Composition-Rhetoric Part 3

At the beach yesterday a fat woman and her three children caused a great commotion. They had rigged themselves out in hired suits which might be described as an average fit, for that of the mother was as much too small as those of the children were too large. They trotted gingerly out into the surf, wholly unconscious that the crowd of beach loungers had, for the time, turned their attention from each other to the quartet in the water.

By degrees the four worked out farther and farther until a wave larger than usual washed the smallest child entirely off his feet, and caused the mother to scream l.u.s.tily for help. The people on the beach started up, and two or three men hastened to the rescue, but their progress was impeded by the crowd of frightened girls and women _who were scrambling and splas.h.i.+ng towards the sh.o.r.e_. The mother's frantic efforts to reach the little boy were rendered ineffectual by the two girls, _who at the moment of the first alarm had been strangled_ by the salt water and _were now clinging_ desperately to her arms and _attempting_ to climb up to her shoulders.

_Meanwhile_, the lifeboat man was rowing rapidly towards the scene, but it seemed to the onlookers _who had rushed to the platform railing_ that he would never arrive. _At the same time_ a young man, _who had started from the diving raft some time before_, was swimming towards sh.o.r.e with powerful strokes. He _now_ reached the spot, caught hold of the boy, and lifted him into the lifeboat, which had _at last_ arrived.

Such expressions as _meanwhile, in the meantime, during, at last, while_, etc., are regularly used to denote the kind of time relations now under discussion. They should be used when they avoid confusion, but often a direct transition from one set of actions to another can be made without their use. Notice also the use of the relative clause to indicate time relations.

+Theme V.+-_Write a short theme, using some one of the subjects named under the preceding themes or one suggested by them. Select one which you have not already used._

(Have you told enough to enable the reader to follow easily the thread of the story and to understand what you meant to tell? If your theme is concerned with more than one set of activities, have you made the transition from one to another in such a way as to be clear to the reader?

Have you expressed the transitions with the proper time relations? What other questions should you ask yourself while correcting this theme?)

SUMMARY

1. There is a pleasure to be derived from the expression of ideas.

2. There are three sources of ideas: experience, imagination, language.

3. Ideas gained from experience may be advantageously used for composition purposes because-- _a._ They are interesting.

_b._ They are your own.

_c._ They are likely to be clear and definite.

_d._ They offer free choice of language.

4. The two essentials of expression are-- _a._ To say what you mean.

_b._ To say it clearly.

5. A story should be told so as to arouse and maintain interest.

Therefore,-- _a._ The introduction usually tells when, where, who, and why.

_b._ Every story worth telling has a point.

_c._ Only such details are included as are essential to the development of the point.

_d._ The conclusion is brief. The story comes to an end shortly after the point is told.

6. Care must be taken to indicate the time order, especially when two or more events occur at the same time.

7. The correction of one's own theme is the most valuable form of correction.

II. EXPRESSION OF IDEAS FURNISHED BY IMAGINATION

+13. Relation of Imagination to Experience.+--All ideas are based upon and spring from experience, and the imagination merely places them in new combinations. For the purpose of this book, however, it is convenient to distinguish those themes that relate real events as they actually occurred from those themes that relate events that did not happen. That body of writing which we call literature is largely composed of works of an imaginative character, and for this reason it has sometimes been carelessly a.s.sumed that in order to write one must be possessed of an excellent imagination. Such an a.s.sumption loses sight of the fact that imaginative writings cover but one small part of the whole field. The production of literature is the business of a few, while every one has occasion every day to express ideas. It is evident that by far the greater part of the ideas we are called upon to express do not require the use of the imagination, but exercises in writing themes of an imaginative character are given here because there is pleasure in writing such themes and because practice in writing them will aid us in stating clearly and effectively the many ideas arising from our daily experiences.

+14. Advantages and Disadvantages of Imaginative Theme Writing.+--Ideas furnished by the imagination are no less your own than are those furnished by experience, and the same freedom in the choice of language prevails.

Such ideas are, however, not likely to be so clear and definite. At the time of their occurrence they do not make so deep and vital an impression upon you. If not recorded as they occur, they can seldom be recalled in the original form. Even though you attempt to write these imaginary ideas as you think them, you can and do change and modify them as you go along.

This lack of clearness and permanent form, while it seems to give greater freedom, carries with it disadvantages. In the first place the ideas are less likely to be worth recording, and in the second place it is more difficult to give them a unity and directness of statement that will hold the attention and interest of the reader until the chief point is reached.

+15. Probability.+--Not everything that the imagination may furnish is equally worth expressing. If you choose to write about something for which imagination supplies the ideas, you may create for yourself such ideas as you wish. Their order of occurrence and their time and place are not determined by outward events, but solely by the mind itself. The events are no longer real and actual, but may be changed and rearranged without limit. An imaginative series of events may conform closely to the real and probable, or it may be manifestly improbable. Which will be of greater interest will depend upon the reader, but it will be found that the story which comes nearest to reality is most satisfactory. In relating fairy tales we confessedly attempt to tell events not possible in the real world, but in relating tales of real life, however imaginary, we should tell the events so that everything seems both possible and probable. An imaginative story, in which the persons seem to be real persons who do and say the things that real persons do and say, will be found much more satisfactory than a story that depends for its outcome on something manifestly impossible. He who really does the best in imaginative writing is the one who has most closely observed the real events of everyday life, and states his imaginary events so that they seem real.

+Theme VI.+--_Write a short theme, using one of the subjects below. You need not tell something that actually happened, but what you tell should be so told that your readers will think it might have happened._

1. A trip in a sailboat.

2. The travels of a penny.

3. How I was lost.

4. A cat's account of a mouse hunt.

5. The mouse's account of the same hunt.

6. My experience with a burglar.

7. The burglar's story.

+16. Euphony.+--Besides clearness in a composition there are other desirable qualities. To one of these, various names have been applied, as "euphony," "ease," "elegance," "beauty," etc. Of two selections equally clear in meaning one may be more pleasing than the other. One may seem harsh and rough, while the other flows along with a satisfying ease and smoothness. If the thought that is in our mind fails to clothe itself in suitable language and appropriate figures, we can do little by conscious effort toward improving the beauty of the language; but by avoiding choppy sentences and inharmonious combinations of words and phrases, we may remove from our compositions much that is harsh and rough. That quality which we call ease or euphony is better detected by the ear than by the eye, and for this reason it has been suggested that you read each theme aloud to yourself before presenting it to the cla.s.s. Such a reading will a.s.sist you to determine whether you have made your meaning clear and to eliminate some of the more disagreeable combinations.

+17. Variety.+--Of the many elements which affect the euphony of a theme none is more essential than variety. The constant repet.i.tion of the same thing grows monotonous and distasteful, while a pleasing variety maintains interest and improves the story. For the sake of this variety we avoid the continual use of the same words and phrases, subst.i.tuting synonyms and equivalent expressions if we have need to repeat the same idea many times.

Most children begin every sentence of a story with "and," or perhaps it is better to say that they conclude many sentences with "and-uh," leaving the thought in suspense while they are trying to think of what to say next.

High school pupils are not wholly free from this habit, and it is sometimes retained in their written work. This excessive use of _and_ needs to be corrected. An examination of our language habits will show that nearly every one has one or more words which he uses to excess. A professor of rhetoric, after years of correcting others, discovered by underscoring the word _that_ each time it occurred in his own writing that he was using it twice as often as necessary. _Got_ is one of the words used too frequently, and often incorrectly.

EXERCISES

1. In the following selection notice how each sentence begins. Compare it with one of your own themes.

I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. One day when I went out to my woodpile, or rather my pile of stumps, I observed two large ants, the one red, and the other much larger, nearly half an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with each other. Having once got hold, they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants; that it was not a _duellum_, but a _bellum_,--a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my woodyard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and the dying, both red and black.

It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed--the only battlefield I ever trod while the battle was raging.... On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely.--Th.o.r.eau.

2. Examine one of your own themes. If some word occurs frequently, underscore it each time, and then subst.i.tute words or expressions for it in as many places as you can. If necessary, reconstruct the sentences so as to avoid using the word in some cases. Notice how these subst.i.tutions give a variety to your expression and improve the euphony of your composition.

Theme VII.--_Write a short story suggested by one of the following subjects:_--

1. The trout's revenge.

2. A sparrow's mistake.

3. A fortunate shot.

4. The freshman and the professor.

5. What the bookcase thought about it.

(Correct with reference to meaning and clearness. Cross out unnecessary _ands_. Consider the beginnings of the sentences. Can you improve the euphony by a different choice of words?)

18. Sentence Length.--Euphony is aided by securing a variety in the length of sentences. In endeavoring to avoid the excessive use of _and_, some pupils obtain results ill.u.s.trated by the following example:--