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diff --git a/5849-h/5849-h.htm b/5849-h/5849-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51b0072 --- /dev/null +++ b/5849-h/5849-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1491 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title> + The Philosophy of Style, + by Herbert Spencer +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { text-align:justify} + P { margin:15%; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + .play { margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: justify; font-size: 100%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; + margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 5%; margin-bottom: .75em; font-size: 110%;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 5%;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-style: italic; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 25%;} + --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Philosophy of Style, by Herbert Spencer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Philosophy of Style + +Author: Herbert Spencer + +Release Date: March 20, 2009 [EBook #5849] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE *** + + + + +Produced by P. Peterson, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br><br> + +<h1> + THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE. +</h1><br><br> + +<h2> +By Herbert Spencer +</h2> + + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + + <a href="#2H_PART1"> +PART I. </a></td><td>CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENERGIES +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0002"> +i. </a></td><td>The Principle of Economy +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0003"> +ii. </a></td><td>Economy in the Use of Words +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0004"> +iii. </a></td><td>The Principle of Economy applied to Sentences +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0005"> +iv. </a></td><td>The Principle of Economy applied to Figures +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0006"> +v. </a></td><td>Suggestion as a Means of Economy +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0007"> +vi. </a></td><td>The Effect of Poetry explained +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_PART2"> +PART II. </a></td><td>CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL SENSIBILITIES +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0009"> +i. </a></td><td>The Law of Mental Exhaustion and Repair +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0010"> +ii. </a></td><td>Explanation of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0011"> +iii. </a></td><td>Need of Variety +</td></tr><tr><td> + <a href="#2H_4_0012"> +iv. </a></td><td>The Ideal Writer +</td></tr><tr><td> + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="2H_PART1"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + +<h2> + PART I. CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL ENERGIES. +</h2> +<a name="2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + i. The Principle of Economy. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 +<i>Beware, Heigho, Fudge,</i> 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + ii. Economy in the Use of Words. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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>I have,</i> not <i>I possess</i>—-<i>I wish,</i> not I +<i>desire;</i> he does not <i>reflect,</i> he <i>thinks;</i> he does not beg for <i>amusement,</i> but for <i>play</i>; he calls things <i>nice</i> +or <i>nasty,</i> not <i>pleasant</i> or <i>disagreeable.</i> 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 <i>acid,</i> must in the end give rise to the +same thought as—It is sour; but because the term <i>acid</i> 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 <i>magnificent,</i>" than "It is <i>grand.</i>" The word <i>vast</i> is +not so powerful a one as <i>stupendous.</i> Calling a thing <i>nasty</i> is not so effective as calling it <i>disgusting.</i> +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 <i>splash, bang, whiz, roar,</i> &c., and +those analogically imitative, as <i>rough, smooth, keen, blunt, thin, hard, crag,</i> &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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + iii. The Principle of Economy applied to Sentences. +</h2> +<p> +§ 11. Turning now from the choice of words to their sequence, we shall find the same general principle hold good. We +have <i>a priori</i> 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 <i>cheval noir;</i> 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 <i>kind</i> 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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: +</p> +<pre> + "Alone, alone, all, all alone, + Alone on a wide, wide sea + And never a saint took pity on + My soul in agony." +</pre> +<p> +§ 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' +</p> +<pre> + "Then burst his mighty heart," +</pre> +<p> +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: +</p> +<pre> + "The Border slogan rent the sky! + <i>A Home! a Gordon!</i> was the cry; + <i>Loud were </i>the clanging blows: + <i>Advanced—forced back—-now low, now high, + </i>The pennon sunk and rose; + <i>As bends</i> the bark's mast in the gale + When <i>rent are</i> rigging, shrouds and sail, + It wavered 'mid the foes." +</pre> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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!" +</p> +<p> +§ 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!" +</p> +<p> +§ 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': +</p> +<pre> + "<i>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</i> gray-haired Saturn, quiet as a stone." +</pre> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<pre> + "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." +</pre> +<p> +§ 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 <i>direct style,</i> as contrasted with the other, or <i>indirect style</i>: 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + iv. The Principle of Economy applied to Figures. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 <i>sail</i>," 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 <i>ships</i> would very likely +remind us of vessels in dock. Again, to say, "<i>All hands</i> to the pumps," is better than to say, "All <i>men</i> to the +pumps," as it suggests the men in the special attitude intended, and so saves effort. Bringing "gray <i>hairs</i> with sorrow +to the grave," is another expression, the effect of which has the same cause. +</p> +<p> +§ 35. The occasional increase of force produced by Metonymy may be similarly accounted for. "The low morality of <i>the +bar,</i>" <i>is</i> 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 <i>the pen</i> and <i>the sword</i> for the two abstract terms. To say, "Beware of drinking!" is less effective than to +say, "Beware of <i>the bottle!</i>" and is so, clearly because it calls up a less specific image. +</p> +<p> +§ 36. The Simile is in many cases used chiefly with a view to ornament, but whenever it increases the <i>force</i> 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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'; +</p> +<pre> + "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." +</pre> +<p> +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': +</p> +<pre> + "I see the future stretch + All dark and barren as a rainy sea." +</pre> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 object, +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: +</p> +<pre> + "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." +</pre> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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— +</p> +<pre> + "Ingratitude! thou marble-hearted fiend," +</pre> +<p> +would lose part of its effect were it changed into— +</p> +<pre> + "Ingratitude! thou fiend with heart like marble;" +</pre> +<p> +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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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— +</p> +<pre> + "I spear'd him with a jest," +</pre> +<p> +as a fine instance among the many which that poem contains. A passage in the 'Prometheus Unbound,' of Shelley, displays +the power of the metaphor to great advantage: +</p> +<pre> + "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 + <i>Shepherded</i> by the slow unwilling wind." +</pre> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 particular 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." +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + v. Suggestion as a Means of Economy. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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 +</p> +<p> +many, to abridge the description; is the secret of producing a vivid impression. An extract from Tennyson's 'Mariana' +will well illustrate this: +</p> +<pre> + "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." +</pre> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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—!—" +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + vi. The Effect of Poetry explained. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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 <i>know</i> 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 attention; and hence that metrical language is more effective than prose, +because it enables us to do this. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_PART2"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + PART II. CAUSES OF FORCE IN LANGUAGE WHICH DEPEND UPON ECONOMY OF THE MENTAL SENSIBILITIES. +</h2> +<a name="2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + i. The Law of Mental Exhaustion and Repair. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 59. Thus far, then, we have considered only those causes of force in language which depend upon economy of the mental +<i>energies:</i> we have now to glance at those which depend upon economy of the mental <i>sensibilities.</i> 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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, <i>some</i> 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + ii Explanation of Climax, Antithesis, and Anticlimax. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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: +</p> +<p> +"Madame, Votre conduite m'étonne autant qu'elle m'afflige Non contente de me déchirer le coeur par vos dédains vous avez +l'indélicatesse de me retenir une brosse à dents, que mes moyens ne me permettent pas de remplacer, mes propriétés etant +grevées d'hypothèques +</p> +<p> +"Adieu, trop, belle et trop ingrate ainie! Puissions nous nous revoir dans un monde meilleur! +</p> +<p> +"Charles Edouard" +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + iii. Need of Variety. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + iv. The Ideal Writer. +</h2> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> +<p> +§ 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. +</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Philosophy of Style, by Herbert Spencer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE *** + +***** This file should be named 5849-h.htm or 5849-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/8/4/5849/ + +Produced by P. 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