A Section of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Monthly Record of Current Events

A Section of Harper's New Monthly Magazine Monthly Record of Current Events

This item is a section of some of the small short blurbs featured in the Harper’s New Monthly Magazine “Monthly Record of Current Events”. This stories highlighted in this section is the torrential weather in Belgium, the political on goings in Germany, a peace meeting that occurred in Germany, the plots to assassinate the Pope and the Austrian ambassador, political controversy at an Archbishop’s funeral, and the Danish army’s progress in the field. The audience for these news blurbs are those that had an interest in foreign policy at the time or had ties with the countries mentioned. During the 1850s, this would have most likely been for men. I can assume that the writers and editors of Harper’s Monthly at the time saw enough importance in international affairs to dedicate a portion of the monthly news. What makes this item interesting for me is some of the language used to report the news. The language seems more dramatic than what would be used today. It makes the news blurbs seem more like pieces out of a dramatic story than a standard giving of the news. One example is the word choice used to describe the events. Adjectives and adverbs are added to the reports giving it a more dramatic affect. A specific example is in the news blurb about rain in Belgium. Instead of simply saying a rain storm, they say “ a tremendous rain storm” It dramatizes the rain storm making it seem like an apocalypse rather than just a really bad rain storm. Another example is the word choice used in the telling of the political drama of the archbishop. To describe the possibility of violence, they used “At his funeral such excitement was manifested by the people, that to avoid an actual outbreak, the monks were ordered to leave the city, and the possessions of their order were sequestered.” They drew out the drama of the possibility of violence after the funeral by drawing out the sentence and choosing to use words like “excitement” and “sequestered”. This dramatic use of language may be due the romantic period that American literature was in at the time.

"Monthly Record of Current Events." Harper's New Monthly Magazine Oct. 1850: 712. Print.

October 1850

Gabriella Green

Bounded book

News