Analysis of the Iron Coast by Jane Gardam

The Iron Coast is a travel writing written by Jane Gardam. Jane Gardam is a British author. She was born in Coatham, North Yorkshire. The writing describes the North Yorkshire coast and its landmarks including Roseberry Topping and Cleveland hills. Roseberry Topping is the name of a distinctive hill which was mentioned in the writing. The travel writing is descriptive as it creates effects and atmospheres for the reader. To achieve these effects the author uses a variety of literary techniques such as metaphors, similes and personifications. In this travel writing, the author talks about the North Yorkshire coast. The text covers three different places in three different paragraphs which all of them are set within the North Yorkshire coast. In the first paragraph, the author talks about St. Hilda. The author starts by using a metaphor, ‘A great black tooth’. This phrase creates villous and monstrous effects, bringing out the sinister shape, size and colour. By positioning this phrase at the beginning it brings out vivid effects quickly and creating excitement for the reader. The author also described it as ‘the ruined abbey’ suggesting ancient and old, giving a mysterious effect. The verb and adverb ‘stands high’ creates an impressive and dominant effect of St. Hilda. The personification ‘facing every wind’ gives an effect of boldness and fearless. The phrase ‘flung against it’ implies powerful force of nature and sense of admiration by using elevated language. The author also uses historical facts ‘for 1300 years’ this make the author sounds more reliable and suggesting that she has knowledge about the location. By focusing on unique features of the location, ‘so holy that kings and queens chose to be buried there’ the author is trying to create mysterious and magical impressions. Also by using the myth ‘birds have always been said to be afraid to fly over it because Hilda’s magnetism causes them to drop dead to the ground’ the author is able to create attention-grabbing and frightening impression which tempt the reader to want to try it themselves. The word ‘magnetism’ suggests attraction, force and supernatural power which again create an alien and magical impression. In the second paragraph, the author changes the setting, ‘Twenty-five miles north of Whitby, on the Yorkshire bank of the mouth of the Tees’ this fits the genre travel writing as travel writing constantly changes the location. This is also an elevating literary style of the writing. The word ‘spreads’ is used to describe the size and astonishment. While ‘Hell’s kitchen’ is a metaphor that brings to mind the idea of flames, cooking, horror and damnation. This metaphor creates an image of wicked factory. The word ‘great’ again has similar effects as it emphasizes the size and also its economic power because of ‘great chemical works’. The metaphor is even more vivid when the author uses ‘graveyard of steelworks’ which creates an image of sinful factory. The word ‘grave’ implies death and destruction.
The author also uses words such as ‘poor’ to create emotive feelings as it creates sympathy of the ‘industrial towns’. ‘Tangled in its entrails’ the metaphor creates an effect of the street being monstrous and beastly. The author makes the ‘refinery chimneys’ even more vivid when she uses a simile ‘flames like lurid petals’ which creates an imagery of hell. The ‘lurid petals’ is also a juxtaposition of beauty and horror. The imagery of hell is also achieved by using the words ‘flames’ and ‘smoke’. The author keeps emphasizing destruction in this paragraph, the phrase ‘withering up’ suggests destructive of nature. The ‘bitter, orange dust’ suggests unpleasant taste, unnatural colour and destruction.
The adverb ‘not well known’ is used to the author to aim to introduce the area which is little known of. The church is described as ‘like a needle’ the simile suggests very small and hardly noticeable. The Roseberry Topping is described using a simile ‘like a midget volcano’ which sounds humorous and small while the word ‘volcano’ suggests its coned shape which is unusual for a hill. Historical fact ‘Captain Cook’ is also used again as it is very typical for travel writing genre. By referring to the past ‘since medieval time’, the author will seem more reliable and it is also inviting. The author uses the word ‘but’ the change the topic as it act as a pivot.
The metaphor of ‘workless swarming’ suggests insignificance and large numbers as the word ‘swarming’ is generally used to describe insects. The adjective ‘starving’ implies an image of horror conditions of the area. The simile ‘like the mud flats of Bangladesh’ suggests similarity to developing countries. While the last sentence of second paragraph, ‘Middlesbrough and ‘Teeside’ were born’ is simple which creates an emphasis on the word. ‘
The third paragraph begins with ‘The Iron Coast’ which brings the audience back to the point. The word ‘Iron’ also connotes strength which makes it sounds more powerful. The personification ‘quiet unhappiness’ creates a sad tone to the area which is ominous. The author uses anecdote ‘Even a century ago Dickens…on to Scarborough’ to support her argument. She also used a syndetic list ‘international heroes, saints, scientists and geniuses’ to make her sound even more impressive. The sentence at the end ‘reshaping of the powers of the monarchy…’ provides historical importance and background to the area. This creates an impressive atmosphere and awe to the readers.
In conclusion, the author successfully portrays images using different imagery and literary techniques. She starts out with a mysterious and magical impression to attract the readers while at the end it is more of an inviting impression and stimulating. In order to create vivid images induce a mysterious mood which is both frightening and motivating she uses many similes, metaphors and personifications. The purpose of this writing is to gives an idea to the readers of what the mood and atmosphere feels like to the author. The audience is mainly adults as adults are most likely to read this kind of travel writing.