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Like the previous exercise, I followed the directions and analyzed the rhythm and content of the given passages. Unlike the previous exercise, all three passages are from the same author; in fact, they are from the same work: Virginia Woolf's The Waves.
(Note: The Waves is still in copyright in the U.S. until 2026. This is ridiculous, since the author has been dead since 1941, but nevertheless current U.S. copyright law confirms this. However, the use of short excerpts in a scholarly fashion, like I have done below, is protected as Fair Use.)
Virginia Woolf's The Waves is one of her most famous works of fiction. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the style she uses in three brief passages from this work; each of these excerpts describes the appearance of the waves at different times during the morning. Although the passages have much in common, there are a few interesting differences worth noting as well.
The rhythm of the passages is noticeable, but not prominent; while there are several segments in which a particular rhythmic motive is repeated, the overall impact is not especially severe. More interesting are the tempi of the passages. The first paragraph is the longest and the slowest, and the last is the shortest and the fastest; the difference is exemplified by both the differences in word length and sentence length. In addition, the repeated rhythmic motive in the first passage is repeated several times, while those in the later passages are barely repeated.
A more central characteristic of the passages is the style of imagery. All three passages are descriptive, so a high concentration of images is expected, but it is notable that these images are almost all visual. There is one sentence at the end of the second paragraph that uses tactile adjectives, but even then those words were being used to describe visual phenomena. Furthermore, there is a poetic quality to many of the images. The tactile adjectives are a good example of this, but equally good examples can be found throughout; Woolf often describes the scene not by what is literally true, but by more abstract images: bars instead of waves, the fans of successive waves across the beach, and so forth.
The final element to consider is the literal content of the passages. There is a third trend running throughout these, as they succeed one another; as the sun rises, each passage describes finer details of the scene than the last. The first names no more than the sky, the sea, and the waves themselves. The second brings in the beach over which the waves flow, the sea-holly on the beach, and the rocks (perhaps on the beach, perhaps offshore: it is not stated). The third describes the waves in still more detail, and the sea-holly in more detail, and the skeleton of a boat as well. Thus it seems that as the light grows the details one observes change.
When I was considering for what purpose Virginia Woolf wrote each of these passages, I hypothesized that she wanted both to describe the scene and to establish a tone in each. It is clear from the passages both how she maintains a commonality among them, both in subject and in style, and yet establishes different feelings in each.
Next is an exercise in writing in meter. Should be easy enough – I'll post any poems it inspires.
(Note: The Waves is still in copyright in the U.S. until 2026. This is ridiculous, since the author has been dead since 1941, but nevertheless current U.S. copyright law confirms this. However, the use of short excerpts in a scholarly fashion, like I have done below, is protected as Fair Use.)
The sun had not yet risen. The sea was indistinguishable from the sky, except that the sea was slightly creased as if a cloth had wrinkles in it. Gradually as the sky whitened a dark line lay on the horizon dividing the sea from the sky and the grey cloth became barred with thick strokes moving, one after another, beneath the surface, following each other, pursuing each other, perpetually.From Virginia Woolf, The Waves (Harcourt, 1931), p. 7
The sun rose higher. Blue waves, green waves swept a quick fan over the beach, circling the spike of sea-holly and leaving shallow pools of light here and there on the sand. A faint black rim was left behind them. The rocks which had been misty and soft hardened and were marked with red clefts.Ibid, p. 29
The sun rose. Bars of yellow and green fell on the shore gilding the ribs of the eaten-out boat and making the sea-holly and its mailed leaves gleam blue as steel. Light almost pierced the thin swift waves as they raced fan-shaped over the beach.Ibid, p. 73
Virginia Woolf's The Waves is one of her most famous works of fiction. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the style she uses in three brief passages from this work; each of these excerpts describes the appearance of the waves at different times during the morning. Although the passages have much in common, there are a few interesting differences worth noting as well.
The rhythm of the passages is noticeable, but not prominent; while there are several segments in which a particular rhythmic motive is repeated, the overall impact is not especially severe. More interesting are the tempi of the passages. The first paragraph is the longest and the slowest, and the last is the shortest and the fastest; the difference is exemplified by both the differences in word length and sentence length. In addition, the repeated rhythmic motive in the first passage is repeated several times, while those in the later passages are barely repeated.
A more central characteristic of the passages is the style of imagery. All three passages are descriptive, so a high concentration of images is expected, but it is notable that these images are almost all visual. There is one sentence at the end of the second paragraph that uses tactile adjectives, but even then those words were being used to describe visual phenomena. Furthermore, there is a poetic quality to many of the images. The tactile adjectives are a good example of this, but equally good examples can be found throughout; Woolf often describes the scene not by what is literally true, but by more abstract images: bars instead of waves, the fans of successive waves across the beach, and so forth.
The final element to consider is the literal content of the passages. There is a third trend running throughout these, as they succeed one another; as the sun rises, each passage describes finer details of the scene than the last. The first names no more than the sky, the sea, and the waves themselves. The second brings in the beach over which the waves flow, the sea-holly on the beach, and the rocks (perhaps on the beach, perhaps offshore: it is not stated). The third describes the waves in still more detail, and the sea-holly in more detail, and the skeleton of a boat as well. Thus it seems that as the light grows the details one observes change.
When I was considering for what purpose Virginia Woolf wrote each of these passages, I hypothesized that she wanted both to describe the scene and to establish a tone in each. It is clear from the passages both how she maintains a commonality among them, both in subject and in style, and yet establishes different feelings in each.
Next is an exercise in writing in meter. Should be easy enough – I'll post any poems it inspires.
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