The sadness of a great flood or fire. In the afternoon they came into a land - TENNYSON: Lotus Eaters. II. Interest of Sentences 26. Break up the sentence into clauses and phrases easy to pronounce (harmonious clause or phrase). Use different kinds of clauses and phrases (variety). Let a series of clauses or phrases gradually increase in length (climax of sound). 27. A succession of the same kind of dependent phrases (dependent repetition) is objectionable, as, to strive to learn to write; lives of writers of books of travel; sentence which has variety which pleases the mind which is distracted by monotony. A succession of coördinate phrases with repetition (parallel repetition) is clear and forceful, as A man without delicacy, without shame, without sense enough to know when he was hurting the feeling of others or when he was exposing himself to derision. - MACAULAY: Boswell. 28. Give to parallel ideas similar form (balance) and sharply oppose contrasted ideas (antithesis). An excess of balance and antithesis is monotonous and defective. Much of Johnson's writing has excessive balance. The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. JOHNSON: Letter to Chesterfield. EXERCISE 8 1. It is when he comes actually to prove his point that Cicero's oratorical powers begin to have their full play. He accounts for everything so naturally, makes trivial circumstances tell so happily, so adroitly converts apparent objections into confirmations of his arguments, connects independent facts with such ease and plausibility, that it becomes impossible to entertain a question on the truth of his statement. - NEWMAN: Cicero. The phrase, "It is" ("it was," etc.), is often used to introduce an emphatic expression, as, "It is you who are to blame." Here the clause, "when he comes, etc.," is emphatic in its context because contrasted with what Cicero does at other times. The clauses are arranged in the order of importance, with climax of sound. The adverbs, though likely to jingle from their similar endings, do not do so here. They differ slightly in sound and one is put in a different position. In the last case, instead of writing, "so easily and so plausibly," Newman gives a variety which helps to force as well as to interest. The effects of Cicero's powers are given in detail; first, in general, "everything," then in "circumstances," particular, objections," "facts." 99 66 Explain the full play of: Subjects A musician's powers (painter, mechanic). A gardener, a teacher, a tasteful decorator of home, of store window, etc. 2. Tissot has one lovely picture, “Because there was no room.” The narrow lane of a Jewish city, the steep stairs to the rooms, the blank walls perforated by a solitary, narrow window, the rough stones, and the gentle animal that bore Mary, treading carefully over them -the Jewish women, regretfully refusing admission, the sweet, gentle face of the maiden mother, and the pathetic, anxious, despairing look on the features of St. Joseph, make this a touching and beautiful picture. - SHEEHAN: My New Curate. Canon Sheehan wished to have force and interest ("touching and beautiful"), in this tableau. What makes the picture touching? What, beautiful? Beyond the beauty of the well-chosen details, there is harmony and variety in the phrasing of the accumulated subjects. Read aloud and note how the phrases escape sameness. Subjects Find proofs for the same predicates “touching and beautiful” in : Another picture. A biography. A story. An incident of your life. Choose definite topics and give details of a: Novel and pleasing experience. Admirable and sublime life. Pitiable and mean character. Lovable and humorous friend. 3. When you come to a good book, you must ask yourself, "Am I inclined to work as an Australian miner would? Are my pickaxes and shovels in good order, and am I in good trim myself, my sleeves well up to the elbow, and my breath good, and my temper?" And, keeping the figure a little longer, even at cost of tiresomeness, for it is a thoroughly useful one, the metal you are in search of being the author's mind or meaning, his words are as the rock which you have to crush and smelt in order to get at it. And your pickaxes are your own care, wit and learning; your smelting furnace is your own thoughtful soul. Do not hope to get at any good author's meaning without these tools and that fire; often you will need sharpest, finest chiseling, and patientest fusing, before you can gather one grain of the metal. - RUSKIN: Sesame and Lilies. This passage is taken from a lecture, where because of the spoken word, variety of sentence-form can and should be used freely, especially in familiar style such as this. Questions and imperatives hold the attention. Ruskin has said just before that "wise men hide their deeper thoughts" as nature hides gold, and here he compares the thoughtful reader to the gold miner. It requires much care to develop a comparison without becoming fanciful or absurd, especially if more than one point of resemblance is sought. Urge an audience: Subjects To follow some study, as a mountain climber. To give good example, as a light or as a sower of seed. To describe a scene, as a painter, as a landscape gardener. Hoist up sail while gale doth last, Tide and wind stay no man's leisure. -SOUTHWELL: Dangers of Delay. 4. I was speaking of the true sentiments which should animate the people. Inspired by such sentiments, the people of this country will look beyond the mere redress of existing wrongs, and strive for the attainment of future power. A good government may, indeed, redress the grievances of an injured people; but a strong people alone can build up a great nation. To be strong it must be self-reliant, self-ruled, self-sustained. The dependency of one people upon another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness. By an unnatural law it exempts a people from their first duties—their first responsibilities. When you exempt a people from these duties, from these responsibilities, you generate in them a distrust in their own powers thus you enervate, if you do not utterly destroy, that bold spirit which a sense of these responsibilities is sure to inspire, and which the exercise of these duties never fails to invigorate. Where this spirit does not actuate, the country may be tranquil it will not be prosperous. It may exist it will not thrive. It may hold together - it will not advance. Peace it may enjoy, for peace and serfdom are compatible. But, my lord, it will neither accumulate wealth nor win a character. It will neither benefit mankind by the enterprise of its merchants, nor instruct mankind by the examples of its statesmen. MEAGHER: The Sword. Meagher gave this passage in a speech, and in a speech the repetition of words is especially helpful. Note all such repetitions here. The balance and antithesis serve to sharpen the thought and to give an abstract discussion some liveliness of interest. The topic gradually clarifies: "true sentiments," "attainment of power," "selfruled." The proposition in the fourth sentence is proved in the following sentences by showing the effects of dependence, and, towards the close, by the contrasted effects of dependence and independence. Subjects Write a paragraph on either side of the following debates: Postmasters should be elected. Department stores are beneficial to a city. Admission to a college should be by examination only. The moving pictures are injurious. The Crusades were advantageous. The historical novel does not help the study of history. 5. There is not, and there never was, on this earth, a work of human policy so well, deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of the Church joins together two great ages of human civilization. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the time when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheater. The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday when compared with the line of Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century, to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains. The Papacy remains, not in decay, not a mere antique, but full of life and youthful vigor. The Catholic Church is still sending forth to the furthest ends of the world missionaries as zealous as those who landed in Kent with Augustine, and still confronting hostile kings with the same spirit with which she confronted Attila. The number of her children is greater than in any former age. Her acquisitions in the New World have more than compensated for what she has lost in the Old. Her spiritual ascendency extends over the vast countries which lie between the plains of the Missouri and Cape Horn countries which, a century hence, may not improbably contain a population as large as that which now inhabits Europe. The members of her community are certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions; and it will be difficult to show that all the other Christian sects united amount to a hundred and twenty millions. Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments, and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined |