Composition-Rhetoric Part 13

--Anne Sewell: _Black Beauty_.

+Theme XXIII.+--_Write a brief narrative giving unity to the paragraphs by means of the time relations._

Suggested subjects:--

1. An adventure on horseback.

2. A trip with the engineer.

3. A day on the river.

4. Fido's mishaps.

5. An inquisitive crow.

6. The unfortunate letter carrier.

7. Teaching a calf to drink.

8. The story of a silver dollar.

9. A narrow escape.

10.An afternoon at the circus.

11.A story accounting for the situation shown in the picture on page 90.

(Do you need more than one paragraph? If so, is each a group of sentences treating of a single topic? Can the reader follow the thread of your story? Leave out details not essential to the main point.)

+47. Order of Details Determined by Position in s.p.a.ce.+--The order of presentation of details may be determined by the position that the details themselves occupy in s.p.a.ce. In description we wish both to give a correct general impression of the thing described, and to make certain details clear. The general impression should be given in the first sentence or two and the details should follow. The effectiveness of the details will depend upon their order of presentation. When one looks at a scene the eye pa.s.ses from one object to another near it; similarly when one is recalling the scene the image of one thing naturally recalls that of an adjoining one. A skillful writer takes advantage of this habit of thinking, and states the details in his description in the order in which we would naturally see them if we were actually looking at them. By so doing he most easily presents to our minds the image he wishes to convey.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In the following paragraphs notice that we get first an impression of the general appearance, to which we are enabled to add new details as the description proceeds.

The companion of the church dignitary was a man past forty, thin, strong, tall, and muscular; an athletic figure, which long fatigue and constant exercise seemed to have left none of the softer part of the human form, having reduced the whole to brawn, bones, and sinews, which had sustained a thousand toils, and were ready to dare a thousand more. His head was covered with a scarlet cap, faced with fur, of that kind which the French call _mortier_, from its resemblance to the shape of an inverted mortar.

His countenance was therefore fully displayed, and its expression was calculated to impress a degree of awe, if not of fear, upon strangers.

High features, naturally strong and powerfully expressive, had been burnt almost into negro blackness by constant exposure to the tropical sun, and might, in their ordinary state, be said to slumber after the storm of pa.s.sion had pa.s.sed away; but the projection of the veins of the forehead, the readiness with which the upper lip and its thick black mustache quivered upon the slightest emotion, plainly intimated that the tempest might be again and easily awakened. His keen, piercing, dark eyes told in every glance a history of difficulties subdued and dangers dared, and seemed to challenge opposition to his wishes, for the pleasure of sweeping it from his road by a determined exertion of courage and of will; a deep scar on his brow gave additional sternness to his countenance and a sinister expression to one of his eyes, which had been slightly injured on the same occasion, and of which the vision, though perfect, was in a slight and partial degree distorted.

The upper dress of this personage resembled that of his companion in shape, being a long monastic mantle; but the color, being scarlet, showed that he did not belong to any of the four regular orders of monks. On the right shoulder of the mantle there was cut, in white cloth, a cross of a peculiar form. This upper robe concealed what at first view seemed rather inconsistent with its form, a shirt, namely, of linked mail, with sleeves and gloves of the same, curiously plaited and interwoven, as flexible to the body as those which are now wrought in the stocking loom out of less obdurate materials. The fore part of his thighs, where the folds of his mantle permitted them to be seen, were also covered with linked mail; the knees and feet were defended by splints, or thin plates of steel, ingeniously jointed upon each other; and mail hose, reaching from the ankle to the knee, effectually protected the legs, and completed the rider's defensive armor. In his girdle he wore a long and double-edged dagger, which was the only offensive weapon about his person.

He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong hackney for the road, to save his gallant war horse, which a squire led behind, fully accoutered for battle, with a chamfron or plaited headpiece upon his head, having a short spike projecting from the front. On one side of the saddle hung a short battle-ax, richly inlaid with Damascene carving; on the other the rider's plumed headpiece and hood of mail, with a long two-handed sword, used by the chivalry of the period. A second squire held aloft his master's lance, from the extremity of which fluttered a small banderole, or streamer, bearing a cross of the same form with that embroidered upon his cloak. He also carried his small triangular shield, broad enough at the top to protect the breast, and from thence diminishing to a point. It was covered with a scarlet cloth, which prevented the device from being seen.

--Scott: _Ivanhoe_.

Notice also how the description proceeds in an orderly way from one thing to another, placing together in the description those which occur together in the person described. Just as we turn our eyes naturally from one thing to another near it in s.p.a.ce, so in a paragraph should our attention be called from one thing to that which naturally accompanies it. If the first sentence describes a man's eyes, the second his feet, and a third his forehead, our mental image is likely to become confused. If a description covers several paragraphs, each may be given a unity by placing in it those things which are a.s.sociated in s.p.a.ce.

EXERCISES

_A._ If you were to write three paragraphs describing a man, which of the following details should be included in each paragraph?

(_a_) eyes, (_b_) shoes, (_c_) size, (_d_) complexion, (_e_) general appearance, (_f_) hair, (_g_) carriage, (_h_) trousers,(_i_) mouth, (_j_) coat, (_k_) nose.

_B._ Make a list of the details which might be mentioned in describing the outside of a church. Arrange them in appropriate groups.

_C._ In the following paragraphs which sentences give the general outline and which give details? Are the details arranged with reference to their position in s.p.a.ce? Can the paragraph be improved by rearranging them?

1. We came finally to a brook more wild and mysterious than the others.

There were a half dozen stepping-stones between the path we were on and the place where it began again on the opposite side. After a few missteps and much laughter we were landed at last, but several of the party had wet feet to remember the experience by. We found ourselves in a s.p.a.ce that had once been a clearing. A tumbledown chimney overgrown with brambles and vines told of an abandoned hearthstone. The blackened remnants of many a picnic camp fire strewed the ground. A slight turn brought us to the spot where the Indian Spring welled out of the hillside. The setting was all that we could have hoped for,--great moss-grown rocks wet and slippery, deep shade which almost made us doubt the existence of the hot August sunshine at the edge of the forest, cool water dripping and tinkling. A half-dozen great trees had been so undermined by the action of the water long ago that they had tumbled headlong into the stream bed. There they lay, heads down, crisscross--one completely spanning the brook just below the spring--their tangled roots like great dragons twisting and thrusting at the shadows. The water trickled slowly over the smooth rocky bottom as if reluctant to leave a spot enchanted. A few yards below, the overflow from Indian Spring joined the main stream, and their waters mingled in a pretty little cataract. We went below and looked back at it. How it wrinkled and paused over the level s.p.a.ces, played with the bubbles in the eddies, and ran laughing and turning somersaults wherever the ledges were abrupt.

--Mary Rodgers Miller: _The Brook Book_. (Copyright, 1902, by Doubleday, Page & Co.)

2. Rowena was tall in stature, yet not so much so as to attract observation on account of superior height. Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the n.o.ble cast of her head and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches to fair beauties. Her clear blue eyes, which sat enshrined beneath a graceful eyebrow of brown, sufficiently marked to give expression to the forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as to melt, to command as well as to beseech. Her profuse hair, of a color betwixt brown and flaxen, was arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in numerous ringlets, to form which art had probably been aided by nature.

These locks were braided with gems, and being worn at full length, intimated the n.o.ble birth and free-born condition of the maiden. A golden chain, to which was attached a small reliquary of the same metal, hung around her neck. She wore bracelets on her arms, which were bare. Her dress was an under gown and kirtle of pale sea-green silk, over which hung a long loose robe, which reached to the ground, having very wide sleeves, which came down, however, very little below the elbow. This robe was crimson, and manufactured out of the very finest wool. A veil of silk, interwoven with gold, was attached to the upper part of it, which could be, at the wearer's pleasure, either drawn over the face and bosom after the Spanish fashion, or disposed as a sort of drapery round the shoulders.

--Scott: _Ivanhoe_.

+Theme XXIV.+--_Write a paragraph and arrange the details with reference to their a.s.sociation in s.p.a.ce._

Suggested subjects:--

1. Ichabod Crane.

2. Rip Van Winkle.

3. The man who lives near us.

4. A minister I met yesterday.

5. Our family doctor.

6. The gymnasium.

7. A fire engine.

8. The old church.

9. The shoe factory.

10. Some character in the book you are reading.

(Which sentence gives the general impression and which sentences give the details? Are the details arranged with reference to their real s.p.a.ce order? Should others be added? Can any be omitted? Will the reader form the mental image you wish him to form?)

+48. Development by Comparison.+--In Section 29 we found that comparison, whether literal or figurative, aided us in forming mental images of objects. In a similar way events and general principles may be explained by making suitable comparisons. We are continually comparing one thing with another. Every idea tends to recall other ideas that are similar to it or in contrast with it. When an unfamiliar idea is presented to us we at once seek to a.s.sociate it with similar ideas already known to us. A writer, therefore, will make his meaning clear by furnishing, the desired comparisons. If these are familiar to us, they enable us to understand the new ideas presented. Even when both ideas in the comparison are unfamiliar, each may gain in clearness by comparison with the other.

In comparing two objects, events, or principles we may point out that they are _not_ alike in certain respects. A comparison that thus emphasizes differences, rather than likenesses, becomes a contrast. The contrast may be given in a single sentence or in a single paragraph, but often a paragraph or more may be required for each of the two ideas contrasted.

EXERCISE

Notice how comparisons and contrasts are used in the following paragraphs:--