Verbs with Adverbs
Description:
The image is divided down the center of the page into two parts. On the left, a man holds an axe over his head, preparing to chop at the base of a tree. There is a severed tree limb lying on the ground on his left. The base of the tree is nearly cut through, and the tree leans towards the right, about to fall. Above the man's head are the words "to work"; below the image is the word "diligently." On the right side of the page, a man straddles a felled trunk. He rests the end of the axe in his left hand against the ground, and holds his right hand to the side of his head. His shirtfront appears to be partially open. Above his head are, again, the words "to work," and below, "idly." All words are in capital letters.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009, Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Primary Works:
The Elements of English Grammar
Accession Number:
CA 9566
Height (in centimeters):
7
Width (in centimeters):
5
Printing Context
"Verbs with Adverbs" appeared in The Elements of English Grammar, by Ingram Cobbins.Associated Events
The Bristol Bridge Riot (1793)Associated Places
BristolAssociated Texts
"Verbs"Subject
While the other illustration from Cobbin's Elements of English Grammar (the first image of the gallery) uses visual figures to personify discussed terms, this image provides a picture of the action described by the accompanying text: that is, the illustration acts as an example, rather than a symbolic representation, of the lesson. In the two parts of the image, a man is depicted performing the same action—chopping wood—in different ways, as described by the adverb labeling each half. In the left half of the image the man is represented in the act of chopping wood to illustrate the fact that he is working, according to the label, "diligently"; in the right half, he is seen leaning on his axe to show that he is working, according to the corresponding label, "idly." Consequently, the two mirror images demonstrate how adverbs, as stated by the text of the lesson, give verbs a "more distinct meaning."Theme
Education. Middle class. Lower class.Significance
With both his textbooks on arithmetic and grammar published in several editions, Ingram was a popular and influential author of educational materials (Cooper). While the images in his books are rarely overtly religious (unlike those of contemporaries Hannah More and Sarah Trimmer), they do reflect the practice of using children’s images to maintain social control. The fact that Ingram’s textbooks contain black-and-white woodcuts rather than colored engravings shows that they were intended for middle- and lower-class students, so it is unsurprising that this illustration is aimed at “[forming] the lower class to habits of industry and virtue" (Kinnell 50). Because of the increasing number of mass gatherings for reform (culminating in the violence of the Peterloo Massacre), the upper classes were eager to remind the lower classes of their duties and "proper place." “My object has not been to teach dogmas and opinions,” Hannah More wrote to fellow conservative John Bowdler, “but to form the lower class to habits of industry and virtue" (Stott 120). This image, with its intent to associate education with hard work, is an example of this kind of educational strategy.Function
Images in children’s textbooks of the period were intended to provide students with an example of the concept or subject being addressed; they were also commonly intended to subtly educate students about the types of behavior appropriate for their social class.Bibliography
Cooper, Thompson. “Cobbin, Ingram (1777–1851).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Web. 6 May 2009.Long Title
An Adverb describes the meaning of the Verb more correctly.Featured in Exhibit:
Artist Unknown
Image Date:
1829