“The lowing of a cow in the quiet meadows, the splash of a trout in the fish-pond, the last notes of a tired bird, the creaking of waggon-wheels upon the distant road, every now and then breaking the evening silence, only made the stillness of the place seem more intense. It was almost oppressive, this twilight stillness. The very repose of the place grew painful from its intensity, and you felt as if a corpse must be lying somewhere within that grey and ivy-covered pile of building- so deathlike was the tranquility of all around. (26)”
Early in the novel, while the narrator is describing the setting of the Audley Court, he includes this short paragraph about the court gardens. This paragraph is used to develop a sinister atmosphere about the estate and foreshadow the coming of darker events. The first sentence begins with a parallel structure describing numerous characteristics of the garden. With pervading pastoral imagery such as “quiet meadows”, “the splash of a trout”, and “evening silence”, the narrator suggests an appearance of serenity within the court. However this is a facade, as he then goes on to relay how the stillness is actually seems intense. By using a parallel structure to develop a sense of peace and then contradicting this sense with the word “intense”, he implies that this serenity is merely superficial and that there is more to the garden than what is immediately apparent. He then builds on this idea by adding a negative connotation to this intense stillness. The word “intense” is neutral by itself- it can be interpreted either positively or negatively. However the words “oppressive” and “painful”, which are used to describe the stillness, are definitely negative. This diction introduces an element of discomfort into the setting. Towards the end of the paragraph, his diction becomes much darker, with the words “corpse” and “deathlike”. His morbid imagery of a corpse lying beneath the repose creates an association between tranquility and death within the garden and suggests to the reader that there is something eerie about the court. In this way, the paragraph establishes that beyond its appearances, there is a distinctly ominous atmosphere within Audley Court.
great formal details (the parallel structure, the diction); i especially like how you point out the ambiguity of “intense” and show how the the diction surrounding it changes its connotation.