Lancelot, the greatest warrior in King Arthur's court, has come to Astolat on the way to the tournament. Here he meets the Lord of Astolat and his beautiful young daughter Elaine, who falls in love with him. On leaving the castle he takes a shield that is loaned to him by the Lord of Astolat, leaving his own behind with Elaine. His shield has many designs wrought all over it and many dents and marks upon it where it has been struck by spears and swords in the great battles and tournaments fought by King Arthur and his knights: fought at Camelot, Caerleon, and other parts of Arthur's realm.

Elaine, who is a very expert needle-woman, makes a "case," or cover, for the shield and embroiders it in designs and colors exactly like those on the shield itself, which she kept in a room of the eastern tower.

As you read the passage the first time you note that Elaine is guessing where the different "cuts" on the shield were "beaten" into it. Now read it a second time, noting carefully and counting each cut, and then answer the question: How many cuts were there? What difference does the conclusion you reach regarding the number of cuts make in your vocal expression? How does the colon affect your interpretation?

We have seen that commas set off certain kinds of small groups and thus help us to get the thought. Then we learned that semicolons performed a similar function with large groups. Now we shall see that colons have, as one of their uses, a similar function. The principle on which this usage is based no doubt is the need to convey to the reader that from the

beginning to the end of the long sentence there is really but one theme. Here are some unusually good illustrations:

All is over and done:

Render thanks to the Giver,
England, for thy son.

Let the bell be toll'd.

Render thanks to the Giver,
And render him to the mould.
Under the cross of gold

That shines over city and river,
There he shall rest forever
Among the wise and the bold.
Let the bell be toll'd:

And a reverent people behold

The towering car, the sable steeds:

Bright let it be with his blazon'd deeds,

Dark in its funeral fold.

Let the bell be toll'd:

And a deeper knell in the heart be knoll'd;

And the sound of the sorrowing anthem roll'd
Thro' the dome of the golden cross;

And the volleying cannon thunder his loss;
He knew their voices of old,

For many a time in many a clime

His captain's ear has heard them boom,

Bellowing victory, bellowing doom:

When he with those deep voices wrought,
Guarding realms and kings from shame;
With those deep voices our dead captain taught
The tyrant, and asserts his claim

In that dread sound to the great name,
Which he has worn so pure of blame,
In praise and in dispraise the same,
A man of well-attemper'd frame.

O civic muse, to such a name,
To such a name for ages long,
To such a name,

Preserve a broad approach of fame,

And ever-echoing avenues of song.

-TENNYSON: Ode on the Death
of the Duke of Wellington.

We perceive that the dial shadow has moved, but we did not see it moving; we see that the grass has grown, but we did not see it growing: so our advances in knowledge consist of such minute steps that they are perceivable only by the distance.

He sunk to repose where the red heaths are blended; One dream of his childhood his fancy passed o'er: But his battles are fought, and his march it is ended; The sound of the bagpipes shall wake him no more. A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg, and a number of the like: but all these things are graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's own.

A much more frequent use of the colon is in denoting enumeration:

Many countries have a national flower: France the lily, England the rose, Scotland the thistle, etc.

But for those who interpret literature (rather than for those who write it), the most important aspect to understand and here students all too frequently fail utterly—is that the colon is very often used to separate a clause which is grammatically complete from a second clause which illustrates its meaning, or amplifies it, as by way of inference or conclusion.

Avoid affectation: it is a contemptible weakness.

It is dreadful to live in suspense: it is the life of a spider.

Nor was the religion of the Greek drama a mere form: it was full of truth, spirit, and power.

There is no mortal truly wise and restless at the same time: wisdom is the repose of the mind.

The present life is not wholly prosaic, precise, tame, and finite: to the gifted eye, it abounds in the poetic.

New ribbons, however, make little difference on the whole: those who liked the cheap play before will like her none the worse for the change.

On the other hand, nobody had ever heard of a Dodson who had ruined himself: it was not the way of that family.

There was once a little lilac bush that grew by a child's window. It had been a very busy lilac bush all its life: drinking moisture from the earth and making it into sap; adding each year a tiny bit of wood to its slender trunk; filling out its leaf buds; making its leaves larger and larger; and then-oh, happy, happy time! hanging purple flowers here and there among its branches.

It is not expected that, from these studies and illustrations, you will become expert in the use of punctuation points: but it is hoped that you will be stimulated to greater care in their interpretation, since we have learned that authors use them not because the rules of rhetoric demand it, but to make it easier for readers to understand. And, most of all, we have learned that to recognize the force of a single mark of punctuation means often the difference between true and false vocal interpretation.

CHAPTER XII

PUNCTUATION-Continued

INTERPRETATION OF THE EXCLAMATION POINT

The interpreting of the exclamation point is not always easy, and is, moreover, frequently slighted. Its commonest use is in connection with interjections and exclamatory sentences:

Oh! Alas! Bah!

How beautiful she is!

What a piece of work is man!

This is apparently all very simple, but is it really so? Custom demands that interjections (except "O") be followed by exclamation marks, and no doubt the intention is to suggest emotion. But after a while we disregard this emotional suggestion altogether in spite of the fact that there may be much feeling behind the interjection. To repeat: we, having become used to seeing the mark of exclamation in so many places where it does not indicate any depth of feeling, come finally to ignore it altogether. We shall see much more of this aspect of punctuation when we come to study Emotion, but even at this stage the pupil can be guided by this emotional sign post.