• The headline is from the Nickleback song This is how you remind me.
Google it for the lyrics; it’s not an optimistic song, which may chime
with the overall slightly negative tone of the article. (The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
defines tone as “The reflection of a writer’s attitude, manner, mood
and moral outlook in his work; even, perhaps, the way his personality
pervades the work.”
• The photos contribute to the whole article by providing a visual
representation of the story. The pic. Of Elizabeth Day shows her
looking muddy but aloof. This sense of emotional distance is reflected
in her words.
• The subhead is in the present tense and makes use of the senses. TASK: identify the senses used and match them with the appropriate words from the subhead.
• Paragraph 1 continues in the present tense making use of the senses and imagery of nature. TASK: Identify the nature imagery. What attitude to the festival does this represent? How does Day begin to undercut it?
• Paragraph 2, still in the present tense, uses contrasting words in
the first sentence to indicate the difference between Anton’s
perceptions and the reality of the situation. TASK: Identify these contrasting words. What simile is used in sentence 3? What is the meaning and effect of apocalyptic?
• Paragraph 3 moves into the past tense – “When I was told…” and in
this paragraph she conveys her disdain for the festival, its facilities
and its people. TASK: What words and phrases does she use to express this disdain?
• Paragraph 4 TASK: What 2 phrases signal the impending doom of paragraph 5?
• Paragraph 5 opens with a sentence almost biblical in its cadence. The description of the intensity of the rain diminuendos. TASK: What words in the final sentence indicate that this does not necessarily mean that all will be well?
• Paragraph 6, back in the present tense, uses an image which suggests
that Day feels that she is in something resembling a war zone. TASK:
What is this image? What is the effect of her hyperbolic reference to
freshwater trout? What does her “stick in the mud” reference reveal
that she feels about herself?
• Paragraph 7 contains a word and a phrase which reveal her incredulity that others are having a good time. TASK: Identify this word and phrase.
• In paragraph 8 a music production student called Ed Thaw is quoted extensively. TASK: Explain why you think that might be.
• In paragraph 9 Day describes her fellow passengers on the train to Castle Carey. TASK:
How are they described? With whom are they contrasted? How do you think
Tasha feels about the change? How do you think Day feels about the
change? What are your reasons?
• Paragraph 10 describes ways in which the festival today is different from the original in 1970. TASK: How is it different? Do you get a sense of how Day feels about this?
• Paragraph 11 makes use of the personal pronoun “one” and the phrase “slum it”. TASK: What is the effect of these? What do they reveal about Day’s attitude to this kind of festival goer?
• Paragraph 12 provides a stark contrast between the luxury in which
Kate Moss will be living and the far more basic, not to say squalid
conditions experienced by Day.
• Paragraph 13 embodies her ambivalent attitude to the festival. TASK: Find one phrase suggesting approval and another suggesting scepticism about the festival in this paragraph.
• Paragraph 14 finishes the article in an appropriately ambivalent
tone. This is the closest she gets to enthusiasm. It is ironic that she
most likes Glastonbury when it is most like The Archers and, arguably,
least like itself.