Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-03-06
The .author's Literary hder,
AND THE
POETS pROMPYER.
Designed to facilitate The exercises Of youthful
genius an the
COMPOSITION OF PROSE AND VERSE.
By SAMUEL WOODWORTH
GENERAL CONTENTS OF THE WORK.

l. Elements ofEnglish ComposITIoN reduced
to plain practical RULES drawn from the wri'
tings of Lord Kailns, Blair, Walker, Irving, &c.
IL. Rules for the construction of ENGLISH
VERSE, by which the most ordinary as well as
most brilliant ideas may be readily expressed
in smooth harmonious numbers. 1t is not the
object of these Rules to accommodate the art
to the practice, and thus to tolerate the nume-
rous errors and unwarrantable liberties of g. e-
LIBERATED poets, merely because they are cete-
6rated; but rather to form a critical TEST by
which such errors and liberties may be detect
ed and avoided. 1t is intended 10 show, not
how Poetry has been, but how it ought to be
written.
These Rules, which are few, plain, and
easily comprehended, are Invested OF all per-
picking phraseology, and adapted to the .New
School of Poetry, which now obtains in Great
Britain, aud to which public taste, on both sides
the Atlantic, is principally indebted for its re-
cent reformation and present refinement.
The .MetricaL Ganaut, ON which these Rules
are predicated, will be found a valuable auxia-
ry, not only to the pupil, whose unhedged
muse has never yet ventured to soar into the
sublime regions of fancy, but, also, to the &C
complished "master of the Tyre" whose dar-
ing and successful flights have already scaled
the biciptal summit of mount Parnassus. 1t
will be seen that a Scale or Ganiat is appli-
cable to Poetry as TO Music, and that the rudi-
ments of each art may, and ought to be, taught
by similar process.
ILL., Rules for PUNCTUATION, founded on the
practice of the most correct writer's in the
English language; comprising original strlc-
lures on the Punctuation Of Verse.
". Epithets and Synonymes, suitable for
any and every possible subject, which subjects
are alphabetically arranged as heads for
the various epithets applicable to them. Thus,
for instance, under the word ABSENCE, will be
found every adjective which can properly agree
with that noun--ss enUiouS, ieng, prolonged, te-
dions, unzcelcOnie, painful, constrained, torgegu,
obEDious, Sc. &c. Under BROOK, such cpl
thets as ni'frmuamg, sSlver, grassy, 6a65hng,
saagkag, whispering, Pu'9ag, naeanderang, &c.
Under sKY-aZu3e, cerAtean, Starry, pnulted,
sbangied, &c. Under fYE--melting, 6eGmg,
sparkling, piercing, &c. &c. But enough has
been said to convince the reader OF the utility
OF this part of the work.
V. A choice selection of the most elegant
significant, andapproyed forms recommending,
dispralsing, protesting, conjnrlng or beseech,
ing, expressing gratitude, benediction, male,
diction, blessing times and days, cursing ditto
breaking off subject, introducing simihtudes-
invoking Muses., concluding letters, &c. &c.
VI. A Dictionary Of Rhymes, on plan at
once novel, amusing, and instructive. All the
single rhymes in the English language are here
collected, and claSsed in such a manner as to
enable the poet, in moment, and without the
least trouble, to find an appropriate word,
which, perhaps, an hours mental exertion
would not have brought to his recollection.
VII. But this is not all. The rhymes are not
only classed, but each and every one is defined
by its practical use, in examples quoted from
the works of the most celebratedpoets, ancient
and modern, who have written in the English
language. In this one Improvement, it is hum
bly, conceived, consists the chief excellence Of
the work. A mere collection Of underlined
rhymes, standing alone by themselves, as they
do in other works of this kind, are not only
offensive to the eye and ear, but are, also, Who'll
ly inadequate TO the intended purpose-viz.
that of directing the judgment in its choice;
whereas, in the arrangement now adopted,
each rhyme is repeated as often as its various
powers and different Specifications will permit
Thus the young poet is not only furnished with
the requisite rhyme, but also with every neces-
sary instruction for its proper application.
VIII. But another (and, perhaps, not the
least importantly use of this part of the work,
remains to be mentioned From what has al
READY oeen sad IL wll pc perceived tnat TINS
Rhyming Dictionary is, also, in ITSELF Diction-
e9 os.at"s xV,sJ'',o' eo,,p 'ss uoe
thoughts, as are to be found in the best English
poets--such as illusions SMILES. descriptions
and characters of persons and things. Ii thus
becomes a textbook of yfottos, suitable for al.
most anv subject, arranged under appropriate
heads, and referred to in a copious index. 1t
will. also. Utmost. cases, subserye all the n,,r
poses of a Dictionarv Of Ebitheta and Suuou,,-
mes !; for by finding, in the index, such word
as the subject of our thought is most likely to