And then, the chasm

Opening to view, I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous that remembrance in my veins

Yet shrinks the vital current.

Dante: The Inferno, Canto XXIV.

The roaring camp-fire with rude humor painted-
The ruddy tints of health

On haggard face and form that drooped and fainted
In the fierce race for wealth.

Bret Harte: Dickens in Camp.

quote as a specimen some words of a living poet himself closely akin to Shelley in the character of his genius.

And beneath from the pebbles-in passing a spark —
Struck out by a steed flying-fearless and fleet.

Longfellow Paul Revere's Ride.

Hounds are in their couples- yelling
Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling;
Merrily, merrily, mingle they,

"Waken, lords and ladies gay."

Scott: Hunting Song.

A frequent fault of inexperienced readers is the breaking up of the thought of a phrase into its smallest details, setting out each particular phase of the whole idea as a distinct and important thought-unit. But one cannot emphasize everything. The minor aspects of a thought must be combined and subordinated in such a way as to give unity and prominence to the complete image. This overinsistence upon details is illustrated in the following extract. Read it aloud as phrased, then read it with such grouping as shall give whole images, unbroken by pauses or hesitations.

If ever man was formed—to sit on a log — it was - Old Phelps. He was essentially a contemplative person. Walking on a country road or anywhere—in the "open" -was irksome to him. He had a shambling — loose-jointed gait not unlike- that of the bear; his short legs - bowed out they had been more -in the habit of climbing trees than of walking.

if

as

- it was Old Phelps. Walking on a counwas irksome to him.

If ever man was formed to sit on a log, He was essentially a contemplative person. try road, or anywhere in the "open," He had a shambling, loose-jointed gait, — not unlike that of the

as if they had been more in

bear; - his short legs bowed out,
the habit of climbing trees - than of walking.

Charles Dudley Warner: In the Wilderness.

PROBLEMS IN GROUPING

1. General Problems

The various aspects of the problem of grouping are illustrated in the examples appended to this chapter. Practice on these problems should be continued until the habit is acquired of taking a phrase or sentence with the eye and the mind before its words are spoken, until transitions from phrase to phrase and thought to thought are marked, as in conversation, by pauses and change of pitch, until breathing is regulated by the demands of the thought and phrasing becomes smooth, rhythmical, and easy.

1. Right expression is a part of character. As somebody has said, by learning to speak with precision, you learn to think with correctness, and the way to firm and vigorous speech lies through the cultivation of high and noble sentiJohn Morley: On the Study of Literature.

2.

ments.

The pavilion in which these personages were had, as became the times as well as the personal character of Richard, more of a warlike than a sumptuous or royal character.

Scott.

3.

4.

I had a method of my own of writing half wor is, and leaving out some altogether, so as to keep the substance and the language of any discourse which I had heard so much in view, that I could give it very completely soon after I had taken it down.

Boswell: Life of Johnson.

Supper was over, and the process of digestion proceeding as favorably as, under the influence of complete tranquility and cheerful conversation, most wise men conversant with the anatomy and functions of the human frame will consider that it ought to have proceeded, when the three friends were startled by the noise of loud and angry threatenings below stairs.

Dickens.

5. The man that once did sell the lion's skin While the beast liv'd, was kill'd with hunting him. Shakespeare: King Henry V, IV, iii.

6. This thought is as a death, which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

Shakespeare: Sonnet 64.

Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun; the vales
Stretching in pensive quiétness between ;

The venerable woods; rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks,

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man!

Bryant: Thanatopsis.

8. And all the three were silent seeing, pitch'd
Beside the Castle Perilous on flat field,

A huge pavilion like a mountain peak
Sunder the glooming crimson on the marge,

Black, with black banner, and a long black horn
Beside it hanging; which Sir Gareth graspt,
And so, before the two could hinder him,

Sent all his heart and breath thro' all the horn.

Tennyson: Gareth and Lynette.

9. The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

10.

11.

12.

Shakespeare: The Tempest, IV, i.

The shepherds on the lawn,

Or ere the point of dawn,

Sat simply chatting in a rustic row;
Full little thought they than

That the mighty Pan

Was kindly come to live with them below:

Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,

Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
Milton: Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity.

Your children and your children's children shall be taught to ponder the simplicity and deep wisdom of utterances which, in their time, passed, in party heat, as idle words. Beecher: Address on Abraham Lincoln.

All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.

Shakespeare: King Richard II, 1, iii.

13. Then, too, your Prophet from his angel brow
Shall cast the Veil that hides its splendors now,
And gladden'd Earth shall, through her wide expanse,
Bask in the glories of this countenance.

Moore: Lalla Rookh (The Veiled Prophet, 1, 179-82).

14.

I should shrink from the task, however, did I not know that, in this, your purpose is to honor again the Commonwealth of which I am the official representative.

John D. Long: Memorial Day Address.

15. Many more, indeed, than may be mentioned now there are of these real benefactors and preservers of the wayside characters, times and customs of our ever-shifting history. Riley: Dialect in Literature.

16.

17.

A league beyond the wood,
All in a full-fair manor and a rich,
His towers, where that day a feast had been
Held in high hall, and many a viand left,
And many a costly cate, received the three.

Tennyson: Gareth and Lynette.

Mr. Pickwick paused, considered, pulled off his gloves and put them in his hat: took two or three short runs, baulked himself as often, and at last took another run, and went slowly and gravely down the slide, with his feet about a yard and a quarter apart, amidst the gratified shouts of all the spectators.

"Keep the pot a-bilin', sir!" said Sam; and down went Wardle again, and then Mr. Pickwick, and then Sam, and then Mr. Winkle, and then Mr. Bob Sawyer, and then the fat boy, and then Mr. Snodgrass, following closely upon each other's heels, and running after each other with as much eagerness as if all their future prospects in life depended on their expedition.

The sport was at its height, the sliding was the quickest, the laughter at the loudest, when a sharp smart crack was heard. There was a quick rush towards the bank, a wild scream from the ladies, and a shout from Mr. Tupman. A large mass of ice disappeared; the water bubbled up over it; Mr. Pickwick's hat, gloves, and handkerchief were floating on the surface; and this was all of Mr. Pickwick that anybody could see.

Dismay and anguish were depicted on every countenance,