Genre
Autobiography
Setting and Context
20th Century in England
Narrator and Point of View
Virginia Woolf is the narrator; she employs the first-person voice.
Tone and Mood
Recollective, nostalgic, confessional, and introspective
Protagonist and Antagonist
Virginia Woolf is the protagonist.
Major Conflict
Being bereaved of her mother is a life-defining conflict for Virginia Woolf.
Climax
The "loves and marriages" described in "Old Bloomsbury" make up the climax.
Foreshadowing
Virginia Woolf’s essays principally focus on her past life; thus, foreshadows are missing in them.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Woolf incorporates historical allusions and “Greek Literature " allusions in her recollections.
Imagery
Virginia Woolf designates her struggles, such as depression and low self-assurance, which confirm that despite being a renowned writer, she experienced ordinary challenges inherent in human beings' lives.
Paradox
Virginia Woolf's confessions, in "A Sketch of the Past," about feeling like cotton wool, are paradoxical. The paradoxical feeling underscores her discontent.
Parallelism
Virginia Woolf’s utilization of the pronoun ‘I’ throughout her essays creates a parallel structure and makes the essays autobiographical.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
In "22 Hyde Park Gate," Virginia Woolf personifies an apple tree.
Portraits personify the grandmother in "Reminiscences.”
