must have been successive instead of coexistent. Some authors build better than they write; others write better than they build. Seldom, very seldom, is a man equipped, as Poe was, with an equal mastery of structure and of style. Yet though unity of form may be attained through structure alone, unity of mood is dependent mainly upon style. The language should be pitched throughout in tune with the emotional significance of the narrative effect to be produced. Any sentence which is tuned out of harmony will jangle and disrupt the unity of mood, which is as necessary to a great short-story as it is to a great lyric poem. Hawthorne, though his structure was frequently at fault, proved the greatness of his art by maintaining, through sheer mastery of style, an absolute unity of mood in every story that he undertook. Mr. Kipling has not always done so, because he has frequently used language more with manner than with style; but in his best stories, like "The Brushwood Boy" and "They," there is a unity of tone throughout the writing that sets them on the plane of highest art. REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What are the main points to be considered in constructing a short-story? 2. Explain the technical importance of the last paragraph, and the first paragraph, of a short-story. 3. Analyze a great short-story according to the method illustrated in the foregoing analyses of "Ligeia" and "The Prodigal Son." SUGGESTED READING EDGAR ALLAN POE: "The Fall of the House of Usher." NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: "The White Old Maid." BRET HARTE: "Tennessee's Pardner." ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON: "Markheim." GUY DE MAUPASSANT: "The Necklace." 7 CHAPTER XII THE FACTOR OF STYLE Structure and Style-Style a Matter of Feeling-Style an Absolute Quality—The Twofold Appeal of Language Concrete Examples -Onomatopoetic Words-Memorable Words-The Patterning of Syllables Stevenson on Style-The Pattern of Rhythm-The Pattern of Literation-Style a Fine Art-Style an Important Aid to Fiction-The Heresy of the Accidental-Style an Intuitive Quality-Methods and Materials-Content and Form-The Fusion of Both Elements-The Author's Personality-Recapitulation. Structure and Style.-The element of style, which has just been touched upon in reference to the shortstory, must now be considered in its broader aspect as a factor of fiction in general. Hitherto, in examining the methods of fiction, we have confined our attention for the most part to the study of structural expedients. The reason is that structure, being a matter merely of the intellect, can be analyzed clearly and expounded definitely. Like any other intellectual subject-geometry, for instance structure may be taught. But style, although it is in fiction a factor scarcely less important, is not a matter merely of the intellect. It is not so easily permissible of clear analysis and definite exposition; and although it is true that, in a certain sense, it may be learned, it is also true that it cannot be taught. Style a Matter of Feeling.-The word "style" comes trippingly to the tongue of every critic; but it has never yet been satisfactorily defined. Famous phrases have been made about it, to be sure; but most of these, like that corrupted from Buffon's cursory remark in his dis course of reception into the Academy-"Le style est de l'homme même,"-are lofty admissions of the impossibility of definition. By this fact we are fortified in our opinion that style is a matter of feeling rather than of intellect. Avoiding, therefore, as unwise any attempt at definition, we may yet succeed in clarifying our ideas regarding style if we circle round the subject. Style an Absolute Quality.-At the outset, in order to narrow the compass of the circle, let us admit that the familiar phrase "bad style" is a contradiction of terms. Basically, there is no such thing as good style or bad. Either a literary utterance is made with style, or else it is made without it. This initial distinction is absolute, not relative. It must, however, be admitted that of two utterances made with style, the one may be more imbued with that quality than is the other; but even this secondary distinction is a matter of more and less, rather than of better and worse. Style, then, is a quality possessed in a greater or less degree, or else not possessed at all. This much being granted, we may investigate with clearer minds the philosophic aspect of the subject. The Twofold Appeal of Language.-Language makes to the mind of the reader or the listener an appeal which is twofold. First, it conveys to his intellect a definite meaning through the content of the words that are employed; and secondly, it conveys to his sensibilities an indefinite suggestion through their sound. Consciously, he receives a meaning from the denotation of the words; subconsciously, he receives a suggestion from their connotation. Now, an utterance has the quality of style when these two appeals of language the denotative and the connotative, the definite and the indefinite, the intellectual and the sensuous-are so coördinated as to produce upon the reader or the listener an effect which is, not dual, but indissolubly single. And an utterance is devoid of the quality of style, when, although it conveys a meaning to the intellect through the content of the words, it does not reinforce that conveyance of meaning by a cognate and harmonic appeal to the senses through their sound. In the latter case the language produces upon the recipient an effect which is, not single, but dual and divorced. Concrete Examples.-The matter may be made more clear by the examination of concrete examples. The following sentence, for instance, is devoid of style: "The square on the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides": for, although by its content it conveys to the intellect a meaning which is entirely clear and absolutely definite, it does not by its sound convey to the senses a suggestion which is cognate. But, on the other hand, the following lines from Tennyson's "The Princess" are rich in style, because the appeals to the intellect and to the ear are so coördinated as to produce a single simultaneous effect:— "Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro' the lawn, In these lines, fully as much is conveyed to the reader by the mere melody of m's and r's and I's as by the content, or denotation, of the words. For instance, the word "innumerable," which denotes to the intellect merely "incapable of being numbered," is in this connection made to suggest to the senses the murmuring of bees. That one word, therefore, accomplishes a dual service, and contributes to the expression of the general idea in one way through its content and in another through its sound. Onomatopoetic Words.-This coördination of the two appeals is the origin and the essence of the quality of |