World picture and its types

As is known, the Englishmen cultivate such features as staunchness, firmness, self- control, a sense of dignity and superiority. In this very spirit are the children brought up. They are taught to be reserved, not to cry and not to give up, to face the difficulties and challenges of life. The poem below is a sketch of the school life:

There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night

Ten to make and the match to win –

- A bumping pitch and a blinding light,

An hour to play and the last man in.

And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat,

Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,

But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote

- 'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

The sand of the desert is sodden red,

- Red with the wreck of a square that broke;

- The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,

And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.

The river of death has brimmed his banks,

And England's far, and Honour a name,

But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:

'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

This is the word that year by year,

While in her place the School is set,

Every one of her sons must hear,

And none that hears it dare forget.

This they all with a joyful mind

Bear through life like a torch in flame,

And falling fling to the host behind –

- 'Play up! play up! and play the game!'

(Henry Newbolt, Vitaï Lampada (The Torch of Life)

The poem emphasizes the importance of sport in school education and the “sporting spirit” to be developed from childhood. The motto “play up”, many times repeated in the poem, symbolizes the “will to win” equally significant in the game, battle and life. Moreover it should be borne throughout the whole life (like a torch in flame).

The next example indicates the features of restraint and discretion fostered in children and highly appreciated in English culture:

It is not that the Englishman can’t feel – it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he talks - his pipe might fall out if he did (E.M. Forster).

Politeness as the feature of the character that implies good manners and socially correct behavior is considered an important property of English linguoculture.

One of the illustrative examples of the English politeness is the following extract:

I found myself late on a gray Saturday afternoon, on an exceptionally long and empty train bound for Windsor. At Twickenham, I discovered why the train was so long and so empty. The platform was jammed solid with men and boys in warm clothes and scarves earning glossy programs and little bags with tea flasks peeping out: obviously a rugby crowd from the Twickenham grounds. They boarded with patience and without pushing, and said "Sorry" when they bumped or inadvertently impinged on someone else's space. I admired this instinctive consideration for others, and was struck by what a regular thing that is in Britain and how little it is noticed. Nearly everyone rode all the way to Windsor—I presume there must be some sort of parking arrangement there; Windsor can't provide that many rugby fans – and formed a patient crush at the ticket barrier. An Asian man collected tickets in fast motion and said "Thank you" to every person who passed. He didn't have time to examine the tickets—you could have handed him a corn-flakes boxtop – but he did manage to find a vigorous salute for all, and they in turn thanked him for relieving them of their tickets and letting them pass. It was a little miracle of orderliness and goodwill. Anywhere else there'd have been someone on a box barking at people to form a line and not push» [Bryson, 2001, p.50).

This excerpt describes the people boarding a train, their manners and behavior (with patience and without pushing) demonstrates the way to keep a necessary distance (impinged on someone’s space), so important for the British, and their extreme politeness (sorry, thank you, a vigorous salute for all). The author characterizes such a polite behavior as a miracle of orderliness and goodwill.

So, the fictional text transmits sociocultural, aesthetic, emotional and evaluative information about a particular linguoculture. It should be noted that cultural information encoded in the text is of a gradual character because different texts are characterized by different degrees of culture-relevant information. Most interesting are the texts reflecting intellectual, spiritual spheres of human life. In this respect nationally specific texts, where objective characteristics of reality are interlaced with national views and personal appraisals are of special attention. Interpretation of such texts requires linguocultural competence, that is the knowledge of national cultural values and priorities (Ashurova, 2016, p.15).