2. Extract
His children are falling from the sky. He watches from horseback, acres of England stretching behind him; they drop, giltwinged, each
with a blood-filled gaze. Grace Cromwell hovers in thin air. She is silent when she takes her prey, silent as she glides to his fist. But the
sounds she makes then, the rustle of feathers and the creak, the sigh and riffle of pinion, the small cluck-cluck from her throat, these are
sounds of recognition, intimate, daughterly, almost disapproving. Her breast is gore-streaked and flesh clings to her claws.
Later, Henry will say, ‘Your girls flew well today.’ The hawk Anne Cromwell bounces on the glove of Rafe Sadler, who rides by the king
in easy conversation. They are tired; the sun is declining, and they ride back to Wolf Hall with the reins slack on the necks of their
mounts. Tomorrow his wife and two sisters will go out. These dead women, their bones long sunk in London clay, are now
transmigrated. Weightless, they glide on the upper currents of the air. They pity no one. They answer to no one. Their lives are simple.
When they look down they see nothing but their prey, and the borrowed plumes of the hunters: they see a flittering, flinching universe, a
universe filled with their dinner.
All summer has been like this, a riot of dismemberment, fur and feather flying; the beating off and the whipping in of hounds, the
coddling of tired horses, the nursing, by the gentlemen, of contusions, sprains and blisters. And for a few days at least, the sun has
shone on Henry. Sometime before noon, clouds scudded in from the west and rain fell in big scented drops; but the sun re-emerged
with a scorching heat, and now the sky is so clear you can see into Heaven and spy on what the saints are doing.
As they dismount, handing their horses to the grooms and waiting on the king, his mind is already moving to paperwork: to dispatches
from Whitehall, galloped down by the post routes that are laid wherever the court shifts. At supper with the Seymours, he will defer to
any stories his hosts wish to tell: to anything the king may venture, tousled and happy and amiable as he seems tonight. When the king
has gone to bed, his working night will begin.
3. Synopsis
The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller,
Wolf Hall, delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Though
he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has
failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends
and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court,
Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas
Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web
of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned
wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle.
Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for
adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies,
the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?
5. Onomatopoeia + Cacophony
“She is silent when she takes her prey,
silent as she glides to his fist.
But the sounds she makes then,
the rustle of feathers and the creak
the sigh and riffle of pinion
the small cluck-cluck from her throat,
these are sounds of recognition,
intimate, daughterly, almost disapproving.”
Rustle
Creak
Sigh
Riffle
Cluck-cluck
In juxtaposition with “silence” forms apparent
antithesis and emphasises on the construction of a
state of chao and disorder
6. Polysyndeton + Listing
“the beating off and the whipping in of hounds, the coddling of tired horses, the nursing, by the
gentlemen, of contusions, sprains and blisters”
Mantel utilises a more subtle way of expression, instead of directly describing the situation,
he uses the juxtaposition and listing of objects to form a picture in the reader’s head and
evoke feelings of chaos and restlessness
7. Imagery + Hyperbole
“Sometime before noon, clouds scudded in from the west and rain fell in big scented drops; but the sun
re-emerged with a scorching heat”
Visual imagery makes it more engaging and places readers in the scenery, as if they are in it and
witnessing the change of day
“and now the sky is so clear you can see into Heaven and spy on what the saints are doing.”
An exaggerated claim
9. Anaphora
“They pity no one.
They answer to no one.
Their lives are simple.”
- Monotone, almost robotic and mechanical, emotionless, just like how they are killing the
prey, reinforcing and illustrating the emotionlessness and cruelty of “they”
- repeating “they” focuses readers attention of the portrayal of “they”
10. Alliteration
“they see a flittering, flinching universe, a universe filled with their dinner.”
“fur and feather flying”
Repeated use of /f/
Its significance as a rhetorical device is that it adds a textural complexity to a speech, making it more
engaging, moving, and memorable.
The use of alliteration in a speech captivates a person's auditory senses; this helps the speaker to
create a mood. The use of a repeating sound or letter is noticeable, and so forces an audience's
attention and evokes emotion.
