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...the flowers shone with answering gladness...

Silas Marner - Language

This GCSE English Literature quiz on Silas Marner focuses on figurative language, helping you spot images, symbols and comparisons that reveal character, theme and mood.

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Fascinating Fact:

Figurative language often links people to nature, such as Eppie being compared to “a little golden head,” emphasising innocence and new life.

In GCSE English Literature, language questions on Silas Marner ask you to explain how Eliot’s words create effects. You are expected to pick out images, symbols and comparisons, then explore how they reveal character, setting and theme, especially when people are described using natural or glowing images that suggest growth, warmth or renewal.

Key Terms

Figurative language: Words or phrases, such as images or comparisons, that are not meant literally but create a special effect or meaning.
Metaphor: A direct comparison where one thing is said to be another, used to highlight a quality or idea.
Symbol: An object, image or detail that stands for a bigger idea, such as new life, hope or loss.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do I analyse figurative language in Silas Marner for GCSE?

First, identify the technique, such as a metaphor or image. Then explain what it suggests about the character or theme, and finally link your point back to the exam question.

What figurative language does George Eliot use in Silas Marner?

Eliot often uses images from nature, light and gold to describe characters. These images can suggest ideas like innocence, renewal, greed or spiritual change, depending on the context.

How many quotations about language should I use in a GCSE paragraph?

One or two well-chosen short quotations are normally enough. It is better to analyse a few key words in detail than to list lots of quotations without clear explanation.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

"There might be seen in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain pallid undersized men, who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race." What impression does this description create of the wandering weavers?

The weavers are otherworldly

The weavers are condescending to the farmers and other rural people

The weavers are happiest when they are travelling

Because they are exotic, the weavers attract much positive attention from rural people

The weavers are out of place in the rural environment, alien and distrusted by honest country people

2 .

"The second day he took refuge from benumbing unbelief, by getting into his loom and working away as usual." What does Silas's work represent to him?

Routine

Shelter

Purpose

All of the above

When his beliefs are smashed by the injustice of his treatment by the community of worshippers in Lantern Yard, Silas finds meaning in his craft

3 .

"So he stepped forward into darkness." What meaning is conveyed by the use of the word "darkness"?

Dunstan has chosen the dark path of causing harm to others

Dunstan is stepping forward into a literal darkness, since it is night

Dunstan is stepping forwards into the darkness represented by death

All of the above

Eliot leaves the reader wondering, along with the inhabitants of Raveloe, what happened to Dunstan the day he tried to sell Godfrey's horse

4 .

"In that moment the mother's love pleaded for painful consciousness rather than oblivion — pleaded to be left in aching weariness, rather than to have the encircling arms benumbed so that they could not feel the dear burden." Which pairs of words are set in opposition here?

"Mother's love" and "encircling arms"

"Aching weariness" and "benumbed"

"Painful consciousness" and "encircling arms"

"Painful consciousness" and "oblivion"

Molly's addiction leads her to choose oblivion against the urging of her love for her child. Consciousness is painful and means that she is aware of the burden she carries and of her deep weariness

5 .

"The fading grey light fell dimly on the walls decorated with guns, whips, and foxes' brushes, on coats and hats flung on the chairs, on tankards sending forth a scent of flat ale, and on a half-choked fire, with pipes propped up in the chimney-corners." What impression is given by the language in these lines?

The Red House parlour is a place of cosiness

The Red House parlour is uncared-for

The Red House parlour is a place of quiet contemplation and recreation

The Red House parlour is a child-friendly environment

Eliot associates this lack of care with the Red House's lack of feminine influence

6 .

Regarding the answer to the previous question, which language choices create this impression?

Coats, hats, ale

Foxes' brushes, hats, tankards

Dimly, decorated, propped

Flung, flat, half-choked

No one cares to pour away unfinished ale, ensure that coats and hats are hung up carefully, or tend to the fire

7 .

"That bright living thing must be caught; and in an instant the child had slipped on all fours, and held out one little hand to catch the gleam." What is the significance of the "gleam" Eppie tries to catch?

The gleam is simultaneously the warmth and light of Silas's fire and life itself

The gleam only refers literally to the light of Silas's fire

The gleam represents the snow from which Eppie escapes

The gleam only refers to Eppie's own desire to live

Eppie saves her own life by following the gleam out of the snow to the warmth of Silas's hearth

8 .

"The garden was fenced with stones on two sides, but in front there was an open fence, through which the flowers shone with answering gladness, as the four united people came within sight of them." What is the significance of the word "answering"?

The flowers, unlike the young married couple, are responsive to the outer world

It is as if the group of flowers are in conversation with one another, like the group of four people

The use of the word "answering" implies that Eppie speaks to her flowers when she is working in the garden

The flowers reflect back the joy of Silas, Dolly, Eppie and Aaron

Although the flowers clearly give pleasure, here their role is to reflect the much greater happiness of human relationship

9 .

"We eat o' the same bit, and drink o' the same cup, and think o' the same things from one day's end to another." Which of the following is NOT true of Silas's portrayal of his relationship with Eppie?

They are equals

They are incapable of considering the feelings of others

They are inseparable

They are equally contented in their humble life together

Silas objects that if Eppie were to go to live with Godfrey and Nancy, the pair would be cut in two

10 .

Nancy Lammeter's opinions and habits are compared to grass which has taken root and grown in her mind, without being noticed. While the comparison is meant to demonstrate how little thought has gone into nurturing the opinions and how tenacious these habits might be, what else is implied?

Nancy's habits and opinions are weak, like blades of grass

Nancy's habits and opinions are healthy and natural, like grass

Nancy's opinions might spread to other people, like weeds

Nancy's opinions and habits can be changed

Like grass, Nancy's opinions and habits can be uprooted. Godfrey does not recognise this possibility in his wife

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)