Reading difficult text

When reading complex text, our poor, tired, overworked brains have to deal simultaneously with vocabulary, punctuation, sentence structure, and overall organization. Sometimes it’s more work than pleasure.

However, don’t despair! Momentary spurts of inspiration notwithstanding, good sustained writing is consciously planned and organized so that there is one idea per part.

Text is easier to understand when you are aware of it’s topic components.

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

BREAKING DOWN COMPLEX TEXT 

In the following extract from Sydney Smith, a short exposition is given about wit. It is organized according to the following topics: —

1. Occurrence—
    a. general belief.
    b. reality.
2. Usual accompaniments.
3. Effect —
    a. upon different individuals.
    b. upon society.
4. Value.

Wit And Wisdom

There is an association in men’s minds between dullness and wisdom, amusement and folly, which has a very powerful influence in decision upon character, and is not overcome without considerable difficulty. The reason is, that the outward signs of a dull man and a wise man are the same, and so are the outward signs of a frivolous man and a witty man; and we are not to expect that the majority will be disposed to look to much more than the outward signs.

I believe the fact to be, that wit is very seldom the only eminent quality which resides in the mind of any man; it is commonly accompanied by many other talents of every description, and ought to be considered as a strong evidence of a fertile and superior understanding. Almost all the great poets, orators, and statesmen of all times have been witty.

The meaning of an extraordinary man is, that he is eight men, not one man; that he has as much wit as if he had no sense, and as much sense as if he had no wit; that his conduct is as judicious as if he were the dullest of human beings, and his imagination as brilliant as if he were irretrievably ruined. But when wit is combined with sense and information; when it is softened by benevolence, and restrained by strong principle; when it is in the hands of a man who can use it and despise it, who can be witty, and something much better than witty, who loves honor, justice, decency, good nature, morality, and religion, ten thousand times better than wit; — wit is then a beautiful and delightful part of our nature.

There is no more interesting spectacle than to see the effects of wit upon the different characters of men; than to observe it expanding caution, relaxing dignity, unfreezing coldness, — teaching age and care and pain to smile, — extorting reluctant gleams of pleasure from melancholy, and charming even the pangs of grief. It is pleasant to observe how it penetrates through the coldness and awkwardness of society, gradually bringing men nearer together, and, like the combined force of wine and oil, giving every man a glad heart and a shining countenance.

Genuine and innocent wit like this is surely the flavor of the mind! Man could direct his ways by plain reason, and support his life by tasteless food; but God has given us wit and flavor and laughter and perfumes to enliven the days of man’s pilgrimage, and to “charm his painful steps over the burning marl.”

Exercise:

Read each topic and tell what corresponds to it in the extract. 

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Literature is discourse

Source (via Wikipedia): "Discourse into the Night,"
from Pentateuch of Printing with a Chapter on Judges by William Blades (1891)

Literature is discourse. It is a conversation. 

Over the course of several thousand years, classic authors have alluded to each others' works and ideas, adding threads of thought that have been woven into a complex tapestry we call 'culture'. When people are widely read, the background knowledge they acquire helps them to make connections between authors, times, and events. The big picture bridges religion, politics, social movements, science, music, art.  

You can contribute to this Great Conversation, 

but first you should have something to say. Begin by listening, by thinking, by digesting, by discussing, — mental exercises that are the natural by-products of reading classic works.

From A New English Grammar for Schools, by Thomas Harvey:

Discourse:

From the Latin "discors," meaning "to run."

Language is the expression of thought, using spoken or written words. 

 

1. Discourse is a succession of "running" thoughts on one subject expressed in language. 

 Written discourse may be intended for private reading, as letters and diaries, or for publication.

2. Literature is published discourse, intended for general reading.

a. Literature that interests readers for only a short time after its publication is called ephemeral.

Such are, for the most part, newspapers, magazines, Internet articles and blog posts, as well as many novels and nonfiction books. 

b. Literature so valuable that it is reprinted and read long after its author's death is called classic.

The classic authors are studied to find what is valuable and appropriate in discourse; the best modern authors are studied to find what is now correct.

3. Literature is classified according to the way it treats its subject.  

a. Narration is discourse giving a chronology of actions or events. Example:

As through the land at eve we went
And plucked the ripened ears,
We fell out, my wife and I,
Oh, we fell out — I know not why — And kissed again with tears.
***
For when we came where lies the child
We lost in former years,
There above the little grave —
Aye, there above the little grave — We kissed again with tears.
—Tennyson, "The Princess: As thro' the Land"

b. Description is discourse that tells the qualities of things. It is a picturing in words. Example:

The day was ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more somber every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun. —Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

c. Exposition is discourse that explains the nature of things, or the principles upon which things depend. Example:

Dissolved in oil, as it usually is, DDT is definitely toxic. If swallowed, it is absorbed slowly through the digestive tract; it may also be absorbed through the lungs. Once it has entered the body it is stored largely in organs rich in fatty substances (because DDT itself is fat-soluble) such as the adrenals, testes, or thyroid. Relatively large amounts are deposited in the liver, kidneys, and the fat of the large, protective mesenteries that enfold the intestines. —Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

d. Argument is discourse giving reasons for or against a certain belief.

Milton, in Areopagitica, writes, "Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making." Example:

Hypolito. Thou art jealous.
Victorian. No, I am not jealous.
Hypolito. Thou should'st be.
Victorian. Why?
Hypolito. Because thou art in love.
And they who are in love are always jealous —
Therefore thou should'st be.
—Longfellow, The Spanish Student

Exercises:

1. Find and present an example of narration; of description; of exposition; of argument. Be prepared to identify those elements that place the selection in its category.
2. Write a short narrative telling your experiences during one day.
3. Write a short description of some person whom you know, or of some place that you have visited.
4. Write a short exposition explaining the fact that two plus two equals four.
5. Write an argument to prove that honesty is the best policy. 



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Shakespeare: Is it plagiarism if you're The Bard?

Antony and Cleopatra by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Source: Wikipedia)

History...merely writes the obituary of the dead past; Poetry calls it back from the grave, and makes it live again before our eyes. — W. J. Rolfe

From the introduction by W. J. Rolfe to an 1890 edition of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, and from Shakespeare's Plutrarch, edited by Israel Gollancz:

Shakespeare calls history back from the grave in his tragic play, Antony and Cleopatra. But it's not pedantic adherence to fact and knowledge that brings the characters of Antony and Cleopatra to life. Instead, it's Shakespeare's knowledge of human nature that makes him arguably the greatest poet/writer of all time.

Shakespearean scholar W. J. Rolfe argues that the confluence of Shakespeare's natural genius and his mediocre schooling create a perfect storm of drama.

Grant the combination of pre-eminent genius with the "small Latin", and all is clear. Shakespeare's knowledge of man was almost superhuman; and as Agassiz from a single scale could reconstruct the fish, so Shakespeare from a few rudimentary facts could recreate the man or the people. His schoolboy lessons in Roman history in the Stratford Grammar School, supplemented by his later reading in a single volume, North's Plutarch, were all that he needed, outside of himself, for the production of Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. 

Apparently North's translation of Plutrach's Lives really was all he needed. Shakespeare borrowed heavily and often directly from Plutarch's biographies of Caesar and Antony for his plays. Gollancz, in Shakespeare's Plutrarch, looks the plagiarism squarely in the eye.

The relation between Julius Caesar and the Lives has been already discussed. If the connection had ended with that play there would be no great reason for crediting North with a much higher sort of influence over Shakespeare than that exerted by Holinshed, Painter, Whetstone, Harsnet, and the many other authors whose matter the poet appropriated without reserve and whose manner, save for a phrase here and there, he seems utterly to have repudiated. But the indebtedness of Shakespeare to North is most striking in the latest of his Roman plays, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus. A comparison of the many passages ...shows that the dramatist was satisfied in no small number of cases to incorporate whole speeches from North with the least change consistent with the production of blank verse. The description of Cleopatra's first visit to Antony, the dying speech of Antony, and the few noble lines that glorify the passing of Cleopatra, the address of Coriolanus to Tullus Aufidius when he throws himself upon the latter's hospitality, and the last all-decisive speech of Volumnia to her son—these passages, all of which rank among the special treasures of Shakespearean poetry, come straight and essentially unaltered out of North...

However, Gollancz is quick to forgive:

The borrowing is a deservedly high compliment to North; it is far from being a reproach to Shakespeare. It is as Archbishop Trench has said in his lectures on Plutarch: 'Shakespeare does not abdicate his royal preeminence, but resumes it at any moment that he pleases.' To take the dying speech of Charmion and fit it indistinguishably into a setting worthy of it, to borrow nearly unchanged the words of Coriolanus to Aufidius and then to give them their needed consummation in the answer of Aufidius—this surely is a greater achievement than to have new-written the two scenes.

Rolfe also gives the plagiarism a pass.

...[F]reely as the dramatist has drawn from [Plutarch], how insignificant after all is his real indebtedness to him! So far as the historical materials of the play are concerned, he may owe to him, as Trench has said, not merely the skeleton, but the flesh that clothes it; but when we compare the finished poetry with the borrowed prose, the latter appears only as the dry bones which the mighty magician has transformed into a living thing of beauty and a joy forever.

 Well, that may be, but don't try imitating Shakespeare's highly "unaltered" literary style at home.

Or at school.

But it's nice to know that Shakespeare, too, read the classics.

Literature: Good reading leads to good writing

There's another reason to read the classic on your shelf. One spinoff of excellent reading may be your own excellent writing.

William Minto, 19th century professor of logic and English at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, contends that  consistent exposure to great prose and poetry subconsciously informs our own writing style and substance.

As in any art, an initial knowledge of the governing rules is important. But that knowledge

must always be for the most part negative, and a man may have the completest knowledge how not to write and yet dip his pen and cudgel his brains in vain.

Bottom line: though successful writing ultimately depends on a combination of talent, knowledge, passion, and practice, a writer learns best by example. 

From Minto's Plain Principles of Prose Composition:

In any language that has been used for centuries as a literary instrument, the beginner cannot begin as if he were the first in the field. Whatever he proposes to write, be it essay or sermon or leading article, history or fiction, there are hundreds of things of the same kind in existence, some of which he must have read and cannot help taking more or less as patterns or models.

The various forms or plans of composition of every kind have been gradually developed by the practice of successive generations. If a man writes effectively without giving a thought to the manner of his composition, it must be because he has chanced upon good models, and not merely because he knows his subject well or feels it deeply and has a natural gift for expression. He can spare himself the trouble of thinking because his predecessors have thought for him; he is rich as being the possessor of inherited wealth.

I take it that the main use of rhetorical principles—if the word rhetoric may be applied to the art of composition—is to quicken the beginner's natural judgment in his study of examples. He is placed in the midst of a host of writers, good and bad. The most effective writers naturally influence him most. He might learn from them as much as he wants of the art of composition without any guidance. He imitates what he admires, irrespective of all guidance...

The writer acquires his vocabulary, his habits of arrangement, his turns of phrase and sentence, by a slow and gradual process day after day as he reads and feels and thinks.

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Literature: Six reasons to read the classic on your shelf

You've just read the first page of that classic and have no idea what the author has said.  

 

The style is too ponderous, the thoughts are too weighty, the tenor is set at such a high pitch that you're certain only a dog could hear it. Henry Norman Hudson, a nineteenth century Shakespearean scholar, describes some classic literary styles as "very severe", so severe, in fact, that the work seems frozen and unattainable, "the thought, the imagery, the diction feel, to the touch, as if chiseled out of the finest and hardest marble."
So, why not end the suffering now? Well, before you toss that book under the bed, consider the reasoning used to justify the value of classic literature. 

From the Classical English Reader by Henry Norman Hudson:

Books that have already lived so long carry with them some guarantee that they will continue to do so. You are reading a living work. 

It's not a bad idea--in fact its a good idea--that among the frivolous, trendy, and sometime base books we read, a few "should be put before...minds, of a quality to apprise them of heights which they have not yet scaled,--something of a nature to invite them further onward, and to draw them further upward." 

We will call this the suction effect.

Most of us are prone to underestimate our own and others' receptiveness to a good literary challenge. Not only can we read this stuff, but we might learn to like it.

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty!

It follows that sooner or later we will respond to works that are "charged to the utmost with strength and solidity of thought: no hollowness whatsoever here; no 'sweet smoke'; nothing of mere surface-splendor...No frequency of reading or hearing can wear the freshness and verdure out of them." In fact, like great music, the more we hear it, the more we grow to love it. Fine literature ages as well as fine wine.

There is a "natural alliance of taste and morals" which is "much closer than most people suppose." Some literature has stood the test of time not because it avoids dealing with human foibles, but rather because it exposes the weaknesses and strengths of human nature and the very real consequences of the choices we make in life. For, says Hudson, "it is not what pleases at first, but what pleases permanently, that the human mind cares to keep alive. What has thus withstood the wear of time carries solid proof of having strength and virtue in it."

People sometimes think there is danger of falling behind times by reading classics rather than the popular works of the day. Not so. To know the past is to understand the future, "...for the wisdom that has had the long and strong approval of the past, is most likely to be the wisdom of the future, and the way to keep pace with the age is by dwelling with its wisdom, not with its folly."

And finally,

To love worthy objects, and in a worthy manner, is indeed the top and crown of earthly good...and surely, no greater blessing can be conferred on the young than by making them familiar with things that will still be sweet and noble to them as they grow old. But, in the present, the louder noises of its folly commonly drown the voice of its wisdom. So, let our youth breathe and listen an hour or two, now and then, in the old intellectual Fatherland, where the foul noises have long since died away, leaving the music to sound up full and clear.

Enough said. May you spend a lifetime enjoying what Cicero calls the "austere and solid sweetness" of classic literature.

Writing: 24 basic terms to know

You'll come out way ahead if you take time to knock back a few literary terms before tackling your next book. Then read and let your new background knowledge illuminate the text. Can you identify the author's use of literary devices and grammatical techniques?

From the Sixth or Classic English Reader, by William Swinton:

Def. 1. A figure of speech is a deviation from the direct and literal meaning of a word or phrase.

Def. 2. A simile, or comparison, is the statement of a likeness between one thing and another:

    The tear down childhood's cheek that flows
    Is like the dewdrop on the rose.

Def. 3. A metaphor speaks of one object as if it were another:
    Virtue is a jewel.

Simile and metaphor both express comparison. In the simile, one object is said to resemble another; and some sign of comparison (as, like, etc.) stands between them. In the metaphor, an object is spoken of as if it were another, and no sign of comparison is used. A metaphor is an implied simile. Thus,—

    Simile. — He is like a lion in the fight.
    Metaphor. — He is a lion in the fight.

Def. 4. Personification is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object is represented as animated or endowed with personality:

The mountains sing together, the hills rejoice and clap hands. 

Def. 5. Antithesis is the statement of a contrast or opposition of thoughts and words:
    I do not live that I may eat, but I eat that I may live. 

Def. 6. Climax (meaning literally a ladder) is a series of statements rising in strength or importance until the last:

    Learning is better than wealth; culture is better than learning; Wisdom is better than culture.

Def. 7. Synecdoche¹ is the figure of speech by which the whole of a thing is put for a part, or a part for the whole:

    Sail, for ship. 

    Daily bread, for daily food.

Def. 8. Metonymy² is the use of the name of one object to represent some related object:

Gray hairs, meaning old age.

The fatal cup, meaning the drink in the cup.

Def. 9. Hyperbole  consists in magnifying objects beyond their natural bounds to make a statement more emphatic:
    "Swift as the wind"
    "Rivers of blood, and hills of slain"

Def. 10. Apostrophe consists in addressing some absent person or thing as if present:

Milton, thou shouldst be with us at this hour!

Def. 11. Irony is the use of words to express meanings that are opposite their literal meaning:

Brutus is an honorable [meaning not honorable] man!

Def. 12. Ellipsis is the omission of words grammatically necessary, but supplied by the thought:

    Sit down [meaning You sit down].

Def. 13. The direct or grammatical order of words is their ordinary prose arrangement:

    In the sentence, "I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny the atrocious crime of being a young man," ³  the words are arranged in the grammatical order,—subject, verb, object.

Def. 14. The indirect or rhetorical order of words is an inverted arrangement of words adopted to make a statement more impressive:
    In the form, "The atrocious crime of being a young man, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny," the words are arranged in the indirect or rhetorical order.

Def. 15. A period sentence is one in which the meaning is suspended, by using an inverted order of words, till the end or near the end of the sentence:
    On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, the Puritans looked down with contempt.

Def. 16. A loose sentence is one which may be brought to a grammatical close at one or more points before the end:
    The Puritans looked down with contempt on the rich | and the eloquent, | on nobles and priests.

III.

Def. 17. Description is the representation of things observed at any one point in time.

Def. 18. Narration is the report of a succession of events observed chronologically.

Def. 19. Exposition is the discussion of principles.

Def. 20. Poetry is a kind of composition in which words are arranged in lines and verses containing a definite number and order of accented and unaccented syllables.

Def. 21. Rhyme is a kind of verse in which there is a concord of sounds in words at the end of lines.

Def. 22. Blank verse consists of unrhymed lines containing five feet of two syllables each, with the accent on the second syllable.

Def. 23. A refrain is a phrase or verse which occurs at the end of each stanza of a poem.

Def. 24. Style is the peculiar manner in which thought is expressed in language. There are many descriptive words used to denote the various kinds of style:  figurative, flowery, plain, verbose, terse, simple, sublime, witty, epigrammatic. 

Download this page to use as a cheat sheet.

¹Synecdoche (pron. sin-ek'do-ke, from the Greek sun, "together with," and ekdechomai, "to understand in a certain sense."  
²Metonymy (pron. me-ton'i-me), from the Greek meta, implying "change," and unoma, "a name."
³Both irony and hyperbole are used in this statement. Can you explain them?

Bibliomania: Maze for Borges

aMAZEme: A Labyrinth Made from 250,000 Books from Christopher Jobson on Vimeo.

Oh, for a book, and a shady nook!

The shady nook here is the Clore Ballroom in the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank, London. The books are an art exhibit called aMAZEme 98%, part of London 2012 events.

Inside the ballroom, two Brazilian artists, Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo, and a hoard of volunteers took 250,000 books and constructed a 500 square meter maze in the shape of a fingerprint of Argentinian author J. L. Borges.

Visit, and you can take a book or two home with you. There's a whole lot of potential reading to choose from.
 

Credit: Marcos Saboya

Figurative language: Words can be music

Credit: Wikipedia Circle of Fifths

Wolsey. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness!
This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a ripening, nips his root, .
And then he falls as I do.

Henry VIII Act III. Sc. 6.

We classify words. Frequently they fit into more than one category.

For instance, the words morning and evening properly belong to the day. But because they indicate a beginning and end, they also are applied uncommonly to other subjects. For instance, the phrase morning of life may to used to represent youth, and evening of life may be used in place of old age.


Shakespeare's Cardinal Wolsey uses words in senses that are different from their common meanings. The new uncommon meanings are what we call the "figurative sense" of the words.

For instance, Wolsey sprouts "tender leaves of hope" today, which become thick "blushing honors" of "blossoms" tomorrow. On the third day, "a killing frost" comes, which "nips his root," and then he's dead.

In order for us to make meaning of what Wolsey is trying to say, the uncommon sense Shakespeare gives to the words "leaves" and "blossoms" and "frost" and "root" must have some relation to the implied proper sense of the words. And the closer the relationship is, the more easily those words morph into mental images, or figures, in our heads. 

For instance, it's not a huge stretch at all to relate human aspiration (proper sense) to stages of plant growth (uncommon sense): first the sprouting of hope, then the blossoms of accomplishment, and finally, the frost of an unkind world that eventually kills the root.

So how does this "figuring" of language lend beauty to words? Well, it's sort of like the difference between one simple note and a harmonious chord.

A word used figuratively suggests to the reader two layers of meaning: one layer is the proper sense of the word and the other layer is the uncommon image sense. The proper meaning of the word is an integral part of the thought, and the uncommon meaning extends and decorates it.

So when an author uses figurative language, instead of  "hearing" only one note,  the reader hears two concordant notes which—without deviating from the melody—make the whole harmonious. Beauty has been added to speech.

Reading: Ten steps to hacking classical literature

The whirligig of time continues to bring its revenge: you've put off your assignment, and now you have to crack the books and get something out of them. Whether you're trying to make sense of a poem or a novel or an essay or a play, follow these time-honored steps to make your search for meaning more—well, meaningful.

First, read the whole thing, whatever it is. Sorry, no shortcuts here (though there are lighter versions of close reading more applicable to young or struggling readers). What you want is a general overview: the big picture counts. Consider writing an abstract that captures the essence of your reading, or jot down a brief one-paragraph analysis. It's excellent writing practice, and the exercise will give you some idea of how well you read the first time. Bare minimum: keep a reader's journal and record your responses to the steps below.

Let the inquiry begin. 

What kind of writing is it? Is it  prose or poetry? Is it description? A narrative? Exposition? A persuasive effort? Or is it any combination of these?

Address the unity of the piece. What is the author trying to do? Make yourself think through the meaning of the overall work*, even if it seems obvious. Once you've discovered the gist of the author's intentions, begin to look at specific parts. What is the meaning of those parts, and how do they relate to the whole? 

Next, focus on words that are difficult to understand or used in unusual ways. Does the author use historical, literary or cultural allusions? If so, explain them. Is there anything significant about the sentence structure? If you're reading a poem, examine it's rhythm (meter)—or lack of it.

Once you've looked thoughtfully at the mechanics of the work, consider style.

Notice the author's diction, the choice and use of words. What is the scope and tenor of his or her vocabulary? Check the etymology of a few of the more interesting words.

How does the author use her sentences? Are they long or short? Balanced? Periodic or loose? What is the effect of each kind?

How does the author use figures of speech? What is the effect on the reader of each kind of literary device?

What are the qualities of the author's style? 

Are the intellectual qualities academic and verbose or simple and clear?

Identify the emotional qualities. Is there strength? Is there beauty? Are there "pathos, humor, wit, melody?**

Are there "elegances of style"?*** Are there harmony, taste, sophistication?

Finally,  what do you know about the author? Do some research into his personal history, the social and historical context in which he wrote, and the body of his work. What were the great events of his time? What influenced his thinking and writing?

And last of all, what do other people know about the author and this particular work? If you're reading a classic text and buying your own copy, invest in a good academic version with readable commentary. Google, Google, Google. Check academic papers and other resources from reputable universities and colleges. 

Yes, I know. Whatever happened to just opening a book and reading it? You can still do that with an easy read:

The Twilight Saga Complete Collection 

However, the classics are classics because you learn not only to consume them, but to digest them. 

Congratulations! You're becoming a thinker.
  

Sources: Alexander Bain, English Composition and Rhetoric. Vol. II and William Swinton, Sixth or Classic English Reader.

*Source: St. Mary's College of Maryland's writing center.
**Source: Alexander Bain, English Composition and Rhetoric: Emotional Qualities of Style.

***Ibid.