Category Archives: Glossary

Glossary, Week 2

Temerity

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Temerity, noun
1. excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.
2. rash or restless act

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temerity

A Rose for EMily: Section II Paragraph 1, Page 2.
“After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all. A few of the ladies had the temerity to call, but were not received, and the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man, a young man then – going in and out with a market basket”

The sentence before says that she went out little and that no one saw her. Some ladies had the confidence to call her even though no one else dared to, just asking her servant for information.

 

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Glossary

macabre

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macabre (adj) – involving death or violence in a way that is strange, frightening, or unpleasant. (by Merriam Webster)

source: Merriam Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/macabre

Found in “A Rose for Emily” section 5, second paragraph, second sentence

Text: They held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers, with the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men –some in their brushed Confederate uniforms–on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottle-neck of the most recent decade of years.

The town came to Miss Emily’s funeral. The old men were wearing Confederate uniforms and talking about Miss Emily as if they believe “they had danced with her and courted her.” And the ladies who came were talking in a hissing sound (sibilant) and in gruesome and terrifying way(macabre).

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Glossary

CUPOLA

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Cupola  (A Rose for Emily/Section 1/Paragraph 2/Sentence 1)
noun
Pronunciation: cu (Q)- po(Poh) -la (Lah)

-A rounded roof or part of a roof
-A small structure that is built on top of a roof.

Context: “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies…”

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cupola

CupolaExample of a Cupola

Image Source: http://www.custombarnbuilding.com/project-gallery/components/cupolas/

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Glossary

Forestall

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Forestall (Verb)

Forestall – To Stop (something) from happening to cause (something) to happen at a later time.

– To act before (someone else) in order to prevent something.

Source; Merriam – Webster’s dictionary.

 

  • This word was found in the second paragraph of page 1.
  • Date of class discussion: February 4th 2015.
  • Title of Handout: “The story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin.

 

Passage: “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed.” He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.”

Explanation: While reading the passage without the knowledge of the word forestall made the news of the death of Brently Mallard seem unimportant. In the story The Story of An Hour the protagonist by the name of Mrs. Mallard hears the tragic news of her husband’s death and faces many realizations of how her life has been caged due to her marriage. While the story progressed Mrs. Mallard dies from the overwhelming “joy” of seeing her husband alive after accepting the fact that he had died. In the beginning of the story we see the friend of Josephine’s husband Richards which was the first to hear the news. In that section of the story the author states “He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.” Upon discovering the true definition of forestall it was clear how close Richards re4lationship to the family was It showed that he wanted the best for Mrs. Mallard and to be the first to bring the horrific news. It also shows that he did not trust that anyone else would take up the responsibility of passing the news in the most appropriate way possible to the family so he made sure he took the jab upon himself.

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Glossary, Uncategorized, Week 2

Bier

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Bier   noun

  1. a table or platform on which a coffin or dead body is placed at a funeral

A Rose for Emily, Part 5 Paragraph 2

 

“they held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers, with the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men…”

Reading the story, I figured the word bier meant mantle,  this certainly paints a different picture.

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Glossary, Week 2

Virulent

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Virulent

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

page 5 of 7, line 37

to speak in a strong manner; to be harsh

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virulent

as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent (harsh) and too furious to die

Example

The child’s father spoke in a virulent manner to prevent the child from misbehaving.

 

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Glossary, Week 2

Tableau

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Tableau – a view or sight that looks like a picture

Found in “A Rose For Emily” 2nd section.
“That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her. People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were. None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door. So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.”

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Glossary, Week 1

Eaves

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Eaves –  the lower border of a roof that overhangs the wall —usually used in plural.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eave

Used in “The Story of An Hour” fifth paragraph; last line. The  word was used as a noun in the sentence to describe the thing on which the birds were twittering.

The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

She was describing the scene before her, and could hear the chirping of sparrows on the roofs around her. At first, I thought eaves may have meant trees, and was surprised to find that it meant the underneath a roof. Its almost like a little alcove.

 

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Glossary

Tumultuously

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Tumultuously – Adjective – loud, excited, and emotional. via Merriam-Webster

Encountered in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin,  paragraph ten, sentence one.

“Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will–as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!””

The word helps describe how she couldn’t hold her true feelings about her husband any more and it figuratively escaped from within her.

 

 

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Glossary, Week 2

Sibilant

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Sibilant – having, containing, or producing the sound of or a sound resembling that of the s or the sh in sash.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sibilant

Located on the fifth page of “A Rose for Emily” 2nd paragraph; third line. It was used as an adjective in the sentence describing what Emily’s aunts were doing during the funeral.

With the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre.

I took sibilant to perhaps have meant in mourning. The word sibilant  in actuality means to speak in hushed voices. I could then go on to imagine that they may have been gossiping in hushed voices during the wake.

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