Discuss how journeys and journeying are presented in two or three of the passages. Compare and contrast them in any ways that seem interesting to you, paying particular attention to distinctive features of structure, language and style.

INTRO: In the extract from ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ (1594) by William Shakespeare, the extract from ‘Dombey and Son’ (1865) by Charles Dickens, and ‘Amor Mundi’ (1865) by Christina Rossetti, ill-fated journeys are presented. Stylistic features contribute to the sense of ease in the journey in ‘Amor Mundi’ and ‘Dombey and Son’, whereas Shakespeare shows the environment coming alive to prevent the journey of “the Roman lord”. The journeys towards sin, death and hell, respectively, are reflected in the language features and structure of each passage. The extended metaphor of the journey in literature is often used as a means to convey the protagonist's figurative 'journey' of heroism and self-discovery. This is not the case in these passages. Instead, each journey can be seen as a reflection of the weakness of the character.

PARA 1: Despite the bleak nature of the journeys, in 'Dombey and Son' and 'Amor Mundi' they are presented as swift and easy. ‘Dombey and Son’ is less prosaic in style than much of Dickens’ other work; his description of “the journey” on “the train” lapses into an anapaestic rhythm, “with a shriek, and a roar, and a rattle, from the town,” meaning it is not only the onomatopoeic common nouns “shriek”, “roar”, “rattle” which describe the sound of the train, but the sentence structure as well. The voiceless glottal fricative /h/ sound in Dickens’ alliterative phrase “hurried headlong” also gives a sense of the dynamism of “the train". A similar effect is created in Rossetti’s ‘Amor Mundi’. The alliteration of “love-locks” and “west wind” along with the internal rhymes “going”, “flowing” “blowing”, and enjambed phrases “float on/ the air”, give a sense of how “easy” the journey is. In contrast to the sense of ease instilled by the metrical and phonological features of Dickens and Rossetti, Shakespeare uses personification of inanimate objects to convey how difficult, unnatural and sinful the journey to rape “Lucrece” is. For example, the “locks” all “rate his will”, and the omniscient poetic persona imposes the adjectives “unwilling” and “yielding” to the portal and latch, implying their reluctance to aid the “lord[‘s]” sinful journey. The sense of ease in 'Dombey and Son' and 'Amor Mundi' serves as a warning of how swiftly hell or death can approach, whereas Shakespeare creates the opposite effect to establish a censorious tone and condemn the lord's sinful endeavour.