Composition-Rhetoric Part 25

4. What I did on Christmas day.

5. A Sat.u.r.day with my grandmother.

6. To the city and back.

(Make an outline. Keep in mind unity, coherence, and emphasis. Consider each paragraph with reference to unity, coherence, and emphasis.)

+85. Development of a Composition with Reference to the Time-Order.+-- Of the several methods of developing a composition let us consider first that of giving details in the natural time-order. (See Section 46.) If a composition composed of a series of paragraphs possesses coherence, each paragraph is so related to the preceding ones that the thought goes steadily forward from one to another. Often the connection in thought is so evident that no special indication needs to be made, but if the paragraphs are arranged with reference to a time-order, this time-order is usually indicated.

Notice how the relation in time of each paragraph to the preceding is shown by the following sentences of parts of sentences taken in order from a magazine article ent.i.tled "Yachting at Kiel," by James B. Connolly:--

1. It was slow waiting in Travemunde. The long-enduring twilight of a summer's day at fifty-four north began to settle down...

2. The dusk comes on, and on the ships of war they seem to be getting nervous...

3. The dusk deepens...

4. It is getting chilly in the night air, with the rations running low, and the charterers of some of the fishing boats decide to go home...

5. It is eleven o'clock--dark night--and the breeze is freshening, when the first of the fleet heaves in sight...

6. After that they arrive rapidly...

7. At midnight there is still no _Meteor_...

8. Through the entire night they keep coming...

9. Next morning...

+Theme XLVI.+--_Write a narrative, four or more paragraphs in length, showing the time-order._

Suggested subjects:-- 1. The race up the river.

2. The life of some well-known man.

3. The cake that fell.

4. Retell some incident that you have recently read.

5. Relate some personal experience.

6. A story suggested by the picture on page 160.

(Make an outline. Consider the unity, coherence, and emphasis of each paragraph separately. Then consider the unity, coherence, and emphasis of the whole composition. Notice what expressions you have used to indicate the relations in time. Have you used the same expression too often?)

+86. Development of a Composition with Reference to Position in s.p.a.ce.+-- A second method of development is to relate details with reference to their position in s.p.a.ce.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Just as we may give either a paragraph or a whole theme coherence by following a given time-order, so may we make a paragraph or a whole theme coherent by arranging the parts in an order determined by their position in s.p.a.ce. In developing a theme by this method we simply apply to the whole theme the principles discussed for the development of a paragraph (Section 47).

In a description composed of several paragraphs, each paragraph should contain a group of details closely related to one another in s.p.a.ce. The paragraphs should be constructed so that each shall possess unity and coherence within itself, and they should be so arranged that we may pa.s.s most easily from the group of images presented by one paragraph to the images presented by the next. In narration, the s.p.a.ce arrangement may supplement time-order in giving coherence.

If the most attractive features of an art room are its wall decorations, five paragraphs describing the room may be as follows:--

1. Point of view: general impression.

2. The north wall: general impression; details.

3. The east wall: general impression; details.

4. The south wall: general impression; details.

5. The west wall: general impression; details.

It is easy to imagine a room in the description of which the following paragraphs would be appropriate:--

1. Point of view.

2. The fireplace.

3. The easy-chair.

4. The table.

5. The bookcase.

6. The cozy nook.

Such an arrangement of paragraphs would give coherence. Unity would be secured by including in each only that which properly belonged to it.

There are many words and expressions which indicate the relative position of objects. The paragraph below is an ill.u.s.tration of the method of development described in Section 47. Notice the words which indicate the location of the different details in the scene. If each of these details should be developed into a paragraph the italicized expressions would serve to introduce these paragraphs and would show the relative positions of the objects described.

The beauty of the sea and sh.o.r.e was almost indescribable: _on one side_ rose Point Loma, grim, gloomy as a fortress wall; _before_ me stretched away to the horizon the ocean with its miles of breakers curling into foam; _between_ the surf and the city, wrapped in its dark blue mantle, lay the sleeping bay; _eastward_ the mingled yellow, red, and white of San Diego's buildings glistened in the sunlight like a bed of coleus; _beyond_ the city heaved the rolling plains rich in their garb of golden brown, _from which_ rose the distant mountains, tier on tier, wearing the purple veil which Nature here loves oftenest to weave for them; while _in the foreground_, like a jewel in a brilliant setting, stood the Coronado.

--Stoddard: _California_.

+Theme XLVII.+--_Write a description three or more paragraphs in length._

Suggested subjects:-- 1. Some well-known building (exterior).

2. A prominent person.

3. An attractive room.

4. The interior of a church.

(Consider your outline with reference to unity, coherence, and proportion of parts. When the theme is completed, consider the unity, coherence, and emphasis of each paragraph and of the composition as a whole.)

+87. Paragraph Relations.+--Relations in thought other than those of time and s.p.a.ce may be indicated by the use of certain words and phrases. Such expressions as, _however, nevertheless, consequently, indeed, moreover, at all events_, etc., are often used to indicate a relation in thought between paragraphs. Notice how _nevertheless_, at the beginning of the selection below, serves to connect it in thought with a preceding paragraph not printed here. Notice also the relations in thought shown by the italicized words. These and similar words are used to make the transition from one paragraph to the next.

_Nevertheless_, Howe was at last in possession of Philadelphia, the object of his campaign, and with his communications by water open. He had consumed four months in this business since he left New York, three months since he landed near the Elk River. His prize, now that he had got it, was worth less than nothing in a military point of view, and he had been made to pay a high price for it, not merely in men, but in precious time, for while he was struggling sluggishly for Philadelphia, Burgoyne, who really meant something very serious, had gone to wreck and sunk out of sight in the northern forests. _Indeed_, Howe did not even hold his dearly bought town in peace. After the fall of the forts, Greene, aided by Lafayette, who had joined the army on its way to the Brandywine, made a sharp dash and broke up an outlying party of Hessians. _Such things_ were intolerable, they interfered with personal comfort, and they emanated from the American army which Washington had now established in strong lines at Whitemarsh. _So_ Howe announced that in order to have a quiet winter, he would drive Washington beyond the mountains. Howe did not often display military intelligence, but that he was profoundly right in this particular intention must be admitted. In pursuit of his plan, _therefore_, he marched out of Philadelphia on December 4th, drove off some Pennsylvania militia on the 5th, considered the American position for four days, did not dare to attack, could not draw his opponent out, returned to the city, and left Washington to go into winter quarters at Valley Forge, whence he could easily strike if any move was made by the British army.

--Henry Cabot Lodge.