14. add color

15. took the part of

16. splendid

17. ideal

18. noble

19. at that time; in those

of their kind. Most great characters in fiction are strongly individualized, not merely typical. Becky Sharp is herself, not a type of the adventuress. Jane Eyre is herself, not a type of the governess. Dickens's great characters are too strongly accentuated to be "typical."

Avoid this phrase unless you are sure that you use it appropriately to refer to things that give warmth, brightness, or animation to a book. Becky Sharp's schemings, subterfuges, and hypocrisies do not "add color" to Vanity Fair. This phrase is properly applicable to actors on the stage. An actor takes the part of Hamlet, for instance. The phrase should not be applied to characters in a book.

This word applies to something of glittering
brilliance or magnificence. It should not be
applied to the sober things of life, however noble
they may be. Dobbin in Vanity Fair, for in-
stance, is not a "splendid man.'
This word should be reserved for things that
are perfect of their kind; things that have reached
a perfection fulfilling your highest aspirations.
This is another strong word, to be used care-
fully and sparingly. Use it only when you wish
to indicate genuine nobility.

Never use these expressions unless you are sure that it is clear to the reader exactly what days; in the time you mean by them.

olden times

20. in this way; These, too, should be definite expressions. of this kind; Never use them vaguely.

in this man

ner; thus;

this; these

21. description This word should be applied only to a mental picture of how things look. Never confuse it with analysis, exposition, or narration. Not everything that is not conversation is necessarily description. This word is the antonym of realistic; it does not mean sentimental or love-lorn.

22. romantic

23. because

This conjunction is a causal connective. It precedes a reason given for something. Do not use it unless you are giving actual causes or reasons. 24. imaginary Do not confuse this word with imaginative. Imaginary means created by the imagination; it does not mean having the power to imagine. An imaginary character is one that exists only in the imagination, not one that is gifted with the power of creating mental images for himself.

CHAPTER V

DRAMA

WHAT THE DRAMA IS

There is an old saying to the effect that no man has ever lived so deficient in imagination that he did not at some time in his career write a play. Like most old The dramatic sayings this indicates a general condition of instinct in man affairs rather than states an actual fact, but there is this much truth in it: it is instinctive in men to like to act out stories themselves, and, when they have not the ability or opportunity to do this, to like to see stories acted out by others with real characters in action before their eyes. Hence the universal popularity of amateur theatricals, of the so-called legitimate drama, and of the more recent dramatic form, the moving picture. To see a play is, and always will be, an almost instinctive form of recreation for mankind.

the drama

The drama, then, is that form of literature which seeks to tell a story by setting actual characters in action. As it is a form that is meant to be seen and heard The nature of rather than read, however, it is peculiarly susceptible to the spirit of the times in which it exists, and more than ordinarily difficult to read and to write. It is with some of these difficulties that this chapter is to deal.

WHY THE DRAMA IS DIFFICULT TO READ

The drama is difficult to read, not because it is hard to understand, but because it is meant to be, not read, but

Drama meant to be acted

acted. Of late years it has been possible to buy contemporary plays in book form, but these plays are published, usually, as a result of their successful performance on the stage. Their authors did not, in most cases, orginally intend them to be read. Indeed it is doubtful that the master dramatist, Shakespeare, ever seriously considered selling his plays for publication; it was not until after his death that an authentic collection of his plays the famous folio of 1623-was printed. The average dramatist writes his play in the hope that it will be publicly presented on a metropolitan stage.

Since a play is written to be seen and heard, it must be read with the imagination constantly alert to visualize the

Drama must be read imaginatively

action. Most dramatic authors do not put in elaborate enough stage directions to make either the actions and appearance of their characters or the stage setting of their scenes very vivid to the reader. A few, it is true, have lavished loving care and genuine literary genius upon the comment that accompanies the dialogue of their plays, but these few are conspicuous exceptions. One may read Barrie's Quality Street or What Every Woman Knows or Half Hours with as much delight as one read his novels, but most dramatists have not his gift for interpretative comment. A play that, when well acted, is most gripping may not, when read, arouse one's feelings at all. Augustus Thomas's The Copperhead, for example, which is intensely moving on the stage, loses much of its emotional appeal in the reading. Clyde Fitch's Beau Brummel needs the aid of actors and actresses if it is to be appreciated at its full dramatic value. Much of the satiric humor of Kaufman and Connelly's Dulcy is lost on the casual reader, although it is quite obvious to an audience in the theater. Even contemporary plays of genuine literary worth, often written with a view to publication, such as Drinkwater's

Abraham Lincoln and Galsworthy's The Silver Box have to be read without the aid of elaborated stage directions. And in reading Shakespeare one has to be on the watch for stage directions implied in the text if one is to visualize the action.

The necessity of reading drama imaginatively is easily seen in Macbeth. The night of Duncan's murder is not described to us in stage directions, but the talk of Banquo and Fleance creates for us the impression of blackness and silence and the vague forebodings of evil in Banquo's mind:

"Banquo. How goes the night, boy?

Fleance.

Banquo.

Visualizing the night of Dun

can's murder

The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.
And she goes down at twelve.

Fleance. I take 't, 'tis later, sir.

Banquo.

Hold, take my sword. There's husbandry in heaven,
Their candles are all out.

A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,

And yet I would not sleep."

Reading Julius Caesar with the imagination alert for details

Julius Cæsar is full of such instances of stage directions implied in the text. "I hear a tongue," shudders Cæsar, "shriller than all the music," and by that little sentence the piercing cry of the Soothsayer is described for us; but when we read the play we might not notice this. The picture of Cæsar's train returning from the games is given us by the wondering comment of Brutus:

of sound

Details of stage picture

The angry spot doth glow on Cæsar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train;

Calpurnia's cheek is pale, and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
As we have seen him in the Capitol,

Being cross'd in conference by some senators."