2893 COMPOSITION-LITERATURE BY FRED NEWTON SCOTT PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AND JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE ALLYN AND BACON Boston and Chicago 769.02. HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY FRED N. SCOTT AND JOSEPH V. DENNEY. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. PREFACE. THIS book has been prepared for the use of the more advanced classes in the secondary schools. It assumes previous study and practice to the extent outlined in the authors' Elementary English Composition. It is intended to be used as an alternative to the authors' CompositionRhetoric, of which it is, in a limited sense, a revision. Two of the well-tried features of that book are here retained, the paragraph idea, and the conception of a composition as a growth. In most of its material, however, the present work is new, and, as the name chosen for the book implies, one of its leading aims is to make the pupil's work in composition and his reading of the English Classics more helpful to each other. To this end the point of view assumed from the outset is that the pupil must deduce the principles which he needs for his own composition work from the practice of successful writers. This point of view requires, of course, that a much greater amount of reading be done by the student than he finds necessary when principles are first formally stated, then illustrated by mere extracts, then recited in class, and then (it is to be feared) soon forgotten. But if the object of a secondary course in English is to make careful writers and thoughtful readers rather than to secure brilliant recitations, the space devoted in this book to pieces of literature and the time required for reading and writing will not be begrudged. As in the authors' Elementary English Composition, the idea of writing for a specified audience is kept prominently before the pupil's mind, both in the text and in the assignments, and for reasons that are self-evident, considerable use is made of the definite, concrete material afforded by pictures. The logical aspects of composition work and of literary study have not been overlooked. Few phases of English have suffered greater neglect in recent years, yet few, when properly attended to, prove to be of greater permanent benefit to the pupil. The study of logical structure and the analysis of literary wholes into their constituent units are accordingly emphasized in this book. For the quotations in the text of Chapter I the authors have drawn freely but without fear of exhausting the store upon the fascinating work of Mr. George Bainton, entitled The Art of Authorship. JUNE, 1902. |