Year of Wonders

Epigraph
Study Questions 1. Paraphrase the epigraph IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

2. Comment on the title of this poem (including the Latin parts!) in relation to this novel.

3. How does the date of this poems publication relate to this novel?

Dividers
List the dividers between each section of the novel. 1. Leaf-fall, 1666 2. 3. 4. What do the dividers tell you about the organization of the plot line? What is an epilogue?

Leaf-fall, 1666
Apple-picking Time 1. What season is it? 2. How did the narrator used to feel about this season? Why? 3. How is this year different from prior years? 4. Vocabulary: (hay) stooks, scant 5. A little bit of style: Count how many fragments appear in the first paragraph. What effect does this stylistic choice have on you as a reader? What purpose do these fragments serve?

6. Vocabulary: rectory, carter, pulpit 7. Why were they lucky to get the cartload of late, brown-spotted apples?

8. What is implied by those of us who are left? 9. Why might the people who are left be so very tired? 10. Compare and contrast the man in the dim room as he is now versus the effect he used to have on the village. What is (or was) his profession?

11. How long has the man lived in the village? 12. What is the first-person narrators name? 13. Why does the Rector doubt that Anna can read? Whom does she say taught her to read? 14. What is Annas relationship to the Rector? 15. Vocabulary: sennight, muck, rump, gouging, clefts, tack room, snath, scythe (blade), timothy, naught, pinched (face), dust motes, haunches, stallion, steed, Anteros, Puritans, pagan (idol), pinafore, prattling, spittle, pacing 16. What condition is the courtyard in? Why? 17. What is the stable boy doing? Why cant Anna scold him? 18. Why has Anna brought two apples to the stable? 19. What is the Rectors name?

20. Explain the origin of the horses name and how the villagers had reacted to the horse. 21. Look up Puritans on Wikipedia or historychannel.com. Trust me, its important! a. What is the origin of the name Puritan? b. When did the Puritan movement begin? c. How were the Puritans significant in English government in the decade or so before the time of this novel? d. During their time in power in England, what religious rules did they impose on the country? e. How did the Puritans fall from power in England? f. Where did many of the Puritans ultimately go when they left England? 22. Is Mr. Mompellion a Puritan? How can you tell? 23. Why does Anna drop the second apple on the floor of the stall? (What is this horse like?) 24. What is the Rector doing when Anna returns to the house? 25. Since the Rector wont eat the apples, what does Anna plan to trick him into drinking? 26. Compare Annas attitude toward rotting apples in the past as described early in this chapter (first paragraph, line 8) to her present feeling toward them. What might this suggest about her experience over the past year?

27. How does Anna prefer to return home from the rectory, and why

(TWO reasons)? 28. Vocabulary: gnarly, croft, swayed, hand fasted, bedded untimely, prick, lead seam, adornment, heathenish, Sabbath, ale, ribands, Maypole, trudging, jostling, shuffling, sexton, grit, lye 29. What was the main reason that Anna married Sam Frith? 30. Explain this in your own words: My father loved a pot better than he loved his children, though he kept on getting them, year passing year (7).

31. How did Annas stepmother, Aphra, convince Annas father to allow Anna to marry Sam?

32. What did Sam do for a living, and how many good years did he and Anna have? How many children? 33. Summarize briefly what life was like in the village when the Puritans were in charge.

34. Why wasnt Anna surprised when her happiness turned to hardship and bleakness again (8)?

35. What happened to Sam? 36. How did Elinor Mompellion help Anna after Sams body was found? 37. How long ago did Sam die? What is significant about him being first? (8)

38. What does Anna mean when she calls her husband poor slow Sam? What does this imply about Annas intelligence? 39. How does Anna compare Michael Mompellion to Sam now? 40. Speculate about what the following quotation implies about Anna: But I do it. I do it for her. I tell myself I do it for her. Why else would I do it, after all? 41. When Anna arrives home, what does she miss most? What does this tell you about the rest of her family?

42. Vocabulary: tallow (stub), gutters (verb), bade, boon, (in) purse, gaunt, nethers, lichens, sills, boose, teat, beastings (pie), flank, posset, churn (butter), aslant, flank, camber, unspooling, frays, hewn, thatched (roofs), rue, precincts, tenuous, aubergine (hem of gown), curtsy, deference, unctuously (polite), overweening, keenly, parish, incendiary, grievous (loss), discourse, singed (by a brand), (kitchen) garth, parlor, brawn, laden (tray), siege engine, chargers, cud, composure, smirk, insolent, slattern, (unruly) tup, jussive (tone), hunched (posture), ravaged, thwarted, supplicant, arrogated, console, absolution, Papist, aversion, contempt, shepherding, handkin, dishclout, urchin, hob, iniquity, brittle (voice), declaim, glared, welt

43. What does she do in the evenings? 44. Who do you think Jamie and Tom are? 45. Describe how Anna found and cared for the cow and her calf. 46. Describe the landscape of the village (top of page 11). 47. How has the main street changed over the past year?

48. Why cant Anna (or anyone else in the village) bring themselves to pull out the walnut sapling growing in the middle of the street? 49. Whom does Anna meet at the rectory, and how does this person act? 50. Look at the bottom of page 12. What tone does Anna adopt toward Elizabeth Bradford, and why isnt Miss Bradford offended?

51. What does Miss Bradford insist on doing? 52. What is implied about the Bradfords actions when the village needed their help?

53. What does Anna insist on doing before announcing that Miss Bradford wants to see Mr. Mompellion? 54. As Anna and Mr. Mompellion talk about Elinor, what do you realize? (Hint: look at the tense!)

55. What does Anna say that makes Mr. Mompellion realize that Anna really did know Elinor Mompellion well? 56. What is Mr. Mompellions surprising reaction when Anna tells him Miss Bradford wants to see him? 57. What shocking answer does Mr. Mompellion tell Anna to give Miss Bradford? 58. Explain how Anna feels divided into two people as she goes downstairs to delivers Mompellions message to Miss Bradford. 59. What insulting term does Miss Bradford use toward Anna?

60. Just as Miss Bradford seems resolved to leave, what does she do? 61. What does Mr. Mompellion say to Miss Bradford?

62. How does Anna comfort Miss Bradford--and why?

63. Why isnt Mr. Bradford with his wife and daughter? 64. Why does Miss Bradford suddenly leave the rectory? 65. Compare and contrast the Biblical passages read by Anna and Mr. Mompellion. What might his choice imply about his life?

66. What does Mr. Mompellion do when Anna reaches to catch the Bible before it hits the floor?

67. As a minister, how does Mr. Mompellions current attitude toward the Bible reflect his state of mind and explain why he is not seeing members of his parish?