Elementary Composition · Part 14

1. Joan of Arc to her mother the day before she leaves her home to go to the court of the king.

[Suggestions: Her mother laments over the dangers of the road; Joan reassures her--she is to wear armor and be escorted by twenty soldiers. Her mother asks again why Joan wishes to set out. Joan answers by explaining about her "Voices" and her certainty that she is sent by heaven to rescue France.]

[Read the story of Joan of Arc and of the other persons to be treated in this lesson before you begin to write the dialogue.]

2. Two boys of Puritan families about to embark for America on the Mayflower.

3. Christopher Columbus explaining to a friend what his hopes are in seeking out Queen Isabella.

4. A boy and girl in Old Manhattan on Christmas Day, bringing out, if possible, some of the customs of the times.

5. William Tell to his little son before he shoots the apple from his head.

6. The conversation at the christening of the Princess who was afterward to be the Sleeping Beauty, bringing in the arrival and curse of the wicked fairy.

7. Conversation of Hop o' my Thumb's father and mother, when they decide that the children must be left in the woods because they cannot earn enough to feed them.

8. Conversations between the Grecian warriors who fell at Thermopylæ, the evening before the battle.

9. Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday. Robinson is trying to explain (a) city life, (b) how and why food is cooked, (c) about his own children in England, (d) what winter is like when there is snow and ice.

Exercise 101.--Try in the same way to bring out character by inventing a dialogue between the persons mentioned below:--

1. A gentle elder sister and a little boy, very irritable and cross from a long illness. He wishes to go outdoors to play and is only persuaded to stay in by the promise of a new game.

2. Two little girls playing at dolls. One is very much given to ordering the other about, but finally encounters rebellion.

3. One boy is urging another to go swimming with him. The second boy is afraid and makes all kinds of excuses.

4. A very bright pupil trying to explain a lesson in arithmetic to another who has no head for mathematics.

5. Two little boys playing Indians; one is teaching another how to play.

6. A father, tired and sleepy, and a little child asking questions.

7. Imaginary conversation between a lion and a polar bear, whose cages are side by side in a circus. Each tells the other about his home life when he was free.

CHAPTER XI

DESCRIPTION

61. Observation.--The first recommendation given in beginning any new form of composition is always to arrange what you wish to say in a logical and orderly manner, by means of an outline, either mental or written. In description, however, the first thing to do is to observe the subject of your composition, carefully, completely, and accurately.

You will be surprised to see how very carelessly you observe, as a rule, even things with which you are very familiar.

Try, offhand, without further examination, to write a description of a piece of money (copper, nickel, silver, gold, or paper), giving the dimensions and the color, and stating what some of the printing on it is; and try in the same way to describe the face of a watch, telling the size and length of the hands, how they run, and what the printing is; to give an accurate and detailed account of the appearance of the front of your school building or church, your next door neighbor's house, the mechanism of a lamp, the exact disposition of the furniture in your parlor at home, a cornstalk (size of leaves, shape, how they are set on the stalk, where the ears grow, how many wrappings of husk inclose them, etc.), a violet, a silk hat (height, width, shape, lining, width of brim, etc.), a cat's forefeet (number of toes, sheath for the nail, how they curve in, why they do not penetrate the cushioned foot in walking, etc.), a common fly, a robin redbreast, the arrangement of panels in the front door of your house, an English sparrow, a postage stamp. Tell how a cow lies down; a horse; a dog.

By such experiments you will find that you are hampered not by difficulty in expressing what you know, but by the great gaps in your knowledge of even such very familiar objects. You will discover that you have never really looked at them, although you may have seemed to do so every day since you can remember.

Some people seem to have opened more eyes than others, they see with such force and distinctness; their vision penetrates the tangle and obscurity where that of others fails like a spent or impotent bullet. How many eyes did Gilbert White open? How many did Henry Thoreau? How many did Audubon? How many does the hunter, matching his sight against the keen and alert senses of a deer or a moose or a fox or a wolf. Not outward eyes but inward. We open another eye whenever we see beyond the first general features or outlines of things--whenever we grasp the special details and characteristic markings that this mask covers. Science confers new powers of vision. Wherever you have learned to discriminate the birds, or the plants, or the geological features of a country, it is as if new and keener eyes were added.... We think we have looked at a thing sharply until we are asked for its specific features. I thought I knew exactly the form of the leaf of the tulip tree, until one day a lady asked me to draw the outlines of one.... The habit of observation is the habit of clear and decisive gazing; not by a first, casual glance, but by a steady, deliberate aim of the eye are the rare and characteristic things discovered. You must look intently and hold your eye firmly to the spot, to see more than do the rank and file of mankind.--JOHN BURROUGHS: Locusts and Wild Honey.

Description by means of writing is often compared to the work of an artist, since the aim of both artist and writer is to present a visual image of their subject. But the writer of a description is more like a Japanese artist than one of his own race. The artists of Japan look long and fixedly at an object or scene or person, and then produce the picture from memory. In general, it is not often easy to write your description while you are actually in presence of the thing you wish to picture, so that after quick, keen, and accurate observation you should try to cultivate a retentive memory for details. Try cultivating both of these qualities by some of the following class exercises.

Exercise 102.--1. Look for one minute by the clock at your teacher's desk, and then without another glance see who can describe it with the most accuracy and completeness. 2. Turn to the title-page of this book, look at it for a moment, and then try to reproduce it. 3. Examine your own shoe for a moment and see how clearly you can describe it. 4. The stove or steam radiator in your room. 5. What you see from the window nearest you after a moment's gaze. 6. Just how the inside of your desk looks now--exact place of books, pencils, note books, etc. 7. Just how the pupil next you is dressed, with as many details as a two-minute gaze will show you. 8. The exact arrangement of maps, pictures, reports, plants, etc., about the wall of your class room.

As you go about your house or school, in the streets, or in the woods, try this exercise, either in competition with a companion, or simply for your own satisfaction. In passing a shop window, see how many of the objects displayed you can remember, or in passing a brook, try to observe rapidly but accurately the exact nature of the banks at the place you crossed. See how definitely you can impress on your mind the appearance of any house you pass, or of a vehicle which passes you. After a moment's steady look at your mother's work-basket see how completely you can describe it,--or the dining table set for dinner, or the front hall, with wraps and rubbers in it, or the parlor with several people in it, or the minister preaching in church. You will be surprised to find how much you have overlooked before, even in scenes which have been constantly before you. You will see that Mr. Burroughs does not exaggerate when he says that when we observe carefully and accurately, it is as though we had opened a new pair of eyes, "not outward but inward."

62. General Scientific Description.--Notice the difference between these two descriptions:--

1. Gentiàna crinita, Froel. Fringed Gentian. Leaves lanceolate or broader, with rounded or heart-shaped base; flowers solitary on long peduncles terminating the stem or simple branches; calyx with 4 unequal lobes; corolla sky blue, showy, 2' long, funnel form, the 4 wedge-obovate lobes with margins cut into a long and delicate fringe. N. Eng., W. and S.--LEAVITT'S Outlines of Botany.

2. Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, And colored with the heaven's own blue, That openest when the quiet light Succeeds the keen and frosty night.

Thou comest not when violets lean O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, Or columbines, in purple dressed, Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.

Thou waitest late and com'st alone, When woods are bare and birds are flown, And frosts and shortening days portend The aged year is near his end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye Look through its fringes to the sky, Blue--blue--as if that sky let fall A flower from its cerulean wall.

I would that thus, when I shall see The hour of death draw near to me, Hope, blossoming within my heart, May look to heaven as I depart.

--BRYANT: To the Fringed Gentian.

You will see at once how extremely varied different forms of description may be when you reflect that these two extracts are both descriptions of the same thing. The prose extract presents a plain and accurate account of facts. The poetry aims to give a description of the object which will interest, please, and move the reader, and which will bring a picture vividly before his eyes. Between two examples contrasting so completely as these, there lies a long series of gradations from one variety of description to another. There are, however, two main divisions of this form of writing: the plain statement, whose only purpose is to present a picture of the object described and to interest the reader in doing so; and scientific description, which bears about the same relation to literary description as a business letter to a friendly one. They both present facts, but in one case for the sake of the facts and in the other in order to interest the reader.

When analyzed, scientific description is found to be simply a list of all the facts about a given subject. These facts, however, must not be gathered together and thrown into a paragraph without order. In the plainest sort of description there must be a regular plan. Begin by stating definitely what it is you are about to treat, or give a definition of it as it stands in its broad relations to other things, so that your reader may have a general notion of your subject. This is called the introduction, and should vary in length and explicitness according to the familiarity of your theme. If you are about to describe the common house fly, a simple statement to that effect is enough; but if you are beginning a description of a rare dragon fly, you will need not only to give the name, but where it is found, its general relation to other families of flies more familiar, and perhaps to tell how you happened to see it, where it may be observed, etc. In general, however, the introduction should always be brief and very much to the point, since it is a common fault for inexperienced writers to delay too long over the beginning.

After this, take up, one by one, in the order of their importance, the main qualities of your subject. For this purpose you should have brief outlines prepared, so that you will not state small and non-essential details before essentials.

The following description of the group of birds known as warblers will aid you as a model:--

When you begin to study the warblers, you will probably conclude that you know nothing about birds and can never learn. But if you begin by recognizing their common traits, and study a few of the easiest and those that nest in your locality, you will be less discouraged; and when the flocks come back at the next migrations, you will be able to master the oddities of a large number.

Most of them are very small--much less than half the size of a robin--and are not only short, but slender. Active as the chickadee or kinglet, they flit about the trees and undergrowth after insects, without charity for the observer who is trying to make out their markings. Unlike the waxwing, whose quiet ways are matched by its subdued tints, the warblers are dashed with all the glories of the rainbow, a flock of them looking as if a painter's palette had been thrown at them.

Why they should be called warblers is a puzzle, as a large percentage of them have not as much song as a chippy, nothing but a thin chatter, or a shrill piping trill. If you wish a negative conception of them, think of the coloring and habits of the cuckoo. No contrast could be more complete. The best places to look for them during migration are in young trees, orchards, and sunny slopes. I find them in old orchards, swamps, the raspberry patch, and the edge of the woods.--FLORENCE A. MERRIAM: Birds through an Opera Glass.

Study this description, and you will discover the plan on which it is built. First comes the introduction, giving general directions for recognizing the subject. Then the most noticeable characteristics are stated, the size and shape. Habits of great activity are next mentioned, and a general notion of coloring is given. The song of the warblers is then taken up, and the description is summed up in a sentence by contrasting them with the cuckoo. The statement of where they are found could well have been placed at the beginning, directly after the introduction.

Exercise 103.--Using this as a model, describe any variety of bird or animal with which you are familiar, such as English sparrows, hens, parrots, ducks, dogs, cats, horses, goats, rabbits, squirrels, pigeons, geese, sheep.

Exercise 104.--Describe tomatoes, peaches, apricots, grapes, potatoes, carrots, watermelons, rice, blackberries, huckleberries, corn, wheat, oats, rye. Use the following as a model:--

The apple is one of the most widely cultivated, and best known and appreciated of fruits belonging to temperate climates. In its wild state it is known as the crabapple, and is found generally distributed through Europe and Western Asia. The apple tree, as cultivated, is a moderate-sized tree with spreading branches, ovate, acutely serrated or crenated leaves, and flowers in corymbs. It is successfully cultivated in higher latitudes than any other fruit tree, growing up to 65° N.; but, notwithstanding this, its blossoms are more susceptible of injury from frost than the flowers of the peach or apricot. It comes into flower much later than these trees, and so avoids the night frost, which would be fatal to its fruit bearing. The apples which are grown in northern regions are, however, small, hard, and crabbed, the best fruit being produced in hot summer climates, such as Canada and the United States."--Encyclopædia Britannica.

Try sometimes to make these descriptions so complete that your classmates can recognize what you are describing without knowing your subject beforehand. An almost infinite list of subjects suitable for scientific description could be given, but enough titles have been suggested to show you that you have only to look about you to find themes for the exercise.

63. Specific Scientific Description.--Compare with the treatment of the warblers in general this description of one particular variety of that species, by the same author, a little later in the same book.

The Blackburnian is one of the handsomest and most easily recognized of the warblers. His throat is a rich orange or flame color, so brilliant that it is enough in itself to distinguish him from any of the others. His back is black with yellow markings. His crown is black, but has an orange spot in the center, and the rest of his head, except near his eye, is the same flaming orange as his throat. His wings have white patches, and his breast is whitish tinged with yellow. His sides are streaked with black. The female and young are duller, the black of their backs being mingled with olive; while their throats are yellow instead of orange.

In this case, the author, having stated the general characteristics and habits of the family of warblers, needs only to describe minutely the appearance of one variety.

Exercise 105.--Take up in this way a special variety of the general topics you described in the last exercise: Buff Cochin hens; parrots from Central America; Royal Pekin ducks; Newfoundland or St. Bernard dogs, terriers, bull dogs, or greyhounds; Shetland ponies, race horses, or heavy draught horses; white rabbits or Belgian hares; gray squirrels, chipmunks, red squirrels or flying squirrels; pouter pigeons or homing pigeons.

64. Technical Terms.--In describing some objects you will find that careful and accurate observation and logical arrangement of your information are not enough. You will discover that you do not know the names for all the various parts of your subject. In attempting to write a complete description of even as well known an object as a flower or fruit, you will probably need to consult a dictionary or a scientific work, to learn the botanical names. Minute scientific description is, therefore, an excellent exercise for enlarging your vocabulary, for giving you control over more words. In using very technical terms, which may be as unfamiliar to your reader as they were to you before you made a study of your subject, add a brief explanation of the meaning.

Exercise 106.--Give a plain, scientific description of one or more of the illustrations given in your dictionary, remembering to start from some point and to proceed regularly from there in your description. For instance, in describing a ship under sail, begin at the water line and go up to the top of the masts, or else in the opposite direction; but do not begin at the stern, jump to the bow, and then back again to the masts. Do not attempt to explain the different qualities, the workings, or the interior parts of these objects. You will have this to do in exposition. Simply describe as accurately as possible their aspect, on the model of the description of the Blackburnian warbler.