Pictures from Italy
From Pictures from Italy [1846]
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Magnificently stern and sombre are the streets of beautiful Florence; and the strong old piles of building make such heaps of shadow, on the ground and in the river, that there is another and different city of rich forms and fancies, always lying at our feet. Prodigious palaces, constructed for defence, with small distrustful windows heavily barred, and walls of great thickness formed of huge masses of rough stone, frown, in their old sulky state, on every street. In the midst of the city—in the Piazza of the Grand Duke, adorned with beautiful statues and the Fountain of Neptune—rises the Palazzo Vecchio, with its enormous overhanging battlements, and the Great Tower that watches over the whole town. In its court-yard—worthy of the Castle of Otranto in its ponderous gloom—is a massive staircase that the heaviest wagon and the stoutest team of horses might be driven up. Within it, is a Great Saloon, faded and tarnished in its stately decorations, and mouldering by grains, but recording yet, in pictures on its walls, the triumphs of the Medici and the wars of the old Florentine people. The prison is hard by, in an adjacent court-yard of the building—a foul and dismal place, where some men are shut up close, in small cells like ovens; and where others look through bars and beg; where some are playing draughts, and some are talking to their friends, who smoke, the while, to purify the air and some are buying wine and fruit of women-vendors; and all are squalid, dirty, and vile to look at. “They are merry enough, Signor,” says the Jailer. “They are all blood-stained here,” he adds, indicating, with his hand, three-fourths of the whole building. Before the hour is out, an old man, eighty years of age, quarrelling over a bargain with a young girl of seventeen, stabs her dead, in the market-place full of bright flowers; and is brought in prisoner, to swell the number.
Among the four old bridges that span the river, the Ponte Vecchio— that bridge which is covered with the shops of Jewellers and Goldsmiths—is a most enchanting feature in the scene. The space of one house, in the center, being left open, the view beyond is shown as in a frame; and that precious glimpse of sky, and water, and rich buildings, shining so quietly among the huddled roofs and gables on the bridge, is exquisite. Above it, the Gallery of the Grand Duke crosses the river. It was built to connect the two Great Palaces by a secret passage; and it takes its jealous course among streets and houses, with true despotism: going where it lists, and spurning every obstacle away, before it.
Questions for Discussion
1. The purpose of the passage is to
A) condemn the squalor of Florence
B) entice visitors to Florence
C) praise the Grand Duke
D) present the dichotomy existing in Florence
E) reveal the author’s worldliness
2. The primary rhetorical strategy used by the author is
A) narration
B) description
C) analysis
D) process
E) argument
3. In developing his purpose, the author uses all of the following rhetorical devices except:
A) spatial organization
B) metaphor and simile
C) comparison and contrast
D) imagery
E) chronological order
4. Which of the following lines contains an example of paradox?
A) line 20
B) line 22
C) lines 5, 6
D) line 31
E) line 34
5. The most probable function of the selected detail which focuses on the murder of the young girl by the old man (23–26) is
A) to emphasize the brutality of the citizens
B) to establish a tone of pathos
C) to criticize the city’s government
D) to warn visitors about the dangers of the city
E) to emphasize the contrasts evident in the city
6. The abrupt shift caused by a lack of transition between paragraphs 1 and 2 serves to do all of the following except:
A) reemphasize the unexpected nature of murder
B) reinforce the idea that there is no connection between the two paragraphs
C) reinforce the element of contrast
D) reinforce author’s style
E) to immediately whisk the reader to a place of safety away from the murder scene
7. What can be inferred from the following details taken from the passage
—“small distrustful windows” (5, 6)
—“walls of great thickness” (6)
—“enormous overhanging battlements” (10)
—“secret passage” (34)
A) Florence was not architecturally sound.
B) Florence was designed to protect its artwork.
C) Florence had experienced both warfare and intrigue.
D) Florence was unsuited for habitation.
E) Florence was preparing for war.
8. Lines 14–26 contain examples of which of the following rhetorical device?
A) antithetical images
B) anecdotal evidence
C) parallel structure
D) denotation
E) inversion
9. If one were building a house of horrors, which of the following would be best suitable as a model or inspiration?
A) Piazza of the Grand Duke (8)
B) Palazzo Vecchio (9)
C) The Castle of Otranto (11, 12)
D) Ponte Vecchio (27, 28)
E) Galley of the Grand Duke (33)
10. Which of the following terms has most probably undergone a shift in meaningfrom Dickens’ time to its current usage?
A) “stately” (14)
B) “squalid” (21)
C) “enchanting” (29)
D) “jealous” (34)
E) “obstacle” (36)