Find out who the characters are by reading the life
of Milton. As a description of the general character
of Milton's work would be too difl&cult for those who
are not very familiar with the subject, the following
sonnet may be read instead :
I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold
How the volummous billows roll and run.
Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun
Shines through their sheeted emerald far
unrolled,
And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold
All its loose-flowing garments into one.
Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun
Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold.
So in majestic cadence rise and fall
The mighty undulations of thy song,
O sightless bard, England's Maeonides !
And ever and anon, high over all
Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong,
Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.
— Henry W. Longfellow, Sonnet on Milton.
Suggestions. — To what is Milton's poetry here compared?
Find three metaphors. Find a situation in this poem.
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170 Composition and Rhetoric
114. The Description of Mood.— Motive VIL
Unity of effect is secured in the following descrip-
tion by the use of a fundamental quality :
Model
The more he thought of it the blacker seemed his
ingratitude. He had actually insulted the man who
had saved his life ! The blood rushed to his cheeks ;
his remorse grew keener and keener, and his philosophy
was of little comfort. Having eaten his last bunch of
raisins, he pushed away his plate angrily, threw his
napkin on the table, and went up to his room in a very
discontented frame of mind.
"I've behaved abominably," he said to himself.
"Why should I have ofiEended him? There was no
need of saying what I did. Reflection always comes
too late with me."
And striking his head with his hand he paced up
and down his room in the growing darkness ....
and in the silence and darkness the very tension of his
nerves made him, more and more remorseful,
— Demetrios Bik^las, Tales from the jEgean,
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same as that of Descrip-
tion-motive I.
Prove this statement by determining what the fundamental
quality is and what details enforce it, and whether the last sen-
tence summarizes the description.
2. The materials used to develop the fundamental quality
are :
a. The physical effect upon the one who feels the
emotion.
b. The effect upon his actions.
c. The effect upon his thought.
Prove this by finding in the above model examples of points
a, b, and c.
3. A device here used in the handling of the material is the
direct quotation.
Find the quotation. Note the paragraphing. Does it follow
the laws for paragraphing dialogue ? (See § 53.)
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The Descriptive Paragraph 171
115. Mood Description in Pictures. In the pic-
ture facing page 358 what are the situation elements?
Is the time given or must it be supplied? How do
the attitudes and expressions of the children show
their feeling ? What do you think of the character
and appearance of the teacher ? Is this an Ameri-
can schoolroom? Do you find any humor in this
picture ? What special thing is each of the pupils
doing? Which child interests you most? What
details of place do you notice ? What thoughts do
you imagine passing through the minds of the
children ?
Describe the picture, The Primary School of Boys^
according to the following plan :
First paragraph — a situation (Type I.).
Second paragraph — a description of the mood of
the children, making studiousness the fundamental
quality.
Third paragraph — a description of place, the
schoolroom, using as a fundamental quality, barren-
ness.
Bring to class, if possible, other pictures which
express mood primarily.
116. The Description of Climate or Season. —
Motive VIII. Unity is secured by the use of a fun-
damental quality in the following description of the
winter climate of Normandy :
Model
The early part of the winter is not cold in Normandy^
especially by the sea. As long as the westerly winds
sweep across the Atlantic, the air is soft though damp,
with fine mists hanging in it, which shine with rainbow
tints in the sunlight. Sometimes Christmas and the
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172 Composition and Rhetoric
New Year find the air still genial, in spite of the short
days and the long rainy nights. Strong gales may blow,
but so long as they do not come from the dry east or
frosty north there is no real severity of weather,
— - Hesba Stretton, Michel Lorio's Cross.
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same as in Description-
motive I.
Prove the above statement. What is the fundamental quality?
2. The material used is the phenomena of the weather.
What special phenomena are mentioned ?
[Note to Teacher. — Motives 8, 9, and 10 are intended for use
in the analysis of Shakspere's Merchant of Venice, sections 289
to 297, and other pieces of literature. The student who is begin-
ning the study of composition should not be asked to write upon
them.]
117. The Description of Music, Sound, or Odor.
— Motive IX. Unity of impression lies in the use
of a fundamental quality in the following descrip-
tions of music, sound, and odor :
A. Description of Music.
Model
Suddenly the notes of the deep-laboring organ burst
upon the ear, falling with doubled and redoubled inten-
sity, and rolling, as it were, huge billows of sound.
How well do their volume and grandeur accord with
this mighty building ! With wha^t pomp do they swell
through its vast vaults, and breathe their awful har-
mony through these caves of death, and make the silent
sepulcher vocal ! And now they rise in triumph and
acclamation, heaving higher and higher their accordant
notes, and piling sound on sound. And now they pause,
and the soft voices of the choir break out into sweet
gushes of melody; they soar aloft, and warble along
the roof, and seem to play about these lofty vaults
like the pure airs of heaven. Again the pealing organ
heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into
music, and rolling it forth upon the soul. What long-
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The Descriptive Paragraph 173
drawn cadences ! What solemn sweeping concords ! It
grows more and more dense and powerful — it fills the
vast pile, and seems to jar the very walls — the air is
stunned — the senses are overwhelmed. And now it is
winding up in full jubilee — it is rising from the earth
to heaven — the very soul seems rapt away and floated
upwards on this swelling tide of harmony,
— Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book.
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same as in Motive /.
Prove the above statement, determining first what the funda-
mental quality is, then where it is stated, how enforced, and
whether the last sentence summarizes the whole description.
2. The material used is :
The effect produced {a) on the senses ; {fi) on the building con-
taining the instrument or singer ; (c) on the mind. What are the
special effects mentioned in the model?
3. The devices used in the handling of the material are :
The description of the sounds as in action. Find example of
this device in the model.
Find examples of the use of the exclamatory sentence. Is it
effective ? Find three metaphors and a simile.
B, Description of a Sound.
Model
I find the sound of the mowing-7nachine and the patent
reaper are , , , , in tune with the voices of feature
at this season [the season of summer harvesting]. The
characteristic sounds of midsummer are the sharp, whir-
ring crescendo of the cicada or harvest fly, and the rasp-
ing, stridulous notes of the nocturnal insects. The mow-
ing-machine repeats and imitates these sounds. 'Tis
like the hum of a locust or the shuffling of a mighty
grasshopper The timothy stalk is like a
file; the ryestraw is glazed with flint; the grasshoppers
snap sharply as they fly up in front of you ; the bird-
songs have ceased ; the ground crackles under foot ; the
eye of day is brassy and merciless ; and in harmony with
all these things is the rattle of the mower and hay-tedder.
— John Burroughs, Birds and Poets.
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174 Composition and Rhetoric
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same as in Motive /.
Prove this statement by determining first what the fundamental
quality is, then looking for the characterizing and summarizing
sentences at the beginning and the end. Show that each of the
other sentences enforces the fundamental quality.
2. The material used:
Find a series of comparisons between this and other similar
sounds.
3. Devices used in the handling of material :
Two similes are used. See if you can find them.
Find also a metaphor.
C, Description of an Odor.
Model
/ am thrilled by its [April's] fresh and indescribable
odors — the perfume of the bursting sod, of the quick-
ened roots and rootlets, of the mould under the leaves,
of the fresh furrows. No other month has odors like
it. The west wind the other day came fraught with
a perfume that was to the sense of smell what a wild
and delicate strain of music is to the ear. It was almost
transcendental. I walked across the hill with my nose
in the air taking it in I imagined it came
from the willows of a distant swamp, whose catkins
were affording the bees their first pollen ; or did it
come from much farther, — from beyond the horizon, the
accumulated breath of innumerable farms and budding
forests ? The main characteristic of these April odors is
their uncloying freshness,
— John Burroughs, Birds and Poets,
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same as in Description -
motive I.
Prove this statement by determining first the fundamental
quality as before.
2. The material used to develop this motive is :
a. The effect upon the senses.
b. The effect upon the mind.
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The Descriptive Paragraph 175
Find the sentences above which give the effect on the senses;
on the mind.
3. Devices used in the handling of material :
Find an instance of the use of the rhetorical question.
118. A Picture Suggesting Music. The picture
facing page 390 has for its motive music, which is,
perhaps, too difficult for students of elementary com-
position to use except for purposes of analysis, when
they find a piece of literature or a picture which
contains it.
Write one paragraph on this picture, giving the
situation.
What is the time? What element or elements
does the title give or imply ? Is there anything in
the picture to suggest music? to suggest silence?
What details of place do you notice?
119. The Description of "Audible Thought."—
Motive X. Audible thought is mental debating.
It consists in the giving of reasons for or against a
course of action.
The unity in this motive lies in a fundamental
question of conduct to be decided, as the following
quotation will show:
Model
•
But why not ask her advice in confidence ? She was
a woman of sense and experience, and could probably
find some way out of their quandary. Mr. Liakos was
on the point of going to his cousin, but he reflected that
it would be a grave indiscretion to impart the secret to
a third person without his friend's consent, and he felt
too that it would be very weak in him not to perform
loyally the duty he had undertaken. Forward, then !
Courage !
— Demetrios Bik^las, Tales of the j£gean.
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1/6 Composition and Rhetoric
Analysis of the Model
1. The paragraph structure is the same ds in Description-
motive I,
Prove this statement.
2. The materials used are :
The pros and cons of a course of action.
3. The deinces used in the handling of the material :
a. The first sentence is in the form of a question.
b. The last sentence is in the form of a command.
c. In the arrangement of the paragraph the argument
for alternates with the arg^ument against the proposed
action. Prove this statement.
120. Uses of the Description-motives. These
motives are to be used in our work for purposes of
both analysis and synthesis.
1 . They will be combined with the various kinds
of narrative we have been studying, and with expo-
sition, argumentation, or persuasion (see Parts V. and
VI.), in a series of theme-models extending through
the remainder of the book.
2. They are to be used together with the situ-
ation and retrospective and forward-moving narra-
tive in analyzing The Great Stone Face (§167), which
is a series of narrative and descriptive motives.
121. Need of Method in Description. This
series of description-motives, all drawn from dif-
ferent authors but constructed on the same plan,
must have impressed upon the student the fact that
writers use method in their work. The following-
extract will show how high a value Coleridge puts
upon the advantages of order and design in any-
kind of composition :
What is that which first strikes us, and strikes us at
once, in a man of education, and which, among educated
men, so instantly distinguishes the man of superior mind,
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The Descriptive Paragraph 177
that (as was observed with eminent propriety of the
late Edmund Burke) "we cannot stand under the same
archway, during a shower of rain, without finding him
out " ? Not the weight or novelty of his remarks , not.
any unusual interest of facts communicated by him;,for
we may suppose both the one and. the other precluded
by the shortness of our intercourse, and the triviality of
the subjects. The difference will be impressed and felt,
though the conversation should be confined to the state
of the weather or the pavement. Still less will it arise
from any peculiarity in his words and phrases. For if
he be, as we now assume, a well-educated man as well
as a man of superior powers, he will not fail to follow
the golden rule of Julius Caesar, insolens verbum,
tamquatn scopulum, evitare. Unless where new things
necessitate new terms, he will avoid an unusual word
as a rock. It must have been among the earliest lessons
of his youth that the breach of this precept, at all times
hazardous, becomes ridiculous in the topics of ordinary
conversation. There remains but one other point of
distinction possible ; and this must be, and in fact is,
the truei cause qf the impression made on us. It is the
unpremeditated and evidently habitual arrangement of
his words, grounded on the habit of foreseeing, in each
integral part, or (more plainly) in every sentence, the
whole that he then intends to communicate. However
irregular and desultory his talk, there is method in the
fragments.
Listen, on the other hand, to an ignorant man, though
perhaps shrewd and able in his particular calling,
whether he be describing or relating. We immediately
perceive that his memory alone is called into action ;
and that the objects and events recur in the narration
in the same order, and with the same accompaniments,
however accidental or impertinent, in which they had
first occurred to the narrator. The necessity of taking
breath, the efforts of recollection, and the abrupt recti-
fication of its failures, produce all his pauses ; and, with
the exception of the "and then," the "and there," and
the still less significant "and so," they constitute like-
wise all his connections.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Friend,
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1/8 Composition and Rhetoric
122. Other Types of the Paragpraph. Of course,
we find in literature paragraphs whose structure
differs from that of the type of paragraph used
throughout this chapter ; namely, that which places
the topic sentence at the beginning and a summa-
rizing sentence at the close. We are not attempt-
ing, however, to consider here all the possible kinds
of paragraph structure. If students master this one
type in the time generally allotted to the study of
elementary composition, they wijl be doing all that
can reasonably be asked of them. Moreover, this
type of paragraph is the one that embodies most
clearly the laws of unity and emphasis, which are
the great principles not only of literature but also
of all the other arts.
Examples of the Description-Motives to be
Classified
[In the study of the various description-motives which are
given below, the student should not forget that in doing this ana-
lytical work he is preparing himself to write the various theme-
models in Parts II., HI., V., and VI which involve description.]
123. General Questions on the Following Ex-
amples. In the first part of this chapter we became
somewhat acquainted with the principal description-
motives. We should now be able to distinguish one
of th^ese from another whenever we meet them in
literature. The following examples are intended to
aflEord practice in this discrimination. The student
is to classify them as to motive and structure by
answering the following questions :
1. What is the description-motive?
2. What is the fundamental quality which gives
unity to the description?
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The Descriptive Paragraph 179
3. Does the first sentence state this quality? Is it
stated directly or indirectly?
4. Does each of the other sentences enforce this
quality?
5. Does the last sentence summarize the description
or give us a sense of completeness regarding it?
6. What is the material used? What items are
selected in each paragraph?
I.
Besides, some of the smaller cities are cluirming. If
they have an old church or two, a few stately mansions
of former grandees, here and there an old dwelling
with the second story projecting (for the convenience
of shooting the Indians knocking at the front-door
with tomahawks), — if thejr have, scattered about, those
mighty square houses biiilt something more than half
a century ago, and standing like architectural boulders
dropped by the former diluvium of wealth, whose
refluent wave has left them as its monument, — if they
have gardens with elbowed apple-trees that push their
branches over the high board-fence and drop their fruit
on the side-walk, — ^if they have a little grass in the side-
streets, enough to betoken quiet without proclaiming
decay, — I think I could go to pieces, after my life's
work were done, in one of those tranquil places, as
sweetly as in any cradle that an old man may be rocked
to sleep in. I visit such spots always with infinite
^ * — Oliver Wendell Holmes,
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,
The example quoted above describes a class
instead of an individual. This kind of portrayal
we Q2i\\ description generalized. It resembles exposi-
tion in that it gives us the general characteristics
of a class. Can you find any other examples of it
in this section ?
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
Find three metaphors (§ 107) ; two similes (§ 100).
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i8o Composition and Rhetoric
II.
The secret of the young man's character was, a high
and abstracted ambition. He could have borne to live
an undistinguished life, but not to be forgotten in the
grave. Yearning desire had been transformed to hope ;
and hope, long cherished, had become like certainty,
that, obscurely as he journeyed now, a glory was to
beam on all his pathway, — though not, perhaps, while
he was treading it. But, when posterity should gaze
back into the gloom of what was now the present, they
would trace the brightness of his footsteps, brighten-
ing as meaner glories faded, and confess, that a gifted
one had passed from his cradle to his tomb, with none
to recognize him.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales,
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
Find a metaphor.
III.
And ever, against eating cares.
Lap me in soft Lydian airs,
Married to immortal verse.
Such as the meeting soul may pierce.
In notes with many a winding bout
Of linkfed sweetness long drawn out
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony ;
That Orpheus' self may heave his head
From golden slumber on a bed
Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear
Such strains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto to have quite set free
His half -regained Eurydice.
These delights if thou canst give.
Mirth, with thee I mean to live.
— John Milton, L Allegro.
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
Find five metaphors.
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IV.
An old man in a lodge within a park ;
The chamber walls depicted all around
With portraitures of huntsman, hawk and hound,
And the hurt deer. He listeneth to the lark,
Whose song comes with the sunshine through the dark
'Of painted glass in leaden lattice bound ;
He listeneth and he laugheth at the sound.
Then writeth in a book like any clerk.
He is the poet of the dawn, who wrote
The Canterbury Tales, and his old age
Made beautiful with song ; and as I read
I hear the crowing cock, I hear the note
Of lark and linnet, and from every page
Rise odors of ploughed field or flowery mead.
— Henry W. Longfellow, Chaucer.
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
But if there was a pleasure in all this, while snugly
cuddling in the chimney corner of a chamber that was
all of a ruddy glow from the crackling wood-fire, and
• where, of course, no spectre dared to show his face, it
was dearly purchased by the terrors of his subsequent
walk homewards. What fearful shapes and shadows
beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a
snowy night ! — With what wistful look did he eye every
trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields
from some distant window ! — How often was he appalled
by some shrub covered with snow, which, like a sheeted
spectre, beset his very path ! — How often did he shrink
with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on a
frosty crust beneath his feet ; and dread to look over
his shoulder, lest he should behold some uncouth being
. tramping close behind him ! — And how often was he
thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast,
howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the
Galloping Hessian on one of his nightly scourings !
— Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book.
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
Find a simile ; a metaphor. Note the use of exclamation.
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1 82 Composition and Rhetoric
VI.
Nothing troubled it. Wars and rumors of war,
revolutions and counter-revolutions, empires and insur-
rections, military and political questions, — these all
were for it things unknown and unheard of — mighty
winds that arose and blew and swept the lands
around it, but never came near enough to harm it,
lying there, as it did, in its loneliness like any lark's
nest. Even in the great days of the Revolution it had
been quiet. It had had a lord whom it loved in the old
castle on the hill at whose feet it nestled : it had never
tried to harm him, and it had wept bitterly when he had
fallen at Temappes, and left no heir, and the chateau
had crumbled into ivy-hung ruins. The thunder-heats
of that dread time had scarcely scorched it. It had seen
a few of its best youth march away to the chant of the
Marseillaise to fight on the plains of Champagne ; and it
had been visited by some patriots in bonnets rouges and
soldiers in blue uniforms, who had given it tricolored
cockades and bade it wear them in the holy name of the
Republic one and indivisible. But it had not known
what these meant, and its harvests had been reaped
without the sound of a shot in its fields or any gleam ^
of steel by its innocent hearths , so that the terrors and
the tidings of those noble and ghastly years had left no
impress on its generations.
— Louise de la Ram£e (Ouida), A Leaf in the Storm,
Suggestions. — Answer the general questions in section 123.
Find three metaphors ; a simile.
VII.
These dim eyes have in vain explored for some
months past a well-known figure, or part of the figure,
of a man, who used to glide his comely upper half over
the pavements of London, wheeling along with most •
ingenious celerity upon a machine of wood. . . . He
was of robust make, with a florid, sailor-like complexion,
and his head was bare to the storm and sunshine. He
was a natural curiosity, a speculation to the scientific,
a prodigy to the simple. The infant would stare at