The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1900-12-20
COLORS OF
Successful Writers on Country Sub
jects Naturally Use n Lot of
Green Words.

ooC l 40 ~ AoS liz IAS l
of a writer's work may be appraised
by the color words he uses. Shake
speare's favorite color word was red.
AS a matter of fact. this is the char
~acteristic word of most great writer's.
Out of every hundred color words
used by Shakespeare in his poems, no
fewer than 80 are red. White follows
with 90; then black, 20; yellow,
II; green, 7; blue, a. wig q
It is only natural. says the Cincin-
natl Enquirer, that a writer on coun-
try subjects should use a lot of green
words. Red must always be the pre-
dominant color in writings dealing
with the hotter passions, with love
and war. Even then the colors used
depend in a remarkable manner upon
the idiosyncracies of the writer. TAX
ing the case of the poets, grecn-i is the
color most used in the "Song of Songs"
1T is also the color most used by
C%oleridge, Shelley, Keats and Words
worth. Black is the predominant col
or of Homer. and white of Catullus,
Chaucer and Rosetti, while yellow is
the favorite color of that weird
writer, Poe. Red is the color of Ten
nyson. of Swinburne and Whitman.
1t must be taken into consideration
that the old writer's often used color
words in a different sense to tbe;:
present meaning. Some people &c so
far as to say that things looked quite
different to the ancients, and that
green and blue have been seen only
during the last 1000 years.
Red is the most pleasant and vigor-
Gus of colors. It is a joyous color,
full of life and grit. 1t is the color
of the strongest of passions. In any
thing dealing with man and woman
red must have it's predominant place.
It is the color of the rich, quick blood,
of all that's best in life. White is
usually a pleasant color, especially
when associated with red, as a wom-
ans white neck and red lips, ivory
throat and blushing cheeks, alabaster
forehead and rosy ears. Sometimes it
represents cold, dull, pale, gray and
a things. Generally it is the color
of innocence and purity, of sweet and
wholesome things. Black, as a favor
lite verbal color, is usually found in
the works of writers of somber, mel
ancholic disposition. Such works are
rarely of a healthy character. Green
and blue are so closely related, in the
sense used in this article, as often to
merge. Generally green is a fresh,
sweet color, the color of the country
and opening life. Blue has more to
do with the imagination. It is a
learned, philosophical color. It is
ethical and generally removed from
everyday life. The works of a blue
writer are deep and thoughtful, but
rarely raise ones enthusiasm. The
strong, human, red interest is lacking.
Yellow is a horrible color. Nearly
everyone feels a natural antipathy to
this jaundiced hue. It and black were
the favorite colors of Poe and thus
account for the strangeness of that
original writer's peculiar imaginings.
Curiously enough, yellow loses it's
loathsomeness if it possesses a dash Of
red or if it glistens. It's synonym
golden is a pleasant word and is often
used. A novelist will call his char
acter's hair golden in the case of a
heroine; he will call it yellow if she
be an Objectionable character. Writ
ers use colors in the sense shown for
the simple reason that we uncon-
sciously have all our thoughts tinted.
If in good health we think red; should
our liver be out of order we think
yellow. The bright, healthy majority
are naturally red thinkers and read
the works of red writer's. Your jovial
fellow looks at the world through
rosy glasses and sees it to be optimis-
tically red. The debilitated, burnt
out individual YEARLY looks through
spectacles with yellow glasses and the
prospect is hopelessly miserable.