THE GREAT SILENCE

The text we are going to analyse is called “The great silence”, that is an extract from the novel “The Unknown Soldier”.  
Just considering the title “The great silence” the reader can make up an idea of what the text refers to. The adjective “Great” conveys the idea of something important and significant. 
The noun “silence” evokes a sense of respect, pain and the people’s behaviour when the Unknown Soldier’s coffin  passed through the crowd. 
Reading the text the reader can perceive a respectful atmosphere created by the language used and thanks to the images created by the writer. 
He/She can also read some adjectives and nouns as “the sunlight of a perfect autumn morning”. This sentence, in particular, suggests  the reader the idea of something melancholy and pensive. In addition, it revokes the atmosphere of war and the pain felt by people. 
Another significant sentence that the reader can find in the text is “the last stroke of eleven reverberated and then faded into the deepest silence any there had ever heard”. This sentence creates in the reader’s mind an image of desolation, sadness and attention. From this expression the reader can understand the affinity between people who had lost someone in the Great War and  the Unknown soldier. All people were in silence and all the activities were stopped: they show their respect for the Soldier and identified him with their son, husband, friend. This is due not only for their losses, however the anonymity of the body allowed everyone to assume a personal connection with the Warrior.
The silence is can be see as as a way to remember who died in the First World War and it creates a bond between the Unknown soldier, synecdoche for all who died in the War, and the English citizens. 
The lexicon used in the text is melancholy and it conveys the idea that also who didn't participate to the War  feels near to dead soldiers. 
Reading the end of the text is clear that the rite and the commemoration are a need of those who survived and lost their loved ones. Remember in silence the fallen is a way to reflect on what happened and show the terrible effects the war created.