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out some particular person for whom you will write; consider his age, his habits of thought, his way of looking at things. Think of the best means of interesting him in the subject that you have chosen. Reject such of your notes as will not be suitable for the particular person you have in mind. Revise the other notes in order the better to adapt them to this person.

CHAPTER II.

HOW COMPOSITIONS GROW.

Introductory.

6. In the preceding chapter we have considered the most important feature of a composition. We have seen that every good composition is a unit made up of smaller units which are closely related. We are now to consider the process by which compositions are produced.

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Compositions do not come into the mind full-grown, as Minerva was fabled to have burst from the brain of Jupiter. They usually have very humble origins. the start a composition is merely a vague idea of something we wish to write about. Whether or not this vague idea will develop into anything better depends on the way in which we treat it. The beginner treats it as if it were the completed composition. "I have it!" says he, as soon as the thought enters his mind, and at once he sits down to write it out. We all know what happens. After a few minutes of furious pen-work the writer suddenly comes to a dead stop. Where has the idea gone to? A moment ago, large and bright and beautiful, it filled his whole mind like a luminous fog-bank. Now it is nowhere. It has dissipated in the process of writing.

The experienced writer pursues a different course. He knows that this first vague conception is worthless

unless it can be made to grow into some definite form. He also knows that the way to make it grow is to reflect upon it long and patiently. Instead of beginning to write, he therefore begins to ponder, turning the idea over and over in his mind and looking at it from all sides and from various angles. As he does so the idea grows clearer. It separates into parts, and these parts again separate, until there are numerous divisions. As he continues to reflect, these divisions link themselves one to another to form natural groups, and these groups arrange themselves in an orderly way. In the end, if he thinks long enough and patiently enough, he finds that the first vague idea has taken on a clear and definite form.

How to Plan a Composition.

7. Thinking a vague idea out into its natural and logical divisions and arranging these divisions in an orderly way is called planning. Benjamin Franklin, who made himself an effective writer of plain prose, has described for us in his Autobiography his method of planning a composition.

Preparatory to writing a composition of his own, Franklin would first set down brief notes and hints of his observations and thoughts upon the subject, in the order in which they occurred to him. Later he would rearrange his notes according to some plan, discarding those that were not to his present purpose, and combining the

remainder into groups. He would put into one group those notes that were most closely related to each other because they had to do with one part of his subject, and into another group those that had to do with another

part, and so on. Thus he kept together the things that belonged together. Finally, he would decide upon the best order in which to arrange the groups. This done,

he was ready to write. He thought that this preliminary planning was economical, because, he said, “the mind attending first to the sentiments alone, next to the method alone, each part is likely to be better performed, and, I think, too, in less time."

People differ much, however, in the amount of preliminary planning which they find it necessary to put on paper. One writer will need to set down in his outline, not only the main topics or events, but also the subordinate topics, all carefully ranked and quite fully stated. Another will manage to keep his thinking and writing orderly with the aid of a few headings or suggestive questions, planning the subordinate topics as he writes. A reporter whose work compels haste will get along with a half-dozen catchwords to aid his memory. Each writer finds out by experience how minute he needs to make his written plan.

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It is best, however, to begin by making the preliminary planning quite thorough and complete. The advantage in so doing is that it keeps us thinking about ways and means of expressing ourselves before the actual writing of the composition begins; it enables us to foresee difficulties in our proposed arrangement and to provide against them by modifying our plan; and it reveals to us the relative importance of the topics, indicating what parts of the composition will require greater prominence and space by reason of their importance. When these things are not thought out before the writing begins, we are frequently compelled to rewrite from the

very beginning in order to say what we want to say. Thorough planning will reduce the necessity of rewriting to a minimum, though some rewriting is always unavoidable.

What Bacon said in his essay, entitled Of Despatch in Business, is true of planning a composition. "Above all things," said Bacon, "Order and Distribution and Singling out of Parts is the life of Despatch; So as the Distribution be not too subtile. For he that doth not divide will never enter well into Business; and he that divideth too much will never come out of it clearly." As Bacon indicates, the plan should be simple and natural, and the divisions of the subject clear and wellmarked.

Think before you write. Make an orderly and simple plan.

8.

Assignments on Planning a Composition.

A. The following are a pupil's rough notes on the first part of Mark Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar (Act III, Scene II). They are set down in the order in which they occurred to him, and of course need to be rearranged and grouped so as to show which are principal ideas and which subordinate. Read the speech, and then from these notes try to make a logical plan for writing the composition. Add any ideas of your own about this speech. Should any of the notes be united? Should any be discarded because they have nothing to do with the speech? After you have made your plan, write the essay..

1. Meanings of the word "honorable." 2. Cæsar kind to the poor. 3. Occasion of the speech. 4. Opportunity to arouse sympathy for Cæsar. 5. Purpose of the speech. 6. Adroitness of the opening words. 7. Ways in which the word "honorable" may be uttered. 8. Effect on the hearers. 9. Antony's character. 10. Why was he allowed to speak? 11. Comparison of Antony's speech with that

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