Introduction to Language analysis – language in a cultural context
Objectives:
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Knowledge and Understanding
Application and Analysis
Selection and use of appropriate presentation and language skills
Setting the context – discussion
• How do you question a text – what questions do you ask?
• How important is it to understand the 'context' of the text?
• How does the context of the reader influence the meaning of the text?
Source:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/texts/context.html
There are three texts given below. Read each one and complete the Texts
in Context table handout.
Theme: Empire
1745 - The Good and Bad effects of Tea Considered
Text 1 - The GOOD and BAD
EFFECTS
OF
TEA
CONSIDER'D
Background: The East India Company had been trading regularly with the
Chinese since the early 1700s, shipping increasing amounts of tea back to
Britain. By the end of the century tea accounted for more than 60 percent
of the Company's total trade. The British demand for the drink boomed.
In Britain, throughout the 18th century, there were numerous debates
over the new craze for tea. Many believed that tea had medicinal
properties, while others warned against the cost of such a frivolous
luxury. The author of 'The Good and Bad Effects of Tea Consider'd' follows
both lines of thought: on the one hand tea consumed without milk or
sugar can act as a medicinal remedy; on the other hand, tea is
an expensive 'evil' in which poor families cannot afford to indulge.
Wherein are exhibited,
The Physical Virtues of TEA; its general
and particular Use; to what Constitutions
agreeable; at what Times and Seasons
it is most proper to be drank; and when
and how prejudicial.
To which are subjoined,
Some Considerations on Afternoon Teadrinking, and the many subsequent Evils attending it; with a Persuasive to the Use of our own
wholsome Product, SAGE, etc.
___________________________________
By SIMON MASON,
AUTHOR of The Nature of an Intermitting Fever
and Ague consider'd, lately publish'd.
___________________________________
Entered according to Act of PARLIAMENT
___________________________________
LONDON
Printed for M. Cooper, at the Globe, in
Pater-noster-row. MDCCXLV.
Taken from: The Good and Bad Effects of Tea Considered
Author /
Creator: Mason, S
Date: 1745
Copyright: By permission of the British
Library Board
Shelfmark: BL 1638.1.41
Theme: Books for Cooks
Text 2 - Source
Beeton’s Book of Household Management,
Isabella Beeton, 1859
About this Source. The first edition of The Book of Household
Management appeared when Mrs Beeton was only 25. It was a huge
success, and has remained in print ever since. It not only contains
over 2000 recipes, but is also a complete guide to running a
household.
Transcript
ROAST TURKEY
1005. A noble dish is a turkey, roast or boiled.
A Christmas dinner with the middle classes of this empire, would
scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey; and we can hardly
imagine an object of greater envy than is pre- sented by a respected
portly pater-familias carving, at the season devoted to good cheer
and genial charity, his own fat turkey, and carving it well. The only
art consists, as in the carving of a goose, in getting from the breast as
many fine slices as possible; and all must have remarked the very
great difference in the large number of people whom a good carver
will find slices for, and the comparatively few that a bad carver will
succeed in serving.
Theme: Town and Tourists
This 'advertisement', written by the publisher, explains that Hobbes' poem
has been translated from Latin into English. It reads, 'This latine Poem,
writ by the famous Mr. Thomas Hobs of Malmsbury, hath got such
reputation, that many English Readers had a great desire to be
acquainted with it.'
Text 3 - An advertisement.
This Latine Poem, writ by the famous Mr. Thomas Hobs of
Malmsbury, hath got such reputation, that many English
Readers had a great desire to get acquainted with it, for whose
sakes it is now translated into English, though without the
knowledge of Mr Hobs; who it is hoped will not be displeased
with this attempt which is left to others judgements, whether
doen well or ill. Reader farwell, but do not forget to peruse
that excellent translation of Homer by Mr. Hobs. I think the
most exact and best translation that ere I saw.
About De Mirabilibus Pecci
This poem, entitled 'De Mirabilibus Pecci', was written by the Enlightenment
philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes toured the Peak District in 1626, and
the poem describes the wonders of his experiences.
The poem was first published in 1636. This version includes the original Latin
and an English translation by 'a Person of Quality'. It appeared in 1678.
The 'Wonders' include Chatsworth House, Peak Cavern (popularly known as
the Devil's Arse), St Anne's Well, Buxton, Eldon Hole and Tideswell.
Taken from: De Mirabilibus Pecci : Wonders of the Peaks in Darbyshire
Author /
Creator: Thomas Hobbes, translated by 'a Person of Quality '
Publisher: Crook, William
Date: 1678
Copyright: By permission of the British Library
Board
Shelfmark: 1076.g.17.(1)
Research - homework
1. Read the extracts taken from ‘Discourse Analysis’
2.
Choose three texts and complete the Texts in Context table for
each text (template is on the wiki)
3. Research the development of cookery books – look at how
recipes are delivered nowadays - (TV shows such as Ramsey’s
Best Restaurant). Write a magazine article on the development of
cookery books (500 words)
Information
All the extracts are taken from Books for Cooks on the British Library
website
The books provoke all sorts of questions – for example
Who wrote these books?
Who were they writing for?
Who bought the books?
Who actually read and used them?
Did they really have toasties at the court of Richard II?
Were they making tortellini in England in 1660?
The books should give a sense of the way food has for so long been used to
define class - much of this food would only ever have been tasted by the
wealthy few.
The books also illustrate vividly how social, economic, technological and
cultural factors fuel language use and development – find examples
And they suggest how tastes, fashions, and ideas of social status were
shaped, developed and maintained.
The cookery texts were chosen to show some of the different ways a similar
text – in this case an instructional texts – can vary over time.
These
variations relate to economic and technological factors – what was available
to cook, what was available to cook in and on; cultural factors including tastes,
fashions and ways of becoming accomplished; linguistic factors such as
changes in genre convention, spelling, vocabulary and meanings; pragmatic
factors such as expectations of degrees of formality and politeness. Then how
representative of their age are these texts? It must be remembered that four
of the six centuries represented in the texts, a recipe book would have been
beyond the means and literacy of the majority of people living and using
language at the time. Even today in many communities ways of preparing
food – where they still exist – may be held primarily in memory transferred by
an oral tradition.
The selection here enables students to trace some of the broader changes in
stylistic conventions – for example details about quantities and procedures
become more explicit – and the emerging conventions for textual organisation
such as contents pages, prefaces, indexes. It is also possible to investigate
the different styles of writing within each book. There are sufficient extracts
from the books to allow students to infer something of the social context for
the texts.
What did a cookery book look like in the times of Chaucer, Shakespeare,
Milton, Jane Austen and Dickens?
Source One
1. Source
The Forme of Cury, Richard II’s master-cook, 1390
About this Source
‘The Forme of Cury’ is one of the oldest instructive
cookery manuscripts in the English Language. It is believed to have been
written at the end of the fourteenth century by the master-cook of Richard II
(1377 - 1399). The manu- script is in the form of a scroll made of vellum - a
kind of fine calfskin parchment. It contains 196 recipes. The word ‘cury’ is the
Middle English word for ‘cookery’.
Transcript
TOSTEE XX.IIII. XIII.Take wyne and hony and found it togyder
and skym it clene. and seeþ it long, do þerto powdour of gyngur. peper and
salt, tost brede and lay the sew þerto. kerue pecys of gyngur and flour it
þerwith and messe it forth.
Translation
: Take wine and honey and mix it together and skim it clean.
And seethe (boil) it for a long time, and add to it pow- dered ginger, pepper
and salt. Toast bread and lay it thereto. Carve pieces of ginger, and flour it
therewith, and serve it forth.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library
Source Two
2. Source
- The Boke of Kokery, 1440 About this Source This cookery
manuscript, entitled A Boke of Kokery, was written in c.1440, and contains
182 recipes. Until the 19th century the word ‘custarde’ referred to a kind of
open pie containing pieces of meat or fruit, and covered with a sweet and
spicy egg and milk
sauce (the sauce was rather like today’s custard). These pies were also
known as ‘crustardes’, showing us that the word custard is closely related to
the word crust - as in pastry crust. Transcript
Custard lumbarde. Take good
creme, and leuys of Percely, and yolkes and white of egges, and breke hem
thereto, and streyne hem all þorg a straynour till hit be so thik that it woll bere
him self. And take faire Mary and Dates, cutte in ij. or iij. and prunes, and put
hem in faire coffyns of paast. And then put þe coffyn in an oven, And lete hem
bake till thei be hard. And then drawe hem oute and putte the licoure into þe
coffyns. And put hem into þe oven ayen. And lete hem bake til they be ynogh,
but cast sugur and salt into þi licour whan ye putte hit into þe coffyns. And if
hit be in lenton, take creme of Almondes and leve the egges And the Mary.
Translation
: Take good cream, and mix in leaves of parsley. Break the yolks
and whites of eggs into the mixture. Strain through a strainer, till it is so stiff
that it will bear (sup- port) itself. Then take good marrow, and dates cut in 2 or
3 pieces, and prunes, and put them in nice coffins (pastry cases). Put the pies
in the oven, and let them bake until they are hard. Then take them out and put
the liquid into them, and put them back in the oven. Let them bake together
until done, but add sugar and salt to the liquid when you put it into the coffins.
And if it is in Lent, take cream of almonds and leave out the egg and the
marrow.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library
Source 3
3. Source
The Widdowes Treasure, 1595
About this Source
The Widdowes Treasure contains a range of recipes for
medical remedies and potions, treating anything from chapped lips and
drunkenness to gout and even cancer. There are also recipes for
confectioneries, syrups, gold and emerald dyes, and black ink, as well as for
concoctions to make beards grow, or to provoke sleep. The late 16th century
was the first time that cookery books began to be published and acquired
regularly. It was also the first time that cookery books were directed at a
female audience. However, literacy rates among women were very low, so it
is likely that these books would only have been purchased by the privileged
few.
Transcript
: To keep Peares. Put them in a vessell that they touch not each
other, and make a bed of Peares, and an other of fine white Salte, and cover
them close.
To kill lyce. Make a fier and put quicksilver therein and hang the
clothes over it in the smoake, and no vermin will come in them.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library
Source 4
4. Source
: The Queen’s Closet Opened, 1655
About this Source
‘The Queens Closet Opened’ was first published in 1655
during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. The book was a huge success, with ten
new editions published before the end of the century. Despite the relative
stability of the common- wealth, there was an increasing fascination for the
customs of the old aristocracy. Books such as these appeared to be opening
doors on to the glittering secrets of the wealthy.
Transcript
: To make a Cake the way of the Royal Princess, the Lady
Elizabeth, daughter to King CHARLES the first.
Take half a peck of Flower,
half a pint of Rose-water, a pint of Ale-yeast, a pint of Cream, boil it, a pound
and an half of Butter, six Eggs, (leave out the whites) four pound of Currans,
one half of Sugar, one Nutmeg, and a little Salt, work it very well, and let it
stand half an hour by the fire, and then work it again, and then make it up, and
let it stand an hour and a half, in the Oven; let not your Oven be too hot.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library
Source 5
5. Source
- The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, 1747
About this Source - The Art of Cookery, written by Hannah Glasse, was
published in 1747. It was a best seller for over a hundred years, and made
Glasse one the best-known cookery writers of the eighteenth century. As
Glasse explains in the preface, the book was intended to be an instruction
manual for servants - ‘the lower sort’ as she called them. During the 1700s
there was a fashion for books of this kind, which were designed to save the
lady of the house from the tedious duty of instructing her kitchen maids.
Transcript
A dripping crust. TAKE a pound and half of beef-dripping, boil it in
water, strain it, then let it stand to cold, and take off the hard fat: scrape it, boil
it so four or five times; then work it well up into three pounds of flour, as fine
as you can, and make it up into paste with cold water. It makes a very fine
crust.
A crust for custards. TAKE half a pound of flour, six ounces of butter,
the yolks of two eggs, three spoonfuls of cream; mix them together, and let
them stand a quarter of an hour, then work it up and down, and roll it very
thin.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library
Source 6
6. Source - The Whole Art of Dining, Jean Rey, 1921
About this Source
The Whole Art of Dining, by Jean Rey, was published in
1921. The book opens on to a world of glittering dining halls and lavish
picnics. It aims to impart to the reader the intricate details of the dining habits
and traditions of the deca- dent classes. As the author states in the preface,
such knowledge is essential for ‘every host and hostess who aspires to
distinction’.
Transcript
: THE WORKING-CLASS TEA
The tea of the English workingclass is the most eccentric of meals, and one of the greatest injuries a
gourmet could possibly conceive (according to the ideas of Brillat-Savarin); for
with the tea they partake of various kinds of salted meat and dried fish, such
as “corned-beef,” kippers, bloaters, red herrings, winkles, shrimps, pickles,
watercresses, cucumber, lettuce, jam or marmalade, bread and butter, and
cake. This incongruous kind of food may, no doubt, be quite nice and tasty for
this class of people, but it must shock any one endowed with refined
epicurean instinct.
www.bl.uk/learning © British Library