Part 21

This may sound extravagant, but when the influence upon young readers and young writers is considered it hardly seems possible to state the matter too strongly. It is true that these writers profess, so far as they profess anything, allegiance to all the highest virtues, both moral and intellectual. Their books are distinctly amusing--to those whose taste is not offended by the tone of flippancy which pervades them; and what they write is often eminently clever. Their fault is that they do not take life seriously; that they are as devoid of reverence as a stone is of blood; that their temper is as fatal to idealism, to enthusiasm, to aspiration, as carbonic acid gas is to animal life. Even the cynicism with which they are flavored is as sham as is the tint of a glass ruby. For a young writer to fall under this influence seems to me as great a literary misfortune as it would be a physical calamity for him to become crippled. If one wishes to earn a trumpery wage by writing smartly, these are his models; but if he is in love with literature, he must turn his back. The young writer should strive always to be serious before he is smart, sincere before he is clever, and to flee flippancy as he would flee the pestilence that stalketh at noonday.

By serious, I do not necessarily mean grave, and still less do I mean solemn. It is as true for the writer of humorous literature that he should take his art seriously as it is for the writer of history or of sermons. No man ever took literature more seriously than Charles Lamb, yet he remains one of the most deliciously humorous writers of all time. He was gay and whimsical and droll, but he never for a moment failed of a high and noble respect for literature; he was apparently freakish, but he did not for a line become flippant. It would have been impossible for him to be vulgar. His taste always prevented his going too far. Even in the wildest excesses of humorous literature it is still absolutely needful to preserve a serious attitude toward literature and toward life. It is not that this feeling is to be obtruded. It is not meant that the jest shall be made with the sour visage of a Puritan. It is that the author himself shall never lose this inner respect and reverence for the dignities of life and for the truth. If these are a part of his character he cannot write otherwise than with them as it were forming a background to his work; and no literature is of lasting value or even fame which lacks this.

One of the most striking examples of what I mean is furnished by the poet François Villon, thief, house-breaker, and scape-gallows. He believed not in man, woman, or God, but he did hold to faith in literary art. Life as a matter of every-day existence he took flippantly enough, but literature as an expression of life he still regarded seriously,--and thus it happens that his poems live to-day, and that they are part of permanent literature.

Life is after all a serious matter to the lightest human being. However it is embroidered over with joys and jocund devices, with merriment or frivolity, every man knows its solemnity. There are for the most careless of men moments in which the real gravity of his situation, as he stands insecurely for a moment between the cradle and the grave, forces itself upon him. The only universal human experience is pain. To most men comes hope, and to most comes love in some degree of intensity. Joy, ambition, hate, and jealousy, are common to perhaps the great majority of mankind, and the writer who touches strongly and skillfully upon any one of these is sure of appealing to most readers. Only he who portrays sorrow and suffering is dealing with an experience so universal that he is sure that no man can fail of some appreciation of the theme. Such being the case, it is only the author who by his fundamental seriousness implies--remotely, it may be, but surely--that he has a share in the universal heritage, who can long or deeply command the attention of mankind. To be flippant is to be inhuman; and although the world may not analyze this, it is sure to feel it. Style is the unconscious revelation of the writer’s attitude toward life, and if this be not serious all good gifts and graces of technical skill and mental cleverness, all adroitness of wit and strength of intellectual perception, even all vividness of imagination, will fail of making work great and permanently effective.

Volumes might be written upon style and its relations to authorship, but in the end it would still be necessary to acknowledge that the finest essence of literature is too subtle to be seized or analyzed. The aim of these talks was to consider the practical side of composition, and it is therefore aside from the purpose to attempt to discuss further the elusive æsthetic quality. Individual temperament and individual purpose must in the end determine what shall be the quality and style of all work; so that the secrets of this branch of literary art cannot be discovered until man is able to trace the nature and the working of those twin halves of the highest human consciousness, individuality and imagination.

INDEX

Adverb, flat, 50, 51.

Æsthetic sense, 85-87.

Alliteration, 112-114.

Amateur work, 12.

Antithesis, 113-116.

Argument, 123-127, 152-180; rules for, 179.

Aristotle, quoted, 229.

Arnold, Matthew, 88.

Arts, fine, 1, 135, 160, 240.

Bacon, Francis, quoted, 52.

Bacon-Shakespeare controversy, 303, 304.

“Barabbas,” 83.

Barrie, J. M., use of dialect, 246, 247.

Beethoven, “Ninth Symphony,” 210.

Beginning of story, 232.

Beginning well, 78.

Bible, quoted, 83.

“Biglow Papers,” 247.

Blake, William, quoted, 310.

“Bleak House,” 264.

Brassey, Lady, “Voyage of the Sunbeam,” 212.

Brown, Alice, 244.

Browning, Robert, obscurity of, 63; quoted, 14.

Browning, Mrs. E. B., quoted, 235.

Bunyan, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” 68.

Burke, Edmund, quoted, 52.

Burroughs, John, 130.

Cable, George, “Old Creole Days,” 245, 246; use of dialect, 245, 246, 247.

Canning, George, quoted, 213.

Carlyle, Thomas, force of, 71; invention of words, 117; Lowell on, 95, 96; master of emotional emphasis, 141; obscurity of, 61, 63, 74; quoted, 61, 301.

Carroll, Lewis, “Through a Looking Glass,” 218.

Cause and effect, 231, 233.

Cervantes, 239.

Character, development of, 238.

Character-drawing, 258-262.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, epithets, 204; Lowell on, 204.

“Chelsea Householder, A,” 195.

Classics, 289-291.

Classification, 120-122.

Clearness, 60, 61-70; aided by figures, 98; aid to force, 73; in exposition, 131; in translation, 272.

Climax, 89.

Closing well, 78.

Coherence, 34, 38-42, 61.

Coleridge, S. T., quoted, 54, 189.

Color, local. _See_ Local Color.

Composition defined, 5; how mastered, 20; value of, 15-17.

Conjunctions, 53, 54.

Connotation defined, 45; how produced, 74; secret of force, 72, 86, 99.

Consecutiveness, 193.

Continuity, 142.

Contrast, 233.

Conversation, 3, 220.

Corelli, Marie, “Barabbas,” 83.

Cowper, William, quoted, 104.

Criticism, 123, 285-298.

Culture, 298.

Dante, 266.

Deduction, 166, 167.

De Maupassant, Guy, quoted, 23, 309.

Denotation, defined, 45.

Description, 123-127, 181-207; setting of narrative, 235, 236; subordinate to plot, 234.

Details, how selected, 231; importance of, 300; insufficiency of, 301.

Dialect, 244-250.

Dialogue, 250-257; subordinate to plot, 234.

Dickens, Charles, quoted, 190, 194, 203, 302.

Diction, 43-58. _See_ Words, and Vocabulary.

Dictionary, importance of constant use of, 46; in schools, 46; Thackeray’s reading of, 46.

Disraeli, Benj., quoted, 39.

Dodds, James, quoted, 219.

Donne, John, quoted, 52.

Dramatization, 124.

Dumas, A., _père_, 234; D’Artagnan romances, 210.

Earnestness, 238.

Education, 298.

Edwards, Miss A. B., “Half a Million of Money,” 102.

Effect, how different from force, 82; and cause, 231, 233.

Elegance, 60, 84-88; connected with figures, 100; with variety, 110.

Emerson, R. W., lacking in continuity, 142; quoted, 8, 47, 112, 114.

Epigram, 113-117.

Episodes, 227.

Epithets, 197, 203-205.

Euphony, 110.

Events, order of, 231.

Exposition, 123-127, 128-151; allied to argument, 153, 154, 156; criticism as, 286.

Expression, difficulty of, 11-14; perfect impossible, 7-10.

Fallacies, 176-179.

“Faust,” 275.

Fiction, 231; modern, 260.

Figures, 96-106; rules for use of, 100.

Fine arts. _See_ Arts, fine.

Fine writing, 83.

Fielding, Henry, 239; “Tom Jones,” 210; use of dialect, 250.

Flaubert, Gustave, advice to De Maupassant, 24, 26, 309.

Flippancy, 314-318.

Force, 60, 71-84; in narration, 237; lies in connotation, 99; reserved, 76, 77.

“French Revolution, The,” 141.

Frere, J. H., 277; quoted, 44, 278.

Fuseli, Henry, 208.

“Gentleman of France, A,” 37.

Goethe, 275; quoted, 103, 187, 295, 312.

Good use, 31-33, 48, 50; defined by grammar, 48.

Graham, Kenneth, quoted, 184, n.

Grammar, 48.

Hack-work, 312.

“Half a Million of Money,” 102.

Hardy, Thomas, realism of, 72; use of dialect, 250; quoted, 200, 256.

Harris, Joel Chandler, “Uncle Remus,” 245.

Hawthorne, 212, 216, 239; “Scarlet Letter,” 80, 210, 224, 225, 243; use of dialect, 250; quoted, 238, 302.

Hazlitt, William, 129.

“Heavenly Twins, The,” 140.

Hill, A. S., definition of persuasion, 124, n.

History, 231.

Holmes, O. W., quoted, 14.

Homer, epithets of, 197, 203; sang to semi-barbarians, 68; quoted, 204.

Hugo, Victor, “Les Misérables,” 212.

Humorous literature written seriously, 316.

Idiom, 48-55; of different languages, 277.

Imagination, 299, 318; expression largely dependent upon elegance, 85; incommunicable, 1, 88.

Imitation, 308.

Individualism, 303, 304.

Individuality, 118, 318.

Induction, 166.

Ingersoll, Robert, 176.

James, Henry, use of loose and periodic sentences, 57; quoted, 52.

Jeffrey, Francis, quoted, 40.

Jefferies, Richard, 130.

Jerrold, Douglas, quoted, 231.

Jewett, Sarah Orne, 244.

“Job,” 98, 99.

Johnson, Samuel, quoted, 237.

Judd, Sylvester, quoted, 193.

Keats, John, quoted, 95.

Kipling, Rudyard, mysteriousness, 71; use of dialect, 246; of physical sensation, 207; of sense of smell, 199; quoted, 185.

Kingsley, Charles, quoted, 9, 186.

Klopstock, F. G., Goethe on, 103.

Lamb, Charles, 129, 316.

Lang, Andrew, on criticism, 285.

Lear, Edward, quoted, 135.

Lee, Vernon, 129.

“L’Enfant Prodigue,” 211.

Lewes, G. H., quoted, 274.

Local color, 241-244.

Lowell, J. R., 296; “Biglow Papers,” 247; use of dialect, 247; of loose and periodic sentences, 57; quoted, 39, 52, 79, 80, 82, 95, 108, 113, 119, 146, 204.

Macaulay, T. B., 129; “Machiavelli,” 77, 78, 137-139, 154; quoted, 64, 103, 108, 114, 237.

“Machiavelli,” 137-139, 154.

Mannerism, 118.

Mass, 34-38, 61.

Material, collection of, 147-151, 239.

Meredith, George, dialogue of, 251; obscurity of, 61, 63, 74, 84; “Ordeal of Richard Feverel,” 74; style, 258; quoted, 251.

Metaphor, 98.

Milton, “Paradise Lost,” 68.

Montgomery, Robert, quoted, 103.

Moral purpose, 262-268.

Movement, 233.

“My Lady Rotha,” 37.

Narration, 123-127, 206, 210; reality in, 75.

“Native, The Return of the,” 140.

Newman, Cardinal, 129; quoted, 52, 111, 114.

Newspapers, 296, 297; English of, 18; expositions in, 130.

Note-book, advantage of, 148.

Novel, modern, 214, 223, 227; with a theory, 214; without plot, 213.

Novelty, 117.

Observation, cultivation of, 149.

“Old Creole Days,” 245, 246.

Oratory, 124.

“Ordeal of Richard Feverel, The,” 74.

O’Reilly, J. B., quoted, 6.

Originality, 117-119.

Page, T. N., “Marse Chan,” 245.

“Paradise Lost,” 68.

Paragraphs, 30; analysis of, 31.

Particles, final, 51, 52; unidiomatic, 52, 53.

Pater, Walter, 129; quoted, 90, 146, 306.

“Pembroke,” 226.

Personification, 105.

Persuasion, 123, 124.

“Phormio,” translation of, 278.

“Pilgrim’s Progress,” 68.

Plan, 132-134.

Plot, 238.

Point of View, 90-96; in dialogue, 252.

Programme music, 212.

Progression, 132, 141.

Proportion, 40, 136-141, 227.

Proposition, defined, 167.

Province, laws of, 290.

Putnam, Eleanor, quoted, 270.

Quality, principles of, 33, 59-88.

Reading, effect on style, 307-309.

Realism, 75.

Reality, in narrative, 75.

Reed, Prof., quoted, 52.

Rembrandt, “Lesson in Anatomy,” 210.

Revision, 27.

Reynolds, Sir J., quoted, 313.

“Rob Roy,” 243.

Ruskin, John, 129; “Modern Painters,” 159.

Sainte-Beuve, 296.

Saintsbury, George, use of loose and periodic sentences, 57; quoted, 311.

“Scarlet Letter, The,” 80, 243.

Scott, Sir Walter, “Rob Roy,” 243; use of dialect, 246, 250.

Self-consciousness, 236, 298.

Sensational books, 18, 19; why effective, 74.

Sentences, long and short, 55; loose and periodic, 56-58; structure of, 30.

Shading, 77.

Shakespeare, 206, 266; epithets of, 197; great effects by simple means, 70; Jeffrey on, 40; “Romeo and Juliet,” 252; use of dialect, 250; wrote for pit, 68.

Shakespeare-Bacon controversy, 303, 304.

Shelley, P. B., on “Faust,” 275; quoted, 189.

Sidney, Sir Philip, quoted, 81.

Significance, 227, 231.

Simile, 98; description by, 204.

Sincerity, 238.

Smoothness, 77.

Socratic method, 158, 159.

Spenser, Edmund, quoted, 95.

Stephen, Leslie, 130, 296.

Stevenson, R. L., 130; “Kidnapped,” 207; use of loose and periodic sentences, 57; of physical sensations, 207; quoted, 25, 52, 79, 107, 109, 110, 113, 145, 175, 191, 193, 215, 256, 259.

Story, how begun, 232.

Stowe, Mrs. H. B., “Oldtown Folks,” 252; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 263, 290.

Structure, principles of, 33-42, 60.

Study of art, what it is, 2.

Style, 299-318; ease of, 77.

Syllogism, defined, 168.

Taine, H. A., 296.

Taj Mahal, 59, 69.

Taste, 294, 295.

Teaching, of language, 282-284; need of using language of students, 66, 67.

Technique, best learned on dull themes, 26; defined, 2; how acquired, 23.

Tennyson, Alfred, quoted, 16.

Term, defined, 167.

Thackeray, W. M., 239, 261; “Henry Esmond,” 210; study of dictionary, 46; use of dialect, 250; “Vanity Fair,” 80.

Translation, 123, 269-284.

“Trilby,” 140.

Trollope, Anthony, quoted, 214, 253, 258.

Truth, in fiction, 229; unadapted to fiction, 228.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 263, 290.

Unity, 33, 34, 61; in exposition, 132.

“Vanity Fair,” 80, 261.

Variety, 107-110, 233; in dialogue, 256.

Villon, François, 317.

Vocabulary, 43; means of increasing, 46-48; personal, 305, 306.

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, “Robert Elsmere,” 264, 265.

Wendell, Barrett, quoted, 36, 72, 84, 271.

Weyman, S. J., “A Gentleman of France,” 37; “My Lady Rotha,” 37.

Whitman, Walt, 160, 161; quoted, 111.

Wilkins, Mary E., 213, 244; “Pembroke,” 226.

Wister, Mrs. A. L., 279, 280.

“Wooing, A Woodland,” 270.

Words, connotation of, 45; denotation of, 45; estimating by number of, 135-137; Latin _vs._ Anglo-Saxon, 43, 44; long and short, 44, 45; specific and general, 75.

Wordsworth, William, quoted, 45, 99.

Wormeley, Katherine, 269; translation of Molière, 281.

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