Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1901-01-09
COLOR WORDS.

At first sight it may seem rather
curious, but it is a fact that the value
of writers works may be appraised
by the color words he uses Shakes
peare's favorite color word was red.
AS matter of fact. this is the char
acteristie word of lost great writer's.
Out Of every hunderd color words
used by Shakespeare in his poems, no
fewer then thirty are red. White
follows with twenty-two; then comes
black, twenty; yellow, seventeen;
green, seven; blue, four.
1t is ON ly ma ural that writer on
country subjects should use a lot of
green words. Red mu9t always be the
predominant col1r I'm writings deaaing
with the hotter passions, with love
and WAL. Even then the color used
depend in a. remarkable manner upon
The 1diosyncrac f The writer. Tax
ing the case Of ;he ets, green i ne
color most used in the Song of
Songs" 1t is ALSO the color most used
by Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and
Wordsworth. Black is the predomi.
nant color of Homer and white of
Cafuhus, Chaucer and Rosetti, while
yellow is Fhe favorite solor of Tenny-
son, of Swinburne and Whitman.
1t must be taken into consideration
that the old writers often used color
words in a different sense to their
to their present meaning. Some Eco
pie go 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 Thousand
years. Red iStihe most pleasant ant
vigorous of cobors. 1t is Joyous
color, full of life and grit. 1t is the
color of the stromgestof passions. In
anything dealing with man and
wonsanI red must have it's predominant
place. 1t is the color of the rich,
quick blood of all that's best in life.
White lis usually a pleasant color, es-
pecially when associated with red, as
a womaan's white meek and red Lips,
ivory throat and rosy ears. Some
times 1T represents cold, dull, pale,
GRAY and wan things. Generally it Is
the color of Innocence and purity, Of
sweet and wholesome things. Black,
as a favorite verbal color, is usually
found on the works of writer's of SOM
Der, melomchJoic disposition. Such
works are rarely of healthy charac
ter. Green and blue are so closely
related, in the sense used in this arti-
Gle, as often ito merge. Generally
green is a fresh sweet color; the color
of the country and opening life. Blue
has more ito do with 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
every one feels a NATURAL antipathy to
this iaundiced hue. Tt and black were
the favorite colors of Poe, and thus
accounts the strangeness of that orig
inal writer's peculiar lima ginings.
CURIOSITY enough, yellow loses its
Ioathsomeness if it possesses dash
of red, OR if it glIstens. It's synonym,
golden, is pleasant word, and Is
often used A novelist will call his
characters hair golden, in the case OF
a heroine; he will CALL 1T yellow if she
be am obiectional character. Writers
use colors i'm the sense shown, for the
simple reason that we unconsciously
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 nat
urally red thinkers, AMID read the
works of red writer's. Your iovial fell
low locks alt the world through glass
es, and sees it TO be opt;misticaMy
red The deibilitated, burnt out an
divfdual wearily looks through spec
tacles with yellow glasses, and the
/ prospect is hopelessly miserable
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