I not by ourselves | have fáced | the spray, || - in his presence, dinned with a mérrly músic ín | the désert [excessive alliteration] and cheerful was [unnecessary transposition] the thin mist they cast sparkling up into the air. Too severe for our uncompanied spirit, then easily overcome with awe, was [inexcusable transposition] the solitude of those remote inland lochs. But as || we walked with hím | alóng | the | windling shóres, || how páss||ing sweet | the cálm | of bóth | blue dépths || — how magnificent the white-crested waves, tumbling beneath the black thunder-cloud! More beautiful, [inexcusable transposition and omission of verb] because our eyes gazed on it along with his, at the beginning or ending of some sudden storm, the apparition of the rainbow.". WILSON. Among other faults in this passage, the excessive alliteration is a prominent one. The double alliteration of Dinned with a mérr y músic ín | the désert is intolerable, except in the metre of poetry; and elsewhere the excess, though concealed from the eye, is obvious to the ear, as in "chirping in their joy, all newly alighted on a vernal land." Alliteration was from the earliest times noticed by the English ear. By itself, without rhyme, it was once sufficient to constitute poetry. It will be seen hereafter that the early English poetry recognized two accented and alliterated initial syllables (and all vowels were considered identical for the purpose of alliteration) to denote a verse. This may explain why an excess of alliteration in prose is peculiarly offensive. Ruskin, in the passage quoted above, writes, among the gleaning of the golden ground;" but it is the combination of poetic characteristics in excess that renders the poetic prose of the last quoted passage objectionable. The worst fault of all is the use of poetic words, — quaked, lonesome, umbrage, and even for "just." 66 - 60*. Exceptional Poetic Prose. It has been shown that, as a rule, the master-writers of impassioned Prose in the English language preserve the distinction between the diction of Prose and Poetry. Most students will do well to preserve the same distinction. But there are specimens of prose which (a) in rhythm, (b) in words, approximate to poetry, and are nevertheless approved, some by the popular, some even by the most cultivated taste. (a) The impassioned descriptive prose of Dickens is almost written in metre, as well as with poetic words. (b) The prose of Lamb, Coleridge, and writers formed in his school, such as Hazlitt and De Quincey, sometimes employs poetic words; and the first two, at least, are thought to be classical writers of English prose:— (a) The earth covered with a sable pall, 1 As for the burial of yesterday; The clumps of dark trees, 2 Its giant plumes of funeral feathers 2 Waving sadly to and fro : 1 All hushed, all noiseless, and in deep repose, 1 Save the swift clouds that skim across the moon, And the cautious wind, 1 As creeping after them upon the ground 1 It stops to listen, and goes rustling on, 1 And stops again, and follows, like a savage, On the trail. DICKENS. Here all the verses marked 1 are strict dramatic blank verse, while the couplet marked 2 has a decided trochaic effect. (b) "Nothing-plotting, nought-caballing, unmischievous synod! Convocation without intrigue! parliament without debate! what a lesson dost thou read to council and consistory! If my pen treat of you lightly, -as haply it will wander, yet my spirit hath gravely felt the wisdom of your custom, when, sitting among you in deepest peace, which some out-welling tears would rather confirm than disturb, I have reverted to the times of your beginnings, and the sowings of the seed by Fox and Dewesbury." — LAMB, A Quakers' Meeting. The poetic diction of Lamb, together with his careful avoidance of poetic metre, forms a pleasant kind of incongruity, as when he apostrophizes St. Valentine thus: “Great is thy name in the rubric, thou venerable Archflamen of Hymen! Immortal Go-between! who and what manner of person art thou? . . . . Wert thou indeed a mortal prelate, with thy tippet and thy rochet on, and decent lawn sleeves? Mysterious personage! Like unto thee, assuredly there is no other mitred father in the calendar." Here there is a humorous affectation of sublimity, and poetic diction is in its place. And even in his serious passages the humor peeps out, and is often expressed by a poetic expression or quotation, as :— "What is the stillness of the desert compared with this place? what the uncommunicating muteness of fishes?" “Their garb and stillness conjoined present a uniformity tranquil and herd-like - as in the pasture -' forty feeding like one."" When poetic diction is used in this humorous manner, it is the result of affectation, an intentional and pleasant affectation of bard-like sublimity. When it is not used humorously, there is the danger that the writer will appear to be affected without intending to be so. Nothing but sublimity of thof in can possibly make sublime diction seem natural. It m He's a matter of question how far poetic prose―i.e., pro. Some poetic diction has been justified by success indonable in instances. It is no question at all that this give it makes rarely successful, and, to be successful at all, must be original. A beginner who wants to write poetic prose wishes to succeed where only a few men of genius have tried, and only a few of those few have succeeded. 62. Speech the Guide to Prose. It is impossible to write prose by merely resolving to write what is not poetry. A positive standard is required as well as negative rules; and the best positive rule that can be given is, subject to certain qualifications which will be mentioned presently, to write as you would speak. This rule leaves great latitude for variety of style and rhythm, as much latitude as is required by speech. A man speaks in a very different manner according as he is conversing at the dinner-table, or holding a literary discussion, or arguing in a law-court, or addressing a public meeting or a congregation; and every different shade in speaking will be represented in writing. But the differences will consist almost entirely in the rhythm of the sentences, in the use of question instead of statement, of short sentences instead of long ones; not in words, which will be very nearly the same throughout. 63. The differences between Speech and Prose spring very naturally from the different circumstances of either. The speaker must make his meaning immediately intelligible, and must arrest attention at once; otherwise the effect is lost altogether. The reader can review a written sentence at his iure. Hence the sentences may fairly be a little longer (b)' ore complicated in writing than in speech; and hence Convocatithe sake of arresting attention, a little sacrifice of a lesson dos to vividness - in other words, a little exaggeration of you lightly,ɔmmon in speech. While speaking, the speaker can explain himself if he perceives that he is not understood: this cannot be done in writing. Hence speech is more irregular and less exact than writing. In speaking there are certain aids to help the speaker, action and gesticulation, the modulation of the voice, and the changing expression of the countenance: objects or persons mentioned can often be indicated by the hand; the auditor or audience can be questioned, and the expression of their faces can be interpreted as assent or dissent, and answered accordingly. The result of all these differences in circumstance is that speech, as compared with writing, is (a) less exact in the choice of words, (b) more brief, and (c) more varied in construction. 66 66 origi In 64. Writing is more exact than Speech in the choice. of words. We cannot stand thinking about the most exact word when some word to produce an immediate effect is required; and therefore in conversation we allow ourselves to "he's a clever fellow," where perhaps we mean say, nal," or "thoughtful," or "judicious," or "sagacious." the same way a fine fellow" may be sometimes used in conversation to express "gallant," or "unselfish," or "noble." This inexactness is extremely common in superlatives, which seem almost necessary as stimulants to give a flavor to familiar conversation, and to arrest attention. Hence, “I feared" becomes in conversation "I was terribly afraid," "It is a pleasant day" becomes " a most delightful day," and "I was in haste" is changed into "I was in a tremendous hurry." This craving for picturesqueness sometimes manifests itself in similes that would scarcely bear the test of writing; e.g., "He's as grave as a judge," as sharp as a needle," etc. Some exaggeration and inexactness of this kind is pardonable in speech, though where it is excessive and obtrusive it makes 66 |