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CHAPTER II.

THE PARTS OF COMPOSITION.

THE two chief divisions of Composition are prose and poetry.

The parts of composition, whether prose or poetry, are Narration, Description, Exposition, and Argument.

1. Narration is the recital of real or imaginary facts or events.

SUGGESTIONS.

In composition of a narrative character the following suggestions should be heeded:

1. A Neat or an Elegant Style should be Adopted.-Sufficient ornament should be used to make the account interesting, and yet not so much as to draw the attention from the facts of the narrative itself.

2. Events should be Related in the Order of their Occurrence. There may be exceptions to this rule, but, in general, it is best to follow the natural order of events. In history this natural order is greatly aided by dates.

3. The Narrative should be Complete.-A narrative which leaves out important details or reaches no conclusion is apt to be unsatisfactory.

4. The Writer should have a Clear Idea of the Events to be Narrated. It is evident that one cannot relate clearly

and intelligently events which are not clear in his own mind.

5. Sufficient Details should be Given to make the Narrative wholly Intelligible.-Facts which otherwise might be irrelevant frequently may be used with good effect in preparing the mind to understand subsequent occurrences.

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6. In Order to be Effective every Narrative should have a Culminating Point. This is especially true in fiction, where we constantly look forward to this point of interest or dénouement of the plot.

7. In Imaginative Narrative the Plot must be Plausible.— Even the ordinary reader loses interest in a narrative which not only relates impossible events, but also follows a plot that is not plausible. The more plausible the plot, the more lively will be the interest awakened.

2. Description consists in the delineation of objects or their characteristics by means of words.

The subjects usually described are either material objects, natural scenery, or persons.

The following extracts will serve to illustrate these three forms:

1. Dickens' Description of American Cars.-"The cars are like shabby omnibuses, but larger, holding thirty, forty, or fifty people. The seats, instead of stretching from end to end, are placed crosswise. Each seat holds two persons. There is a long row of them on each side of the caravan, a narrow passage up the middle, and a door at both ends. In the centre of the carriage there is usually a stove, fed with charcoal or anthracite coal, which is for the most part red hot. It is insufferably close, and you see the hot air fluttering between yourself and any other object you may happen to lock at, like the ghost of smoke."

2. Scott's Description of a Yorkshire Forest.-"The sun was setting upon one of the rich grassy glades of this forest. Hundreds

of broad headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious greensward. In some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of sylvan solitude. Here the red rays of the sun shot a broken and discolored light that partially hung upon the shattered boughs and mossy trunks of the trees; and there they illuminated, in brilliant patches, the portions of turf to which they made their way."

3. Cooper's Description of David Gamut, the Singingmaster. "The person of this remarkable individual was to the last degree ungainly, without being in any particular manner deformed. He had all the bones and joints of other men, without any of their proportions. Erect, his stature surpassed that of his fellows, though seated he appeared reduced within the ordinary limits of our race. The same contrariety in his members seemed to exist throughout the whole man. His head was large; his shoulders were narrow, his arms long and dangling; while his hands were small, if not delicate. His legs and thighs were thin nearly to emaciation, but of extraordinary length; and his knees would have been considered tremendous had they not been outdone by the broader foundations on which this false superstructure of blended human orders was so profanely reared. The ill-assorted and injudicious attire of the individual only served to render his awkwardness more conspicuous."

SUGGESTIONS.

1. In Making a Description the Chief Points of Interest should be Considered.-It must be taken for granted that the reader understands and appreciates the ordinary points in the subject to be described, and it is better, therefore, to give less attention to these and more to the chief points of interest.

2. A Description should be Individual rather than General in Character. This gives vividness to descriptive composition. Notice the following extract:

From Lew Wallace's Ben Hur.-"Opposite us is a fruit-stand. The proprieter has a bald head, a long face, and a nose like the beak of a hawk. He sits upon a carpet spread upon the dust; the wall is at his back; overhead hangs a scant curtain; around him, within hand's reach and arranged upon little stools, lie osier boxes full of almonds, grapes, figs, and pomegranates. To him now comes one at whom we cannot help looking, though for another reason than that which fixed our eyes upon the gladiators: he is really beautiful— a beautiful Greek. Around his temples, holding the waving hair, is a crown of myrtle, to which still cling the pale flowers and half-ripe berries. His tunic, scarlet in color, is of the softest woolen fabric; below the girdle of buff leather, which is clasped in front by a fantastic device of shining gold, the skirt drops to the knee in folds heavy with embroidery of the same royal metal; a scarf, also woolen and of mixed white and yellow, crosses his throat and falls trailing at his back; his arms and legs, where exposed, are white as ivory, and of the polish impossible except by perfect treatment with bath, oil, brushes, and pincers."

3. Qualities should be Mentioned in their Natural Order.The more closely we follow the order in which our observation was exercised in viewing an object, the more likely we shall be to create a vivid impression in the minds of those to whom we give a description. The reader will also more readily understand and appreciate the description when given in this order, and see the object as seen by the writer.

4. The Use of Comparisons makes Description Vivid.Many descriptions owe much of their beauty to the employment of similes. See Goldsmith's closing de scription of the village pastor:

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,

Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on his head."

Sometimes the use of a single adjective aids greatly in illuminating a scene. Thus:

"And ready now

To stoop with wearied wing and willing feet."

5. Description is Usually made most Vivid by Employing the Present Tense.-The effect of this is to bring the picture vividly before the mind of the reader, while it also enables the writer to express himself with greater enthusiasm and interest.

6. The Style should Correspond to the Character of the Subject. Thus, if the subject be a sublime one, the language should be made to correspond; and if beauty be the leading characteristic, the language should be of a character to suit. In either case the use of appropriate figures and ornament is permissible.

3. Exposition consists in the discussion of some abstract or general topic.

It is generally applied to the discussion of some scientific subject, setting forth its rules, principles, and facts for the purpose of instruction. Thus a treatise on grammar or botany consists principally of exposition.

In its most extended sense young writers have but little to do with exposition; but in a more limited sense topics of this kind, such as education, labor, the arts, life, etc., seem to be favorites with young writers.

SUGGESTIONS.

1. In Exposition a Neat, Concise Style should be Used.Inasmuch as the simple object of exposition is clearness of expression, the nature of the subject in most cases excludes ornament.

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