Wu Ting
How would you interpret the phrase ‘grass-covered’ in the context? How would you interpret the phrase ‘grass-covered’ in ‘helping ourselves to wine from the grass-covered gallon flask’? What was the flask covered with grass for? It was at the end of the fall and it was snowing. So did they cover the flask with grass to keep the wine warm? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. the context: That night in the mess after the spaghetti course, which every one ate very quickly and seriously, lifting the spaghetti on the fork until the loose strands hung clear then lowering it into the mouth, or else using a continuous lift and sucking into the mouth, helping ourselves to wine from the grass-covered gallon flask; it swung in a metal cradle and you pulled the neck of the flask down with the forefinger and the wine, clear red, tannic and lovely, poured out into the glass held with the same hand; after this course, the captain commenced picking on the priest.
Dec 30, 2015 9:54 AM
Answers · 2
1
The wine is Italian Chianti. It comes in a raffia or grass covered bottle. That is, the bottle has a basket woven around its body.
January 1, 2016
The only possibilities: most likely to least likely - An error within the text (This is the most likely answer because of this part of the text - 'the captain commenced picking on the priest.'- which also does not make sense. There seems to be errors within the text that you are reading) - The object is outside and surrounded by grass - The flask is in-fact covered in grass DEFINITION: grass-covered - covered with grass; "wide grass-covered plains as far as the eye could see"
December 30, 2015
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