89. The Summarizing Paragraph.—Frequently we give emphasis to our thought by a final paragraph summarizing the main points of the theme. Such a summary is in effect a restatement of the topic sentences of our paragraphs. If our theme has been coherent, these sentences stated in order will need but little changing to make a coherent paragraph. In a similar way, it is of advantage to close a long paragraph with a sentence which repeats the topic statement or summarizes the thought of the paragraph. See the last sentence in Section 57.

90. Development of a Composition by Comparison or Contrast.—The third method of development is that of comparison or contrast. Nearly every idea which we have suggests one that is similar to it or in contrast with it. We are thus led to make comparisons or to state contrasts. When these are few and brief, they may make a single paragraph (Section 48). If our comparisons or contrasts are extended, they may make several paragraphs, and thus a whole theme may be developed by this method.

In such a theme no fixed order of presentation is determined by the actual occurrence in time or space of that which we present. Consequently, in outlining a theme of this kind, we must devote special attention to arranging our paragraphs in an order that shall give coherence and emphasis.

Theme XLVIII.—Write a theme of three or more paragraphs developed by comparison.

Suggested subjects:— 1. Compare men with verbs (active, passive, transitive, intransitive, defective, redundant, auxiliary, copulative, etc.). 2. Show that the body resembles a machine. 3. In what way is the school like a factory? 4. How do two books that you have read differ? 5. Compare Lincoln and McKinley. How alike? How different? 6. How can you tell an oak tree from an elm tree? 7. Without naming them, compare two of your friends with each other. 8. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of public high schools with those of private academies.

91. Development of a Composition by Use of Generalization and Facts.— Using the fourth method of development, we may give an entire composition to the explanation of the meaning of a general proposition or to the demonstration of the truth of such a proposition. To accomplish this purpose we state facts or instances that illustrate the meaning of the proposition or that show it to be true. In such a composition each important fact or instance may be given a separate paragraph, while several minor facts or illustrations may be properly combined in the same paragraph. (See Section 44.) Greater emphasis may also be given the more important facts by assigning them to the emphatic positions.

Notice how by specific instances the following selection illustrates the truth of the generalization set forth in the second sentence and restated in the last sentence.

DEGENERATION THROUGH QUIESCENCE

While parasitism is the principal cause of degeneration among animals, yet it is not the sole cause. It is evident that if for any other reason animals should become fixed, and live inactive lives, they would degenerate. There are not a few instances of degeneration due simply to a quiescent life, unaccompanied by parasitism.

The Tunicata, or sea squirts, are animals which have become simple through degeneration, due to the adoption of a sedentary life, the withdrawal from the crowd of animals and from the struggle which it necessitates. The young tunicate is a free-swimming, active, tadpolelike, or fishlike creature, which possesses organs very like those of the adult of the simplest fishes or fishlike forms. That is, the sea squirt begins life as a primitively simple vertebrate. It possesses in its larval stage a notochord, the delicate structure which precedes the formation of a backbone, extending along the upper part of the body below the spinal cord. The other organs of the young tunicate are all of vertebral type. But the young sea squirt passes a period of active and free life as a little fish, after which it settles down and attaches itself to a shell or wooden pier by means of suckers, and remains for the rest of its life fixed. Instead of going on and developing into a fishlike creature, it loses its notochord, its special sense organs, and other organs; it loses its complexity and high organization, and becomes a "mere rooted bag with a double neck," a thoroughly degenerate animal.

A barnacle is another example of degeneration through quiescence. The barnacles are crustaceans related most nearly to the crabs and shrimps. The young barnacle just from the egg is a six-legged, free-swimming nauplius, very like a young prawn or crab, with a single eye. In its next larval stage it has six pairs of swimming feet, two compound eyes, and two antennae or feelers, and still lives an independent free-swimming life. When it makes its final change to the adult condition, it attaches itself to some stone, or shell, or pile, or ship's bottom, loses its compound eyes and feelers, develops a protecting shell, and gives up all power of locomotion. Its swimming feet become changed into grasping organs, and it loses most of its outward resemblance to the other members of its class.

Certain insects live sedentary or fixed lives. All the members of the family of scale insects (Coccidae), in one sex at least, show degeneration that has been caused by quiescence. One of these coccids, called the red orange scale, is very abundant in Florida and California and in other fruit-growing regions. The male is a beautiful, tiny, two-winged midge, but the female is a wingless, footless, little sack, without eyes or other organs of special sense, which lies motionless under a flat, thin, circular, reddish scale composed of wax and two or three cast skins of the insect itself. The insect has a long, slender, flexible, sucking beak, which is thrust into the leaf or stem or fruit of the orange on which the "scale bug" lives, and through which the insect sucks the orange sap, which is its only food. It lays eggs under its body, and thus also under the protecting wax scale, and dies. From the eggs hatch active little larval "scale bugs," with eyes and feelers, and six legs. They crawl from under the wax scale and roam about over the orange tree. Finally, they settle down, thrusting their sucking beak into the plant tissue, and cast their skin. The females lose at this molt their legs and eyes and feelers. Each becomes a mere motionless sack capable only of sucking up sap and laying eggs. The young males, however, lose their sucking beak and can no longer take food, but they gain a pair of wings and an additional pair of eyes. They fly about and fertilize the sacklike females, which then molt again and secrete the thin wax scale over them.

Throughout the animal kingdom loss of the need of movement is followed by the loss of the power to move and of all structures related to it.

—Jordon and Kellogg: Animal Life.

Has the principle of unity been observed in the above selection; that is, of the many things that might be told about a sea squirt, a barnacle, or a scale bug, have the authors selected only those which serve to illustrate degeneration through quiescence?

Instead of one generalization supported by a series of facts to each of which a paragraph is given, we may have several subordinate generalizations relating to the subject of the theme. Each of these subordinate generalizations may become the topic statement of a paragraph which is further developed by giving specific instances or by some other method of paragraph development. Such an order, that is, generalization followed by the facts which illustrate it, is coherent; but care must be taken to give each fact under the generalization to which it is most closely related. On the other hand, our theme may be made coherent by giving the facts first, and then the generalization that they establish.

Theme XLIX.—Write a theme of three or more paragraphs illustrating or proving some general statement by means of facts or specific instances.

Suggested subjects:— 1. Young persons should not drink coffee. 2. Reasons for the curfew bell. 3. Girls wear their hair in a variety of ways. 4. There are several kinds of boys in this school. 5. Civilization increases as the facilities for transportation increase. 6. Trolley roads are of great benefit to the country. 7. Presence of mind often averts danger.

92. Development of a Composition by Stating Cause and Effect.—The statement of the causes of an event or condition may be used as a fifth method of development. The principle, however, is not different from that applied to the development of a paragraph by stating cause and effect (Section 49). If several causes contribute to the same effect, each may be given a separate paragraph, or several minor ones may be combined in one paragraph. For the sake of unity we must include each fact, principle, or statement in the paragraph to which it really belongs. The coherent order is usually that which proceeds from causes to effects rather than that which traces events backward from effects to causes.

Theme L.—Write a theme of three or more paragraphs, stating causes and effects.

Suggested subjects:— 1. Why hospitals are necessary. 2. Why cigarette smoking is dangerous. 3. Why girls should take music lessons. 4. The effect of climate upon health. 5. The effect of rainfall upon the productivity and industries of a country. 6. The effect of mountains, lakes, or rivers upon exploration and travel. 7. What connection is there between occupation and height above the sea level, and why? 8. Why our city is located where it is. 9. Why I came late to school.

93. Combination of Methods of Development.—Frequently the presentation of our thought is made most effective by using some combination of the methods of development discussed in this chapter. Time and place are often interwoven, comparisons and contrasts flash into mind, general statements need specific illustration, or results demand immediate explanation—all in the same theme. Sometimes the order of coherence will be in doubt, for cause and effect demand a different order of statement from that which would be given were we to follow either time-order or position in space. In such cases we must choose whether it is most important to tell first why or when or where. The only rule that can be suggested is to do that which will make our meaning most clear, because it is for the sake of the clear presentation of our thought that we seek unity, coherence, and emphasis.

Theme LI.—Write a theme of several paragraphs. Use any method of development or any combination of methods.

(Choose your own subject. After the theme is written make a list of all the questions you should ask yourself about it. Correct the theme with reference to each point in your list of questions.)

SUMMARY

1. General principles of composition. a. Unity. b. Coherence. c. Emphasis. (1) By position. (2) By proportion of parts.

2. An outline assists in securing unity, coherence, and emphasis.

3. Methods of composition development: A composition may be developed— a. With reference to time-order. b. With reference to position in space. c. By use of comparison and contrast. d. By stating generalization and facts. e. By stating cause and effect. f. By any suitable combination of the above methods.

4. Transition and summary paragraphs may occur in compositions.



VI. LETTER WRITING

94. Importance of Good Letter Writing.—Letter writing is the form of written language used by most of us more frequently than any other form. The importance of good letter writing is therefore obvious. Business, personal, and social relations necessitate the writing of letters. We are judged by those letters; and in order that we may be considered businesslike, educated, and cultured, it is necessary that we should be able to write good letters, not only as regards the form but also as regards the subject-matter. The writing of good letters is often the means of securing desirable positions and of keeping up pleasant and helpful friendships. Since this form of composition plays so important a part in our lives and the lives of those about us, it is worthy of careful study.

The subject-matter is the most important part of the letter, but adherence to usages generally adopted is essential to successful letter writing. Some of these usages may seem trivial in themselves, but a lack of attention to them shows either ignorance or carelessness on the part of the writer, and the consequences resulting from this inattention are often anything but trivial. Applicants for good positions have been rejected either because they did not know the correct usages of letter writing, or because they did not heed them. In no other form of composition are the rules concerning form so rigid; hence the need of knowledge and carefulness concerning them.

95. Paper.—The nature of the letter determines to some extent our choice of paper. Business letters are usually written on large paper, about ten by eight inches in size, while letters of friendship and notes of various kinds are written on paper of smaller size. White or delicately tinted paper is always in good taste for all kinds of letters. The use of highly tinted paper is occasionally in vogue with some people, but failure to use it is never an offense against the laws of good taste. It is customary now to use unruled paper for all kinds of letters as well as for other forms of compositions. For letters of friendship four-page paper is preferred to that in tablet form. The order in which the pages are used may vary; but whatever the order is, it should not be confusing to the reader.

Black ink should always be used. The writing should be neat and legible. Attention should be paid to margin, paragraphs, and indentation. In fact, all the rules of theme writing apply to letter writing, and to these are added several others.

96. The Beginning of a Letter.—Certain forms for the beginning of letters have been agreed upon, and these forms should be followed. The beginning of a letter usually includes the heading, the address of the person or persons to whom the letter is sent, and the salutation.

Notice the following examples:—

(1) _________ 171 Miles Ave., Cleveland, Ohio. Oct. 21, 1905. Marshall Field & Co., State St., Chicago, Ill. Gentlemen:

(2) _________ Ottawa, Ill. Nov. 9, 1905. Dear Harold,

(3) _________ 1028 Jackson Boulevard, Chicago Ill. Nov. 10, 1905. Messrs. Johnson & Foote, 120 Main St., Pittsfield, Mass. Dear Sirs,

(4) _________ 120 P Street, Lincoln, Neb. Oct. 17, 1905. My dear Mrs. Scott,

(5) _________ Boston, Mass., Nov. 23, 1905. Dear Mother,

(6) _________ 33 Front St., Adrian, Mich. Nov. 30, 1905. Miss Gertrude Brown, 228 Warren Ave., Chicago, Ill. Dear Madam:

(7) _________ New Hartford, Conn. Nov. 3, 1905. My dear Henry,

The heading of a letter includes the address of the writer and the date of the writing. When numerous letters are sent from one place to another, the street and number may after a time be omitted from the heading. Example (5) illustrates this. A son living in Boston has written to his mother frequently and no longer considers it necessary to write the street and number in every letter. If there is any doubt in the writer's mind as to whether his address will be remembered or not, he should include it in the letter. If the writer lives in a small place where the street and number will not be needed in a reply sent to him, it is unnecessary for him to make use of it in his letter. When the street and number are omitted, the heading may be written on one line, as in example (5), but the use of two lines is preferable.

Custom has decreed that the proper place for the heading is in the right-hand upper corner of the first page. Sometimes, especially in business letters, we find the writer's address at the close of the letter, but for the sake of convenience it is preferably placed at the beginning. The first line should be about one inch and a half from the top of the page. The second line should begin a little to the right of the first line, and the third line, a little to the right of the second line. Attention should be paid to proper punctuation in each line.

In a comparatively few cases we may find that the omission of the date of the letter will make no difference to the recipient, but in most cases it will cause annoyance at least, and in many cases result in serious trouble both to ourselves and to those who receive our letters. We should not allow ourselves to neglect the date even in letters of apparently no great importance. If we allow the careless habit of omitting dates to develop, we may some day omit a date when the omission will affect affairs of great importance. This date should include the day, month, and year. It is better to write out the entire year, as 1905, not '05.

In business letters it is customary to write the address of the person or persons addressed at the left side of the page. Either two or three lines may be used. The first line of this address should be one line lower than the last line of the heading. Notice examples (1), (3), and (6). When the address is thus written, the salutation is commonly written one line below it. Sometimes the salutation is commenced at the margin, and sometimes a little to the right of the address. Where there is no address, the salutation is written a line below the date and begins with the margin, as in examples (2), (4), (5), and (7).

The form of salutation naturally depends upon the relations existing between the correspondents. The forms Dear Sir, My dear Sir, Madam, My dear Madam, Dear Sirs, Gentlemen, are used in formal business letters. The forms Dear Miss Robinson, My dear Mrs. Hobart, Dear Mr. Fraser, My dear Mr. Scott, are used in business letters when the correspondents are acquainted with each other. The same forms are also used in letters of friendship when the correspondents are not well enough acquainted with each other to warrant the use of the more familiar forms, My dear Mary, Dear Edmund, My dear Friend, Dear Cousin, My dear little Niece.

There is no set rule concerning the punctuation of the salutation. The comma, the colon, or the semicolon may be used either alone or in connection with the dash. The comma alone seems to be the least formal of all, and the colon the most so. Hence the former is used more frequently in letters of friendship, and the latter more frequently in business letters.

97. Body of the Letter.—The body of the letter is the important part; in fact, it is the letter itself, since it contains the subject-matter. It will be discussed under another head later, and is only mentioned here in order to show its place in connection with the beginning of a letter. As a rule, it is best to begin the body of our letters one line below, and either directly underneath or to the right of the salutation. It is not improper, however, especially in business letters, to begin it on the same line with the salutation. A few examples will be sufficient to show the variations of the place for beginning the main part of the letter.

(1) _________ 1694 Cedar Ave., Cleveland, Ohio. June 23, 1905. Messrs. Hanna, Scott & Co., Aurora, Ill. Gentlemen: I inclose a money order for $10.00, etc.

(2) _________ Everett, Washington. Oct. 20, 1905. My dear Robert, We are very glad that you have decided to make us a visit, etc.

(3) _________ Greenwich, N.Y. Sept. 19, 1905. My dear Miss Russ, Since I have been Miss Clark's assistant, etc.

(4) _________ 2 University Ave., Nashville, Tenn. April 19, 1905. The American Book Company, 300 Pike St., Cinncinnati, O. Dear Sirs: Please send me by express two copies of Halleck's English Literature, etc.

98. Conclusion of a Letter.—The conclusion of a letter includes what is termed the complimentary close and the signature. Certain forms have been agreed upon, which should be closely followed.

Our choice of a complimentary close, like that of a salutation, depends upon the relations existing between us and those to whom we are writing. Such forms as Your loving daughter, With love, Ever your friend, Your affectionate mother, should be used only when intimate relations exist between correspondents. In letters where existing relations are not so intimate and in some kinds of business letters the forms Sincerely yours, Yours very sincerely, may be used appropriately. The most common forms in business letters are Yours truly and Very truly yours. The forms Respectfully yours, or Yours very respectfully, should be used only when there is occasion for some special respect, as in writing to a person of high rank or position.

The complimentary close should be written one line below the last line of the main part of the letter, and toward the right-hand side of the page. Its first word should commence with a capital, and a comma should be placed at its close.

The signature properly belongs below and a little to the right of the complimentary close. Except in cases of familiar relationship, the name should be signed in full. It is difficult to determine the spelling of unfamiliar proper names if they are carelessly written. It is therefore important in writing to strangers that the signature should be made plainly legible in order that they may know how to address the writer in their reply. A lady should make it plain whether she is to be addressed as Miss or Mrs. This can be done either by placing the title Miss or Mrs. in parentheses before the name, or by writing the whole address below and to the left of the signature. Boys and men may often avoid confusion by signing their first name instead of using only initials.

Notice the following examples of the complimentary close and signature:—

(1) _________ Appleton, Wisconsin. Sept. 3, 1905. My dear Cousin, (Body of letter.) Yours with love, Gertrude Edmonds.

(2) _________ 192 Lincoln Ave., Worcester, Mass. Nov. 25, 1905. L.B. Bliss & Co., 109 Summer St., Boston, Mass. Dear Sirs; (Body of letter.) Very truly yours, Walter A. Cutler.

(3) _________ Paxton, Ill. July 3, 1905. American Typewriter Co., 263 Broadway, New York. Gentlemen: (Body of letter.) Very truly yours, (Miss) Jennie R. McAllister.

(4) _________ May 5, 1905. Daniel Low & Co., 232 Essex St., Salem, Mass. Dear Sirs; (Body of letter.) Mary E. Ball Mrs. George W. Ball, 415 Fourth St., La Salle, Ill.

(5) _________ Marshalltown, Iowa. Oct. 3, 1905. My dear Miss Meyer, (Body of letter.) Sincerely yours, Dorothy Doddridge.

EXERCISE

Write suitable headings, salutations, complimentary endings, and signatures for the following letters:—

1. To Spaulding & Co., Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill., ordering their rules for basket ball.

2. To your older brother.

3. To the school board, asking for a gymnasium.

4. To some business house, making application for a position.

5. To the governor of your state.

6. From one stranger to another.

7. From an older brother to his little sister.

8. From a boy living in New Orleans to the father of his most intimate friend.

99. The Envelope.—The direction on the envelope, commonly called the superscription, consists of the name and address of the person or persons to whom the letter is sent. This direction should be written in a careful and courteous manner, and should include all that is necessary to insure the prompt delivery of the letter to the proper destination.

The superscription may be arranged in three or four lines, each line beginning a little to the right of the preceding line. The name should be written about midway between the upper and lower edges of the envelope, and there should be nearly an equal amount of space left at each side. If there is any difference, there should be less space at the right than at the left. The street and number may be written below the name, and the city or town and state below. The street and number may be properly written in the lower left-hand corner. This is also the place for any special direction that may be necessary for the speedy transmission of the letter; for example, "In care of Mr. Charles R. Brown."

Women should be addressed as Miss or Mrs. In case the woman is married, her husband's first name and middle initial are commonly used, unless it is known that she prefers to have her own first name used. Men should be addressed as Mr., and a firm may in many cases be addressed as Messrs. It is considered proper to use the titles Dr., Rev., etc., in directing an envelope to a man bearing such a title, but it would be entirely out of place to address the wife of a physician or clergyman as Mrs. Dr. or Mrs. Rev.

The names of states may be abbreviated, but care should be taken that these abbreviations be plainly written, especially when there are other similar abbreviations. In compound names, as North Dakota and West Virginia, do not abbreviate one part of the compound and write out the other. Either abbreviate both or write out both. If any punctuation besides the period after abbreviations is used, it consists of a comma after each line. It is the custom now to omit such punctuation. Either form is in good taste, but whichever form is adopted, it should be employed throughout the entire superscription. The comma should not be used in one line and omitted in another.

Notice the following forms of correct superscriptions:—

(1) Mr. Milo R. Maltbie 85 West 118th St. New York.

(2) Mr. John D. Clark New York N.Y. Teachers College Columbia University.

(3) Mrs. Edgar N. Foster South Haven Mich. Avery Beach Hotel.

(4) Miss Louise M. Baker Nottingham Ohio. Box 129.

(5) Dr. James M. Postle De Kalb Ill.

(6) Miss Ida Morrison Chicago Ill. 1048 Warren Ave.

EXERCISE

Write proper superscriptions to letters written to the following:—

1. Thaddeus Bolton, living at 524 Q Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.

2. The wife of a physician of your acquaintance.

3. James B. Angell, President of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

4. Your mother, visiting some relative or friend.

5. The publishers Allyn and Bacon, 878 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Ill.

6. Edward Harrington, living at 1962 Seventh Avenue, New York.

7. To a friend at a seaside resort.

8. To a friend visiting your uncle in Oakland, California.

100. The Great Rule of Letter Writing.—The great rule of letter writing is, Never write a letter which you would not be willing to see in print over your own signature. That which you say in anger may be discourteous and of little credit to you, but it may in time be forgotten; that which you write, however, may be in existence an untold number of years. Thousands of letters are now on exhibition whose authors never had such a use of them in mind. If you ever feel like writing at the end of a letter, "Burn this as soon as you read it," do not send it, but burn the letter yourself. Before you sign your name to any letter read it over and ask yourself, "Is this letter in form and contents one which would do me credit if it should be published?"

101. Business Letters.—Since the purpose of business letters is to inform, they should, first of all, be characterized by clearness. In asking for information, be sure that you state your questions so that there shall be no doubt in the mind of the recipient concerning the information that you desire. In giving information, be equally sure to state facts so clearly that there can be no possibility of a mistake.

Brevity is the soul of business letters as well as of wit. Business men are busy men. They have no time to waste in reading long letters, but wish to gain their information quickly. Hence we should aim to state the desired facts in as concise a manner as possible, and we should give only pertinent facts. Short explanations may sometimes be necessary, but nothing foreign to the subject-matter should ever be introduced. While we should aim to make our letters short, they should not be so brief as to appear abrupt and discourteous. It shows lack of courtesy to omit important words or to make too frequent use of abbreviations.

We should answer a business letter as soon as possible. This answer, besides giving the desired information, should include a reference to the letter received and an acknowledgment of inclosures, if there were any. All questions should receive courteous replies. The facts should be arranged in a form that will be convenient for the recipient. As a rule it is best to follow the order which the writer has used in his letter, but in some cases we may be able to state our facts more definitely and concisely if we follow some other order.

What has been said in general about attention to forms in letter writing might well be emphasized here, for business men are keen critics concerning letters received. Be careful to use the correct forms already suggested. Also pay attention to punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Write only on one side of the paper and fold the letter correctly. In fact, be businesslike in everything connected with the writing of business letters.

A few examples are here given for your notice:—

(1) _________ Ypsilanti, Mich. April 4, 1905. Mr. William Wylie, 807 Linn St., Peoria, Ill. Dear Mr. Wylie; Inclosed is a letter from Superintendent Rogers of Rockford, Ill. The position of teacher of mathematics is vacant. The salary may not be so much as you now receive, but in many respects the position is a desirable one. I advise you to apply for it. Sincerely yours, Charles M. Gates.

(2) _________ 586 State St., Chicago, Ill. July 20,1905. Mrs. Charles H. McNett, 2345 Franklin St., Denver, Colorado. Dear Madam: Your card of July 9th is at hand. We beg to say that we sent you the books by express, prepaid, July 9th, and they have probably reached you by this time. If you have not received them, please notify us, and we will send a tracer after them. Very truly yours, Brown and Sherman.

(3) _________ Elgin High School, Elgin, Ill. Sept. 4, 1905. Miss Ella B. Walker, Herkimer, New York. My dear Miss Walker: I am very sorry to have to trouble you, but I am desirous of obtaining some information concerning the High School Library. Will you kindly let me know whether the card catalogue was kept up to date prior to your departure and also whether the accession book was in use up to that time? I shall be greatly indebted to you if you will give me this information. Very sincerely yours, Edward J. Taylor.

EXERCISE

Write at least three of the following suggested letters, paying attention to the rules for writing business letters:—

1. Write to a dry goods firm, asking them to send you one of their catalogues.

2. Write to the manager of a football team of some town near yours, proposing a game.

3. Write the reply.

4. In reply to an advertisement, write an application for the position of clerk or bookkeeper.

5. Write to the publishers of some magazine, asking them to change your address from 27 K Street, Toledo, Ohio, to 2011 Prospect Avenue, Beatrice, Nebraska.

6. Suppose yourself doing postgraduate work in your high school. Write to the president of some college, asking him concerning advanced credit.

102. Letters of Friendship.—While a great deal of information may be obtained from some letters of friendship, the real purpose of such letters is, usually, not to give information, but to entertain. You will notice that the information derived from letters of friendship differs from that found in business letters. Its nature is such that of itself it gives pleasure. Our letters to our relatives, friends, and acquaintances are but visits on paper, and it should be our purpose to make these visits as enjoyable as possible.

So much depends upon the circumstances attendant upon the writing of letters of friendship, that it is impossible to make any definite statement as to what they should contain. We may say in general that they should contain matter interesting to the recipient, and that they should be characterized by vividness and naturalness. Interesting material is a requisite, but that of itself is not sufficient to make an entertaining letter. Interesting material may be presented in so unattractive and lifeless a manner that much of its power to please is lost. Let your letters be full of life and spirit. In your descriptions, narrations, and explanations, express yourself so clearly and so vividly that those who read your letters will be able to understand exactly what you mean.

EXERCISES

1. Write a letter to a classmate who has moved to another town, telling him of the school of which he was once a member.

2. Write to a friend, describing your visit to the World's Fair at St. Louis.

3. Suppose yourself away from home. Write a letter to your little brother or sister at home.

4. If you have ever been abroad, describe in a letter some place of interest that you have visited.

5. Write to a friend who is fond of camping, about your camping experience.

6. Suppose your mother is away from home on a visit. Write her about the home life.

7. Write to a friend, describing a party that you recently attended.

8. Suppose you have moved from one town to another. In a letter compare the two towns.

103. Adaptation to the Reader.—The golden rule of letter writing is, Adapt the letter to the reader. Although the letter is an expression of yourself, yet it should be that kind of expression which shall most interest and please your correspondent. In business letters the necessity of brevity and clearness forces attention to the selection and arrangement of details. In letters to members of the family or to intimate friends we must include many very minor things, because we know that our correspondent will be interested in them, but a rambling, disjointed jumble of poorly selected and ill-arranged details becomes tedious. What we should mention is determined by the interests of the readers, and the successful letter writer will endeavor to know what they wish to have mentioned. In writing letters to our friends we ought to show that sympathetic interest in them and their affairs which we should have if we were visiting with them. On occasion, our congratulations should be prompt and sincere.

In reading letters we must not be hasty to take offense. Many good friendships have been broken because some statement in a letter was misconstrued. The written words convey a meaning very different from that which would have been given by the spoken word, the tone of voice, the smile, and the personal presence. So in our writing we must avoid all that which even borders on complaint, or which may seem critical or fault-finding to the most sensitive.

104. Notes.—Notes may be divided in a general way into two classes, formal and informal. Formal notes include formal invitations, replies, requests, and announcements. Informal notes include informal invitations and replies, and also other short communications of a personal nature on almost every possible subject.

105. Formal Notes.—A formal invitation is always written in the third person. The lines may be of the same length, or they may be so arranged that the lines shall be of different lengths, thus giving the page a somewhat more pleasing appearance. The heading, salutation, complimentary close, and signature are all omitted. The address of the sender may be written below the body of the letter. Many prefer it a little to the left, and the date is sometimes written below it. Others, however, prefer it directly below or a little to the right.

Replies to formal invitations should always be written in the third person, and should in general follow the style of the invitation. The date and the hour of the invitation should be repeated in the reply, and this reply should be sent immediately after receiving the invitation.

A few examples are here given to show the correct forms of both invitations and replies:—

(1) _________ Mr. and Mrs. Frederick William Thompson request the pleasure of your company on Monday evening, December thirtieth, at half-past eight o'clock.

(2) _________ Miss Barrows accepts with pleasure Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's invitation for Monday evening, December thirtieth, at half-past eight o'clock.

(3) _________ Mr. Morris regrets that a previous engagement prevents his accepting Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's kind invitation for Monday evening, December the thirtieth.

(4) _________ Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Elliott request the pleasure of Mr. John Barker's company at dinner on Wednesday, December sixth, at seven o'clock. 1068 Euclid Ave.

(5) _________ Mr. Barker regrets his inability to accept Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Elliott's invitation to dinner at seven o'clock, Wednesday, December sixth.

EXERCISE

1. Write an invitation to a golden wedding.

2. Mrs. Homer A. Payne invites Miss Eva Milton to dine with her next week Thursday at eight o'clock. Write out a formal invitation.

3. Write regrets to Mrs. Payne's invitation.

4. Write an acceptance of the same invitation.

5. Write a formal invitation to a party to be given in honor of your guest, Miss Grace Mason.

106. Informal Notes.—Informal invitations and replies may contain the same subject-matter as formal invitations and replies. The only difference is in the form in which they are written. The informal invitation is in form similar to a letter except that the same exactness about the heading is not required. Sometimes the heading is written and sometimes it is omitted entirely. The address of the one sending the invitation and the date may be written below the body of the note to the left of the signature. The reply to an informal invitation should always be informal, but the date and hour should be repeated as in replies to formal invitations.

A great many informal notes not included in invitations and replies are constantly written. These are simply brief letters of friendship, and the purposes for which they are written are exceedingly varied. When we write congratulations or words of condolence, when we introduce one friend to another, when we thank some one for a gift, and when we give words of advice, and in many other instances, we make use of informal notes. They should be simple, personal, and as a rule confined to but one subject.

Notice the following examples of informal notes:—

(1) My dear Mrs. Lathrop, Will you not give us the pleasure of your company at dinner, on next Friday evening at seven o'clock? Miss Todd of Philadelphia is visiting us, and we wish our friends to meet her. Very sincerely yours, Ethel M. Trainor. 840 Forest Avenue, Dec. 5, 1905.

(2) Dec. 6, 1905. My dear Mrs. Trainor, I sincerely regret that I cannot accept your invitation to dinner next Friday evening, for I have made a previous engagement which it will be impossible for me to break. Yours most sincerely, Emma Lathrop.

(3) My dear Blanche, Mr. Gilmore and I are planning for a little party Thursday evening of this week. I hope you have no other engagement for that evening, as we shall be pleased to have you with us. Very cordially yours, Margaret Gilmore.

(4) ___________ My dear Margaret, Fortunately I have no other engagement for this week Thursday evening, and I shall be delighted to spend an evening with you and your friends. Very sincerely yours, Blanche A. Church.

EXERCISE

Write the following informal notes:—

1. Write to a friend, asking him or her to lend you a book.

2. Write an invitation to an informal trolley, tennis, or golf party.

3. Write the reply.

4. Invite one of your friends to spend his or her vacation with you.

5. Write a note to your sister, asking her to send you your theme that you left at home this morning.

6. Mrs. Edgar A. Snow invites Miss Mabel Minard to dine with her. Write out the invitation.

7. Write the acceptance.



VII. POETRY

[Footnote: To the Teacher.—Since the expression of ideas in metrical form is seldom the one best suited to the conditions of modern life, it has not seemed desirable to continue the themes throughout this chapter. The study of this chapter, with suitable illustrations from the poems to which the pupils have access, may serve to aid them in their appreciation of poetry. This appreciation of poetry will be increased if the pupils attempt some constructive work. It is recommended, therefore, that one or more of the simpler kinds of metrical composition be tried. For example, one or two good ballads may be read and the pupils asked to write similar ones. Some pupils may be able to write blank verse.]

107. Purpose of Poetry.—All writing aims to give information or to furnish entertainment (Section 54). Often the same theme may both inform and entertain, though one of these purposes may be more prominent than the other. Prose may merely entertain, or it may so distinctly attempt to set forth ideas clearly that the giving of pleasure is entirely neglected. In poetry the entertainment side is never thus subordinated. Poetry always aims to please by the presentation of that which is beautiful. All real poetry produces an aesthetic effect by appealing to our aesthetic sense; that is, to our love of the beautiful.

In making this appeal to our love of the beautiful, poetry depends both upon the ideas it contains and upon the forms it uses. Like prose, it may increase its aesthetic effect by appropriate phrasing, effective arrangement, and subtle suggestiveness, but it also makes use of certain devices of language such as rhythm, rhyme, etc., which, though they may occur in writings that would be classed as prose, are characteristic of poetry. Much depends upon the ideas that poetry contains; for mere nonsense, though in perfect rhyme and rhythm, is not poetry. But it is not the idea alone which makes a poem beautiful; it is the form as well. The merely trivial cannot be made beautiful by giving it poetical form, but there are many poems containing ideas of small importance which please us because of the perfection of form. We enjoy them as we do the singing of the birds or the murmuring of the brooks. In fact, poetry is inseparable from its characteristic forms. To sort out, re-arrange, and paraphrase into second-class prose the ideas which a poem contains is a profitless and harmful exercise, because it emphasizes the intellectual side of a work which was created for the purpose of appealing to our aesthetic sense.

108. Rhythm.—There are several forms characteristic of poetry, by the use of which its beauty and effectiveness are enhanced. Of these, rhythm is the most prominent one, without which no poetry is possible. In its widest sense, rhythm indicates a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect. Rhythm in poetry consists of the recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables in regular succession. In poetry, care must be taken to make the accented syllable of a word come at the place where the rhythm demands an accent. The regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables produces a harmony which appeals to our aesthetic sense and thus enhances for us the beauty of poetry. Read the following selections so as to show the rhythm:—

1.

We were crowded in the cabin; Not a soul would dare to speak; It was midnight on the waters And a storm was on the deep.

—James T. Fields.

2.

Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O sea! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.

—Tennyson.

3.

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor

—Poe.

4.

Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea!

Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one sleeps.

—Tennyson.

5.

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage.

—Lovelace.

6.

Merrily swinging on brier and weed, Near to the nest of his little dame, Over the mountain side or mead, Robert of Lincoln is telling his name: Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, Spink, spank, spink, Snug and safe is this nest of ours, Hidden among the summer flowers. Chee, chee, chee.

—Bryant.

7.

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith, "A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

—Browning.

109. Feet.—The metrical effect of the preceding selections is produced by the regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables. A group of accented and unaccented syllables is called a foot. There are four regular feet in English verse, the iambus, the anapest, the trochee, and the dactyl. Three irregular feet, the pyrrhic, the spondee, the amphibrach, are occasionally found in lines, but not in entire poems, and are often considered merely as substitutes for regular feet. For the sake of convenience the accented syllables are indicated thus: _, and the unaccented syllables thus: U.

An iambus is a foot consisting of two syllables with the accent on the last.

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ Let not ambition mock their useful toil.

—Gray.

U U U U He prayeth best who loveth best

U _ U _ U _ All things both great and small;

U U U U For the dear God who loveth us,

U _ U _ U _ He made and loveth all.

—Coleridge.

An anapest is a foot consisting of three syllables with the accent on the last.

U U U U U U I am monarch of all I survey. U U U U U U I would hide with the beasts of the chase.

A trochee is a foot consisting of two syllables with the accent on the first.

U U U U Double, double, toil and trouble.

—Shakespeare.

U U U U Let us then be up and doing, U U U With a heart for any fate, U U U U Still achieving, still pursuing, U U U Learn to labor and to wait.

—Longfellow.

A dactyl is a foot consisting of three syllables with the accent on the first.

U U U U Cannon to right of them, U U U U Cannon to left of them, U U U U Cannon in front of them, U U U Volleyed and thundered.

—Tennyson.

It will be convenient to remember that two of these, the iambus and the anapest, have the accent on the last syllable, and that two, the trochee and the dactyl, have the accent on the first syllable.

A spondee is a foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are accented about equally. It is an unusual foot in English poetry.

U _ _ _ U _ U _ Come now, blow, Wind, and waft us o'er.

A pyrrhic is a foot consisting of two syllables both of which are unaccented. It is frequently found at the end of a line.

U _ U _ U _ U U Life is so full of misery.

An amphibrach is a foot consisting of three syllables, with the accent on the second.

U U U U U U U Creator, Preserver, Redeemer and friend.

110. Names of Verse.—A single line of poetry is called a verse. A stanza is composed of several verses. When a verse consists of one foot, it is called a monometer; of two feet, a dimeter; of three feet, a trimeter; of four feet, a tetrameter; of five feet, a pentameter; and of six feet, a hexameter.

_ U Monometer. Slowly.

U U U U Dimeter. Emblem of happiness.

_ U _U _ U Trimeter. Like a poet hidden.

U U U U Tetrameter. Tell me not in mournful numbers.

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ Pentameter. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath.

U U U U U U U U U Hexameter. This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and U U the hemlocks.

When we say that a verse is of any particular kind, we do not mean that every foot in that line is necessarily of the same kind. Verse is named by stating first the prevailing foot which composes it, and second the number of feet in a line. A verse having four iambic feet is called iambic tetrameter. So we have dactylic hexameter, trochaic pentameter, iambic trimeter, anapestic dimeter, etc.

EXERCISES

A. Mark the accented and unaccented syllables in the following selections, and name the kind of verse:—

1.

Build me straight, O worthy Master! Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel That shall laugh at all disaster And with wave and whirlwind wrestle.

—Longfellow.

2.

I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air, I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.

—Whittier.

3.

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

—Tennyson.

4.

Chanting of labor and craft, and of Wealth in the pot and the garner; Chanting of valor and fame, and the man who can, fall with the foremost, Fighting for children and wife, and the field which his father bequeathed him, Sweetly and solemnly sang she, and planned new lessons for mortals.

—Kingsley.

5.

Have you read in the Talmud of old, In the Legends the Rabbins have told, Of the limitless realms of the air, Have you read it,—the marvelous story Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Glory, Of Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer?

—Longfellow.

B. 1. Find three poems written in iambic verse, and three written in trochaic verse.

2. Write at least one stanza, using iambic verse.

3. Write at least one stanza, using the same kind of verse that you find in Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade."

4. Write two anapestic lines.

111. Variation in Rhythm.—The name given to a verse is determined by the foot which prevails, but not every foot in the line needs to be of the same kind. Just as in music we may substitute a quarter for two eighth notes, so may we in poetry substitute one foot for another, provided it is given the same amount of time.

Notice in the following that the rhythm is perfect and the beat regular, although a three-syllable anapest has been substituted in the second line for a two-syllable iambus:—

U U U U U Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, U U U U U U Where heaves the turf in many a moldring heap, U U U U U Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, U U U U U The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The following from Evangeline illustrates the substitution of trochees for dactyls:—

U U U U U U U U U U Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed.

U U U U U U U U U Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October

U U U U U U U U U U Seize them and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean.

U U U U U U U U U U U Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

It is evident that one foot can be substituted for another if the accent is not changed. Since both the iambus and the anapest are accented on the last syllable, they may be interchanged. The trochee and the dactyl are both accented on the first syllable and may, therefore, be interchanged.

There are some exceptions to the general rule that in substituting one foot for another the accented syllable must be kept in the same part of the foot. Occasionally a poem in which the prevailing foot is iambic has a trochee for the first foot of a line in order that it may begin with an accented syllable. At the beginning of a line the change of accent is scarcely noticeable.

U U U U Over the rail my hand I trail.

U U U U Silent the crumbling bridge we cross!

But if the reader has once fallen into the swing of iambic verse, the substitution of a trochee will bring the accent at an unexpected place, interrupt the smooth flow of the rhythm, and produce a harsh and jarring effect. Such a change of accent is justified only when the sense of the verse leads the reader to expect the changed accent, or when the emphasis thus given to the sense of the poem more than compensates for the break in the rhythm produced by the change of accent.

Another form of metrical variation is that in which there are too few or too many syllables in a foot. This generally occurs at the end of a line, but may occur at the beginning. If a syllable is added or omitted skillfully, the rhythm will be unbroken.

When the feet are accented on the last syllable,—that is, when the verse is iambic or anapestic,—an extra syllable may be added at the end of a line.

U _ U U _ U _ U I stood on the bridge at midnight,

U U _ U _ U U _ As the clocks were striking the hour;

U U _ U _ U _ U And the Moon rose o'er the city,

U _ U _ U _ Behind the dark church tower.

—Longfellow.

U U U U U U Girt round with rugged moun[tains], the fair Lake Constance lies,

U U U U U U In her blue heart reflect[ed] shine back the starry skies;

U U U U U U And watching each white cloud[let] float silently and slow,

U U U U U U You think a piece of heav[en] lies on our earth below.

—Adelaide A. Procter.

In the second illustration the extra syllables have the same relative position in the metrical scheme as in the first, though they appear to be in the middle of the line. The pauses fill in the time and preserve the rhythm unbroken.

When the feet are accented on the first syllable—as in trochaic or dactylic verse—a syllable may be omitted from the end of a line as in the second and fourth below.

U U U U U U U Up with the lark in the first flush of morning,

U U U U U U Ere the world wakes to its work or its play;

U U U U U U U Off for a spin to the wide-stretching country,

U U U U U U Far from the close, stifling city away.

Sometimes we find it necessary to suppress a syllable in order to make the rhythm more nearly perfect. Syllables may be suppressed in two ways: by suppressing a vowel at the end of a word when the next word commences with a vowel; by suppressing a vowel within a word. The former method is termed elision, and the latter, slurring.

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ Thou glorious mirror where the Almighty's form U U

_ U U _ U _ U Glasses itself in tempests.

—Byron.

An accented syllable often takes the place of an entire foot. This occurs most frequently at the end of a line, but it is sometimes found at the beginning. Occasionally whole lines are formed in this way. If a pause or rest is made, the rhythm will be unbroken.

u _ u _ u _ Break, break, break,

U U _ U _ U _ On thy cold gray stones, O sea!

U U _ U U _ U _ U And I would that my tongue could utter

U _ U U _ U _ The thoughts that arise in me.

—Tennyson.

We frequently find verses in which a syllable is lacking at the close of the line; we also find many verses in which an extra syllable is added. Verse that contains the number of syllables required by its meter is said to be acatalectic; if it contains more than the required number of syllables, it is said to be hypercatalectic; and if it lacks a syllable, it is termed catalectic. It is difficult to tell whether a line has the required number of syllables or not when it is taken by itself; but by comparing it with the line prevailing in the rest of the stanza we are enabled to tell whether it is complete or not. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is written in iambic pentameter verse. Knowing this, we can detect the hypercatalectic and catalectic lines.

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ You all did see that on the Lupercal

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ I thrice presented him a kingly crown

U _ U _ U _ U _ U _ U Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

U U U U U Yet Brutus says he was ambitious.

—Shakespeare.

112. Cesura. Besides the pauses caused by rests or silences there is the cesural pause which needs to be considered in reading verse. A cesura is a pause determined by the sense. It coincides with some break in the sense. It is found in different parts of the verse and may be entirely lacking. Its observance does not noticeably interfere with the rhythm. In the following selection it is marked thus: .

U U U U The sun came up upon the left,

_ U U _ U _ Out of the sea came he;

U U U U And he shone bright, and on the right

U _ U_ U _ Went down into the sea

—Coleridge.

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time.

—Longfellow.

Read the selections on page 197 so as to indicate the position of the cesural pauses.

113. Scansion.—Scansion is the separation of a line into the feet which compose it. In order to scan a line we must determine the rhythmic movement of it. The rhythmic movement determines the accented syllables. Sometimes in scanning, merely the accented syllables are marked. Usually the whole metrical scheme is indicated, as in the examples on page 199.

EXERCISE

Scan the following selections. Note substitutions and elusions.

1.

The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one; Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is gone.

—Francis W. Bourdillon.

2.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you, Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own.

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

3.

Hear the robin in the rain, Not a note does he complain. But he fills the storm refrain With music of his own.

—Charles Coke Woode.

4.

The mistletoe hung in the castle hall, The holly branch shone on the old back wall And the baron's retainers are blithe and gay, And keeping their Christmas holiday.

—Thomas Haynes Bagley.

114. Rhyme.—Rhyme is a regular recurrence of similar sounds. In a broad sense, it may include sounds either terminal or not, but as here used it refers to terminal sounds.

Just as we expect a recurrence of accent in a line, so may we expect a recurrence of similar sounds at the end of certain lines of poetry. The interval between the rhymes may be of different lengths in different poems, but when the interval is once established, it should be followed throughout the poem. A rhyme out of place jars upon the rhythmic perfection of a stanza just as an accent out of place interferes with the rhythm of the verse.

Not only should the rhymes occur at expected places, but they should be the expected rhymes; that is, real rhymes. If we are expecting a word which will rhyme with blossom and find bosom, or if we are expecting a rhyme for breath and find beneath, the effect is unpleasant. The rhymes named above are based on spelling, while a real rhyme is based on sound. A correct rhyme should have precisely the same vowel sounds and the final consonants should be the same, but the initial consonant should be different. For example: death, breath; home, roam; tongue, young; debating, relating.

Notice the arrangement of the rhymes in the following selections:—

1.

My soul to-day is far away, Sailing the Vesuvian Bay; My winged boat, a bird afloat, Swims round the purple peaks remote.

—T. Buchanan Read.

2.

I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, And sparkle out among the fern, To bicker down the valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, By twenty thorps, a little town, And half a hundred bridges.

—Tennyson.

3.

I know it is a sin For me to sit and grin At him here; But the old three-cornered hat And the breeches, and all that, Are so queer!

—Holmes.

4.

The splendor falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story; The long light shakes across the lakes And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying; Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

—Tennyson.

5.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned As home his footsteps he hath turned From wandering in a foreign strand! If such there be, go mark him well: For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim: Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

—Scott.

115. Blank Verse.—When rhyme is omitted, we have blank verse. This is the most dignified of all kinds of verse, and is, therefore, appropriate for epic and dramatic poetry, where it is chiefly found. Most blank verse makes use of the iambic pentameter measure, but we find many exceptions. Read the following examples of blank verse so as to show the rhythm:—

1.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not like the quarry slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach the grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

—Bryant.

2.

I stood upon the steps— The last who left the door—and there I found The lady and her friend. The elder turned And with a cordial greeting took my hand, And rallied me on my forgetfulness. Her eyes, her smile, her manner, and her voice. Touched the quick springs of memory, and I spoke Her name. She was my mother's early friend Whose face I had not seen in all the years That had flown over us, since, from her door, I chased her lamb to where I found—myself.

—Holland.

116. The Stanza.—Some of our verse is continuous like Milton's Paradise Lost or Shakespeare's plays, but much of it is divided into groups called stanzas. The lines or verses composing a stanza are bound together by definite principles of rhythm and rhyme. Usually stanzas of the same poem have the same structure, but stanzas of different poems show a variety of structure.

Two of the most simple forms are the couplet and the triplet. They often form a part of a continuous poem, but they are occasionally found in divided poems.

1.

The western waves of ebbing day Roll'd o'er the glen their level way.

—Scott.

2.

A chieftain's daughter seemed the maid; Her satin snood, her silken plaid, Her golden brooch such birth betray'd.

—Scott.

A stanza of four lines is called a quatrain. The lines of quatrains show a variety in the arrangement of their rhymes. The first two lines may rhyme with each other and the last two with each other; the first and fourth may rhyme and the second and third; or the rhymes may alternate. Notice the example on page 208, and also the following:—

1.

I ask not wealth, but power to take And use the things I have aright. Not years, but wisdom that shall make My life a profit and delight.

—Phoebe Cary.

2.

I count this thing to be grandly true: That a noble deed is a step toward God,— Lifting the soul from the common sod To a purer air and a broader view.

—Holland.

A quatrain consisting of iambic pentameter verse with alternate rhymes is called an elegiac stanza.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.

—Gray.

The Tennysonian stanza consists of four iambic tetrameter lines in which the first line rhymes with the fourth, and the second with the third.

Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell; That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before.

—Tennyson.

Five and six line stanzas are found in a great variety. The following are examples:—

1.

We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

—Shelley.

2.

And if I should live to be The last leaf upon the tree In the spring. Let them smile as I do now, At the old forsaken bough Where I cling.

—Holmes.

3.

The upper air burst into life; And a hundred fire flags sheen, To and fro they were hurried about; And to and fro, and in and out, The wan stars danced between.

—Coleridge.

The Spenserian stanza consists of nine lines: the first eight are iambic pentameters, and the last line is an iambic hexameter or Alexandrine. Burns makes use of this stanza in The Cotter's Saturday Night. The following stanza from that poem shows the plan of the rhymes:—

O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent! Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And oh! may Heaven their simple lives prevent From luxury's contagion, weak and vile! Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their much beloved isle.

EXERCISES

A. Scan the following:—

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home.

—Wordsworth.

Into the sunshine, Full of light, Leaping and flashing From morn to night!

—Lowell.

B. Name each verse in the following stanza:—

Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight— Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

—Poe.

117. Kinds of Poetry.-There are three general classes of poetry: narrative, lyric, and dramatic.

A. Narrative poetry, as may be inferred from its name, relates events which may be either real or imaginary. Its chief varieties are the epic, the metrical romance or lesser epic, the tale, and the ballad.

An epic poem is an extended narrative of an elevated character that deals with heroic exploits which are frequently under supernatural control. This kind of poetry is characterized by the intricacy of plot, by the delineation of noble types of character, by its descriptive effects, by its elevated language, and by its seriousness of tone. The epic is considered as the highest effort of man's poetic genius. It is so difficult to produce an epic that but few literatures contain more than one. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, the German Nibelungenlied, the Spanish Cid, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Milton's Paradise Lost are important epics found in different literatures.

A metrical romance or lesser epic is a narrative poem, shorter and less dignified than the epic. Longfellow's Evangeline and Scott's Marmion and Lady of the Lake are examples of this kind of poetry.

A metrical tale is a narrative poem somewhat simpler and shorter than the metrical romance, but more complex than the ballad. Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn, Tennyson's Enoch Arden, and Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal are examples of the tale.

A ballad is the shortest and most simple of all narrative poems. It relates but a single incident and has a very simple structure. In this kind of poetry the interest centers upon the incident rather than upon any beauty or elegance of language. Many of the Robin Hood Ballads are well known. Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome and Longfellow's Wreck of the Hesperus are other examples of the ballad. It may be well to note here that it is not always possible to draw definite lines between two different kinds of narrative poetry. In fact, there will sometimes be a difference of opinion as regards the classification.

B. Lyric poetry was the name originally applied to poetry that was to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre, but now the name is often applied to poems that are not intended to be sung at all. Lyric poetry deals primarily with the feelings and emotions. Love, hate, jealousy, grief, hope, and praise are emotions that may be expressed in lyric poetry. Its chief varieties are the song, the ode, the elegy, and the sonnet.

A song is a short poem intended to be sung. Songs may be divided into sacred and secular. Jerusalem, the Golden, and Lead, Kindly Light, are examples of sacred songs. Secular songs may be patriotic, convivial, or sentimental.

An ode expresses exalted emotion and is more complex in structure than the song. Some of the best odes in our language are Dryden's Ode to St. Cecilia, Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality, Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn, Shelley's Ode to a Skylark, and Lowell's Commemoration Ode.

An elegy is a lyric pervaded by the feeling of grief or melancholy. Milton's Lycidas, Tennyson's In Memoriam, and Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard are all noted elegies.

A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines which deals with a single idea or sentiment. It is not a stanza taken from a poem, but is a complete poem itself. In the Italian sonnet and those modeled after it, the emotional feeling rises through the first two quatrains, reaching its climax at or near the end of the eighth line, and then subsides through the two tercets which make up the remaining six lines. If the sentiment expressed does not adjust itself to this ebb and flow, it is not suitable for a sonnet. Milton's sonnet on his blindness is one of the best. Notice the emotional transition in the middle of the eighth line. This sonnet will also illustrate the fixed rhyme scheme:—

When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one talent, which is death to hide, Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he, returning, chide; Doth God exact day labor, light denied? I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need, Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.

There is a form of sonnet called the Shakespearean which differs in its arrangement from the Italian sonnet.

C. Dramatic poetry relates the occurrence of human events, and is designed to be spoken on the stage. If the drama has an unhappy ending, it is a tragedy. As is becoming in such a theme, the language is dignified and impressive, and the whole appeals to our deeper emotions. If the drama has a happy conclusion, it is a comedy. Here the movement is quicker, the language less dignified, and the effort is to make the whole light and amusing.



PART II

Description, Narration, Exposition, and Argument have been treated in an elementary way in Part I. A more extensive treatment of each is given in Part II. It has been deemed undesirable to repeat in Part II many things which have been previously treated. The treatment of any one of the forms of discourse as given in Part II is not complete. By reference to the index all the sections treating of any phase of any one subject may be found.



VIII. DESCRIPTION

118. Description Defined.—By means of our senses we gain a knowledge of the world. We see, hear, taste, smell, and feel; and the ideas so acquired are the fundamental elements of our knowledge, without which thinking would be impossible. It, therefore, happens that much of the language that we use has for its purpose the transmission to others of such ideas. Such writing is called description. We may, therefore, define description as that form of discourse which has for its purpose the formation of an image.

As here used, the term image applies to any idea presented by the senses. In a more limited sense it means the mental picture which is formed by aid of sight. It is for the purpose of presenting images of this kind that description is most often employed. It is most frequently concerned with images of objects seen, less frequently with sounds, and seldom with ideas arising through touch, taste, and smell. In this chapter, therefore, we shall consider chiefly the methods of using language for the purpose of arousing images of objects seen.

119. Order of Observation.—In description we shall find it of advantage to use such language that the reader will form the image in the same way as he would form an image from actual observation. There is a customary and natural order of observation, and if we present our material in that same order, the mind more easily forms the desired image. Our first need in the study of description is to determine what this natural order of observation is.

Look at the building across the street. Your first impression is that of size, shape, and color. Almost instantly, but nevertheless secondly, you add certain details as to roof, door, windows, and surroundings. Further observation adds to the number of details, such as the size of the window panes or the pattern of the lattice work. Our first glance may assure us that we see a train, our second will tell us how many cars, our third will show us that each car is marked Michigan Central. The oftener we look or the longer we look, the greater is the number of details of which we become conscious. Any number of illustrations will show that we first see the general outline, and after that the details. We do not observe the details one by one and then combine them into an object, but we first see the object as a whole, and our first impression becomes more vivid as we add detail after detail.

Following this natural order of observation a description should begin with a sentence that will give the reader a general impression of the whole. Notice the beginnings of the following selections. After reading the italicized sentence in each, consider the image that it has caused you to form.

The door opened upon the main or living room. It was a long apartment with low ceiling and walls of hewn logs chinked and plastered and all beautifully whitewashed and clean. The tables, chairs, and benches were all homemade. On the floor were magnificent skins of wolf, bear, musk ox, and mountain goat. The walls were decorated with heads and horns of deer and mountain sheep, eagle's wings, and a beautiful breast of a loon, which Gwen had shot and of which she was very proud. At one end of the room a huge stone fireplace stood radiant in its summer decorations of ferns and grasses and wildflowers. At the other end a door opened into another room, smaller, and richly furnished with relics of former grandeur.

—Connor: The Sky Pilot.

The stranger was of middle height, loosely knit and thin, with a cunning, brutal face. He had a bullet-shaped head, with fine, soft, reddish brown hair; a round, stubbly beard shot with gray; and small, beady eyes set close together. He was clothed in an old, black, grotesquely fitting cutaway coat, with coarse trousers tucked into his boot tops. A worn visored cloth cap was on his head. In his right hand he carried an old muzzle-loading shotgun.

—George Kibbe Turner: Across the State ("McClure's").

120. The Fundamental Image.—The first impression of the object as a whole is called the fundamental image. The beginning of a description should cause the reader to form a correct general outline, which will include the main characteristics of the object described. While the fundamental image lacks definiteness and exactness, yet it must be such that it shall not need to be revised as we add the details. If one should begin a description by saying, "Opposite the church there is a large two-story, brick house with a conservatory on the left," the reader would form at once a mental picture including the essential features of the house. Further statements about the roof, the windows, the doors, the porch, the yard, and the fence, would each add something to the picture until it was complete. The impression with which the reader started would be added to, but not otherwise changed. But if we should conclude the description with the statement, "This house was distinguished from its neighbors by the fact that it was not of the usual rectangular form, but was octagonal in shape," the reader would find that the image which he had formed would need to be entirely changed. It is evident that if the word octagonal is to appear at all, it must be at the beginning. Care must be taken to place all the words that affect the fundamental image in the sentence that gives the general characteristics of that which we are describing.

Hawthorne begins The House of the Seven Gables as follows:—

Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst. The street is Pyncheon street; the house is the old Pyncheon house; and an elm tree, of wide circumference, rooted before the door, is familiar to every town-born child by the title of the Pyncheon elm. On my occasional visits to the town aforesaid, I seldom failed to turn down Pyncheon street, for the sake of passing through the shadow of these two antiquities,—the great elm tree and the weather-beaten edifice.

Later he gives a detailed description of the house on the morning of its completion as follows:—

Maule's lane, or Pyncheon street, as it were now more decorous to call it, was thronged, at the appointed hour, as with a congregation on its way to church. All, as they approached, looked upward at the imposing edifice, which was henceforth to assume its rank among the habitations of mankind. There it rose, a little withdrawn from the line of the street, but in pride, not modesty. Its whole visible exterior was ornamented with quaint figures, conceived in the grotesqueness of a Gothic fancy, and drawn or stamped in the glittering plaster, composed of lime, pebbles, and bits of glass, with which the woodwork of the walls was overspread. On every side the seven gables pointed sharply towards the sky, and presented the aspect of a whole sisterhood of edifices, breathing through the spiracles of one great chimney. The many lattices, with their small, diamond-shaped panes, admitted the sunlight into hall and chamber, while, nevertheless, the second story, projecting far over the base, and itself retiring beneath the third, threw a shadowy and thoughtful gloom into the lower rooms. Carved globes of wood were affixed under the jutting stories. Little spiral rods of iron beautified each of the seven peaks. On the triangular portion of the gable, that fronted next the street, was a dial, put up that very morning, and on which the sun was still marking the passage of the first bright hour in a history that was not destined to be all so bright. All around were scattered shavings, chips, shingles, and broken halves of bricks; these, together with the lately turned earth, on which the grass had not begun to grow, contributed to the impression of strangeness and novelty proper to a house that had yet its place to make among men's daily interests.

EXERCISES

A. Select the sentence or part of a sentence which gives the fundamental image in each of the following selections:—

1. It was a big, smooth-stone-faced house, product of the 'Seventies, frowning under an outrageously insistent Mansard, capped by a cupola, and staring out of long windows overtopped with "ornamental" slabs. Two cast-iron deer, painted death-gray, twins of the same mold, stood on opposite sides of the front walk, their backs toward it and each other, their bodies in profile to the street, their necks bent, however, so that they gazed upon the passer-by—yet gazed without emotion. Two large, calm dogs guarded the top of the steps leading to the front door; they also were twins and of the same interesting metal, though honored beyond the deer by coats of black paint and shellac.

—Booth Tarkington: The Conquest of Canaan ("Harper's").

2. At the first glance, Phoebe saw an elderly personage, in an old-fashioned dressing gown of faded damask, and wearing his gray or almost white hair of an unusual length. It quite overshadowed his forehead, except when he thrust it back, and stared vaguely about the room. After a very brief inspection of his face, it was easy to conceive that his footstep must necessarily be such an one as that which, slowly, and with as indefinite an aim as a child's first journey across a floor, had just brought him hitherward. Yet there were no tokens that his physical strength might not have sufficed for a free and determined gait. It was the spirit of a man that could not walk. The expression of his countenance—while, notwithstanding, it had the light of reason in it— seemed to waver, and glimmer, and nearly to die away, and feebly to recover itself again. It was like a flame which we see twinkling among half-extinguished embers; we gaze at it more intently than if it were a positive blaze, gushing vividly upward—more intently, but with a certain impatience, as if it ought either to kindle itself into satisfactory splendor, or be at once extinguished.

—Hawthorne: The House of the Seven Gables.

3. One of the best known of the flycatchers all over the country is the kingbird. He is a little smaller than a robin, and all in brownish black, with white breast. He has also white tips to his tail feathers, which look very fine when he spreads it out wide in flying. Among the head feathers of the kingbird is a small spot of orange color. This is called in the books a "concealed patch," because it is seldom seen, it is so hidden by the dark feathers.

—Mary Rogers Miller: The Brook Book. (Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page and Co.)

Notice the use of a comparison in establishing a correct fundamental image in example 3.

B. Select five buildings with which the members of the class are familiar. Write a single sentence for each, giving the fundamental image. Read these sentences to the class. Let them determine for which building each is written.

C. Notice the pictures on page 218. Write a single sentence for each, giving the fundamental image.

Theme LII.—Write a paragraph, describing something with which you are familiar.

Suggested subjects:— 1. The county court house. 2. The new church. 3. My neighbor's house. 4. Where we go fishing. 5. A neighboring lake. 6. A cozy nook.

(Underscore the sentence that gives the fundamental image. Will the reader get from it at once a correct general outline of the object to be described? Will he need to change the fundamental image as your description proceeds?)

121. Point of View.—What we shall see first depends upon the point of view. Seen from one position, an object or a landscape will present a different appearance from that which it will present when viewed from another position. A careful writer will give that fundamental image that would come from actual observation if the reader were looking at the scene described from the point of view chosen by the writer. He will not include details that cannot be seen from that position even though he knows that they exist.

Notice that the following descriptions include only that which can be seen from the place indicated in the italicized phrases:—

Forward from the bridge he beheld a landscape of wide valleys and irregular heights, with groves and lakes and fanciful houses linked together by white paths and shining streams. The valleys were spread below, that the river might be poured upon them for refreshment in day of drought, and they were as green carpets figured with beds and fields of flowers and flecked with flocks of sheep white as balls of snow; and the voices of shepherds following the flocks were heard afar. As if to tell him of the pious inscription of all he beheld, the altars out under the open sky seemed countless, each with a white-gowned figure attending it, while processions in white went slowly hither and thither between them; and the smoke of the altars half risen hung collected in pale clouds over the devoted places.

Wallace: Ben-Hur. (Copyright, 1880. Harper and Bros.)

The house stood unusually near the river, facing eastward, and standing four-square, with an immense veranda about its sides, and a flight of steps in front, spreading broadly downward, as we open our arms to a child. From the veranda nine miles of river were seen; and in their compass near at hand, the shady garden full of rare and beautiful flowers; farther away broad fields of cane and rice, and the distant quarters of the slaves, and on the horizon everywhere a dark belt of cypress forest.

—Cable: Old Creole Days.

122. Selection of Details Affected by Point of View.—A skillful writer will not ask his reader to perform impossible feats. We cannot see the leaves upon a tree a mile away, and so should not describe them. The finer effects and more minute details should be included only when our chosen point of view brings us near enough to appreciate them. In the selection below, Stevenson tells only as much about Swanston cottage as can be seen at a distance of six miles.

So saying she carried me around the battlements towards the opposite or southern side of the fortress and indeed to a bastion almost immediately overlooking the place of our projected flight. Thence we had a view of some foreshortened suburbs at our feet, and beyond of a green, open, and irregular country rising towards the Pentland Hills. The face of one of these summits (say two leagues from where we stood) is marked with a procession of white scars. And to this she directed my attention.

"You see those marks?" she said. "We call them the Seven Sisters. Follow a little lower with your eye, and you will see a fold of the hill, the tops of some trees, and a tail of smoke out of the midst of them. That is Swanston cottage, where my brother and I are living."

—Stevenson: St. Ives. (Copyright, 1897. Charles Scribner's Sons.)

Notice in the selection below that for objects near at hand details so small as the lizard's eye are given, but that these details are not given, when we are asked to observe things far away.

Slow though their march had been, by this time they had come to the end of the avenue, and were in the wide circular sweep before the castle. They stopped here and stood looking off over the garden, with its somber cypresses and bright beds of geranium, down upon the valley, dim and luminous in a mist of gold. Great, heavy, fantastic-shaped clouds, pearl-white with pearl-gray shadows, piled themselves up against the scintillant dark blue of the sky. In and out among the rose trees near at hand, where the sun was hottest, heavily flew, with a loud bourdonnement, the cockchafers promised by Annunziata,—big, blundering, clumsy, the scorn of their light-winged and businesslike competitors, the bees. Lizards lay immobile as lizards cast in bronze, only their little glittering, watchful pin heads of eyes giving sign of life. And of course the blackcaps never for a moment left off singing.

—Henry Habland: My Friend Prospero ("McClure's").

We round a corner of the valley, and beyond, far below us, looms the town of Sorata. From this distance the red tile roofs, the soft blue, green, and yellow of its stuccoed walls, look indescribably fresh and grateful. A closer inspection will probably dissipate this impression; it will be squalid and dirty, the river-stone paving of its street will be deep in the accumulation of filth, dirty Indian children will swarm in them with mangy dogs and bedraggled ducks, the gay frescoes of its walls will peel in ragged patches, revealing the 'dobe of their base, and the tile roofs will be cracked and broken. But from the heights at this distance and in the warm glow of the afternoon sun it looks like a dainty fairy village glistening in a magic splendor against the Titanic setting of the Andes.

—Charles Johnson Post: Across the Highlands of the World ("Harper's").

Come on, sir; here's the place. Stand still. How fearful And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so gross as beetles. Halfway down Hangs one that gathers sampire, dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. The fishermen that walk upon the beach Appear like mice; and yond tall anchoring bark Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge That on the unnumber'd idle pebble chafes, Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more, Lest my brain turn and the deficient sight Topple down headlong.