Miles Donahue

Journal Response
Twice on A Tale of Two Cities
With sentence structures that span pages and diction betrothed to an antiquated
vernacular, Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities labors on, a hulking behemoth wreathed in an
intricate shadow textile woven with poetic syntax. For instance, in parody to the absurdity of
upper class etiquette, his writing flowers into a twisted bramble of descriptions, leading to
examples such as this quote The exquisite gentlemen of the finest breeding wore little pendent
trinkets that chinked as they languidly moved; these golden fetters rang like precious little bells;
and what with that ringing, and with the rustle of silk and brocade and fine linen, there was a
flutter in the air that fanned Saint Antoine and his devouring hunger away. This witty depiction
of the regality [s3] of the gentry exemplifies his propensity to extend descriptions across pages,
distributing them amongst a cornucopia of conjunctive punctuation.