English Composition: Eight Lectures Given at the Lowell InstituteC. Scribner's Sons, 1891 - 316 pages |
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Page ix
... clear style is a style addressed to the average man . To write with clearness we must of course make ourselves as certain as possible of what we wish to say . Then , remembering that any quality of style can be conveyed to a reader only ...
... clear style is a style addressed to the average man . To write with clearness we must of course make ourselves as certain as possible of what we wish to say . Then , remembering that any quality of style can be conveyed to a reader only ...
Page 2
... clearly that although the work of a teacher or a technical critic of style concerns itself largely with the correction of erratic detail , the really important thing for one who would grasp the subject to master is not a matter of ...
... clearly that although the work of a teacher or a technical critic of style concerns itself largely with the correction of erratic detail , the really important thing for one who would grasp the subject to master is not a matter of ...
Page 4
... clearly to de- fine the sense in which I mean not to use the word ; in the second place , to emphasize the fact , which we shall find to be highly important , that in the present state of the English language hardly any word not ...
... clearly to de- fine the sense in which I mean not to use the word ; in the second place , to emphasize the fact , which we shall find to be highly important , that in the present state of the English language hardly any word not ...
Page 9
... clear as human per- versity could make it . Finally , in spite of the un- doubted fact that there was in it something which not only interested but fascinated me , I found only one passage that at first reading thoroughly pleased me ...
... clear as human per- versity could make it . Finally , in spite of the un- doubted fact that there was in it something which not only interested but fascinated me , I found only one passage that at first reading thoroughly pleased me ...
Page 11
... Clearly , we have seen nothing but written or printed words , - black marks on white paper . It is something inherent in these black marks which has produced the knowledge or the ignorance or the puzzle , the interest or the tedium ...
... Clearly , we have seen nothing but written or printed words , - black marks on white paper . It is something inherent in these black marks which has produced the knowledge or the ignorance or the puzzle , the interest or the tedium ...
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English Composition: Eight Lectures Given at the Lowell Institute Barrett Wendell No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
attention beginning believe Ben Jonson better blithe spirit catch the eye chapter chief clause clear Comedy of Errors commonplace composed composition of sentences consider course definite deliberate distinct effect elegance elements of style English English language example express fact feel figures Fisher Ames Gentlemen of Verona give grammar Harvard College human idea impression kind language Latin less literary literature matter means Midsummer Night's Dream mind notable number of words palpable paragraphs passage perhaps periodic periodic sentences phrase piece of style precisely pretty principle of Coherence principle of Mass principle of Unity principles of composition Publius Crassus purpose quality of style question reader remember Saxon secret Sejanus sense Shakspere simple single Solecism speech subtile suggest tell tence thing thought and emotion tion trait truth understand usage whoever whole compositions wish to produce writing written words
Popular passages
Page 55 - Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
Page 59 - Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doth blow And coughing drowns the parson's saw And birds sit brooding in the snow And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When...
Page 92 - O eloquent, just, and mighty Death ! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded ; what none hath dared, thou hast done ; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised ; thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hie jaeet ! Lastly, whereas this book, by the title it hath, calls itself The First Part of tlie General History of the World...
Page 275 - If all the pens that ever poets held Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts, And every sweetness that inspired their hearts, Their minds, and muses on admired themes ; If all the heavenly quintessence they still From their immortal flowers of poesy, Wherein, as in a mirror, we perceive The highest reaches of a human wit ; If these had made one poem's period, And all combined in beauty's worthiness, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least,...
Page 285 - ETHEREAL minstrel ! pilgrim of the sky ! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound ? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, Those quivering wings composed, that music still ! To the last point of vision, and beyond, Mount, daring warbler!
Page 53 - Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and, wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian's sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, "I am sure of thee now !" and with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of life.
Page 253 - When all is done, (he concludes,) human life is at the greatest and the best but like a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet, till it falls asleep, and then the care is over.
Page 177 - The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the colonies is hardly less powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them.
Page 9 - Thither our path lies; wind we up the heights: Wait ye the warning? Our low life was the level's and the night's; He's for the morning. Step to a tune, square chests, erect each head, 'Ware the beholders! This is our master, famous calm and dead, Borne on our shoulders.
Page 172 - No more firing was heard at Brussels — the pursuit rolled miles away. Darkness came down on the field and city : and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his heart.