  • Makes you want to visit.
  • Highly persuasive.
  • Image - Picturesque.  Appealing.  'Perfect'.
  • Positivity (it has to sell it.)
  • Rural.
  • It seems to depict a rural idyll - Idyllic. 
  • Informative.
  • Simple map - Highlights.  Functional.  Informative.
  • Attracts elderly.
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Text 9 - Great British Bus Journeys

  • Expects audience to be intelligent.
  • 'All of whom have been to the cinema and know that Tolkien stories are set in New Zealand' - Assumptions.
  • 'Dells' - Judgement fits 19th century countryside.
  • 'Voluptious river' - Words used to describe women, feminising the countryside.  Linking attraction to the place to the beauty of a woman.
  • 'Clambers aboard' - Middle ages.  Doesn't 'skip aboard'.
  • 'Benign' - Harmless.
  • 'Think of the aged parent in Dicken's Great Expectations.' - Showing off literary intelligence.
  • 'Perhaps a shop called Holistic Therapeia does not fall into this category.', 'Serious business, like texting.' - Dismissive.  Sarcasm.
  • 'Really distinguished.' - to be well regarded.
  • Proud to be British.
  • 'Cherishable', 'captivating', 'blissful', 'magical' - Use of pleasant adjectives to make the place sound idyllic.
  • 'Omigod, I've lost my signal.' - Attempt at ridicule.
  • 'Balefully' - Dead eye.
  • 'When I were a lad.' - What old people are supposed to say.
  • 'Barely seeming to notice the gorgeousness of a journey they do every day.' - They do not notice the beauty of the countryside.
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Text 10 - So near and yet so far.

  • 'So near and yet so far' - Well known phrase as title.  Laid out like a poem.  Emboldened.
  • Kudos.  E.g. tv personality.  Famous.
  • Preamble (the bit before the text) helps the reader understand his wealth and experience)
  • 'Michael Palin' is emboldened for importance. 
  • Celebrating his achievements.
  • 'Odyssey' - links to epic Greek mythology.
  • The more time he spends away, the more he loves home.
  • 'I went on stage dressed as a three-year-old and in Germany I engaged with the great debate about whether men should stand or sit to pee.' Self-deprecating humour.  Humorous images.
  • Limited language.
  • First person recount.  Autobiographical.
  • 'Charles Wheelers, Colin Thubrons, Dervla Murpheys' - travel writers/presenters.
  • 'Be yourself and see where it gets you' - Make your own experiences.
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  • 'Where there was certainty, it sows uncertainty, where there is conviction, it sows doubt, where there is comfort, it sows heat rash.' - Humorous punchline.  Polar opposites.  Juxtaposition.
  • Lots of rhetorical questions - 'What is my agenda?  What is my purpose?'
  • Incidental educational learning.
  • Consistently answers his own questions.
  • Rationale.
  • Introduction to the whole series.
  • Expectations of audience familiarity.
  • 'I usually end up packing my bag for some sort of journey, somewhere, even though I've said I'm not going to.' - Inevitable.
  • Limited vocabulary.
  • Conversational informal article writing at an intelligent level.
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Text 11 - Booking Conditions

  • Corporate (Unfeeling?  Uncaring?)
  • 'We will not be responsible', 'We cannot accept responsibility' - Aims to avoid responsibility.
  • 'We promise to make sure that the holiday arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care.' - Some attempt to show care (false sense of security.)
  • Legalise (Legal jargon).  Protecting themselves.
  • Use of 'reasonable' is prolifile (a lot) - because it is debatable.
  • Codicil - Another explanation.
  • Absolve them of responsibility.
  • In legal sense, it is very explicit and clear.
  • Impersonal.
  • Trickery in order to lure the customers in without reading the booking conditions.
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Text 12 - 'Nam.

  • A modern take on writing.
  • Blog.
  • Casual.  Informal.
  • Use of spoken grammar
  • Use of discourse markers.
  • '(!)' - Punctuation to show feeling.
  • Long pauses.
  • Adapting punctuation for own use.
  • 'Tuk tuk' - Local form of transport.
  • Rushed account.  Reflects the fact that it's on the internet.
  • 'A queue of approx 1 MILLION people trying to get in' - Use of hyperbole.
  • 'So where did we go?' - Rhetorical question.
  • Lots of exclamation marks to express emotion.
  • Grammar not accurate due to speed.
  • Layout and presentation is rushed.
  • Student traveller?
  • 'A young lad on a motorbike grabbed Sofia's **** which was nice'. - Sarcasm.  Irony.  Appropriate for audience.
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  • Non-standard English.
  • '(fresh beer)' - Use of paranthesis.  Side thoughts.  More informal thoughts.
  • The register of this piece goes from informal to formal, however it is morstly informal.
  • More emotional and personal towards the end.
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Text 13 - Travel Writing: The Point of It.

  • Very famous travel writer trying to define his art.
  • '(Discovering Turkey)' - Paranthesis.
  • 'A though he was being tickled in the ribs by a complete stranger.' - Simile.
  • Clearly knowledgeable.
  • Frequently quotes book titles.
  • perhaps slightly dispassionate.
  • Tries to show that writing about new experiences should always be relevant.  Travel writing is an important genre because it can educate, inform and warn.  Travel writing need to be a personal perspective.
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Text 14 - The Future is Rail

  • Formal.
  • 'Trans' - Moving.
  • 'Implausible' - Unthinkable.
  • A literate and intelligent audience.
  • The love (or not) of railways.
  • 'Parsimony' - Frugal.  Ungenorous.
  • 'Shrouded in uncertainty' - Metaphorical.
  • 'Quinessential' - Victorian behaviour.
  • 'Renaissance' - Rebirth.
  • 'Rolling stock' - Carriages,
  • Very powerful and political piece of writing.
  • Persuasive tone
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Text 15 - Thomas' Railway ABC

  • Bright colours.
  • Pictures of imaginary characters.
  • Range of font size and different fonts.
  • 'Peep!' - Onomatopoeia.  Reflects sound of engine.
  • 'The noise that sleeping engines make' - Thomas' direct speech.  Personalises.
  • Personification.
  • One font style for heading,  Another font style for description.
  • Large letters reflect loud sound.
  • Character for each letter.  Letter accompanies character.
  • Letter recognition with character names.  Narrative way of learning.
  • Not many polysyllabic words.  Mostly monosyllabic for purpose it's designed for.
  • Easy to follow.
  • Make to sustain interest.
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Text 16 - Oxford English Dictionary

  • Italicized verb represents phonetic spelling.
  • 'cf.' - Compare with.
  • 'TRAVAIL' - Problems in life.
  • 'c' - Circa.

More notes to add.

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Text 17 - Planning a family holiday

Notes to add

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Text 18 - Glenelg

  • Formal.
  • 'Precipes' - Edges.
  • 'Peevish' - Annoyed.
  • 'Copious' - Lots of.
  • 'Of the provisions the negative catalogue was very copious' - Irony.
  • Image of Scotland suggests it's not a nice place to say.  Unsophisticated.
  • 'Gordon' - Italics because it's an unusal name in that country.
  • 'Penury' - Hardship.
  • 'Black as a cyclops from the forge' - Simile.
  • 'Repose' - rest.
  • 'Mr Boswell being more delicate, laid himself sheets with hay over and under him, and lay in linen like a gentleman.' - Having a dig at Mr. Boswell.
  • 'Other circumstances of no elegant recital concurred to disgust us.' - Negative irony.
  • Written for a literate audience who understand irony.
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Text 19 - Travel Writing

  • Written to entertain.
  • Poem.
  • Writing whilst on train.
  • Falls in love with a stranger on a train.
  • Layout represents train carriages or the train tracks.
  • The journey is finite - it's going to end, although it could be said that the writed doesn't want it to.
  • 'Space is limited' - Busy train.
  • 'She gets out a folder, a copy of Chaucer', 'notes she's making on Triolus and Criseyde', 'scrappy handwriting' - Paying a lot of attention to detail.
  • 'It would be easy to look at her if she were opposite' - Wishes he could see her face properly.
  • 'What I really want is to engage her' - Shy.  Introverted.
  • 'I spread my paper on the table but can't concentrate on it' - In order to make it less obvious.  Self concious.  His mind is on her.
  • 'If she goes to the buffet' - He's going to a buffet.  Trying to be hopeful/optimistic.
  • 'I know all about love' - Experienced.
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  • 'She'll want to talk to me' - Sustaining a positive mind.
  • 'We're as close as we can be without touching' - Close to each other.
  • 'Fading into the distance' - Lost her.  Regret?
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Text 20 - A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

  • Emotional as well as descriptive.
  • Visual imagery.
  • 'There was not a vestige of soil' - Not one little trace.
  • Marvelling at nature.
  • 'There was a rude black log cabin' - basic.
  • 'Offal' - Insides (guts)
  • Describing the man in great detail because she is attracted to him.
  • 'Handsome aqualine nose' - Straight and strong.
  • 'Dense moustache and imperial' - Like a King's moustache.
  • 'Apropos' - On the subject of.
  • 'Chivalrous' - Virtuous.  Without respect.
  • She is impressed by him
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Text 21 - The Central Fells

Notes to add

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Text 22 - The Grasmere Journals

  • Early 19th Century.
  • Not designed for publication.
  • Personal.
  • Scattering of thoughts and ideas.
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Text 23 - Zaire

Notes to add

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Text 24 - Heart of Darkness

  • A voyage up an African river.
  • An extract from a short novel.
  • 'Vegetation' - plants.
  • 'Earliest beginnings of the world' - Before man.
  • 'There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine.  The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of over-shadowed distances' - Overpowering feeling of darkness.
  • 'You thought yourself bewitched and cut off' - Alienated.
  • 'Somewhere - far away - in another existence' - sense of displacement.  Discomforted.  Insignificant.  Unfamiliarity.  Awe-struck.  Insecure.
  • The words flow, like a river.
  • Formal.
  • Building up atmosphere.
  • 'Inscrutable' - Devious.
  • 'Implacable force' - Unbeatable.  Personifying the force.
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Text 25 - Young persons railcard

  • Poster/advertisement.
  • Age rating.  You have to be 16-25 to get a young persons railcard.
  • The poster is made to look like a film poster.  More impact.  Gets noticed.
  • For the younger generation.
  • Replicates film poster fonts and presentation.
  • You can see a speeding train in the background of a poster. Conotes travel.
  • Highlights for easy access.
  • Colour of the descriptions correspond with the poster.
  • 'Epic savings that run and run' - Advertising.
  • Orange colour used to communicate quickly.
  • Regulation small print.  You can't say you weren't warned.
  • Tips to avoid frustration and confrontation.  Easy sales.
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Text 26 - Airmiles

  • 'Unbeatable cruise deals' - About themselves, not the competition.  Insinuating that they are the best company around.
  • Marketing technique.
  • '7,472 miles' - Large font so the point is not ignored.
  • Formal letter.
  • 'We'd like to welcome you aboard' - Bold font in order to gain attention.
  • Aim to persuade and book by March 24th.
  • 'One mile for every pound you spend' - Trying to get them to spend more money with their 'great deals'.
  • Persuasion.
  • 'One mile for every two pounds spent' - Does to equate to anything.
  • 'www.airmiles.co.uk/cruise' - advertising their company.
  • '0870 55 777 77' - Not a free number.
  • Not personal.
  • Printed signature.
  • Advertising cruise holidays.
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Text 27 - The Innocents Abroad

Notes to add

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Text 28 - She Stoops to Conquer

  • A dramatic representation of speech.
  • 'Squire!' - Term of respect.
  • 'A man of your word' - Trustworthy.
  • Formal.
  • 'Cursedly tiresome' - Shattered (bored/fed up)
  • Uncomfortable on the coach.
  • 'I die with impatience' - Hyperbole.
  • Overly formal rather than everyday speech.
  • 'Left them!' - 'What are you implying?'  Does not want to take responsibilty.
  • 'Slough' - Dip in the road.
  • 'Confoundedly' - Extremely.
  • 'Circumbendibus' - Took them round in a circle.
  • 'I'll be bound' - You have my binding word.  It is bound to happen.
  • 'Run me through the guts' - Stab him with a sword.
  • 'The rebuke is just' - Your point is made.
  • 'You might go kiss the hangman' - You'll be done for murder.
  • Slight humour.
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Text 29 - Rural Rides

  • Early 19th century.
  • 'With poor heath' - not looked after.
  • 'The trees grow very well' - good, fertile land.
  • 'Guildford' - Italicized for place names.
  • Not many personal thoughts and feelings, just a record of the journey.
  • 'Yeomanry' - the army.
  • The government is to blame; not the average people.
  • The government are driving people out.
  • 'It was the sheep surrendering up the dogs into the hands of the wolves' - The sheep are the average people, the dogs are the army, the wolves are the government.  Metaphorical.
  • 'Retrench' - go back and realise that he was wrong.
  • Work with the people you have not treated so well.
  • 'The nobility, gentry and clergy' - The higher people in society.
  • Act of parliament - the minute you signed it, you threw away your rights.
  • Political statement.
  • William Cobbett is a radical journalist.
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Text 30 - Tram timetable.

  • Designed for ease of use.
  • Functional.
  • Shows order and sequence of stations.
  • Sense of how long it will take.
  • Bright colours in order for it to stand out and get your attention.
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Text 31 - Dombey and Son

  • High sense of observation.
  • 'Inexorably' - Couldn't stop it.
  • 'With a shriek, and a roar, and a rattle' - repetition.
  • 'A type of the triumphant monster, Death' - Personification of the train.
  • Speedy like passing on a train.  Brief.
  • Lots of personification.
  • Ups and downs of England.
  • 'The indomitable monster'  - cannot be dominated/beaten.
  • Creating a picture of Britain.
  • Arrived at London, after the countryside.
  • 'Through the purple distance' - Towards the evening.
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Text 32 - Adlestrop

  • 'Adlestrop' - A village.
  • 'No one left and no one came' - No one was on the platform.  Empty.  Adlestrop is clearly not a popular place.
  • 'Only the name' - the sign on the train station platform.
  • 'And for that minute a blackbird sang' - Company.  Not alone.
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Comments

Elizabeth Harvey

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How does it specifically attract elderly people?
It could be middle class also, walkers, people interested in Lancashire  

Dave Scrambles

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Really good notes. Helps to get you thinking. Cheers for this :)

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