nt might examine those
connected with previous chapters, and discover the various figures they
contain. Furthermore, it is recommended that he study the figures in a
whole piece; as Milton's "L'Allegro" or "Il Penseroso," Goldsmith's
"Deserted Village," Gray's "Elegy," Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night,"
Wordsworth's "Ode on Intimations of Immortality," Coleridge's "Ancient
Mariner," Moore's "Paradise and the Peri," Shelley's "Adonais,"
Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur," Longfellow's "Building of the Ship,"
Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal," and many others that will occur to the
teacher. Let him determine the percentage of figurative sentences, and
compare the results with those obtained from an examination of the prose
of Macaulay, Ruskin, Carlyle, De Quincey, Lowell, and other standard
writers. This comparison will throw light on the essential difference
between poetry and prose.

CHAPTER VI

STYLE

+39. Definition.+ _Style_ means an author's mode of expression. It is
not, as is sometimes supposed, an artificial trick, but a genuine
expression of the mind and character. Buffon had the right idea when he
said, "The style is the man." It derives its leading characteristics
from the intellect, culture, and character of the writer. A man of
independent force and integrity gives natural expression to his
personality. His style reveals his mental and moral qualities. Only
weaklings, who are afraid to be natural and who are destitute of
substantial worth, become conscious imitators or affect artificial
peculiarities.

We have already considered style as related to _diction_, _different
kinds of sentences_, and _figures of speech_. It remains to consider it,
first, in relation to the various kinds of discourse, and, secondly, to
the generic types of mind.

+40. Kinds of Discourse.+ There are four generic kinds of discourse,
namely, _description_, _narration_, _exposition_, and _argument_. Though
frequently united in the same work, or even in the same paragraph, they
are yet clearly distinguishable. Each has a well-defined purpose and
method, to which the mode of expression is naturally bent or adapted.
The result is what may be called a descriptive, narrative, expository,
or argumentative style. These different kinds of discourse will now be
considered and illustrated in greater detail.

(1) _Description_ is the portrayal of an object by means of language.
The object described may belong either to the material or