Question

Read the following paragraph from John Muir's "The Calypso Borealis" and pay close attention to the words in bold. In one paragraph of three to five sentences, explain Muir's use of diction and the mood his choice of words creates. Use proper spelling and grammar in your response. The rarest and most beautiful of the flowering plants I discovered on this first grand excursion was Calypso borealis (the Hider of the North). I had been fording streams more and more difficult to cross and wading bogs and swamps that seemed more and more extensive and more difficult to force one's way through. Entering one of these great tamarac and arbor-vitae swamps one morning, holding a general though very crooked course by compass, struggling through tangled drooping branches and over and under broad heaps of fallen trees, I began to fear that I would not be able to reach dry ground before dark, and therefore would have to pass the night in the swamp and began, faint and hungry, to plan a nest of branches on one of the largest trees or windfalls like a monkey's nest, or eagle's, or Indian's in the flooded forests of the Orinoco described by Humboldt.

Answer 1

The words he has chosen which are "difficult, force, crooked, struggling, tangled, fallen, fear, faint, and hungry", shows that he is going through quite a scary and tricky time, but it was hard for him to pass that swamp, and you can see he chose excellent words on how his journey was like. Plus the words " struggling, fear, and hungry", shows what difficulty he is going through and you as the reader imagine yourself in that position and you would feel it all scary on how he is experiencing it.

Answer 2

Here's what I came up with so I'm sorry if it's not the best lol

Muir put great detail into words of struggle to emphasize his challenges. When he used words like "difficult" or to "force" his way through, it showed that he did face a struggle and a large challenge. These words create a mood of misery and empathy from the reader towards Muir. It creates empathy knowing that he's struggling to get through the marshes and swamps, yet it also creates misery knowing he's going through such a challenge. Overall, this whole line is a line of buildup of pain so that when he reveals the beautiful, fragile flower which he claims is so memorable, it makes the mood swing from misery into happiness and astonishment.