CHAPTER III DESCRIPTION 18. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PROSE COMPOSITION.-19. THE AIM OF DESCRIPTION. -20. PLAN, DETAILS, AND POINT OF VIEW. EXERCISE 9.-21. SELECTION AND SUGGESTION. — EXERCISE 10.— 22. SUGGESTION (CONTINUED). - EXERCISE 11.-23. DESCRIPTION IN LITERATURE. 18. The Various Kinds of Prose Composition. The forms of prose composition with which we are most familiar are the novel, the short story, the essay, the biography, the book of travels, the sermon, the play, etc., and, if we chose, we might take these up one by one, discussing the principles applicable to each. The disadvantages of such a method would be twofold: (1) the young writer should not, at this stage in his progress, attempt to compose novels, books of travel, plays, or sermons, and much of our inquiry would hence be ill-timed; and (2) several of the forms mentioned have much in common, - the novel and the biography for example, both being narratives, — and we should thus be constantly retracing our steps. It is wisest, therefore, to treat only the few kinds of composition which are, as it were, elements, and of which all the others may be regarded as composed by a process of combination. We may say roughly that there are only five such kinds of writing. In all prose composition we try either (1) to reproduce in the minds of others a picture of persons or things like that existing in our own minds (Description); or (2) to reproduce in the minds of others a picture of a series of events like that present in our own minds (Narrative); or (3) to explain or expound to others, in a systematic way, what we think (Exposition); or (4) to convince others of the truth of what we believe (Argument); or (5) to persuade others to do what we wish (Persuasion). 19. The Aim of Description. aim of the writer is to reproduce, in the mind of another, a picture as like as possible to one existing in his own mind. This can be done in two ways, (1) by giving details, one by one, in an orderly fashion, until the total picture is built up; or (2) by choosing details that will suggest others, and thus, as it were, conjure up the images desired. In description the - 20. Plan, Details, and Point of View. Let us first consider the method that makes use of many details, arranged in an orderly fashion. Read carefully the following extracts, noting the total picture which arises in your mind as the result of each. (1) "CHIMNEY SWIFT.-Length, 5 to 5.45 inches. About an inch shorter than the English sparrow. Long wings make its length appear greater. Deep sooty gray; throat of a trifle lighter gray. Wings extend an inch and a half beyond the even tail, which has sharply pointed and elastic quills, which serve as props. Feet are muscular and have exceedingly sharp claws."- BLANCHAN: Bird Neighbors. (2) "George Washington may be described as being as straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide-shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neatwaisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well-shaped though not large, and is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high round cheek-bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has a clear though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair, which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large, and generally firmly closed, but from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face under perfect control, though inflexible and expressive of deep feeling when aroused by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential, and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified." — Quoted from George Nurse in FORD's The True George Washington. (3) "The scene [on entering New York Harbor] is among the finest that the eye can look upon. To the right hand is the Long Island shore, handsomely shaded, with pretty villas and hamlets peeping out from their screens of foliage. On the left hand the hills of Staten Island rise much higher, crowned with noble mansions, while bustling villages line the edge of the bay. The water presents a constantly changing panorama. Tall, white-sailed ships, swiftly moving, snorting and puffing tugs, great arklike ferry-boats, of unique style, looking like houses built on rafts, large and stately steamboats with cabins tier above tier, graceful pleasure yachts, tall-masted and broad-sailed schooners, flotillas of barges and lighters, with fleets of vessels anchored, representing all nationalities, are scattered over the wide expanse. A background is formed by the distant cities, and the steamer moves northward towards the statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island, and the cluster of green foliage flanked by the round building of Castle Garden in Battery Park." A Visit to the States. A Reprint of Letters from the Special (4) "The city of Granada lay in the centre of the kingdom, sheltered as it were in the lap of the Sierra Nevada, or chain of snowy mountains. It covered two lofty hills, and a deep valley that divides them, through which flows the river Darro. One of these hills was crowned by the royal palace and fortress of the Alhambra, capable of containing forty thousand men within its walls and towers. . . Opposite to the hill on which stood the Alhambra was its rival hill, on the summit of which was a spacious plain, covered with houses, and crowded with inhabitants. It was commanded by a fortress called the Alcazaba. The declivities and skirts of these hills were covered with houses to the number of seventy thousand, separated by narrow streets and small squares, according to the custom of Moorish cities. The houses had interior courts and gardens, refreshed by fountains and running streams, and set out with oranges, citrons, and pomegranates; so that, as the edifices of the city rose above each other on the sides of the hills, they presented a mingled appearance of city and grove, delightful to the eye. The whole was surrounded by high walls, three leagues in circuit, with twelve gates, and fortified by a thousand and thirty towers." IRVING: Conquest of Granada. (5) "In all New England there is no pleasanter town than Portland, in the state of Maine. Built upon a peninsula in Casco Bay, it looks down upon the waters from a central ridge, and at each end rises into a hill. The eastern one of these commands an enchanting view down the bay and over its wooded islands. From the western height extends a charming prospect over lowlands and a tide-river indented with many shady coves, far away to the hill-ranges whose summits lie along the horizon. Highest of these is the peak of Mt. Washington, some seventy miles away as the bird flies, softly blue in summer, in winter dazzling white, in the northwest. The streets are shaded with arching elms, under which one gets glimpses of the water, and are cooled in summer by the sea-breezes. The houses, of wood or brick, stand mostly apart from each other in green yards and gardens. On the outskirts of the town are fields and pastures, and a pretty piece of woods a grove of oaks-long known as Deering's Woods; now, by gift of its inheritors, preserved as a park." - SAMUEL LONGFELLOW: Life of H. W. Longfellow. (6) "All visitors to Cambridge are familiar with the spacious old-fashioned house [Craigie House], painted in yellow and white, which stands far back from Brattle Street on the right, as one goes from Harvard Square to Mount Auburn. A gateway in the oddly patterned fence opens through a lilac hedge into the long walk, at the end of which, up low flights of steps, the house stands on its grassy terraces. Its ample front of two stories extends, including the broad verandas, to a width of more than eighty feet. There are large clumps of lilac bushes upon the greensward, and on the left an aged and lofty elm tree throws its shadows upon the house, and sighs for its companion, killed many years ago by canker worms and too vigorous pruning. An Italian balustrade along the first terrace is a late addition; but the roof is crowned with a similar railing of the old days. Be |