by Laurie Lee
Penguin 1959 ISBN 0 14 001682 1 Page 15

	"Here, too, was the scrubbing of floors and boots , of arms and necks, of red and white vegetables. Walk in to the morning disorder of this room and all the garden was laid out dripping on the table. Chopped carrots like copper pennies, radishes and chives, potatoes dipped and stripped clean from their coats of mud, the snapping of tight pea pods , long shells of green pearls, and the tearing of glutinous beans from their nests of wool".

Questions and activities

(1) Which room is being described?

(2) Describe what is happening in the room.

(3) What does the writer mean when he says, 'the garden was laid out dripping on the table'?

(4) Why does the writer use the phrase, 'the snapping of tight pea pods'?

(5) What is the writer describing with the following phrases;

a. morning disorder of this room

 

b. potatoes dipped and stripped clean from their coats of mud

 

c. tearing of glutinous beans from their nests of wool

 

d. long shells of green pearls

 

(6) Draw the room described by the author.

 

(7) Copy the style of the author to describe a busy scene in your home.