Some Examples to Analyse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/austen_jane.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-f-kennedy/
How many typical features of the genre can you identify? Look for :
Layout
Content
Organisation
Linguistic features
For each feature that you identify, could you give one or more examples?
Now scroll down for the suggested answer.
Suggested Answer
A. Layout and Content
Heading : Differentiated from the main block of text by font size, font type use of bold or contrastive colour etc. Always includes the person’s name, and may state explicitly that it is a biography (Examples – All texts) Purpose : to ensure the topic of the text is clear and the reader knows what they are going to read about
Paragraphing : Text divided into paragraphs each dealing with one topic – usually a specific period or event in the person’s life (Examples : all texts). Purpose: Makes the text easier to read.
A photograph or portrait of the person being described will be included at the beginning of the text. (Examples : All texts) Purpose : Seeing what the person looks like makes the text more interesting for the readers and enables them to visualise scenes more clearly.
B. Content and Organisation
The beginning aims to stimulate the reader’s interest (purpose). To achieve this, it may start with a summary of the person’s achievements (Examples : Austen – initial paragraph in italics; Napoleon (Para 1+2); or a dramatic episode in their life (Example : Kennedy, Para 1).
Apart from this, content is organised chronologically starting with the person’s birth and detailing all the important events of their life in year by year. (Examples : Austen - All paragraphs except the initial italicised summary; Kennedy – All paragraphs. except the first and the final italicised information. Purpose: to give logical coherence to the text and make it easier to read.
The first paragraph in the chronological narrative will often describe the person’s family and upbringing, in order to establish a socio-cultural background for their life. Examples :
Her family was of Albanian descent. (Mother Teresa)
Of Irish descent, he was born in ... (JFK)
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was one of eight children of a clergyman and grew up in a close-knit family. (Jane Austen)
C. Linguistic features
The chronological organisation leads to the use of a predominance of simple past verbs (active and passive) to narrate the sequence of events, mixed with very occasional past perfect use for flashbacks. Examples :
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas (JFK)
In November 1810, Napoleon consented to the ascent to the Swedish throne of Bernadotte, one of his marshalls, with whom Napoleon had always had strained relations (Bonaparte)
The chronological organisation also leads to a large number of time adverbials being used, often fronted in the clause to ensure the reader is clear about when the event expressed by the following verb phrase occurred (purpose). Examples :
In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, (JFK)
In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, (Jane Austen)
At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. (Mother Teresa)
The focus of attention is kept on the person who is the topic of the biography (purpose) by using their name, or a pronoun referring to them, as the subject of the main clause in the first sentence of almost every paragraph, and of many sentences within the paragraph too. Examples :
In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, (Jane Austen)
On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, (Mother Teresa)
In 1799, he staged a coup d’état (Bonaparte)
Where necessary, passive verbs are used to allow this to happen:
He was released within two weeks. .. (Bonaparte)
On November 22, 1963, ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets (JFK)
And even in paragraphs where the person is not the grammatical subject of the first sentence, their name or a reference to them will generally occur :
The Peninsular War and the invasion of Russia in 1812 marked turning points in Napoleon's fortunes. (Bonaparte)
Jane's brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher (Jane Austen)
Direct speech is often used to say what the person said or what others said about them. Examples :
His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." (JFK)
Napoleon would go on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought." (Bonaparte)
Her next novel Pride and Prejudice, which she described as her "own darling child" received highly favourable reviews. (Jane Austen)
Purpose : increases the reader’s perception of the protagonist as “a real person” who lived “real moments”.
