(1) 51 There is no month in the whole year, in which nature wears a more beautiful

appearance than in the month of August; Spring has many beauties, and May is a fresh and
blooming month: but the charms of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the
winter season. (2) 4 August has no such advantage. 48 (3) It comes when we remember
nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling flowers - when the recollection of
snow, and ice. and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have
disappeared from the earth - and yet what a pleasant time it is. (4) 55 Orchards and cornfields
ring with the hum of labour ; trees bend beneath the thick clusters of rich fruit which bow
their branches to the ground; and the corn, piled in graceful sheaves or waving in every light
breath that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue.
(5) 45 A mellow softness appears to hang over the whole earth; the influence of the season
seems to extend itself to the very wagon, whose slow motion across the well reaped field is
perceptible only to the eye, but strikes with no harsh sound upon the ear.
Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

The given abstract from «The Pickwick Papers» by Charles Dickens represents a detailed
description of the eighth month of the year - August. Possibly, the scene of the story is laid
exactly in this time of the year. As we can see, this passage consists of 5 quite long descriptive
sentences, which are full of enumeration and punctuation marks (such as semi-colon and
comma).

Analyzing vocabulary

The vocabulary of the given paragraph is quite simple and general. Also it’s descriptive,
because this passage contains a large number of nouns and adjectives. We can see a lot of
concrete nouns, which denote objects connected with nature (skies, field (2), flowers, snow,
ice, winds, orchards, cornfields, trees, clusters, fruit, branches, ground, corn, sheaves,
landscape, earth) ,parts of the body and its ability (eye, ear, minds, sound, breath, motion) and
names of other objects (sickle, wagon). There are quite many abstract nouns, which refer to
the calendar and time (month (3), year (2), season (2), time, spring, winter), to some pleasant
feelings (beauties, charms, softness, advantage) and to things which can produce both positive
and negative (appearance, recollection, influence). Also we can notice 2 proper names of
months (May, August (2)) and some collective nouns as “recollection of snow”, “influence
of the season”, which relate to the time of year, and “hum of labour”, which characterizes
sound and noise of all labors working near with defined orchards and cornfields.

All adjectives in this passage are apparently attributive, because they used before the noun
they describe (whole (2) year/earth, fresh and blooming mouth, clear skies, green field, sweet-
smelling flowers, bleak winds, pleasant time, thick clusters, rich fruits, graceful shivers, light
breath, golden hue, mellow softness, slow motion, harsh sound). Also we can see one
compound adjective “well reaped” (5). Most of them have positive meaning and it creates a
pleasant atmosphere of these the warmest days in the end of the summer. Also the author uses
comparative form of an adjective in the phrase “more beautiful appearance than in the month
of August” in order to emphasize the real beauty of this month. In his opinion, August is the
most charming month among the others due to hot days and ripe harvest.
The author uses dynamic verbs in order to describe actions that took place in the exactly
named time of the year – in August (nature wears, spring has, charms are enhanced, it comes,
recollection has faded, they have disappear, cornfield ring, trees bend, clusters bow , corn
sweeps, it wooed/ tinges, motion strikes). Also we can see a few state verbs (remember,
seems, appear). Most of the used verbs are factive and transitive - require a direct object in
order to make sentences complete and relevant (wears an appearance, has many beauties, are
enhanced by contrast, has faded from our minds, have disappeared from the earth etc). And
here only intransitive verb “it comes” (3). Moreover, we can find linking verbs such as
“appears”, ”seems” and all forms of the verb to be. They also serve to help describe the
setting.

Analyzing grammar

Sentence length

All five sentences have a different length. The progression of sentence lengths in words is: 51
– 4 – 48 – 55– 45. We see that the second sentence is the shortest one. The effect of placing
the short sentence basically at the middle is powerful: the author makes a kind of a small
pause before telling us the real advantages of August. The paragraph reaches a peak of length
in sentence (4), which consists of an enumeration of August’s positive sides and beauties, and
the last sentence returns to its usual lengths.

Sentence structure

The author uses declarative sentence - the most common kind of sentences, in order to that the
readers can easily image the setting in the fullest detail. The first (1) sentence has a complex
structure. It consists of 2 different sentences (one complex with relative clause (whose) and
one compound with 2 parts: copulative coordination (and) and adversative coordination (but)
in the end), which are divided by semicolon (;). The second (2) sentence is simple. The third
(3) sentence is complex-compound too, because it has 2 parts: complex with 2 adverbial
clauses, which starts with subordinating conjunctions “when”, “as”, indicating the time and
comparison, and compound part, which starts with conjunction “and” and has inverted
structure (…”and yet what a pleasant time it is.”). This part looks like exclamation but
without the exclamation mark. What is interesting that in this sentence conj. “and” repeats
four times. The fourth (4) – the longest one – has 3 parts (first –simple sentence, second –
complex sentence with adjective clause (which), third – complex sentence with participle
construction (“..corn, piled…waving”) and adverbial clause of comparison (as if), which are
divided by semicolon (;) again. Semicolons share two or more related ideas in one sentence,
which keeps us from reading a bunch of short, awkward sentences about the same topic or
thing. Moreover, it creates a stronger pause than a comma. And finally, the fifth (5) last
sentence with 2 parts (first – simple sentence, second – complex-compound sentence with
attributive relative clause (whose) and adversative coordination (but)), which also divided by
semicolon.

The passage has an unusually large number of prepositions (25), particularly prepositions of
place and direction, such “in,” to”, ”from”, ”beneath”, ”above”, “across”, “upon”
prepositions of agent –“by”, ”with” and the preposition “of” (7). In fact, a large part of the
syntactic complexity of the sentence comes from the use of prepositional phrases. The role
“of”, in particular, is to relate two noun-expressions together, and the former of these
expressions is always an abstract noun (the charms of this time of year, the recollection of
snow, influence of the season ).

Analyzing expressive means and stylistic devices

As we said before, this passage is descriptive, so there we can find a lot of epithets such as
beautiful appearance (1), fresh and blooming month (1), sweet-smelling (compound epithet)
flowers (3), bleak winds (3), rich fruit (4), graceful sheaves (4), light breath (4), golden hue
(4), mellow softness (5), well reaped (two-step epithet) field (5), harsh sound (5) which help
to create the atmosphere of a hot sunny days in August– the bittersweet time of year. Dickens
mentions that spring is a charming time of a year, especially May, when all things around you
is blooming. In his opinion, many people like May only because it is the first really warm and
pleasant month after a cold winter. However, Dickens prefers August more than May and
others spring months for the reason that only in the end of the summer we completely forget
about the “snow, and ice and bleak winds”. He adds to the lovely and pleasant feeling of the
season by comparing August with something smooth using the metaphor “mellow softness”.
By using the verb “ring” in another metaphor “orchards and cornfields ring with the hum of
labour” (4) the author liken the voices of labors with the ringing sound of the bell. Alliteration
sweet-smelling flowers (3) with consonant “s” draws attention to the flavor of August’s
flowers and graceful sheaves (4) with sounds “s”,”sh” makes the reader hear a gentle rustle of
the corn. In phrase “and the corn ,…, or waving in every light breath that sweeps above it, as
if it wooed the sickle” (4) the moves of the corn under the soft breeze is being compared
(simile) with wooing and courtship of a person when he wants to get something (like the corn
want to be cut with a sickle). At the same time, here the corn is personified. The author uses
the technique of personification in others phrases such as nature wears (1), spring has many
beauties (1), where nature is compared to a real person, who is able to wear and have
something. All these devices create a vivid and satisfying atmosphere, where the nature – is a
real person, and like other people it is happy and enjoys the August warm days.

What is more, we can find parallel construction in the second sentence “when the recollection
of snow, and ice and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have
disappeared from the earth”. It has same syntactic pattern: verbs have present perfect form
and preposition from. By this parallel construction the author wants to say that in August
people completely forget about all “pleasures” of winter as if it does not exist at all. In this
sentence we can notice one more syntactical stylistic device – break (has faded from our
minds as completely as they have disappeared from the earth - and yet what a pleasant time it
is). Break is a sudden interruption in speech caused by some strong emotion or reluctance to
continue or finish the sentence for some other reason. Here Dickens uses this literary
technique to finish his reflections about definitely good sides of August and make his readers
think about another.
To sum up, we can say that Dickens prepares his readers for the delightful atmosphere of the
beginning of the 16th chapter by introducing this positive and fully-described passage. The
author managed to make August the most pleasant month of the year for everything (even the
nature) and everyone. The last month of summer is the time when we cannot only see clear
sky green fields, feel the sweet smell of flowers, but also can eat tasty fruit. The words he
chooses, as well as his choice of setting, are what make us relaxed, content and grateful. We
also may assume that a calm and harmonious chapter awaits us.