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Title: The Philosophy of Style

Author: Herbert Spencer

Release Date: June, 2004  [EBook #5849]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on September 13, 2002]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, The Philosophy of Style ***

THE PHILOSOPHY OF
STYLE.

by Herbert Spencer

1852

 

PART I.

CAUSES OF FORCE IN
LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON

�������� ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENERGIES.

 

i. The Principle of Economy.

 

� 1.   Commenting on the seeming incongruity between his
father�s argumentative powers and his ignorance of formal logic, Tristram
Shandy says:��It was a matter of just wonder with my worthy tutor, and two or
three fellows of that learned society, that a man who knew not so much as the
names of his tools, should be able to work after that fashion with them.�
Sterne�s intended implication that a knowledge of the principles of reasoning
neither makes, nor is essential to, a good reasoner, is doubtless true. Thus,
too, is it with grammar. As Dr. Latham, condemning the usual school‑drill
in Lindley Murray, rightly remarks: �Gross vulgarity is a fault to be
prevented; but the proper prevention is to be got from habit�not rules.�
Similarly, there can be little question that good composition is far less
dependent upon acquaintance with its laws, than upon practice and natural
aptitude. A clear head, a quick imagination, and a sensitive ear, will go far
towards making all rhetorical precepts needless. He who daily hears and reads
well-framed sentences, will naturally more or less tend to use similar
ones. And where there exists any mental idiosyncrasy�where there is a deficient
verbal memory, or an inadequate sense of logical dependence, or but little
perception of order, or a lack of constructive ingenuity; no amount of
instruction will remedy the defect. Nevertheless, some practical result may be
expected from a familiarity with the principles of style. The endeavour to
conform to laws may tell, though slowly. And if in no other way, yet, as
facilitating revision, a knowledge of the thing to be achieved�a clear idea of
what constitutes a beauty, and what a blemish�cannot fail to be of service.

� 2.   No general theory of expression
seems yet to have been enunciated. The maxims contained in works on composition
and rhetoric, are presented in an unorganized form. Standing as isolated dogmas�as empirical generalizations, they are neither so clearly apprehended,
nor so much respected, as they would be were they deduced from some simple
first principle. We are told that �brevity is the soul of wit.� We hear styles
condemned as verbose or involved. Blair says that every needless part of a
sentence �interrupts the description and clogs the image;� and again, that
�long sentences fatigue the reader�s attention.� It is remarked by Lord
Kaimes,
that �to give the utmost force to a period, it ought, if possible, to be closed
with that word which makes the greatest figure� That parentheses should be
avoided and that Saxon words should be used in preference to those of Latin
origin, are established precepts. But, however influential the truths thus
dogmatically embodied, they would be much more influential if reduced to
something like scientific ordination. In this, as in other cases, conviction
will be greatly strengthened when we understand the why. And we may be sure
that a comprehension of the general principle from which the rules of
composition result, will not only bring them home to us with greater force, but
will discover to us other rules of like origin,

� 3.   On seeking for some clue to the
law underlying these current maxims, we may see shadowed forth in many of them,
the importance of economizing the reader�s or hearer�s attention, To so present
ideas that they may be apprehended with the least possible mental effort, is
the desideratum towards which most of the rules above quoted point. When we
condemn writing that is wordy, or confused, or intricate�when we praise this
style as easy, and blame that as fatiguing, we consciously or unconsciously
assume this desideratum as our standard of judgment. Regarding language as an
apparatus of symbols for the conveyance of thought, we may say that, as in a
mechanical apparatus, the more simple and the better arranged its parts, the
greater will be the effect produced. In either case, whatever force is absorbed
by the machine is deducted from the result. A reader or listener has at each
moment but a limited amount of mental power available. To recognize and
interpret the symbols presented to him, requires part of this power; to arrange
and combine the images suggested requires a further part; and only that part
which remains can be used for realizing the thought conveyed. Hence, the more
time and attention it takes to receive and understand each sentence, the less
time and attention can be given to the contained idea; and the less vividly will
that idea be conceived.

� 4.   How truly language must be
regarded as a hindrance to thought, though the necessary instrument of it, we
shall clearly perceive on remembering the comparative force with which simple
ideas are communicated by signs. To say, �Leave the room,� is less expressive
than to point to the door. Placing a finger on the lips is more forcible than
whispering, �Do not speak.� A beck of the hand is better than, �Come here.� No
phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as opening the eyes and
raising the eyebrows. A shrug of the shoulders would lose much by translation
into words. Again, it may be remarked that when oral language is employed, the
strongest effects are produced by interjections, which condense entire
sentences into syllables. And in other cases, where custom allows us to express
thoughts by single words, as in Beware,
Heigho, Fudge, much force would be lost by expanding them into specific
propositions. Hence, carrying out the metaphor that language is the vehicle of
thought, there seems reason to think that in all cases the friction and inertia
of the vehicle deduct from its efficiency; and that in composition, the chief,
if not the sole thing to be done, is, to reduce this friction and inertia to
the smallest possible amount. Let us then inquire whether economy of the
recipient�s attention is not the secret of effect, alike in the right choice
and collocation of words, in the best arrangement of clauses in a sentence, in
the proper order of its principal and subordinate propositions, in the
judicious use of simile, metaphor, and other figures of speech, and even in the
rhythmical sequence of syllables.

 

ii.
Economy in the Use of Words.

 

�
5.   The greater
forcibleness of Saxon English, or rather non‑Latin English, first claims
our attention. The several special reasons assignable for this may all be
reduced to the general reason�economy. The most important of them is early
association. A child�s vocabulary is almost wholly Saxon. He says, I have, not I possess�I wish, not I desire; he does not reflect, he
thinks; he does not beg for amusement, but for play; he calls
things nice or nasty, not pleasant or disagreeable. The synonyms which he learns
in after years, never become so closely, so organically connected with the
ideas signified, as do these original words used in childhood; and hence the
association remains less strong. But in what does a strong association between
a word and an idea differ from a weak one? Simply in the greater ease and
rapidity of the suggestive action. It can be in nothing else. Both of two
words, if they be strictly synonymous, eventually call up the same image. The
expression�It is acid, must in the
end give rise to the same thought as�It is sour; but because the term acid was learnt later in life, and has
not been so often followed by the thought symbolized, it does not so readily
arouse that thought as the term sour. If we remember how slowly and with what
labour the appropriate ideas follow unfamiliar words in another language, and
how increasing familiarity with such words brings greater rapidity and ease of
comprehension; and if we consider that the same process must have gone on with
the words of our mother tongue from childhood upwards, we shall clearly see
that the earliest learnt and oftenest used words, will, other things equal,
call up images with less loss of time and energy than their later learnt
synonyms.

�
6.   The further
superiority possessed by Saxon English in its comparative brevity, obviously
comes under the same generalization. If it be an advantage to express an idea
in the smallest number of words, then will it be an advantage to express it in
the smallest number of syllables. If circuitous phrases and needless expletives
distract the attention and diminish the strength of the impression produced,
then do surplus articulations do so. A certain effort, though commonly an
inappreciable one, must be required to recognize every vowel and consonant. If,
as all know, it is tiresome to listen to an indistinct speaker, or read a badly‑written
manuscript; and if, as we cannot doubt, the fatigue is a cumulative result of
the attention needed to catch successive syllables; it follows that attention
is in such cases absorbed by each syllable. And if this be true when the
syllables are difficult of recognition, it will also be true, though in a less
degree, when the recognition of them is easy. Hence, the shortness of Saxon
words becomes a reason for their greater force. One qualification, however,
must not be overlooked. A word which in itself embodies the most important part
of the idea to be conveyed, especially when that idea is an emotional one, may
often with advantage be a polysyllabic word. Thus it seems more forcible to
say, �It is magnificent,�
than �It is grand.�
The word vast is not so powerful
a one as stupendous Calling a thing nasty is not so effective as calling it disgusting.

�
7.   There seem to be
several causes for this exceptional superiority of certain long words. We may
ascribe it partly to the fact that a voluminous, mouth‑filling epithet
is, by its very size, suggestive of largeness or strength; witness the immense
pomposity of sesquipedalian verbiage: and when great power or intensity has to
be suggested, this association of ideas aids the effect. A further cause may be
that a word of several syllables admits of more emphatic articulation; and as
emphatic articulation is a sign of emotion, the unusual impressiveness of the
thing named is implied by it. Yet another cause is that a long word (of which
the latter syllables are generally inferred as soon as the first are spoken)
allows the hearer�s consciousness a longer time to dwell upon the quality
predicated; and where, as in the above cases, it is to this predicated quality
that the entire attention is called, an advantage results from keeping it
before the mind for an appreciable time. The reasons which we have given for
preferring short words evidently do not hold here. So that to make our
generalization quite correct we must say, that while in certain sentences
expressing strong feeling, the word which more especially implies that feeling
may often with advantage be a many-syllabled or Latin one; in the immense
majority of cases, each word serving but as a step to the idea embodied by the
whole sentence, should, if possible, be a one-syllabled or Saxon one.

�
8.   Once more, that
frequent cause of strength in Saxon and other primitive words‑their
imitative character may be similarly resolved into the more general cause. Both
those directly imitative, as splash,
bang, whiz, roar, &c., and those analogically imitative, as rough, smooth, keen, blunt, thin, hard,
crag, &c., have a greater or less likeness to the things symbolized;
and by making on the senses impressions allied to the ideas to be called up,
they save part of the effort needed to call up such ideas, and leave more
attention for the ideas themselves.

�
9.   The economy of the
recipient�s mental energy, into which are thus resolvable the several causes of
the strength of Saxon English, may equally be traced in the superiority of
specific over generic words. That concrete terms produce more vivid impressions
than abstract ones, and should, when possible, be used instead, is a thorough
maxim of composition. As Dr. Campbell says, �The more general the terms are,
the picture is the fainter; the more special they are, �tis the brighter.� We
should avoid such a sentence as:��In proportion as the manners, customs, and
amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations of their penal
code will be severe.� And in place of it we should write:��In proportion as men
delight in battles, bull-fights, and combats of gladiators, will they
punish by hanging, burning, and the rack.�

�
10.   This superiority
of specific expressions is clearly due to a saving of the effort required to
translate words into thoughts. As we do not think in generals but in
particulars�as, whenever any class of things is referred to, we
represent it to ourselves by calling to mind individual members of it; it
follows that when an abstract word is used, the bearer or reader has to choose
from his stock of images, one or more, by which he may figure to himself the
genus mentioned. In doing this, some delay must arise some force be
expended; and if, by employing a specific term, an appropriate image can be at
once suggested, an economy is achieved, and a more vivid impression produced.

 

ii
The Principle of Economy applied to Sentences.

 

�
11.   Turning now from
the choice of words to their sequence, we shall find the same general principle
hold good. We have a priori reasons for believing that in every sentence
there is some one order of words more effective than any other; and that this
order is the one which presents the elements of the proposition in the
succession in which they may be most readily put together. As in a narrative,
the events should be stated in such sequence that the mind may not have to go
backwards and forwards in order to rightly connect them; as in a group of
sentences, the arrangement should be such, that each of them may be understood
as it comes, without waiting for subsequent ones; so in every sentence, the
sequence of words should be that which suggests the constituents of the thought
in the order most convenient for the building up that thought. Duly to enforce
this truth, and to prepare the way for applications of it, we must briefly
inquire into the mental act by which the meaning of a series of words is
apprehended. 

�
12.   We cannot more
simply do this than by considering the proper collocation of the substantive
and adjective. Is it better to place the adjective before the substantive, or
the substantive before the adjective? Ought we to say with the French�un cheval noir; or to say as we do�a black
horse? Probably, most persons of culture would decide that one order is as good
as the other. Alive to the bias produced by habit, they would ascribe to that
the preference they feel for our own form of expression. They would expect
those educated in the use of the opposite form to have an equal preference for
that. And thus they would conclude that neither of these instinctive judgments
is of any worth. There is, however, a philosophical ground for deciding in
favour of the English custom. If �a horse black� be the arrangement,
immediately on the utterance of the word �horse,� there arises, or tends to
arise, in the mind, a picture answering to that word; and as there has, been
nothing to indicate what kind of
horse, any image of a horse suggests itself. Very likely, however, the image
will be that of a brown horse, brown horses being the most familiar. The result
is that when the word �black� is added, a check is given to the process of
thought. Either the picture of a brown horse already present to the imagination
has to be suppressed, and the picture of a black one summoned in its place; or
else, if the picture of a brown horse be yet unformed, the tendency to form it
has to be stopped. Whichever is the case, a certain amount of hindrance
results. But if, on the other hand, �a black horse� be the expression used, no
such mistake can be made. The word �black,� indicating an abstract quality,
arouses no definite idea. It simply prepares the mind for conceiving some
object of that colour; and the attention is kept suspended until that object is
known. If, then, by the precedence of the adjective, the idea is conveyed
without liability to error. whereas the precedence of the substantive is apt to
produce a misconception, it follows that the one gives the mind less trouble
than the other, and is therefore more forcible.

�
13.   Possibly it will
be objected that the adjective and substantive come so close together, that
practically they may be considered as uttered at the same moment; and that on
hearing the phrase, "a horse black,� there is not time to imagine a wrongly-coloured
horse before the word �black� follows to prevent it. It must be owned that it
is not easy to decide by introspection whether this is so or not. But there are
facts collaterally implying that it is not. Our ability to anticipate the words
yet unspoken is one of them If the ideas of the hearer kept considerably behind
the, expressions of the speaker, as the objection assumes, he could hardly
foresee the end of a sentence by the time it was half delivered: yet this
constantly happens. Were the supposition true, the mind, instead of
anticipating, would be continually falling more and more in arrear. If the
meanings of words are not realized as fast as the words are uttered, then the
loss of time over each word must entail such an accumulation of delays as to
leave a hearer entirely behind. But whether the force of these replies be or be
not admitted, it will scarcely be denied that the right formation of a picture
will be facilitated by presenting its elements in the order in which they are
wanted; even though the mind should do nothing until it has received them all.

�
14.   What is here said
respecting the succession of the adjective and substantive is obviously
applicable, by change of terms, to the adverb and verb. And without further
explanation, it will be manifest, that in the use of prepositions and other
particles, most languages spontaneously conform with more or less completeness
to this law.

�
15.   On applying a like
analysis to the larger divisions of a sentence, we find not only that the same
principle holds good, but that the advantage of respecting it becomes marked.
In the arrangement of predicate and subject, for example, we are at once shown
that as the predicate determines the aspect under which the subject is to be
conceived, it should be placed first; and the striking effect produced by so
placing it becomes comprehensible. Take the often‑quoted contrast between
�Great is Diana of the Ephesians,� and �Diana of the Ephesians is great.� When
the first arrangement is used, the utterance of the word �great� arouses those
vague associations of an impressive nature with which it has been habitually
connected; the imagination is prepared to clothe with high attributes whatever
follows; and when the words, �Diana of the Ephesians,� are heard, all the
appropriate imagery which can, on the instant, be summoned, is used in the
formation of the picture: the mind being thus led directly, and without error,
to the intended impression. When, on the contrary, the reverse order is
followed, the idea, �Diana of the Ephesians� is conceived with no special
reference to greatness; and when the words �is great� are added, the conception
has to be remodeled: whence arises a loss of mental energy and a corresponding
diminution of effect. The following verse from Coleridge�s �Ancient Mariner,�
though somewhat irregular in structure, well illustrates the same truth:

 

�Alone, alone, all, all alone, 

Alone on a wide, wide sea 

And
never a saint took pity on 

My soul in agony.�





�
16.   Of course the
principle equally applies when the predicate is a verb or a participle. And as
effect is gained by placing first all words indicating the quality, conduct or
condition of the subject, it follows that the copula also should have
precedence. It is true that the general habit of our language resists this
arrangement of predicate, copula and subject; but we may readily find instances
of the additional force gained by conforming to it. Thus, in the line from
�Julius Caesar�





�Then burst his
mighty heart,�

 

priority is given to a
word embodying both predicate and copula. In a passage contained in �The Battle
of Flodden Field,� the like order is systematically employed with great effect:

 

�The Border slogan
rent the sky!

A Home!� a
Gordon!� was the cry;

Loud
were the clanging blows:

Advanced�forced
back� now low, now high,

The pennon sunk and rose;

As bends the bark�s mast in the gale

When rent are rigging, shrouds and sail,

It wavered �mid the foes.�

 

�
17.   Pursuing the
principle yet further, it is obvious that for producing the greatest effect,
not only should the main divisions of a sentence observe this sequence, but the
subdivisions of these should be similarly arranged. In nearly all cases, the
predicate is accompanied by some limit or qualification, called its complement.
Commonly, also, the circumstances of the subject, which form its complement,
have to be specified. And as these qualifications and circumstances must
determine the mode in which the acts and things they belong to are conceived,
precedence should be given to them. Lord Kaimes notices the fact that this
order is preferable; though without giving the reason. He says:��When a
circumstance is placed at the beginning of the period, or near the beginning,
the transition from it to the principal subject is agreeable: it is like
ascending or going upward.� A sentence arranged in illustration of this will be
desirable. Here is one:��Whatever it may be in theory, it is clear that in
practice the French idea of liberty is�the right of every man to be master of
the rest.� 

�
18.   In this case, were
the first two clauses, up to the word �I practice �inclusive, which qualify the
subject, to be placed at the end instead of the beginning, much of the force
would be lost; as thus:��The French idea of liberty is�the right of every man
to be master of the rest; in practice at least, if not in theory.�

�
19.   Similarly with
respect to the conditions under which any fact is predicated. Observe in the
following example the effect of putting them last:��How immense would be the
stimulus to progress, were the honour now given to wealth and title given
exclusively to high achievements and intrinsic worth!�

�
20.   And then observe
the superior effect of putting them first:��Were the honour now given to wealth
and title given exclusively to high achievements and intrinsic worth, how
immense would be the stimulus to progress!�

�
21.   The effect of
giving priority to the complement of the predicate, as well as the predicate
itself, is finely displayed in the opening of �Hyperion�:

 

Deep
in the shady sadness of a vale

Far
sunken from the healthy breath of morn,

Far
from the fiery noon and eve�s one star

Sat gray-haired
Saturn, quiet as a stone.�

 

Here it will be observed, not only that
the predicate �sat� precedes the subject �Saturn,� and that the three lines in
italics, constituting the complement of the predicate, come before it; but that
in the structure of that complement also, the same order is followed: each line
being so arranged that the qualifying words are placed before the words
suggesting concrete images.

�
22.   The right
succession of the principal and subordinate propositions in a sentence
manifestly depends on the same law. Regard for economy of the recipient�s
attention, which, as we find, determines the best order for the subject,
copula, predicate and their complements, dictates that the subordinate
proposition shall precede the principal one when the sentence includes two.
Containing, as the subordinate proposition does, some qualifying or explanatory
idea, its priority prevents misconception of the principal one; and therefore
saves the mental effort needed to correct such misconception. This will be seen
in the annexed example: �The secrecy once maintained in respect to the
parliamentary debates, is still thought needful in diplomacy; and in virtue of
this secret diplomacy, England may any day be unawares betrayed by its
ministers into a war costing a, hundred thousand lives, and hundreds of
millions of treasure: yet the English pique themselves on being a self‑governed
people.� The two subordinate propositions, ending with the semicolon and colon
respectively, almost wholly determine the meaning of the principal proposition
with which it concludes; and the effect would be lost were they placed last
instead of first.

�
23.   The general
principle of right arrangement in sentences, which we have traced in its
application to the leading divisions of them, equally determines the proper
order of their minor divisions. In every sentence of any complexity the
complement to the subject contains several clauses, and that to the predicate
several others; and these may be arranged in greater or less conformity to the
law of easy apprehension. Of course with these, as with the larger members, the
succession should be from the less specific to the more specific�from the
abstract to the concrete.

�
24.   Now, however, we
must notice a further condition to be fulfilled in the proper construction of a
sentence; but still a condition dictated by the same general principle with the
other: the condition, namely, that the words and expressions most nearly
related in thought shall be brought the closest together. Evidently the single
words, the minor clauses, and the leading divisions of every proposition,
severally qualify each other. The longer the time that elapses between the
mention of any qualifying member and the member qualified, the longer must the
mind be exerted in carrying forward the qualifying member ready for use. And
the more numerous the qualifications to be simultaneously remembered and
rightly applied, the greater will be the mental power expended, and the smaller
the effect produced. Hence, other things equal, force will be gained by so
arranging the members of a sentence that these suspensions shall at any moment
be the fewest in number; and shall also be of the shortest duration. The
following is an instance of defective combination:��A modern newspaper-statement, though probably true, would be laughed at if quoted in a
book as testimony; but the letter of a court gossip is thought good historical
evidence, if written some centuries ago.� A rearrangement of this, in
accordance with the principle indicated above, will be found to increase the effect.
Thus:��Though probably true, a modern newspaper‑statement quoted in a
book as testimony, would be laughed at; but the letter of a court gossip, if
written some centuries ago, is thought good historical evidence.�

�
25.   By making this
change, some of the suspensions are avoided and others shortened; while there
is less liability to produce premature conceptions. The passage quoted below
from �Paradise Lost� affords a fine instance of a sentence well arranged; alike
in the priority of the subordinate members, in the avoidance of long and
numerous suspensions, and in the correspondence between the order of the
clauses and the sequence of the phenomena described, which, by the way, is a
further prerequisite to easy comprehension, and therefore to effect.

 

�As when a prowling wolf,

Whom hunger drives
to seek new haunt for prey,

Watching where
shepherds pen their flocks at eye,

In hurdled cotes
amid the field secure,

Leaps o�er the
fence with ease into the fold;

Or as a thief,
bent to unhoard the cash

Of some rich
burgher, whose substantial doors,

Cross-barr�d,
and bolted fast, fear no assault,

In at the window
climbs, or o�er the tiles;

So clomb this
first grand thief into God�s fold;

So since into his
church lewd hirelings climb.� 

 

�
26.   The habitual use
of sentences in which all or most of the descriptive and limiting elements
precede those described and limited, gives rise to what is called the inverted
style: a title which is, however, by no means confined to this structure, but
is often used where the order of the words is simply unusual. A more
appropriate title would be the direct
style, as contrasted with the other, or indirect
style: the peculiarity of the one being, that it conveys each thought
into the mind step by step with little liability to error; and of the other,
that it gets the right thought conceived by a series of approximations.

�
27.   The superiority of
the direct over the indirect form of sentence, implied by the several
conclusions that have been drawn, must not, however, be affirmed without
reservation. Though, up to a certain point, it is well for the qualifying
clauses of a period to precede those qualified; yet, as carrying forward each
qualifying clause costs some mental effort, it follows that when the number of
them and the time they are carried become great, we reach a limit beyond which
more is lost than is gained. Other things equal, the arrangement should be such
that no concrete image shall be suggested until the materials out of which it
is to be made have been presented. And yet, as lately pointed out, other things
equal, the fewer the materials to be held at once, and the shorter the distance
they have to be borne, the better. Hence in some cases it becomes a question
whether most mental effort will be entailed by the many and long suspensions,
or by the correction of successive misconceptions.

�
28.      This question may
sometimes be decided by considering the capacity of the persons addressed. A
greater grasp of mind is required for the ready comprehension of thoughts
expressed in the direct manner, where the sentences are anywise intricate. To
recollect a number of preliminaries stated in elucidation of a coming idea, and
to apply them all to the formation of it when suggested, demands a good memory
and considerable power of concentration. To one possessing these, the direct
method will mostly seem the best; while to one deficient in them it will seem
the worst. Just as it may cost a strong man less effort to carry a hundred‑weight
from place to place at once, than by a stone at a time; so, to an active mind
it may be easier to bear along all the qualifications of an idea and at once
rightly form it when named, than to first imperfectly conceive such idea and
then carry back to it, one by one, the details and limitations afterwards
mentioned. While conversely, as for a boy, the only possible mode of
transferring a hundred‑weight, is that of taking it in portions; so, for
a weak mind, the only possible mode of forming a compound conception may be
that of building it up by carrying separately its several parts.

�
29.      That the indirect
method�the method of conveying the meaning by a series of approximations�is
best fitted for the uncultivated, may indeed be inferred from their habitual
use of it. The form of expression adopted by the savage, as in �Water,
give me,� is the simplest type of the approximate arrangement. In pleonasms,
which are comparatively prevalent among the uneducated, the same essential
structure is seen; as, for instance, in��The men, they were there.� Again, the
old possessive case ��The king, his crown,� conforms to the like order of
thought. Moreover, the fact that the indirect mode is called the natural one,
implies that it is the one spontaneously employed by the common people: that
is�the one easiest for undisciplined minds.

�
30.   There are many cases,
however, in which neither the direct nor the indirect structure is the best;
but where an intermediate structure is preferable to both. When the number of
circumstances and qualifications to be included in the sentence is great, the
most judicious course is neither to enumerate them all before introducing the
idea to which they belong, nor to put this idea first and let it be remodeled
to agree with the particulars afterwards mentioned; but to do a little of each.
Take a case. It is desirable to avoid so extremely indirect an arrangement as
the following:��We came to our journey�s end, at last, with no small difficulty
after much fatigue, through deep roads, and bad weather.� Yet to transform this
into an entirely direct sentence would not produce a satisfactory effect; as
witness:��At last, with no small difficulty, after much fatigue, through deep
roads, and bad weather, we came to our journey�s end.�

�
31.   Dr. Whately, from
whom we quote the first of these two arrangements,� proposes this
construction:��At last, after much fatigue, through deep roads and bad weather,
we came, with no small difficulty, to our journey�s end.� Here it will be
observed that by introducing the words �we came� a little earlier in the
sentence, the labour of carrying forward so many particulars is diminished, and
the subsequent qualification �with no small difficulty� entails an addition to
the thought that is very easily made. But a further improvement may be produced
by introducing the words �we came� still earlier; especially if at the same
time the qualifications be rearranged in conformity with the principle already
explained, that the more abstract elements of the thought should come before
the more concrete. Observe the better effect obtained by making these two
changes:��At last, with no small difficulty, and after much fatigue, we came,
through deep roads and bad weather, to our journey�s end.� This reads with
comparative smoothness; that is, with less hindrance from suspensions and
reconstructions of thought�with less mental effort.

�
32.   Before dismissing
this branch of our subject, it should be further remarked, that even when
addressing the most vigorous intellects, the direct style is unfit for
communicating ideas of a complex or abstract character. So long as the mind has
not much to do, it may be well able to grasp all the preparatory clauses of a
sentence, and to use them effectively; but if some subtlety in the argument
absorb the attention�if every faculty be strained in endeavouring to catch the
speaker�s or writer�s drift, it may happen that the mind, unable to carry on
both processes at once, will break down, and allow the elements of the thought
to lapse into confusion.

 

iv.
The Principle of Economy applied to Figures.

 

�
33.   Turning now to
consider figures of speech, we may equally discern the same general law of
effect. Underlying all the rules given for the choice and right use of them, we
shall find the same fundamental requirement�economy of attention. It is indeed
chiefly because they so well subserve this requirement, that figures of speech
are employed. To bring the mind more easily to the desired conception, is in
many cases solely, and in all cases mainly, their object.

�
34.   Let us begin with
the figure called Synecdoche. The advantage sometimes gained by putting a part
for the whole, is due to the more convenient, or more accurate, presentation of
the idea. If, instead of saying �a fleet of ten ships,� we say �a fleet of ten sail,� the picture of a group of vessels
at sea is more readily suggested; and is so because the sails constitute the
most conspicuous parts of vessels so circumstanced: whereas the word ships would very likely remind us of
vessels in dock. Again, to say, �All
hands to the pumps,� is better than to say, �All men to the pumps,� as it suggests the men in the special attitude
intended, and so saves effort. Bringing �gray hairs with sorrow to the grave,� is another expression, the effect
of which has the same cause.

�
35.   The occasional
increase of force produced by Metonymy may be similarly accounted for. �The low
morality of the bar,�
is a phrase both more brief and significant than the literal one it stands
for. A belief in the ultimate supremacy of intelligence over brute force, is
conveyed in a more concrete, and therefore more realizable form, if we substitute
the pen and the sword for the two abstract terms. To say, �Beware of drinking!�
is less effective than to say, �Beware of the
bottle!� and is so, clearly
because it calls up a less specific image.

�
36.   The Simile is in
many cases used chiefly with a view to ornament, but whenever it increases the force of a passage, it does so by being
an economy. Here in an instance: �The illusion that great men and great events
came oftener in early times than now, is partly due to historical perspective.
As in a range of equidistant columns, the furthest off look the closest; so,
the conspicuous objects of the past seem more thickly clustered the more remote
they are.�

�
37.   To construct by a
process of literal explanation, the thought thus conveyed would take many
sentences, and the first elements of the picture would become faint while the
imagination was busy in adding the others. But by the help of a comparison all
effort is saved; the picture is instantly realized, and its full effect
produced.

�
38.   Of the position of
the Simile, it needs only to remark, that what has been said respecting the
order of the adjective and substantive, predicate and subject, principal and
subordinate propositions, &c., is applicable here. As whatever qualifies
should precede whatever is qualified, force will generally be gained by placing
the simile before the object to which it is applied. That this arrangement is
the best, may be seen in the following passage from the �Lady of the Lake�;

 

�As wreath of
snow, on mountain breast,

Slides from the
rock that gave it rest,

Poor Ellen glided
from her stay,

And at the
monarch�s feet she lay.�

 

Inverting these
couplets will be found to diminish the effect considerably. There are
cases, however, even where the simile is a simple one, in which it may with
advantage be placed last, as in these lines from Alexander Smith�s �Life
Drama�:

 

�I see the future
stretch

All dark and barren as a rainy sea.�

 

The reason for this seems to be, that so
abstract an idea as that attaching to the word �future,� does not present itself
to the mind in any definite form, and hence the subsequent arrival at the
simile entails no reconstruction of the thought.

�
39.   Such, however, are
not the only cases in which this order is the most forcible. As the advantage
of putting the simile before the object depends on its being carried forward in
the mind to assist in forming an image of the ob�ject, it must happen that if,
from length or complexity, it cannot be so carried forward, the advantage is
not gained. The annexed sonnet, by Coleridge, is defective from this cause: 

 

�As when a child, on some long winter�s
night, 

Affrighted, clinging to its grandam�s knees, 

With eager wond�ring and perturb�d delight 

Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees, 

Mutter�d to wretch by necromantic spell;

Or of those hags
who at the witching time

Of murky midnight,
ride the air sublime,

And mingle foul
embrace with fiends of hell;

Cold horror drinks
its blood! Anon the tear

More gentle
starts, to hear the beldame tell

Of pretty babes,
that lov�d each other dear,

Murder�d by cruel
uncle�s mandate fell:

Ev�n such the
shiv�ring joys thy tones impart,

Ev�n so, thou,
Siddons, meltest my sad heart.�

 

�
40.   Here, from the
lapse of time and accumulation of circumstances, the first part of the
comparison is forgotten before its application is reached, and requires re‑reading.
Had the main idea been first mentioned, less effort would have been required to
retain it, and to modify the conception of it into harmony with the comparison,
than to remember the comparison, and refer back to its successive features for
help in forming the final image.

�
41.   The superiority of
the Metaphor to the Simile is ascribed by Dr. Whately� to the fact that �all men are more gratified
at catching the resemblance for themselves, than in having it pointed out to
them.� But after what has been said, the great economy it achieves will seem
the more probable cause. Lear�s exclamation�

 

�Ingratitude! thou
marble-hearted fiend,�

 

would lose part of its effect were it changed into�

 

�Ingratitude! thou
fiend with heart like marble;�

 

and the loss would result partly from the
position of the simile and partly from the extra number of words required. When
the comparison is an involved one, the greater force of the metaphor,
consequent on its greater brevity, becomes much more conspicuous. If, drawing
an analogy between mental and physical phenomena, we say, �As, in passing
through the crystal, beams of white light are decomposed into the colours of
the rainbow; so, in traversing the soul of the poet, the colourless rays of
truth are transformed into brightly tinted poetry�; it is clear that in
receiving the double set of words expressing the two halves of the comparison,
and in carrying the one half to the other, considerable attention is absorbed.
Most of this is saved, however, by putting the comparison in a metaphorical
form, thus: �The white light of truth, in traversing the many sided transparent
soul of. the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry.�

�
42.   How much is
conveyed in a few words by the help of the Metaphor, and how vivid the effect
consequently produced, may be abundantly exemplified. From �A Life Drama� may
be quoted the phrase�





�I spear�d him
with a jest,�

 

as a fine instance among the many which that poem con�tains. A passage
in the �Prometheus Unbound,� of Shelley, displays the power of the metaphor to
great advantage:



�Methought among the lawns together

We wandered, underneath the young gray dawn,

And multitudes of dense white fleecy clouds

Were wandering, in thick flocks along the mountains

Shepherded
by the slow unwilling wind.�





This last expression is remarkable for the
distinctness with which it realizes the features of the scene: bringing the
mind, as it were, by a bound to the desired conception.

�
43.   But a limit is put
to the advantageous use of the Metaphor, by the condition that it must be
sufficiently simple to be understood from a hint. Evidently, if there be any
obscurity in the meaning or application of it, no economy of attention will be
gained; but rather the reverse. Hence, when the comparison is complex, it is
usual to have recourse to the Simile. There is, however, a species of figure,
sometimes classed under Allegory, but which might, perhaps, be better called
Compound Metaphor, that enables us to retain the brevity of the metaphorical
form even where the analogy is intricate. This is done by indicating the
application of the figure at the outset, and then leaving the mind to continue
the parallel.� Emerson has employed it with great effect in the first of his I
Lectures on the Times�:��The main interest which any aspects of the Times can
have for us is the great spirit which gazes through them, the light which they
can shed on the wonderful questions, What are we, and Whither we tend? We do
not wish to be deceived. Here we drift, like white sail across the wild ocean,
now bright on the wave, now darkling in the trough of the sea; but from what
port did we sail? Who knows? Or to what port are we bound? Who knows? There is
no one to tell us but such poor weather‑tossed mariners as ourselves,
whom we speak as we pass, or who have hoisted some signal, or floated to us
some letter in a bottle from far. But what know they more than we ? They also
found themselves on this wondrous sea. No; from the older sailors nothing. Over
all their speaking trumpets the gray sea and the loud winds answer, Not in us;
not in Time.�

�
44.   The division of
the Simile from the Metaphor is by no means a definite one. Between the one
extreme in which the two elements of the comparison are detailed at full length
and the analogy pointed out, and the other extreme in which the comparison is
implied instead of stated, come intermediate forms, in which the comparison is
partly stated and partly implied. For instance:��Astonished at the performances
of the English plow, the Hindoos paint it, set it up, and worship it; thus
turning a tool into an idol: linguists do the same with language.� There is an
evident advantage in leaving the reader or hearer to complete the figure. And
generally these intermediate forms are good in proportion as they do this;
provided the mode of completing it be obvious.

�
45.   Passing over much
that may be said of like purport upon Hyperbole, Personification, Apostrophe,
&c., let us close our remarks upon construction by a typical example. The
general principle which has been enunciated is, that other things equal, the
force of all verbal forms and arrangements is great, in proportion as the time
and mental effort they demand from the recipient is small. The corollaries from
this general principle have been severally illustrated; and it has been shown
that the relative goodness of any two modes of expressing an idea, may be
determined by observing which requires the shortest process of thought for its
comprehension. But though conformity in particu�lar points has been
exemplified, no cases of complete conformity have yet been quoted. It is indeed
difficult to find them; for the English idiom does not commonly permit the
order which theory dictates. A few, however, occur in Ossian. Here is one:��As
autumn�s dark storms pour from two echoing hills, so towards each other
approached the heroes. As two dark streams from high rocks meet and mix, and
roar on the plain: loud, rough, and dark in battle meet Lochlin and Inisfail. .
.As the troubled noise of the ocean when roll the waves on high; as the last
peal of the thunder of heaven; such is noise of the battle.�

�
46.   Except in the
position of the verb in the first two similes, the theoretically best
arrangement is fully carried out in each of these sentences. The simile comes
before the qualified image, the adjectives before the substantives, the
predicate and copula before the subject, and their respective complements
before them. That the passage is open to the charge of being bombastic proves
nothing; or rather, proves our case. For what is bombast but a force of
expression too great for the magnitude of the ideas embodied? All that may
rightly be inferred is, that only in very rare cases, and then only to produce
a climax, should all the conditions of effective expression be fulfilled.

 

v.
Suggestion as a Means of Economy.

 

�
47.   Passing on to a
more complex application of the doctrine with which we set out, it must now be
remarked, that not only in the structure of sentences, and the use of figures
of speech, may economy of the recipient�s mental energy be assigned as the
cause of force; but that in the choice and arrangement of the minor images, out
of which some large thought is to be built up, we may trace the same condition
to effect. To select from the sentiment, scene, or event described those
typical elements which carry many others along with them; and so, by saying a
few things but suggesting many, to abridge the description; is the secret of
producing a vivid impression. An extract from Tennyson�s �Mariana� will well illustrate
this:

 

�All day within the dreamy house,

The door upon the hinges creaked,

The blue fly sung i� the pane; the mouse

Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked,

Or from the crevice peered about.�

 

�
48.   The several
circumstances here specified bring with them many appropriate associations. Our
attention is rarely drawn by the buzzing of a fly in the window, save when
everything is still. While the inmates are moving about the house, mice usually
keep silence; and it is only when extreme quietness reigns that they peep from
their retreats. Hence each of the facts mentioned, presupposing numerous
others, calls up these with more or less distinctness; and revives the feeling
of dull solitude with which they are connected in our experience. Were all
these facts detailed instead of suggested, the attention would be so frittered
away that little impression of dreariness would be produced. Similarly in other
cases. Whatever the nature of the thought to be conveyed, this skilful
selection of a few particulars which imply the rest, is the key to success. In
the choice of component ideas, as in the choice of expressions, the aim must be
to convey the greatest quantity of thoughts with the smallest quantity of
words.

�
49.   The same principle
may in some cases be advantageously carried yet further, by indirectly
suggesting some entirely distinct thought in addition to the one expressed.
Thus, if we say, �The head of a good classic is as full of ancient myths, as
that of a servant-girl of ghost stories�; it is manifest that besides the
fact asserted, there is an implied opinion respecting the small value of
classical knowledge: and as this implied opinion is recognized much sooner than
it can be put into words, there is gain in omitting it. In other cases, again,
great effect is produced by an overt omission; provided the nature of the idea
left out is obvious. A good instance of this occurs in �Heroes and
Heroworship.� After describing the way in which Burns was sacrificed to the
idle curiosity of Lion‑hunters�people who came not out of sympathy, but
merely to see him�people who sought a little amusement, and who got their
amusement while �the Hero�s life went for it!� Carlyle suggests a parallel
thus: �Richter says, in the Island of Sumatra there is a kind of �Light‑chafers,�
large Fire‑flies, which people stick upon spits, and illuminate the ways
with at night. Persons of condition can thus travel with a pleasant radiance,
which they much admire. Great honour to the Fire-flies! But�!��

 

vi. The Effect of
Poetry explained.

 

�
50.   Before inquiring
whether the law of effect, thus far traced, explains the superiority of poetry
to prose, it will be needful to notice some supplementary causes of force in
expression, that have not yet been mentioned. These are not, properly speaking,
additional causes; but rather secondary ones, originating from those already
specified reflex results of them. In the first place, then, we may remark that
mental excitement spontaneously prompts the use of those forms of speech which
have been pointed out as the most effective. �Out with him!� �Away with him!�
are the natural utterances of angry citizens at a disturbed meeting. A voyager,
describing a terrible storm he had witnessed, would rise to some such climax
as��Crack went the ropes and down came the mast.� Astonishment may be heard
expressed in the phrase ��Never was there such a sight!� All of which sentences
are, it will be observed, constructed after the direct type. Again, every one
knows that excited persons are given to figures of speech. The vituperation of
the vulgar abounds with them: often, indeed, consists of little else. �Beast,�
�brute,� �gallows rogue,� �cut-throat villain,� these, and other like
metaphors and metaphorical epithets, at once call to mind a street quarrel.
Further, it may be noticed that extreme brevity is another characteristic of
passionate language. The sentences are generally incomplete; the particles are
omitted; and frequently important words are left to be gathered from the
context. Great admiration does not vent itself in a precise proposition, as��It
is beautiful�; but in the simple exclamation��Beautiful!� He who, when reading
a lawyer�s letter, should say, �Vile rascal!� would be thought angry; while,
�He is a vile rascal!� would imply comparative coolness. Thus we see that alike
in the order of the words, in the frequent use of figures, and in extreme
conciseness, the natural utterances of excitement conform to the theoretical
conditions of forcible expression.

�
51.   Hence, then, the
higher forms of speech acquire a secondary strength from association. Having,
in actual life, habitually heard them in connection with vivid mental
impressions, and having been accustomed to meet with them in the most powerful
writing, they come to have in themselves a species of force. The emotions that
have from time to time been produced by the strong thoughts wrapped up in these
forms, are partially aroused by the forms themselves. They create a certain
degree of animation; they induce a preparatory sympathy, and when the striking
ideas looked for are reached, they are the more vividly realized.

�
52.   The continuous use
of these modes of expression that are alike forcible in themselves and forcible
from their associations, produces the peculiarly impressive species of
composition which we call poetry. Poetry, we shall find, habitually adopts
those symbols of thought, and those methods of using them, which instinct and
analysis agree in choosing as most effective, and becomes poetry by virtue of
doing this. On turning back to the various specimens that have been quoted, it
will be seen that the direct or inverted form of sentence predominates in them;
and that to a degree quite inadmissible in prose. And not only in the
frequency, but in what is termed the violence of the inversions, will this
distinction be remarked. In the abundant use of figures, again, we may
recognize the same truth. Metaphors, similes, hyperboles, and personifications,
are the poet�s colours, which he has liberty to employ almost without limit. We
characterize as �poetical� the prose which uses these appliances of language
with any frequency, and condemn it as �over florid� or �affected� long before
they occur with the profusion allowed in verse. Further, let it be remarked
that in brevity�the other requisite of forcible expression which theory points
out, and emotion spontaneously fulfils�poetical phraseology similarly differs
from ordinary phraseology. Imperfect periods are frequent; elisions are
perpetual; and many of the minor words, which would be deemed essential in
prose, are dispensed with.

�
53.   Thus poetry,
regarded as a vehicle of thought, is especially impressive partly because it
obeys all the laws of effective speech, and partly because in so doing it
imitates the natural utterances of excitement. While the matter embodied is idealized
emotion, the vehicle is the idealized language of emotion. As the musical
composer catches the cadences in which our feelings of joy and sympathy, grief
and despair, vent themselves, and out of these germs evolves melodies
suggesting higher phases of these feelings; I so, the poet develops from the
typical expressions in which men utter passion and sentiment, those choice
forms of verbal combination in which concentrated passion and sentiment may be
fitly presented.

�
54.   There is one
peculiarity of poetry conducing much to its effect�the peculiarity which is
indeed usually thought its characteristic one�still remaining to be considered:
we mean its rhythmical structure. This, improbable though it seems, will be
found to come under the same generalization with the others. Like each of them,
it is an idealization of the natural language of strong emotion, which is known
to be more or less metrical if the emotion be not too violent; and like each of
them it is an economy of the reader�s or hearer�s attention. In the peculiar
tone and manner we adopt in uttering versified language, may be discerned its
relationship to the feelings; and the pleasure which its measured movement
gives us, is ascribable to the comparative ease with which words metrically
arranged can be recognized.

�
55.   This last position
will scarcely be at once admitted; but a little explanation will show its
reasonableness. For if, as we have seen, there is an expenditure of mental
energy in the mere act of listening to verbal articulations, or in that silent
repetition of them which goes on in reading�if the perceptive faculties must be
in active exercise to identify every syllable ‑then, any mode of so
combining words as to present a regular recurrence of certain traits which the
mind can anticipate, will diminish that strain upon the attention required by
the total irregularity of prose. Just as the body, in receiving a series of
varying concussions, must keep the muscles ready to meet the most violent of
them, as not knowing when such may come; so, the mind in receiving unarranged
articulations, must keep its perceptives active enough to recognize the least
easily caught sounds. And as, if the concussions recur in a definite order, the
body may husband its forces by adjusting the resistance needful for each
concussion; so, if the syllables be rhythmically arranged, the mind may
economize its energies by anticipating the attention required for each
syllable.

�
56.   Far-fetched
though this idea will perhaps be thought, a little introspection will
countenance it. That we do take advantage of metrical language to adjust our
perceptive faculties to the force of the expected articulations, is clear from
the fact that we are balked by halting versification. Much as at the bottom of
a flight of stairs, a step more or less than we counted upon gives us a shock;
so, too, does a misplaced accent or a supernumerary syllable. In the one case,
we know that there is an erroneous
preadjustment; and we can scarcely doubt that there is one in the other. But if
we habitually preadjust our perceptions to the measured movement of verse, the
physical analogy above given renders it probable that by so doing we economize
atten�tion; and hence that metrical language is more effective than prose,
because it enables us to do this.

�
57.   Were there space,
it might be worthwhile to inquire whether the pleasure we take in rhyme, and
also that which we take in euphony, axe not partly ascribable to the same
general cause.

 

 

PART
II.

CAUSES OF FORCE IN
LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON

ECONOMY OF THE
MENTAL SENSIBILITIES.

 

i. The Law of Mental Exhaustion and Repair.

 

�
58.   A few paragraphs
only, can be devoted to a second division of our subject that here presents
itself. To pursue in detail the laws of effect, as applying to the larger
features of composition, would carry us beyond our limits. But we may briefly
indicate a further aspect of the general principle hitherto traced out, and
hint a few of its wider applications.

�
59.   Thus far, then, we
have considered only those causes of force in language which depend upon economy
of the mental energies: we have now
to glance at those which depend upon economy of the mental sensibilities. Questionable though this division may be as a
psychological one, it will yet serve roughly to indicate the remaining field of
investigation. It will suggest that besides considering the extent to which any
faculty or group of faculties is tasked in receiving a form of words and
realizing its contained idea, we have to consider the state in which this
faculty or group of faculties is left; and how the reception of subsequent
sentences and images will be influenced by that state. Without going at length
into so wide a topic as the exercise of faculties and its reactive effects, it
will be sufficient here to call to mind that every faculty (when in a state of
normal activity) is most capable at the outset; and that the change in its
condition, which ends in what we term exhaustion, begins simultaneously with
its exercise. This generalization, with which we are all familiar in our bodily
experiences, and which our daily language recognizes as true of the mind as a
whole, is equally true of each mental power, from the simplest of the senses to
the most complex of the sentiments. If we hold a flower to the nose for long,
we become insensible to its scent. We say of a very brilliant flash of
lightning that it blinds us; which means that our eyes have for a time lost
their ability to appreciate light. After eating a quantity of honey, we are apt
to think our tea is without sugar. The phrase �a deafening roar,� implies that
men find a very loud sound temporarily incapacitates them for hearing faint
ones. To a hand which has for some time carried a heavy body, small bodies
afterwards lifted seem to have lost their weight. Now, the truth at once
recognized in these, its extreme manifestations, may be traced throughout. It
may be shown that alike in the reflective faculties, in the imagination, in the
perceptions of the beautiful, the ludicrous, the sublime, in the sentiments,
the instincts, in all the mental powers, however we may classify them‑action
exhausts; and that in proportion as the action is violent, the subsequent
prostration is great.

�
60.   Equally,
throughout the whole nature, may be traced the law that exercised faculties are
ever tending to resume their original state. Not only after continued rest, do
they regain their full power not only do brief cessations partially
reinvigorate them; but even while they are in action, the resulting exhaustion
is ever being neutralized. The two processes of waste and repair go on
together. Hence with faculties habitually exercised�as the senses of all
persons, or the muscles of any one who is strong�it happens that, during
moderate activity, the repair is so nearly equal to the waste, that the
diminution of power is scarcely appreciable; and it is only when the activity
has been long continued, or has been very violent, that the repair becomes so
far in arrear of the waste as to produce a perceptible prostration. In all
cases, however, when, by the action of a faculty, waste has been incurred, some lapse of time must take place
before full efficiency can be reacquired; and this time must be long in
proportion as the waste has been great.

 

ii
Explanation of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax.

 

�
61.   Keeping in mind
these general truths, we shall be in a condition to understand certain causes
of effect in composition now to be considered. Every perception received, and
every conception realized, entailing some amount of waste�or, as Liebig would
say, some change of matter in the brain; and the efficiency of the faculties
subject to this waste being thereby temporarily, though often but momentarily,
diminished; the resulting partial inability must affect the acts of perception
and conception that immediately succeed. And hence we may expect that the
vividness with which images are realized will, in many cases, depend on the
order of their presentation: even when one order is as convenient to the
understanding as the other.

�
62.   There are sundry
facts which alike illustrate this, and are explained by it. Climax is one of
them. The marked effect obtained by placing last the most striking of any
series of images, and the weakness�often the ludicrous weakness�produced
by reversing this arrangement, depends on the general law indicated. As immediately
after looking at the sun we cannot perceive the light of a fire, while by
looking at the fire first and the sun afterwards we can perceive both; so,
after receiving a brilliant, or weighty, or terrible thought, we cannot
appreciate a less brilliant, less weighty, or less terrible one, while, by
reversing the order, we can appreciate each. In Antithesis, again, we may
recognize the same general truth. The opposition of two thoughts that are the
reverse of each other in some prominent trait, insures an impressive effect;
and does this by giving a momentary relaxation to the faculties addressed. If,
after a series of images of an ordinary character, appealing in a moderate
degree to the sentiment of reverence, or approbation, or beauty, the mind has
presented to it a very insignificant, a very unworthy, or a very ugly image;
the faculty of reverence, or approbation, or beauty, as the case may be, having
for the time nothing to do, tends to resume its full power; and will
immediately afterwards appreciate a vast, admirable, or beautiful image better
than it would otherwise do. Conversely, where the idea of absurdity due to
extreme insignificance is to be produced, it maybe greatly intensified by
placing it after something highly impressive: especially if the form of phrase
implies that something still more impressive is coming. A good illustration of
the effect gained by thus presenting a petty idea to a consciousness that has
not yet recovered from the shock of an exciting one, occurs in a sketch by Balzac.
His hero writes to a mistress who has cooled towards him the following letter:





�Madame, 
Votre conduite m��tonne autant qu�elle m�afflige Non contente de me
d�chirer le coeur par vos d�dains vous avez l�ind�licatesse de me retenir une
brosse � dents, que mes moyens ne me permettent pas de remplacer, mes
propri�t�s etant grev�es d�hypoth�ques

�Adieu, trop, belle et trop ingrate ainie!
Puissions nous nous revoir dans un monde meilleur!





�Charles Edouard�





�
63.   Thus we see that
the phenomena of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax, alike result from this
general principle. Improbable as these momentary variations in susceptibility
may seem, we cannot doubt their occurrence when we contemplate the analogous
variations in the susceptibility of the senses. Referring once more to
phenomena of vision, every one knows that a patch of black on a white ground
looks blacker, and a patch of white on a black ground looks whiter, than
elsewhere. As the blackness and the whiteness must really be the same, the only
assignable cause for this is a difference in their actions upon us, dependent
upon the different states of our faculties. It is simply a visual antithesis.

 

iii.
Need of Variety.

 

�
64.   But this extension
of the general principle of economy�this further condition to effective
composition, that the sensitiveness of the faculties must be continuously
husbanded�includes much more than has been yet hinted. It implies not only that
certain arrangements and certain juxtapositions of connected ideas are best;
but that some modes of dividing and presenting a subject will be more striking
than others; and that, too, irrespective of its logical cohesion. It shows why
we must progress from the less interesting to the more interesting; and why not
only the composition as a whole, but each of its successive portions, should
tend towards a climax. At the same time, it forbids long continuity of the same
kind of thought, or repeated production of like effects. It warns us against
the error committed both by Pope in his poems and by Bacon in his essays�the
error, namely, of constantly employing forcible forms of expression: and it
points out that as the easiest posture by and by becomes fatiguing, and is with
pleasure exchanged for one less easy, so, the most perfectly‑constructed
sentences will soon weary, and relief will be given by using those of an
inferior kind.

�
65.   Further, we may
infer from it not only that we should avoid generally combining our words in
one manner, however good, or working out our figures and illustrations in one
way, however telling; but that we should avoid anything like uniform adherence,
even to the wider conditions of effect. We should not make every section of our
subject progress in interest; we should not always rise to a climax. As we saw
that, in single sentences, it is but rarely allowable to fulfill all the
conditions to strength; so, in the larger sections of a composition we must not
often conform entirely to the law indicated. We must subordinate the component
effect to the total effect.

�
66.   In deciding how
practically to carry out the principles of artistic composition, we may derive
help by bearing in mind a fact already pointed out�the fitness of certain
verbal arrangements for certain kinds of thought. That constant variety in the
mode of presenting ideas which the theory demands, will in a great degree
result from a skilful adaptation of the form to the matter. We saw how the
direct or inverted sentence is spontaneously used by excited people; and how
their language is also characterized by figures of speech and by extreme
brevity. Hence these may with advantage predominate in emotional passages; and
may increase as the emotion rises. On the other hand, for complex ideas, the
indirect sentence seems the best vehicle. In conversation, the excitement
produced by the near approach to a desired conclusion, will often show itself
in a series of short, sharp sentences; while, in impressing a view already
enunciated, we generally make our periods voluminous by piling thought upon
thought. These natural modes of procedure may serve as guides in writing. Keen
observation and skilful analysis would, in like manner, detect further
peculiarities of expression produced by other attitudes of mind; and by paying
due attention to all such traits, a writer possessed of sufficient versatility
might make some approach to a completely‑organized work.

 

iv.
The Ideal Writer.

 

�
67.   This species of
composition which the law of effect points out as the perfect one, is the one
which high genius tends naturally to produce. As we found that the kinds of
sentences which are theoretically best, are those generally employed by
superior minds, and by inferior minds when excitement has raised them; so, we
shall find that the ideal form for a poem, essay, or fiction, is that which the
ideal writer would evolve spontaneously. One in whom the powers of expression
fully responded to the state of feeling, would unconsciously use that variety
in the mode of presenting his thoughts, which Art demands. This constant
employment of one species of phraseology, which all have now to strive against,
implies an undeveloped faculty of language. To have a specific style is to be
poor in speech. If we remember that, in the far past, men had only nouns and
verbs to convey their ideas with, and that from then to now the growth has been
towards a greater number of implements of thought, and consequently towards a
greater complexity and variety in their combinations; we may infer that we are
now, in our use of sentences, much what the primitive man was in his use of
words; and that a continuance of the process that has hitherto gone on, must
produce increasing heterogeneity in our modes of expression. As now, in a fine
nature, the play of the features, the tones of the voice and its cadences, vary
in harmony with every thought uttered; so, in one possessed of a fully developed
power of speech, the mould in which each combination of words is cast will
similarly vary with, and be appropriate to the sentiment.

�
68.   That a perfectly endowed
man must unconsciously write in all styles, we may infer from considering how
styles originate. Why is Johnson pompous, Goldsmith simple? Why is one author
abrupt, another rhythmical, another concise? Evidently in each case the
habitual mode of utterance must depend upon the habitual balance of the nature.
The predominant feelings have by use trained the intellect to represent them.
But while long, though unconscious, discipline has made it do this efficiently,
it remains from lack of practice, incapable of doing the same for the less
active feelings; and when these are excited, the usual verbal forms undergo but
slight modifications. Let the powers of speech be fully developed, however�let
the ability of the intellect to utter the emotions be complete; and this fixity
of style will disappear. The perfect writer will express himself as Junius,
when in the Junius frame of mind; when he feels as Lamb felt, will use a like
familiar speech; and will fall into the ruggedness of Carlyle when in a
Carlylean mood. Now he will be rhythmical and now irregular; here his language
will be plain and there ornate; sometimes his sentences will be balanced and at
other times unsymmetrical; for a while there will be considerable sameness, and
then again great variety. His mode of expression naturally responding to his state
of feeling, there will flow from his pen a composition changing to the same
degree that the aspects of his subject change. He will thus without effort
conform to what we have seen to be the laws of effect. And while his work
presents to the reader that variety needful to prevent continuous exertion of
the same faculties, it will also answer to the description of all highly
organized products, both of man and of nature: it will be not a series of like
parts simply placed in juxtaposition, but one whole made up of unlike parts
that are mutually dependent.

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