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Sentences.

Long or
Short.

most prosaic, even to vulgarisms and slang phrases, may be effectively used in poetry. But this only tests the rule by showing the exceptions which must be allowed. It remains clear that a frequent use of such words as "eve," "morn," "ere," that is, of abbreviated forms and archaisms, tends to weaken prose, and that a corresponding misuse on the other side tends to vulgarize poetry. Finally a writer may, in prose as well as in poetry, suit the sound to the sense. He may use the onomatopoetic words, those whose sound imitates what they denote; as "buzz," "hiss," "whisper." Or he may more subtly select words which will in a less obvious, more suggestive way correspond in sound to his idea. Alliteration is

employed by some writers, as in Lowell's "The water tinkles like a distant guitar or drums like a tambourine"; but if there is much of this it approaches the border line of poetry, and so weakens the style. In general it may be said that the wise writer will carefully, and thus after a while instinctively, adapt Diction to subject; and that his effects will be gained by means which do not obtrude themselves upon the reader's notice.

Words are combined in sentences; and the next point in style to be considered will be sentence structure. Here there is even more room for difference, within the limits of good grammar, than in the selection of words. The sentences may be prevailingly long or short; or they may be judiciously alternated. We cannot fail to notice in Emerson, for example, a tendency to short sentences, as in

the opening paragraphs of the Essay on Wealth; while Lowell's sentences are, on the average, longer. The choppy, disconnected effect of a long series of very short sentences and the obscurity caused by a long and involved sentence are equally obvious. But legitimate effects in style are produced by both; and the wise writer will not be limited to either. So sentences may be periodic; that is, so Periodic or constructed that the meaning is held completely in suspense until the end. A strictly periodic sen

tence is so constructed that there is no point from beginning to end where one could put a period and have in the words before the point a grammatical sentence. But the periodic effect may be produced, where the meaning is held in suspense until very near the end, though it might be possible to cut off the last two or three words and still leave a complete grammatical sentence. So a composite sentence might be formed of two strictly periodic clauses; in which case the effect of the whole would still be periodic. On the other hand, a loose sentence is one in which the clauses are so put together that one or more of them could be cut off and a complete sentence left. That is, there is no attempt made to hold the main thought in suspense. It is made plain in the first few words; and the modifying or amplifying phrases are introduced in the form of clauses which might be easily turned into sentences. Here also there is no question of good or bad as between the two sorts of sentence. Each has its uses; and a judicious writer will not deprive himself of the right

Loose.

Balanced.

Mass.

Coherence.

The

Paragraph.

to employ both. Some authors are, however, prevailingly periodic in their style; others prevailingly loose; and important effects may depend upon this difference. Sentences again may be "Balanced"; that is, they may be so arranged that corresponding words come at corresponding points, as at the beginning or the end or the middle of clauses. I may make my sentence balanced, or may leave it quite unbalanced. And so I may have a very simple balanced sentence.

Sometimes the balance is made between contrasted ideas, in which case we have Antithesis; of which some writers are very fond. Sentences may even be rhythmical; that is, there may be a perceptible recurrence of accented syllables which tends to regularity. If it becomes so regular that it can be measured into lines, the prose has crossed the border, and become verse. In sentence structure much depends on what the rhetoricians call "Mass." This is the placing of the most important words where they will be most likely to attract and hold the attention; usually either at the end or at the beginning. Equally important, especially in long sentences, is "Coherence"; that is, such an arrangement of the words and such a use of connectives that the thought easily passes from clause to clause; and the whole sentence hangs together. In all these matters there is a wide difference between good writers. An author's style is judged no more by his words than by his

sentences.

What the word is to the sentence that, say the rhet

oricians, the sentence is to the "Paragraph." One feels, before he understands it or realizes the cause of it, the effect of good paragraph structure. The mere look of a page unbroken by paragraph divisions is discouraging to most readers; and on the other hand a page broken up into numerous very short paragraphs, unless, of course, conversation. or a collection of proverbs, makes an impression of a broken, disconnected style which is to many minds even more wearisome. The principles of paragraph structure are almost identical with those that govern the sentence; the difference being mainly one of scale. The matter of Unity which was omitted from the discussion of the sentence needs careful attention in the paragraph. Some writers seem to pay very little attention to the paragraph as a unit of structure, and apparently divide mainly on considerations of mechanical convenience. But a paragraph should have as distinct a reason for its existence as a sentence. It should centre about a single main thought. It should show an orderly arrangement of thought. It may have sentences which balance each other as the words of the sentence balance. It may be constructed on the principle of suspense; when it will be essentially periodic. It may state the main thought at the beginning, and proceed by a series of modifications or amplifications; in which case it will be like the loose sentence. It may be well or badly massed. The most important ideas should be, as the most important words in the sentence, either at the beginning or the end. It may have its sen

tences well or badly connected. And it may itself be deftly or clumsily connected with the paragraphs preceding or following. A conscious, artistic use of the paragraph is a comparatively late development in prose style. We do not find much evidence of it in the writers of the Elizabethan time; whereas modern authors of the best type take great pains to have their paragraphs well constructed.

When we come to consider the larger units of composition, we find that the style is strongly influenced by the form. That is to say, the brief essay, like those of Bacon, will call for a different style from that which characterizes an extended treatise. Authors vary greatly in the artistic use of larger divisions of composition. Sections, chapters, books, volumes, and series may be written with more or less attention to all these principles of style which we have considered. Beyond and above all this, moreover, is the nameless indefinable quality, which is sometimes called, specifically, "style." It manifests itself in all these details of form of which I have spoken; but it is more and other than they. It is the subtle aroma of the personality. The man himself looks out upon us through the words and sentences of the writer. And when that personality seizes upon our imaginations with the grip of a master, we cease our efforts at analysis; and wonder gratefully at the mystery of genius.

Prose Literature is later in its development than

verse.

This is not because men spoke in verse before they spoke in prose. It is probably because in the

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