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Second section follows the adventures of a young nobleman Felix as he tries to find a
place in the world.
4. Overview of varieties / dialects
No real varieties represented. Given the interest in varieties in Amaryllis at the Fair
this seems like a deliberate decision. The one comment on it comes when Felix
meets a stranger. The direct speech of the dialect-speaking stranger is never
represented.
The stranger was clad in a tunic, and wore a hat of plaited straw. He was very
tall and strongly built; his single weapon, a spear of twice his own length. His
beard came down on his chest. He spoke to Felix in a dialect the latter did not
understand. Felix held out his hand as a token of amity, which the other took.
He spoke again. Felix, on his part, tried to explain his shipwreck, when a word
the stranger uttered recalled to Felix‘s memory the peculiar dialect used by
the shepherd race in the neighbourhood of his home.
He spoke in the dialect, which the stranger in part at least understood, and
the sound of which at once rendered him more friendly. By degrees they
comprehended each other‘s meaning the easier, as the shepherd had come
the same way and had seen the wreck of the canoe. (p. 178)
Amaryllis at the Fair (pages 199-344)
2. Genre / subgenre
Series of rural scenes
3. Brief synopsis
Not very much structure to it – more just a series of observations about the life of a
young girl (Amaryllis), including her family and potential suitors, with a lot of rural
detail. Amaryllis‘s parents argue, she goes to a fair, offends her wealthy grandfather,
is lusted after by various men, falls in love with a distant cousin who is dying of
consumption. (The author himself died of consumption shortly after the publication
of the novel).
4. Overview of varieties / dialects
Third-person narration, frequently focalised through Amaryllis. Amaryllis uses St.E.
but father slips between St.E. and heavily marked rural dialect, and rural dialect is
spoken by peripheral characters. Also a couple of instances of mild representation of
Cockney.
5. Variety #1: un-named rose growers
7a."No call for damask roses – wouldn‘t pay to grow they. Single they was. I thinks.
No good. These be cut every morning and fetched by the flower-girls for gents‘
button-holes and ladies‘ jackets. You won‘t get no damask roses; they be died out.‘ [p.
201]
5b.1 Orthography
None noted
5b.2 Grammar
Non standard conjugation Single they was. I thinks
Non standard to be these be cut, they be died out
Non standard double negatives You won‟t get no damask roses
5b.3 Vocabulary
None noted
5c. Dialect area(s) represented
http://librarysupport.shef.ac.uk /bullough.pdf
Copyright © 2007, The University of Sheffield
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