Isabella Lucy Bird Letter 1879

Who was Isabella Lucy Bird?

She was a missionary and explorer who travelled all over the world, her occupation differed to that of many women in 19th Century England.

Where did she travel?

Canada, Scotland, Australia, Hawaii, Colorado (which this piece was about) India, Tibet, The Persian Gulf, Japan, China, Korea and Morocco.

How many books did she write?

She wrote 5 books from 1856-99.

What was she the first woman to do?

She was the first woman to be awarded an Honorary fellowship by the royal Scottish geographical society (1890).

She was also the first female member of the Royal Geographical Society(1892).

Audience

This was written to Henrietta Bird, Isabella's sister.

But she had already published her first book of letters so she may have intended this to be published too, marked by the lack of personal conversation.

Purpose

The letter is written to her sister where she discusses her visit to America and what she has done there, to inform but in a casual setting.

'LETTER II / CHEYENNE, WYOMING September 7'

This introduction to the letter fits the frame of expectation for the letter and also tell us she is recollecting in the letter as the events take place a few days earlier in Tahoe.

This introduction fits the frame of expectation for a letter.

'A San Francisco lady, much 'got up' in paint, emerald green velvet, Brussels lace, and diamonds'

The Archaic reference to a woman ''got up' in paint' shows Bird's condescending tone, combined with the tricolon of opulence 'emerald green velvet, Brussels lace, and diamonds' shows Bird's contempt to frivolous women.

'inundated in summer with similar vulgarity'

The use of 'inundated' shows that Bird looks down on this form of 'vulgarity' and suggests she shows contempt to those who dress as the woman mentioned earlier does. 'Inundated' gives connotations of an overwhelming nature to the people, as if Bird could feel trapped by their presence.

'I was a salient point for the speaker's next sally'

The use of the archaic 'sally' gives a colloquial nature to the letter due to it's informality. The sibilance in this line suggests that Bird could feel contempt towards this speaker, as if she is hissing out these words.

'a ladylike Englishwoman'

This sub clause places power in the notion of an 'Englishwoman' reinforcing Bird's contempt to the 'vulgar' American women.

'the neighbourhood and its wild beasts, especially bears' 'I dreamt of bears so vividly'

Bird's litotes when discussing the 'bears', used throughout the whole letter, shows her confidence, which is very incongruous due to her being a solitary female traveller.

'furry death hug at my throat, but feeling quite refreshed'

The nonchalant tone and oxymoron of the 'furry death hug' and her 'feeling quite refreshed' reinforces her lack of fear and her confidence due to her experience as an explorer.

'cinnamon-colored bear with two cubs'

The alliteration of the 'cinnamon-colored bear' emphasises her description of the bear, making it vivid as she uses 'cinnamon' rather than a more subject specific colour word like 'brown'.

She also uses the American spelling of 'colored', which was used by American and the former UK colonies.

'the mother might acquit me of any designs upon her lolloping children'

The use of the formal 'acquit' and the conditional 'might' shows Bird making light of the danger that these bears pose. Could be due to a slight overconfidence but could also be due to she actually has extensive experience with bears as she had travelled to 4 different places before this trip.

'ungainly, long haired party crossed the river'

The use of the descriptors 'ungainly, long haired' emphasises he inhuman nature to the animals, the tone here even implies she looks at these animals as improper due to their 'ungainly' nature.

The use of personification of the 'party' emphasises her high expectations of these animals to be prim and proper.

'the English tourist who had 'happened on' a 'grizzly' yesterday'

Here she quotes the American and their sociolect, the use of direct quotations fits the FoE as she is giving evidence to her sister to make the story more vivid to her sister.

'womanly dignity and manly respect for women are the salt of society in this wild west'

The parallelism of 'womanly dignity and manly respect' separates Bird's expectations of both men and women, enforcing the inequal society. The Alliteration and sibilance of 'salt of society' brings attentions to the juxtaposition between men and women but it also emulates the idiom used to describe the makeup of society.

'a prodigious roan horse, standing seventeen hands high'

Here she uses subject specific lexis of horses to demonstrate her expertise in this field. This is intensified by her nonchalant tone used as she writes about the horses showing she feels at ease discussing this.

'this man said "there's a bad breed of ruffians, but the ugliest among them all won't touch you. there's nothing western folk admire so much as pluck in a woman"'

The plosives in 'bad breed' reinforce these unknown men's brutality.

The archaic phrasing of 'ruffians' has British origins, showing her returning to her lexical roots away from the borrowed Americanisms she uses previously. The polyptoton of 'ruffians' and 'ruffianism' adds to the ridiculousness of the imagery.

The use of reported speech adds credibility to her story, along with her use of the American tone in 'western folk' and 'pluck in a woman'

'i felt like a fly on him'

The use of this simile and short simple monosyllabic sentence contrast her earlier use of brevity and aural imagery, emphasising her feeling of smallness on the large horse.

'the first GREEN grass I have seen in America; and the pines, with theri red stems, looked beautiful rising out of it'

The capitalisation of 'GREEN' is an unconventional graphological feature which reinforces how much she misses her home and the natural green grass at home.

The vivid description of 'the pines' changes from her earlier sarcastic tone showing how important nature is to her.

The description of the colours takes the foreground in this image, helping to make this image vivid to her sister.

'it's loneliness pleased me well. I did not see man, beast, or bird from the time I left Truckee till I returned'

The hyperbaton of 'it's loneliness pleased me well' emphasises her wealthy family due to the upper class connotations of this form of lexis.

The tricolon of 'man, beast, or bird' sums up all she has experienced in the vignette she is describing in this letter.

'I. L. B.'

She signs of the letter using this acronym due to her familiar audience as her sister will know her name fully.

This adds to the case that this letter may have only been intended for her sister.

Bird and Genderlect

She conforms to female genderlect expectations through discussing social topics like what women are wearing. Her letter also includes long descriptions of what she sees, again conforming to female genderlect expectations.

Bird and Prestige

She uses Overt Prestige in using the lexis of the time, 'Ruffians' and 'Got up'

She uses Covert Prestige when she is reporting on what others have said and when she references the American sociolect.

Bird and Grice's Maxims

She adheres to the maxim of quality, through her use of Reported speech to verify her stories.

She flouts the maxims of quantity, relevance and manner as she uses vivid descriptions and often goes off on a tangent about things that are not relevant.