In what respect is the "wonderful resemblance of Donatello to the Faun of Praxiteles the key-note of our narrative"? How do present-day writers differ from Hawthorne in the use of retrospective material such as is found in chapters 3 and 4? Note in chapter 5 the three sorts of subject matter, or, perhaps better, three sources from which subject matter comes to the artist's hand for use. From the appreciation of Hilda in chapters 6 and 7, what terms might be employed to describe the perfect critic? How is chapter 7 related to the plot of the story? At least what two reasons are there for separating the material in chapters 8, 9, and 10 into three parts? How does the chapter entitled "Fragmentary Sentences" advance the plot? At what point in the book can we say, "Now the material for the weaving and unweaving of the plot is all in"? Note the description of the creative process of art as it is worded by Kenyon about the middle of chapter 14. Note also the climactic effect of the incidents towards the close of this chapter. The relationship of the portfolio of pictures, chapter 15, to following events? What is accumulated in chapter 16 towards the bringing about of the climax of the story? What is your opinion of the leisurely manner of presenting details in chapters 17 and 18? The strongest scene in chapters 19-23? What are the elements of its strength? Why end volume 1 with "Sunshine"? Does it, literally, so end? Had you any idea at the end of chapter 25 who the alms-giver was? Suggest some things in Volume I which indicate rather closely the date of the events in the book. VOL. II Characterize the style of chapter 1 of volume II (chapter 26, if your book is in one volume). What is style in literature? The significance of the last paragraph of chapter 3, vol. II? Of points tending directly to suggest advance of the plot, how many average per chapter in chapters 1-5 of this volume? If chapter 7 is read at once after you have finished reading chapter 6, not note the immediate arousing of the sensation of rhythmic motion, merely as if a journey were about to begin, but as if movement of plot were now ready to swing onward. What in chapters 7, 8, and 9 advances the plaiting of the strands of the story? In chapter 10, Kenyon speaks of "the crisis being what it is." Does chapter 10 contain the crisis of the story? What purpose is served by chapters 11-16? Note, at the end of chapter 16, the author's statement concerning the inception of the story. Of chapters 17-20, notice how, though they have little to do with the main plot, the first and last of them bind the group of chapters to the main plot. State precisely how they do this. Chapters 21-25 appear to be the author's attempt to bring the story to a close. Is it a successful ending? Do you think that the story and characters are "so artfully and airily removed" from ordinary life as the author would have us believe? (See "Conclusion.") Do you agree with Hawthorne when, in the "Conclusion," he says that he has "already sinned sufficiently” in his descriptions of Rome? What do you think are the values of the description and exposition in the book as compared with the narrative? BOOKS THAT WILL AID IN THE STUDY OF THE NOVEL The Study of a Novel, S. L. Whitcomb. (D. C. Heath & Co.) A Study of Prose Fiction, Bliss Perry. (Houghton Mifflin Company.) A History of Story-Telling, Arthur Ransome. (T. C. & C. C. Jack.) Masterpieces of the Masters of Fiction, W. D. Foulke. (The Cosmopolitar The Development of the English Novel, Wilbur L. Cross. (The Macmillan Company.) V. THE STUDY OF THE LYRIC Of all the forms of poetry the lyric makes the widest appeal. The lyric poet gives voice in an idealized way to his inmost thought or emotion, and makes it universal by his expression. The searcher for beautiful expression of his own feeling cannot fail to find it in English lyric poetry. This lyric poetry covers the whole realm of human feeling, and has given it surpassingly beautiful form. No type of literature may be studied with more of delight, if studied with care, than the lyric. When we have, by study of the classic lyrics, acquired a taste for the best that has been said and sung, how interesting it is to search the pages of the best magazines and to examine the books upon the library shelves for current lyric poetry of real merit. To come, in an unexpected place, upon a lyric of worth which fits our mood precisely, is a delight akin to that of the discovery of a new land beyond seas. Most readers overlook the brief poems they are mostly lyrics in the magazines. Many of these poems are worthless; but to discover one gem expressive of our own personal thought or emotion is worth many hours of patient search. What is a lyric? - The best lyric poetry is the product of "the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds." Stopford A. Brooke says, "The lyric proper is the product of a swift, momentary, passionate impulse, suddenly waking the poet, as it were out of a dream, into vivid life, seizing upon him and setting him on fire with its grasp, so that the whole poem leaps into being before it is written down." The lyric is the passionate expression, in musical form, of the mood of the lyrist. Characteristics. The lyric is universal in its appeal. It speaks to the heart of all mankind in some one mood. It is usually simple in its harmonies and structure. Its story is very brief, merely a suggestion of a story. No more than is necessary is given. It is not information the lyrist seeks to impart. It is his desire to communicate his passion, to make the reader share his mood of feeling. A lyric, whether primarily of thought or of emotion, is always impregnated with feeling. The lyric is seldom long, for the intensity of feeling cannot be long maintained. This kind of poem must be conceived in the spirit of song. Subject matter. The lyric poem is not confined to one theme, though love in all its relationships, human and divine, is its chief theme. The lyric reflects the entire scale of human emotion. It sings of religion, patriotism, revelry, rejoicing, suffering, and every other thing which stirs the mind and heart of man. Forms of the lyric. — The lyric is usually found in one of the following forms: ballad, hymn, ode, elegy, threnody, sonnet, and even epigram and epitaph. Originally the lyric was always sung to the accompaniment of music upon some instrument, the lyre usually being the instrument employed; hence, the name lyric became descriptive of this song-poem. Sometimes the lyric is found within the drama and even within the epic. The ballad is nearly always chiefly narrative and hence epical. But sometimes the narrative in a ballad is incidental only and the poem becomes an expression of intense feeling; in such case the narrative poem loses its epic character and becomes a lyrical ballad. The genuine epic ballad is a folk-song; but as printed books increase, folk-songs decrease. An example of folk-song or epic ballad is the Anglo-Saxon one entitled the Battle of Maldon. Keats's La Belle Dame Sans Merci is not a genuine ballad or folk-song, but, though very beautiful, must be called an "imitated ballad." The lyrical ballad is exemplified in the old Scotch song beginning: "O waly, waly up the bank, And waly, waly down the brae, And waly, waly yon burn-side Where I and my love wont to gae." The poetry of Burns is plentiful in lyrical ballads. The hymn is a very old form of lyric. It sprang from the singing and dancing of primitive people in their religious rites. As the wild chantings became orderly and were reduced to intelligible words, hymns resulted. Hymns are usually patriotic, such as Byron's The Isles of Greece, or religious, such as Newman's Lead, Kindly Light. The ode might be called a "reflective " lyric. In writing an ode the poet begins with a theme or definite idea, and his poem gives voice to his reflection upon that theme. Many odes are not very musical, — an example is Gray's Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, and in so far as this elegiac ode is not musical it has departed from lyrical tone. Odes are good examples of the universal appeal of poetry, for the best of them are about the greatness of some man or are the unified reflections of the writer concerning some general idea, some idea generally acceptable to most people. Tennyson's Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington and Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality are excellent examples. An elegy is very like an ode; in fact, we called Gray's Elegy an ode. Still Gray's famous poem reflects no individual grief, scarcely any grief at all. It is rather impersonal, indeed. A true elegy is a song of grief; when it is exalted and calm, we are likely to call it an "ode "; when it represents acute sorrow, passionate and tumultuous, we are sure to call it an "elegy." Any poem which is mournful or plaintive might safely be called an elegy. No one would hesitate, at least, to call a funeral song an elegy. One of the most beautiful English elegies, though |