The sun., 1916-11-16
A NOTE ON "STYLE" IN THE CREA.
TON OF ENGLISH PROSE.
Mr. Hunekr Discusses That Quality IN Composition Which, lnm,a
ably Recognizable. Is UIndefnable.


see in my mind a noble and puissant
nation arousing herself, an
eagle mewing her mighty youth - e..
and then fail down and worship, for
We are in the holy Of holes. Steven.
son preferred the passage 81 canno,
praise fugitive and cloistercd yir.
tue" and who shall gainsay him, And
Stevenson has written a most insp.r.
ing study of the Technical Elements
OF style In Literature" to he found in
the Biographical Edition. In it he calls
the monotonous Macaulay "an incom.
parable dauber" for running the letter
"k' through a paragraph. and In it he
sets forth In his chastened and classic
style the ineluctab.o uIenry James
revived this pretty worD perils o,
prose. Also its fascinations. The
prose writer, he says. must keep his
phrases large. rhythmicai, comeiy,
without letting them fan into the
strictly metrical; harmonious in Ill.
versity, musical in the mouth, in tex.
ture woven into committed phrases
and rounded periods. The stylist may
vault ai,ily into the saddle of logic.
or in the delicate reticulation Of his
silver fire paragraphs he may take as
an exemplar John Henry Newman
Robert Louis Stevenson is pcrfec.
ZIONIST, and that way lies madness
for all save a few valiant spirits. Sir
Walter Raleigh. formerly Professor
Raleigh. has written a crystal clear
study on style. an essay of momen,
becaOse in the writing thereof lie
orh ,rN s1nN Ia
tise. He confesses that "inanity dog,
the footsteps OF the classic tradition"
and that words must change to litc
and a word once fixed becomes uso.
less. This Is the error Of tie
classical creed, to imagine that In
fieeting world. whore the quickest cye
can never see the same thing twice
and n deed once done can never he
repeated. language alone should ho
capable OF fXity and fnality" Tic
Flaubertian cruX. Nevertheless. fliu.
bert could write of style in "A fluid. i'm
pressionistic way: "a style
which will bc as Rhythmic as verse
as precise as the language Of Scicnc"
which will have undulations, m"dn.,.
tions. like those of a Niu.uuco
enter into the idea like the stroke o.
"A stiletto, all the Conhiyt.
tions OF prosody have been made. thu.,
of prose are still tn make" Flauh0t
was not obsessed by the 'unpun
word" but by a style which is merged
in the idea. as the melodIc aud Ian.
monic phrases of Richard NtGu'r
were born simultaneously and cluthol
in the appropriate orchestral color-.
No wonder Stevenson prunouucos
French prose "A finer art than Enslist
though admitting that in the richer.
denser harmonIes of English its native
writer's find at first hand tho very
quality So eagerly sought for by FlaG-
bert French is u logical Language
one OF distinction and clarity. and uu"
in which metre never intrules, bat +
lacks tho 0vertones of our mother
speech. The English shares in com
mon with the Russian the IA, ~
awakening feelings and thoughts hr
the resonance Of words, which so,w
tn he written not in length but
depth. and then are lost in faint Io.
verherations."
But artistic prose. chiscllei l'r So
is "A negligible quantity nnwa.ny. =
was all very well in the more sr,...t,
times of link boys. rrdan chair .'.
bag wigs. but with the typist ,Ui'
ones phrases into angular frtgnnl'..
with the soil at our heels saturated
in slang. what hop" L. there for as-u-
nance, variety IN rhythm iuI '..
sonorous c1d"nces of prose" Write
, nj t,I,I ',... a -
ing. there j. no such thug as Z
natural style" Even Newman u.,--
ter of the exquisite. rel,uc!d cttu"l'--
phrase, Confesses to ldhurious dt'~ ,i
CORE ction, and he wrote with a., l.,,
uppermost and with uu thuuGn -
style. 50 called. Abraham ..a.n'a
nourished his lonely soul ON th" h.Hl'
aud Runyan. lie is writer uc ,.uY
yet elevated prose. without palal,'l in
our native literature other than EW'r-
son. Hawthorne and ro" wrote .r the
Key OF classic prose; Will" Wat " ''-
mans jiGSaw iing.c is the ultimate
deliquesccncc Of prose form j,r
practical everyday needs the eiahtr'''H
follow, But the Bible is the GnIl,n
i''oh VI f.nSUSn prose.
"All things" says Aristotle. "aro J..
tcrmined by number" and Qu0.. t.
wrote. I'VE cannot even speak cN..r
in longs ana shorts. and lon';s AID
shOHts are the material Of foot
personal prose should go to a t'nn -
its own. The curious are rrr. NJ
mended to the monumental Wrla =
George Saintshury, "a History ur l'.,-
lish Prose Rhythm" Prose may 30. ...-
thing else. hut it must rot hc had 4. .,nN
verse. Numerous" as Ia r,Nt.r-
but with no hint Of balance IN ''
metrical sense; without rhythm = s.
not prose at all. Professor oliver r.
ton has set this forth with a1m,. .,
luc!dity in his "EuGish l'ro-c \.n.
hers" 'bXford: Clarendon Pros. No
also analyses page from "1lr ,iu.'.
Bowl" nf Ilcury ,Inmrs. d.sru,. '.'.
new beauties of phrds.ng AMI s..'..
CadcnCes in the prose of tbs NI'
Eut Professor SdlutshurN'S ,tu..
the AUTHORITATIVE" one amuug II ..
lows. Walter l'atcrs ESSAY ol. %.
is disappOinting and hnu,' ...N,
with inNolutionS and prccius.b. y
"On the Art uf Writing" Ay -.
Quiller-'ouch. appeared We in,"
Ila2litt's adN ice and rcrCtJ ..
hook, "f.nglSh Composition" Cos
tessor Barrett Wendell and WI H...
pleasure ana profit than fn'.nN.l
! later pcrusal Of the CORNISH rn.
lists lectures.
lie warns against iargou. li.' .
seven arts, science, society, moo. '
politics, religion, have each tlor ..