or purpose. Such questions as the following may be answered: What kind
of essay is it? Is it personal or didactic? What is the theme? What is
the writer's aim? What is his mood? What constitutes the introduction?
the body of the essay? the conclusion? What may be said of the diction,
sentences, and style? What is the order of thought as determined by
analysis? Is there symmetry? Is there movement? Is irrelevant matter
excluded? Is the treatment lit up by humor? Is there breadth of view?
What is the writer's standpoint? Is there care and self-restraint of
statement?

In the case of a speech the same questions may be asked in reference to
form, content, mood, or purpose. In addition the student may determine
the class of oratory to which the speech belongs. He may ask such
questions as the following: Is it eloquent in any part? What is the mode
of argumentation? What is the form of proof? Is the argument sound and
convincing? The student should analyze the speech, in whole or in part,
and make a synopsis of its principal propositions and proofs. The result
may be presented in a written or oral critique.

CHAPTER XII

NATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF FICTION

+68. Definition.+ Fiction is that form of prose narrative in which the
characters, scenes, and incidents are partly or entirely imaginary. In
its highest form it is a sort of prose epic; and Homer's "Odyssey" finds
a parallel in Fenelon's "Telemachus." In the arrangement of characters
and incidents to form a plot, fiction resembles the drama; and at the
present time every notable work of fiction is apt to make its way to the
stage. Like poetry in general, fiction has its principal source in the
creative imagination, which, working on the basis of experience,
modifies or produces character, scene, and incident.

A common division of fiction, though not consistently observed, is the
_novel_ and the _romance_. The novel is a fictitious narrative in which
the characters and incidents are in keeping with the ordinary train of
events in society. Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which brings before
us the simple life of a country pastor, may be taken as a type. A
romance is a fictitious narrative in which the characters and scenes and
incidents are uncommon, improbable, or marvelous. Scott's "Ivanhoe" may
be taken as a representative of the best type of romance. The one form
of fiction may readily shade into the other, and it becomes difficult
in some cases to dete