Examples 12, 12(a). A Legend Re-Told. Anonymous, Example 13. The Riddance of a Pest. James Howell, PAGE Exercise XIX. Examples 22, 22 (a), Example 23. A Landscape. Robert Louis Stevenson, I. THE ART OF EXPRESSION. THE art of literature is, first of all, a means of expression, just as every art is, first of all, a means of expression. Whosoever has a sentiment to express, to clothe, to put into form, may choose for his purpose the vehicle of music, or of gesture, or of painting, or of sculpture, or of words. From the employment of words as a means of expression comes the art of literature; and the art of literature differs from the other arts in this-that it is an art which is constantly exercised by every one of us in daily life. If you think for a moment you will see that it must be so. For, the art of literature is nothing but a means of expression in words; and, we are using words for the expression of our needs and feelings, every day and all day long. Whether the words be spoken or written makes no difference. So that every one, in his own way, is an artist in literature. He may be a very bad artist; but an artist he is, whether he will Ever since we began to learn to talk, we have been learning to exercise the art of literature; what we have now to do is to increase and perfect that beginning of knowledge. That is, we have to learn. or no. A how to express ourselves perfectly. And that is the object of lessons in composition. For, the ordinary methods of expression we are in the habit of using in conversation, or in letterwriting, are hasty, inexact, and slovenly. You have only to compare your remembrance of the last conversation you held, or the last letter you wrote, with a dialogue, or a letter, in a book of the classic rank, such as Thackeray's Vanity Fair, or Sir Walter Scott's Redgauntlet, to see clearly what I mean. Spoken English is the worst English; and the reason is, that, in ordinary life, we have no time to pick our words. We must use the first that present themselves; so that we come to use one word (such as 'nice'), to express a great variety of shades of meaning. But, when we sit down to write upon a given subject, we have time to define our own meaning clearly to ourselves, and to find the words which alone exactly express it. And in order to do so, it is necessary that we should become acquainted with the principles that govern the art of composition. II. THE SUBJECT. The word composition is derived from the verb to compose; and to compose means to make something out of something else, or out of several things. If you would compose, you must first find a Subject. When you have found a subject, you have to Treat it. To Treat a subject, is to surround it with the facts, |