of this kind really exists. Chaucer evidently had it in mind when he said:

And if thou wryte a goodly word al softe,
Though it be good, reherce it not to ofte.1

More frequently, however, the fault is due to carelessness or to insufficient zeal in mastering an adequate vocabulary. Thus it usually happens that the words we repeat unnecessarily are not deeply expressive either of our individuality or our subject. But, however repetition may originate, if its chief effect is unpleasantness, it should not be allowed to stand.

D. FALSE VARIETY

Perhaps a word of warning should be offered. Sometimes students have such great fear of repetition that they form false notions of variety; and, unpleasant as monotony is, it is less unpleasant than variety purchased at the price of awkwardness or obscurity. At times, even noticeable repetition is justifiable. If steering away from it brings unnecessary attention to the structure of the sentence, or if it endangers clearness or seriously weakens emphasis, there should be no hesitancy in making the choice. It should never be forgotten that our aim is to approximate naturalness. As soon as variety suffers from affectation, it is to be avoided. Here, as elsewhere in our task of learning to write, we must be guided by common sense.

V. THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE PRINCIPLES After a student has considered the principles of composition one by one, he may feel that they must be in irreconcilable conflict. Unity seems always to be in the way of variety, variety seems to hold out against emphasis, and emphasis seems to be equally troublesome when one strives for coherence. From one point of view, this conception is well founded. As was observed in a preceding chapter, every kind of constructive

1 Troilus and Criseyde, II, 147.

work involves conflicts. It is the task of the artist, whether he engage in the making of wagon wheels, the painting of pictures, or the writing of letters or books, to reduce conflicts to harmony. And if he is skillful, he will find that what at first seemed an insurmountable obstacle in his way is in most instances a substantial aid. Thus the more serious student of composition discovers that unity is not at war with variety; variety is always within the unit. He finds, too, that very frequently the effort he makes to secure variety will result in better emphasis, and that emphasis is often the strongest ally of coherence. For example, when he inverts a sentence to relieve monotony, he may find not only that he has at the same time brought the emphatic word to the end, but that he has brought it nearer some relative pronoun or other reference word which points back to it from the succeeding sentence. Especially does he learn how closely related emphasis and coherence are. He comes to see that the distinction he gives to a prominent paragraph, sentence, or word by causing it to stand out above its neighbors will make the task of relating other paragraphs, sentences, and words to it very much easier. So it is with the principles in any combination. If he studies conscientiously and practices faithfully and long, he will sometime discover that there is in reality no unhappy conflict among them, but that instead they are interdependent and mutually helpful.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

1. Experiment with unity by developing the same topic in one paragraph and in several. Develop a paragraph from each of the sentences in the original single paragraph.

2. Note how the shifting point of view impairs the unity of the following theme. At first we think we are to see only the freshman; later, except for a glimpse in the last sentence, we see only what the freshman saw:

AS SEEN BY A FRESHMAN

The train pulled up to the station, stopped for one impatient minute, and then rushed on, leaving a scared and bewildered freshman on the platform.

He carried a large alligator-skin valise in one hand and a sack of oranges in the other. His "highwater" trousers displayed his worsted socks and his high lace shoes. His short coat, buttoned precisely over his striped percale shirt and red tie, gave him the appearance of having been caught and suspended in mid-air by its top button.

He grasped his valise in one dangling hand and the orange sack in the other and started up the business street of the city, looking curiously about him for the noble buildings of the University. The first sign of college life seemed to be in a certain little corner building where boys and girls in couples went in at one door, and after a few minutes, came out at another. He could not, at first, decide whether it was the college library or the president's office; but upon glancing upward, he discovered the sign, "Charley's Candy Shop." Knowing that none of his studies pertained to that, he decided it must be an advanced course; so he strolled slowly on. The street seemed to be alive with boys wearing queer trousers, which made them look like walking balloons. Often they stopped to talk to groups of laughing girls, all of whom wore a kind of knitted coat, which he afterwards learned was a sweatervest. Such sights he saw up and down every street; and, with a perplexed and confused expression on his face, he wandered on in search of college life as it was outlined in the catalogue.

3. How does the following letter violate unity? MY DEAR SIR:

Just think of it, dad; I have passed every one of my examinations. Now you must have the new machine when I get home.

Very truly,
KITTY.

4. Find paragraphs in which repetition is employed to help coherence. What differences do you note between this kind of repetition and the kind that merely violates the principle of variety? Study this matter thoroughly. The differences are all-important. 5. How does the "be" in the following sentence help coherence ? There is division,

Although as yet the face of it be covered

With mutual cunning, 'twixt Albany and Cornwall.

6. Study Poe's notion of the function of the dash:

"Without entering now into the why, let me observe that the printer may always ascertain when the dash of the Ms. is properly and when improperly employed by bearing in mind that this point represents a second thought an emendation. In using it just above I have exemplified its use. The words, 'an emendation,' are, speaking with reference to grammatical con

struction, but in apposition with the words 'a second thought.' Having written these latter words, I reflected whether it would not be possible to render their meaning more distinct by certain other words. Now, instead of erasing the phrase, ‘a second thought,' which is of some use, which partially conveys the idea intended which advances me a step toward my full purpose, I suffer it to remain, and merely put a dash between it and the phrase, 'an emendation.' The dash gives the reader a choice between two, or among three or more expressions, one of which may be more forcible than another, but all of which help out the idea. It stands, in general, for these words, 'or, to make my meaning more distinct.' This force it has, and this force no other point can have; since all other points have well-understood uses quite different from this. Therefore the dash cannot be dispensed with. It has its phases, its variation of the force described; but the one principle that of second thought or emendation - - will be found at the bottom of all."

Try to gain a similarly definite notion of the part played by the other marks.

7. When Phillips Brooks prepared a sermon he decided first how many pages he was to use; then how many pages each of the large divisions of his subject would require; and finally, how much space this scale would enable him to devote to each of the smaller divisions. After he had once decided, he made every division come within the limits he had fixed. In this way he secured good proportion. Study his method in Allen's Life of Phillips Brooks. Little, Brown, and Company.

8. Why did the audience laugh when a very earnest orator misquoted Garfield's well-known words in this manner: God reigns, and the government still lives at Washington"?

9. Are you sure that you know the difference between variety and lack of unity? What is the difference?

10. Do not be misled into thinking that every paragraph is constructed in every respect according to all the principles we have studied. These principles set up an ideal toward which every good writer strives; but he does not always attain unqualified perfection. Study the paragraphs in some of your assignments in history or English literature. What writers are especially careful in the structure of their paragraphs? How frequently do you find transition or summary paragraphs ?

THE matters which we have considered in the preceding chap ters are but essential parts of preliminary preparation for writing Knowledge of material, mastery of a working vocabulary, an grasp of the principles which underlie structure are not consecu tive steps in the completion of a given piece of writing, but ar parts of the general scheme of training to which one must submi before one may hope to do writing of any kind with the highes degree of success. Essential as these acquirements are, they are not writing itself. It is not enough to have individual bits of material, to know individual words, and to be skilled in individual principles; we must not be " aiming to be an architect by learning to make bricks." Instead, we must be able to focus all this preliminary knowledge in the one complex activity which we call composing.

The first great good that we derive from studying the processes of composing is some knowledge of what composing is and what it is not. Very frequently students are discouraged in their attempts at writing because they do not know when they are composing well. If they find that ideas come slowly, and that they cannot make easy progress in organizing what they have to say, they at once spring to the conclusion that they were not born to write, and give up in despair. Unfortunately, too,

1 In attempting to guide students to a truer understanding of what composing really means, the authors have not relied solely upon their own comparatively slight experience. They have drawn from evidence left by many writers who are no longer living, and have secured very complete information specially for the purpose from a half hundred well-known authors of the present time. This list includes writers of fiction, of drama, of literary essays, and of instrumental essays and treatises. Since the chapter must of necessity be rather general, it cannot include all these specific views. It contains nothing, however, which conflicts with the spirit of any of the information received.