Ann Radcliffe innovative technique was a great influence in many writers, here you have some examples in Jane Austen, Wordsworth, Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens:

Anne Radcliffe — Literary Relations: Sources, Influences, Analogues, Intertextuality

Description and Narrative Techniques in Austen and Radcliffe

In this passage from The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), Anne Radcliffe employs a narrative technique that differs markedly from that used by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice (1813).

Emily, often as she travelled among the clouds, watched in silent awe their billowing surges rolling below; sometimes, wholly closing upon the scene, they appeared like a world of chaos, and, at others, spreading thinly, they opened and admmitted partial catches of the landscape — the torrent, whose astounding roar had never failed, tumbling down the rocky chasm, huge cliffs white with snow, or the dark summits of the pine forests, that stretched midway down the mountains. (Anne Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, pp. 164, 165)

Radcliffe bombards the reader with rich and detailed descriptions of the environment, allowing her characters to become secondary to the world around them. In this passage, Emily observes scenes such as «the billowy surges rolling below,» «the torrent. . . tumbling down the rocky chasm,» and «the dark summits of the pine forest that stretched midway down the mountains.» Nature takes an active roll in Radcliffe’s narrative, providing a framework against which to set Emily and reflect her inner feelings of «rapture» and «silent awe» (Huang, «Setting in Dickens and Radcliffe,» Intermedia, i.e. now in the Victorian Web).

Austen, on the other hand, tends to downplay the external physical world in favor of dialogue between the characters, who are described only in ambiguous terms. Mr. Bingley, for example, is introduced simply as being «good looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners» (Pride and Prejudice, p. 6). Such descriptions tell us precious little about the true individual natures of the characters. Instead, Austen allows them to grow in a more organic fashion, letting them gradually evolve through the intricate process of conversation and interaction.

The contrast in narrative techniques between Radcliffe and Austen helps to underscore the thematic differences between the two. Radcliffe uses the technique of word-painting to concentrate on the relationship between people and the natural world, rendering mankind insignificant in comparison to the beauty, splendor, and power of Nature (Huang). Whereas in this sense Radcliffe is a Romantic, Austen seems to blur the gap between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Her concise and formal writing style, emphasis on wit and the art of conversation, and satirical method all indicate Neoclassical influences. On the other hand, Austen also shows Romantic influences, particulary with regard to the development and growth of Elizabeth as she and Darcy overcome their respective prides and prejudices and discover their love for each other («The Cultural Context of Pride and Prejudice»).

http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/austen/descr1.html

* The Significance of Gender in Radcliffe and Wordsworth

Emily, often as she travelled among the clouds, watched in silent awe their billowy surges rolling below; sometimes, wholly closing upon the scene, they appeared like a world of chaos, and at others, spreading thinly, they opened and admitted partial catches of the landscape — the torrent, whose astounding roar had never failed, tumbling down the rocky chasm, huge cliffs white with snow, or the dark summits of the pine forests, that stretched mid-way down the mountains.

Wordsworth and Radcliffe wrote in a society that treated men and women quite differently. Women did not vote, and most did not control property. Men, the dominant sex, treated women as less powerful and less important individuals than themselves. Radcliffe, because of her sex, could not attend a university. She lived as a citizen second class to the men around her, while Wordsworth was able to attend college, travel through Europe, and work closely with Samuel Coleridge. Wordsworth’s younger sister was the closest woman to him when he wrote «Tintern Abbey,» and he assumes the superior role of the wise counselor towards her. He tells her how nature will make her feel, and he claims «in thy voice I catch/ The language of my former heart.» (ll.116-117)

Radcliffe, as a woman writing about a woman, treats Nature differently from Wordsworth. In the above passage Emily does not affect Nature, but watches «in silent awe.» The clouds change of their own accord, and Emily must wait for them to spread thinly in order to see the landscape. Wordsworth, emphasizing his own power and importance, defines Nature in terms of himself and mankind. He hears in nature «The still, sad music of humanity,» (l.91) and he observes in the scenery what his senses «half create,/ And what perceive.» (ll.106-107) Wordsworth treats Nature as significant in its relation to himself, while Radcliffe emphasizes Nature’s importance in itself.

In the above passage Radcliffe’s word positioning reveals that Nature’s power is superior to Emily’s. «Emily» begins the passage, but she only «watched,» and the «clouds,» the subject of most of the passage, are introduced before the word «watched,» as though they are more important than what Emily does. Radcliffe moves the scene beyond the woman, and describes Nature’s power separately. The action increases after Emily: the clouds’ «surges» are «rolling,» and they appear «like a world of chaos;» then they admit sight of the landscape, which consists of a «torrent,» «huge cliffs,» and «summits of the pine forests.» The sentence seems to climax with Nature’s power and the word «summits.» Wordsworth, on the other hand, places himself as the subject of most sentences that describe the landscape as in: «and again I hear/ These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs.» (l.3) The verbs he uses for himself are as varied as those used to refer to nature, and his writing shows that he, the individual, is powerful and important.

http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/ww/gender1.html

Confronting Nature in Radcliffe and Shelley

W. Glasgow Phillips ’93 (English 32, Autumn 1990)

«Emily, often as she travelled among the clouds, watched in silent awe their billowy surges rolling below; sometimes, wholly closing upon the scene, they appeared like a world of chaos, and, at others, spreading thinly, they opened and admitted partial catches of the landscape — the torrent, whose astounding roar had never failed, tumbling down the rocky chasm, huge cliffs white with snow, or the dark summits of pine forests, that stretched mid-way down the mountains.»

In this section of Mysteries of Udolpho: A Romance, Ann Radcliffe uses the technique of €word-painting to describe the speaker’s surroundings in intricate detail, almost achieving a «cinematic effect» («Radcliffe and word-painting» Context 32) with language. Shelley also uses this technique in «Mont Blanc» :

Far, far, above, piercing the infinite sky
Mont Blanc appears, — still, snowy, and serene —
Its subject mountains their unearthly forms
Pile around it, ice and rock; broad vales between
Of frozen floods, unfathomable deeps,
Blue as the overhanging heaven, that spread
And wind among the accumulated steeps.

Both writers use specific detail to accomplish their ends rather than vague generalities: Radcliffe does not write that «the clouds looked really weird,» and Shelley does not write that «the mountain was really big.» No. The phrases «billowy surges rolling below» and «Far, far above, piercing the infinite sky» convey much more about what is being described than «weird» or «big.» In addition, the authors use the sounds that their words make to describe the scenes onomatopoetically. The round, hollow sounds in «billowy . . . rolling below,» created in the back regions of the open mouth, bring to mind the muffled sounds and shapes associated with clouds; the relatively sharp, thin sound of the vowel «i» combined with the percussive consonants in «piercing the infinite sky» conjures the feeling of altitude and clarity. Both writers begin at the top of the panoramas they describe, sliding down the courses of riverbeds (frozen or not) to the valleys below. This is just the way a viewer would probably see either scene if he were there, first overwhelmed by the majesty of the heights, and then allowing his gaze to pass downward into lower regions.

Radcliffe manages by use of metaphor to evoke the theme that perceptual experience is constantly changing, and that occasionally moments of €epiphany will occur as a result of this constant change. She describes the clouds: «sometimes, wholly closing upon the scene, they appeared like a world of chaos, and, at others, spreading thinly, they opened and admitted partial catches of the landscape . . . . But who may describe her (Emily’s) rapture, when, having passed through a sea of vapour, she caught a first sight of Italy . . ?» This description of a concrete visual scene subtly parallels the theme mentioned above. «Mont Blanc» deals with the same theme in its opening lines:

The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark — now glittering — now reflecting gloom — now lending splendour,» [Norton p. 685].

Shelley is writing the poem from and about a moment of epiphany. He feels that he has a deep understanding of the nature of things as he looks at the mountain later in the poem:

Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal
Large codes of fraud and woe; not understood
By all, but which the wise, and great, and good (himself)
Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel.»

Both works function in the context of the Gothic style, which the Norton Anthology defines as «vital, primitive, but irregular . . . with the qualities of the barbarian North.» The images in «Mont Blanc» are certainly vital and primitive, and frozen, and Shelley calls up unchristian gods such as «Power in the Likeness of Arve» (p. 685) and «the old Earthquake-daemon»( p. 687). Radcliffe, one of the great Gothic novelists for the content and descriptive detail of her work; the passage above has a wild, chilly feel to it.

http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/radcliffe/confront.html

Radcliffe, Dickens, and Nature

Gary Weissman ’90 (English 32, 1988)

Detailed descriptions of the environment lure the reader into the narrative of The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Anne Radcliffe. The figurative imagery used to describe nature matches the mental state of Emily. Contrasts in the clouds cause her to move from «awe» to «rapture,» as billowing, surging clouds give way to more thinly spread ones that allow her to see the landscape below.

Dickens uses descriptions of nature in much the same way. He, like Radcliffe, tends first to introduce the environment and then reveal the character’s placement in it. Radcliffe describes the cliffs, the clouds, and the landscape below before introducing Emily. Dickens opens many scenes with a description of the weather, such as in chapter 3, which begins, «It was a rimy morning and very damp.»

Radcliffe and Dickens both personify aspects of weather: Radcliffe’s clouds travel about like wild animals rolling through the sky, gathering together and spreading apart, whereas Dickens mentions «the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing,» creating a similiar chaotic image of nature. Dickens, to a much greater extent than Radcliffe does in this passage, uses weather to reveal the mental and emotional state of the protagonist. The scene where Magwitch reveals himself to the benefactor begins with a description that foreshadows Pip’s stormy and muddled emotional state: «It was wretched weather; stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets.» Both authors draw connections between the wide variety of human emotions and the great contrast that can be found within nature.

http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/radcliffe/nature.html

Setting in Dickens and Radcliffe

Judy Huang ’91, English 32 (1988)

Dickens gives the physical setting a major role in the shaping of a character. Physical setting in the specific form of a landscape effectively echoes the emotions of a character. The first description of the landscape in the novel occurs just before the convict approaches the frightened Pip. Dickens’ use of adjectives such as «raw,» «bleak,» «dark,» and «savage» amplifies young Pip’s fear as he wanders around the churchyard. Towards the close of the novel, when Pip elatedly returns to Joe and Biddy, the word-painting of the landscape differs to fit Pip’s feelings of internal peace and soaring hopes for the future.

Radcliffe’s use of word-painting in the passage from The Mysteries of Udolpho differs in diction from that of Dickens. Radcliffe does not just merely describe it. She bestows active rather than passive qualities upon the landscape. The passage depicts clouds, chasms, cliffs and mountains, to which movements and activity are not commonly attributed. Radcliffe’s choice of words make the reader perceive the landscape in a state of flux. Nature exists as an active force. She achieves this effect with the following expressions: «the clouds . . . billowy surges rolling . . . closing . . .spreading . . . the torrent. . . astounding roar . . . tumbling down the rocky chasm.» The landscape description appears calm on the surface, but the intense activity of the mountains and clouds may reflect feelings of turmoil within Emily. In Dickens, the tone of the landscape description accurately mirrors emotions such as fear and happiness in Pip. The reader does not sense that type of emotion in Emily. Radcliffe’s concern lies with portraying the landscape. Emily observes her environment and exists within the context of it. In Great Expectations, the landscape is secondary to Pip; Dickens utilizes it to reinforce Pip’s feelings.

http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/radcliffe/setting1.html