Possess it merely. That it should come to this! Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother O God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, Than I to Hercules: within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, It is not nor it cannot come to good; But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue: SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet. EVENING Far through the dampening air The frogs' clear serenade trills in the dark. The nearer copses cower in the dusk; The fences stretch away into mere dimness; And last, the western forest slowly blends To darkness. Daunted, all the stars terrene Turn out their feeble lamps; the frogs all hush, As if to listen to the stillness, and, Listening, forget to sing, and fall asleep. Then night. EARL HUDELSON: Evening Near the Campus.20 Study the value of punctuation in this scene: TOUCHSTONE DISPOSES OF A RIVAL Touchstone. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Au drey. 20 By permission of The Stratford Company, Boston. Audrey. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's saying. Touchstone. A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Martext. But, Audrey, there is a youth here in the forest lays claim to you. Audrey. Ay, I know who 'tis; he hath no interest in me in the world: here comes the man you mean. Touchstone. It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. By my troth, we that have good wits have much to answer for; we shall be flouting; we cannot hold. Enter William William. Good even, Audrey. Audrey. God ye good even, William. William. And good even to you, sir. Touchstone. Good even, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy head; nay, prithee, be covered. How old are you, friend? William. Five and twenty, sir. Touchstone. A ripe age. Is thy name William? William. William, sir. Touchstone. A fair name. Wast born i' the forest here? William. Ay, sir, I thank God. Touchstone. "Thank God!" a good answer. Art rich? Touchstone. "So so" is good, very good, very excellent good; and yet it is not; it is but so so. Art thou wise? William. Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit. Touchstone. Why, thou sayest well. I do now remember a saying. "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat a grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth; meaning thereby that grapes were made to eat and lips to open. You do love this maid? William. I do, sir. Touchstone. Give me your hand. Art thou learned? Touchstone. Then learn this of me; to have, is to have; for it is a figure in rhetoric that drink, being poured out of a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty the other; for all your writers do consent that ipse is he; now, you are not ipse, for I am he. William. Which he, sir? Touchstone. He, sir, that must marry this woman. Therefore, you clown, abandon-which is in the vulgar leave-the society-which in the boorish is company-of this female-which in the common is woman; which together is, abandon the society of this female, or, clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better understanding, diest; or, to wit, I kill thee, make thee away, translate thy life into death, thy liberty into bondage. I will deal in poison with thee, or in bastinado, or in steel. I will bandy with thee in faction; I will o'er-run thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways; therefore tremble, and depart. Audrey. Do, good William. William. God rest you merry, sir. Corin. Our master and mistress seek you; come, away, away! Touchstone. Trip, Audrey! trip, Audrey! I attend, I attend. SHAKESPEARE: As You Like It. CHAPTER VIII EMOTIONAL DETAILS Any interesting piece of good literature is rich in color and the feeling tone of its details. Individual words can carry a wealth of memory, associations, personal emotion, and general attractiveness; phrases can add charm, spice, and memories; while sentences can carry as heavy a load as words and phrases. Many such details must be looked into before the reader is sure of profitable and delightful interpretation. 1. Word Connotations. A word, like literature itself, has two kinds of meaning: logical and emotional. Home is a place of residence, but it is also a particular spot charged with memories and feeling. A dog is a certain type of canine vertebrate; but to you it is more likely to be a certain playmate of woods, fields or stream. An automobile is a kind of locomotive machine-and also your cherished companion on many an adventure. The logical meaning can be found in the dictionary, that is the denotation: the emotional meaning is found in your memories, your imagination-your heart. Pick out the words in the following selections which connote most to you: DAWN 1 A faint wine border tints the sky With flare of color, bursts of song Then onward whirls and twirls and spins. 1 From Southern Literary Magazine. Amid this gleam of flame and gold, G. L. ANDREWS. THE HILLS 2 Through the twilight faint winds will ever waken And the last red streaks of the winter sunset White above the lake and the leafless willows, This pale dream of lonely and haunted beauty THOMAS S. JONES, JR. THE UNVEILED WOMAN Sitting in the pavilion, looking down into the moon-mirroring water, was a woman in the ancient dress of Persia, golden and jeweled. She flung up her head magnificently, and looked at them, the moon full in her eyes. The garden was peopled now, not only with roses, but with large white blossoms sending out fierce hot shafts of perfume. They struck Beatrice Veronica like something tangible and half dazed her as she stared at the startling beauty of the unveiled woman, revealed like a flaming jewel in the black and white glory of the night. THE FOG 4 L. ADAMS BECK: V. Lydiat.3 The fog is white sleep that gropes in from the sea With sensitive, sinuous fingers and we Are muffled with sleep we can see. 2 From The Rose-Jar, published by Thomas Bird Mosher. By permission of the author. 3 By permission of the author. By permission of Contemporary Verse. |