 Literary Composition by H. P. Lovecraft Literary Composition by H. P. Lovecraft from The United Amateur, January 1920. In a former article, our readers have been shown the fundamental sources of literary inspiration and the leading prerequisites to expression. It remains to furnish hints concerning expression itself, its forms, customs and technicalities, in order that a young writer may lose nothing of force or charm in presenting his ideas to the public. Grammar A review of the elements of English grammar would be foreign to the purpose of this department. The subject is one taught in all common schools, and may be presumed to be understood by every aspirant to authorship. It is necessary, however, to caution the beginner to keep a reliable grammar and dictionary always beside him, that he may avoid in his compositions the frequent errors which imperceptibly corrupt even the purest ordinary speech. As a general rule it is well to give close critical scrutiny to all colloquial phrases and expressions of doubtful parsing, as well as to all words and usages which have a strained or unfamiliar sound. The human memory is not to be trusted too far, and most minds harbour a considerable number of slight linguistic faults and inelegancies picked up from random discourse or from the pages of newspapers, magazines and popular modern books. Types of mistakes Most of the mistakes of young authors, aside from those gross violations of syntax which ordinary education corrects, may perhaps be enumerated as follows. 1. Erroneous plurals of nouns as valleys or echoes 2. Barbarous compound nouns as viewpoint or upkeep 3. Want of correspondence in number between noun and verb where the two are widely separated or the construction involved. 4. Ambiguous use of pronouns 5. Erroneous case of pronouns as whom for who and vice versa or phrases like between you and I or let we who are loyal act promptly. 6. Erroneous use of shall and will and of other auxiliary verbs 7. Use of intransitive for transitive verbs as he was graduated from college or vice versa as he ingratiated with the tyrant 8. Use of nouns for verbs as he motored to Boston or he voiced a protest 9. Errors in moods and tenses of verbs as if I was he I should do otherwise or he said the earth was round 10. The split infinitive as to calmly glide 11. The erroneous perfect infinitive as last week I expected to have met you 12. False verb forms as I played with him 13. Use of like for as as I strive to write like Pope wrote 14. Misuse of prepositions as the gift was bestowed to an unworthy object or the gold was divided between the five men 15. The superfluous conjunction as I wish for you to do this 16. Use of words in wrong senses as the book greatly intrigued me leave me take this he was obsessed with the idea or he is a meticulous writer 17. Erroneous use of non anglicized foreign forms as a strange phenomena or two strata's of clouds 18. Use of false or unauthorized words as burglarize or supremist 19. Errors of taste including vulgarisms pompousness repetition vagueness ambiguousness colloquialism pathos bombast pleonism tautology harshness mixed metaphor and every sort of rhetorical awkwardness 20. Errors of spelling and punctuation and confusion of forms such as that which leads many to place an apostrophe in the possessive pronoun its of all blunders there's hardly one which might not be avoided through diligent study of simple textbooks on grammar and rhetoric intelligent perusal of the best authors and care and forethought in composition almost to no excuse exists for their persistent occurrence since the sources of correction are so numerous and so available many of the popular manuals of good english are extremely useful especially to persons whose reading is not as yet extensive but such works sometimes are in being too pedantically precise and formal for correct writing the cultivation of patience and mental accuracy is essential throughout the young author's period of apprenticeship he must keep reliable dictionaries and textbooks at his elbow as queuing as far as possible that hasty extemporaneous manner of writing which is the privilege of more advanced students he must take no popular usage for granted nor must he ever hesitate in case of doubt to fall back on the authority of his books reading no aspiring author should content himself with a mere acquisition of technical rules as mrs. renshaw remarked in the preceding article impression should ever precede and be stronger than expression all attempts at gaining literary polish must begin with judicious reading and the learner must never cease to hold this face uppermost in many cases the usage of good authors will be found a more effective guide than any amount of precept a page of adison or of Irving will teach more of style than a whole manual of rules whilst the story of pose will impress upon the mind a more vivid notion of powerful and correct description and narration then will tend dry chapters of a bulky textbook let every student read unceasingly the best writers guided by the admirable reading table which has adorned the united amateur during the past two years it is also important that cheaper types of reading if hitherto followed be dropped popular magazines inculcate a careless and deplorable style which is hard to unlearn and which impedes the acquisition of a purer style if such things must be read let them be skimmed over as lightly as possible an excellent habit to cultivate is the analytical study of the king james bible for simple yet rich and forceful english this masterly production is hard to equal and even though it's sex and vocabulary and poetic rhythm be unsuited to general composition it is an invaluable model for writers on quaint or imaginative themes lord danceny perhaps the greatest living prose artist derived nearly all of his stylistic tendencies from the scriptures and the contemporary critic boyd points out very acutely the loss sustained by most catholic irish writers through their unfamiliarity with the historic volume and its tradition vocabulary one superlatively important effect of wide reading is the enlargement of vocabulary which always accompanies it the average student is gravely impeded by the narrow range of words from which he must choose and he soon discovers that in long compositions he cannot avoid monotony in reading the novice should note the varied mode of expression practiced by good authors and should keep in his mind for future use the many appropriate synonyms he encounters never should an unfamiliar word be passed over without elucidation for with a little conscientious research we may each day add to our conquests in the realm of philology and become more and more ready for graceful independent expression but in enlarging the vocabulary we must beware lest we misuse our new possessions we must remember that there are fine distinctions between apparently similar words and that language must ever be selected with intelligent care as the learned dr. Blair points out in his lectures hardly in any language are there two words that convey precisely the same idea a person thoroughly conversant in the propriety of language will always be able to observe something that distinguishes them elemental phases before considering the various formal classes of composition it is well to note certain elements common to them all upon analysis every piece of writing will be found to contain one or more of the following basic principles description or an account of the appearance of things narration or an account of the actions of things exposition which defines and explains with precision and lucidity argument which discovers truth and rejects error and persuasion which urges to certain thoughts or acts the first two are the basis of fiction the third didactic scientific historical and editorial writings the fourth and fifth are mostly employed in conjunction with the third in scientific philosophical and partisan literature all these principles however are usually mingled with one another the work of fiction may have its scientific historical or argumentative side whilst the textbook or treaties might be embellished with descriptions and anecdotes description description in order to be effective calls upon two mental qualities observation and discrimination many descriptions depend for their vividness upon the accurate reproduction of details others upon the judicious selection of salient typical or significant points one cannot be too careful in the selection of adjectives for descriptions words or compounds which describe precisely and which convey exactly the right suggestions to the mind of the reader are essential as an example let us consider the following list of epithets applicable to a fountain taken from richard green parker's admirable work on composition crystal gushing rustling silver gently gliding parting pearly weeping bubbling gurgling triding clear grass fringed moss fringed pebble paved verdant sacred grass margin moss margin trickling soft dew sprinkled fast flowing delicate delicious clean struggling dancing vaulting deep embosomed leaping murmuring muttering whispering prattling twaddling swelling sweet rolling gently flowing rising sparkling flowing frothy due distilling due born exhaust less inexhaustible never decreasing never failing heaven born earthborn deep divulging drought dispelling thirst allaying refreshing soul refreshing earth refreshing laving lavish plant nourishing for the purpose of securing epithets at once accurate and felicitous the young author should familiarize himself thoroughly with the general aspect and phenomena of nature as well as with the ideas and associations which these things produce in the human mind descriptions may be of objects of places of animals and of persons the complete description of an object may be said to consist of the following elements one when where and how seen when made or found how affected by time to history and traditional associations three substance and manner of origin four size shape and appearance five analogies with similar objects six sensations produced by contemplating it seven its purpose or function eight its effects the results of its existence descriptions of places must of course vary with the type of the place of natural scenery the following elements are notable one how beheld at dawn noon evening or night by starlight or moonlight two natural features flat or hilly barren or thickly grown kind of vegetation trees mountains and rivers three works of man cultivation edifices bridges modifications of scenery produced by man four inhabitants and other forms of animal life five local customs and traditions six sounds of water forest leaves birds barnyards human beings machinery seven view prospect on every side and the place itself as seen from afar eight analogies to other scenes especially famous scenes nine history and associations ten sensations produced by contemplating it descriptions of animals may be analyzed thus one species and size two covering three parts four a boat five characteristics and habits six food seven utility or harmfulness eight history and associations descriptions of persons can be infinitely varied sometimes a single felicitous touch brings out the whole type and character as when the modern author lenard merrick hints at shabby gentility by mentioning the combination of a frock coat with the trousers of a tweed suit suggestion is very powerful in this field especially when mental qualities are to be delineated treatment should vary with the author's object whether to portray a mere personified idea or to give a quasi photographic view mental and physical of some vividly living character in a general description the following elements may be found one appearance stature complexion proportions features two most conspicuous feature three expression four grace or ugliness five attire nature taste quality six habits attainments graces or awkwardnesses seven character moral and intellectual place in the community eight notable special qualities in considering the preceding synopsis the reader must remember that they are only suggestions and not for literal use the extent of any description is to be determined by its place in the composition by taste and fitness it should be added that in fiction description must not be carried to excess a plethora of it leads to dullness so that it must ever be balanced by a brisk flow of narration which we are about to consider narration narration is an account of action or of successive events either real or imagined and is therefore the basis both for history and of fiction to be felicitous and successful it demands an intelligent exercise of taste and discrimination salient points must be selected and the order of time and of circumstances must be well maintained it is deemed wisest in most cases to give narratives a climactic form leading from lesser to greater events and culminating in that chief incident upon which the story is primarily founded or which makes the other parts important through its own importance this principle of course cannot be literary followed in all historical and biographical narratives fictional narration the essential point of fictional narration is plot which may be defined as a sequence of incidents designed to awaken the reader's interest and curiosity as to the result plots may be simple or complex but suspense and climactic progress from one incident to another are essential every incident in a fictional work should have some bearing on the climax or denouement and any denouement which is not the inevitable result of the preceding incidents is awkward and unliterary no formal course in fiction writing can equal a close and observant perusal of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe or Ambrose Beers in these masterpieces one may find that unbroken sequence and linkage of incident and result which mark the ideal tale observe how in the fall of the house of usher each separate event foreshadows and leads up to the tremendous catastrophe and its hideous suggestion Poe was an absolute master of the mechanics of his craft observe also how Beers can attain the most stirring denouements from a few simple happenings denouements which develop purely from these preceding circumstances in fictional narration very similitude is absolutely essential a story must be consistent and must contain no event clearingly removed from the usual order of things unless that event is the main incident and is approached with the most careful preparation in real life odd and erratic things to occasionally happen but they are out of place in an ordinary story since fiction is a sort of idealization of the average development should be as lifelike as possible and a weak trickling conclusion should be assiduously avoided the end of a story must be stronger rather than weaker than the beginning since it is the end which contains the denouement or culmination and which will leave the strongest impression upon the reader it would not be a miss for the novice to write the last paragraph of his story first once the synopsis of the plot has been carefully prepared as it always should be in this way he will be able to concentrate his freshest mental vigor upon the most important part of his narrative and if any changes be later found needful they can easily be made in no part of a narrative should a grand or empathetic thought or passage be followed by one of tame or prosaic quality this is anti-climax and exposes a writer too much ridicule notice the absurd effect of the following couplet which was however written by no lesser person than waller under the tropic is our language spoke and part of flanders hath received our yoke unity mass coherence in developing a theme whether descriptive or narrative it is necessary that three structural qualities be present unity mass and coherence unity is that principle whereby every part of a composition must have some bearing on the central theme it is the principle which excludes all extraneous matter and demands that all threads converge toward the climax classical violations of unity may be found in the episodes of home air and other epic poets of antiquity as well as in the digressions of fielding and other celebrated novelists but no beginner should venture to emulate such liberties unity is the quality we have lately noted and praised in po and beers mass is that principle which requires the more important parts of a composition to occupy correspondingly important places in the whole composition the paragraph and the sentence it is that law of taste which insists that emphasis be placed where emphasis is due and is most strikingly embodied in the previously mentioned necessity for an emphatic ending according to this law the end of a composition is its most important part was the beginning next in importance coherence is that principle which groups related parts together and keeps unrelated parts removed from one another it applies like mass to the whole composition the paragraph or the sentence it demands that kindred events be narrated without interruption effect following cause in a steady flow forms of composition few writers succeed equally in all the various branches of literature each type of thought has its own particular form of expression based on natural appropriateness and the average author tends to settle into that form which best fits his particular personality many however follow more than one form and some writers change from one form to another as advancing years produce alterations in their mental processes or points of view it is well in the interests of breadth and discipline for the beginner to exercise himself to some degree in every form of literary art he made us discover that which best fits his mind and develop hitherto unsuspected potentialities we have so far surveyed only those simpler phases of writing which center in prose fiction and descriptive essays hereafter we hope to touch upon didactic argumentative and persuasive writing to investigate to some extent the sources of rhetorical strength and elegance and to consider a few major aspects of versification end of literary composition by hb lovecraft the methods of mr. cellier a bookstore study by steven leacock this is a liver vox recording all liver vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liver vox.org especially for the annual convention of the american booksellers association may 14th 1914 to the booksellers of the united states and canada wished to look about the store oh by all means sir he said then as he rubbed his hands together in an urbane fashion he directed a piercing glance at me through his spectacles you'll find some things that might interest you he said in the back of the store on the left we have there a series of reprints universal knowledge from Aristotle to arthur balfour at 17 cents or perhaps you might like to look over the pantheon of dead authors at 10 cents mr. sparrow he called just show this gentleman our classical reprints the 10 cent series with that he waved his hand to an assistant and dismissed me from his thought in other words he had divined me in a moment there was no use of my having bought a sage green fedora in Broadway and a sporting tie done up crosswise with spots as big as nickels these little adornments can never hide the soul within i was a professor and he knew it or at least as part of his business he could divine it on the instant the sales manager of the biggest bookstore for 10 blocks cannot be deceived in a customer and he knew of course that as a professor i was no good i had come to the store as all professors go to bookstores just as a wasp comes to an open jar of marmalade he knew that i would hang around for two hours get in everybody's way and finally by a cheap reprint of the dialogues of Plato or the prose works of john milton or a lock on the human understanding or some trash of that sort as for real taste in literature the ability to appreciate at its worth a dollar fifty novel of last month in a spring jacket with a tango frontispiece i hadn't got it and he knew it he despised me of course but it is a maxim of the book business that a professor standing up in a corner buried in the book looks well in a store the real customers like it so it was that even so up to date a manager as mr. sellier tolerated my presence in a back corner of his store and so it was that i had an opportunity of noting something of his methods with his real customers methods so successful i may say that he is rightfully looked upon by all the publishing business as one of the mainstays of literature in america i had no intention of standing in the place and listening as a spy in fact to tell the truth i had become immediately interested in a new translation of the moral discourses of epictetus the book was very neatly printed quite well bound and was offered at eighteen cents so that for the moment i was strongly tempted to buy it though it seemed best to take a dip into it first i had hardly read more than the first three chapters when my attention was diverted by a conversation going on in the front of the store you're quite sure it's his latest a fashionably dressed lady was saying to mr. sellier oh yes mrs. restlier answered the manager i assure you this is very latest in fact they only came in yesterday as he spoke he indicated with his hand a huge pile of books gaily jacketed in a white and blue i could make out the title in big guilt lettering golden dreams ah yes repeated mr. sellier this is mr slush's latest book it's having a wonderful sale that's all right then said the lady you see one sometimes gets taken in so i came in here last week and took two that seemed very nice and i never noticed till i got home that they were both old books published i think six months ago oh dear me mrs. restlier said the manager in an apologetic tone i'm extremely sorry pray let us send for them and exchange them for you oh it does not matter said the lady of course i didn't read them i gave them to my maid she probably wouldn't know the difference anyway i suppose not said mr. sellier with a condescending smile but of course madam he went on falling into the easy chat of the fashionable bookman such mistakes are bound to happen sometimes we had a very painful case only yesterday one of our oldest customers came in a great hurry to buy books to take on the steamer and before we realized what he had done selecting the books i suppose merely by the titles as some gentleman or apt to do he had taken two of last year's books we wired it once to the steamer but i am afraid it's too late but now this book said the lady idly turning over the leaves is it good what is it about it's an extremely powerful thing said mr. sellier in fact masterly the critics are saying that it's perhaps the most powerful book of the season it has a and here mr sellier pause and somehow his manner reminded me of my own when i am explaining to a university class something that i don't know myself it has a power so to speak a very exceptional power in fact one may say without exaggeration it is the most powerful book of the month indeed he added getting on to easier ground it's having a perfectly wonderful sale you seem to have a great many of them said the lady oh we have to answered the manager there's a regular rush on the book indeed you know it's a book that is bound to make a sensation in fact in certain quarters they are saying that it's a book that are not too uh and here mr sellier's voice became so low and ingratiating that i could not hear the rest of the sentence oh really said mrs. restlier well i think i'll take it anyway one ought to see what these talked of things are about anyway she had already begun to button her gloves and to readjust her feather boa with which she had been knocking the easter cards off the counter then she suddenly remembered something oh i was forgetting she said will you send something to the house for mr. restlier at the same time he's going down to virginia for the vacation you know the kind of thing he likes do you not oh perfectly madam said the manager mr restlier generally reads works of her i think he buys mostly books on uh oh travel and that sort of thing said the lady precisely i think we have here and he pointed to the counter on the left what mr restlier wants he indicated a row of handsome books seven weeks in the sahara seven dollars six months in a wagon six fifty net afternoons in an ox cart two volumes for thirty with twenty off i think he has read those said mrs restlier at least there are a good many at home that seem like that oh very possibly but here now among the cannibals of corfu yes that i think he has had among the that too i think but this i'm certain he would like uh just in this morning among the monkeys of newgeny ten dollars net and with this mr selier laid his hand on a pile of new books apparently as numerous as the huge pile of golden dreams among the monkeys he repeated almost caressingly oh it seems rather expensive said the lady oh very much so a most expensive book the manager repeated in a tone of enthusiasm you see mrs restlier it's the illustrations actual photographs he ran the leaves over in his fingers of actual monkeys taken with the camera and the paper you noticed in fact madam the book costs the mere manufacturer of it nine dollars and ninety cents of course we make no profit on it but it's a book we like to handle everybody likes to be taken into the details of technical business and of course everybody likes to know that a bookseller is losing money these i realized were two axioms in the methods of mr selier so very naturally mrs restlier bought among the monkeys and in another moment mr selier was directing a clerk to write down an address on fifth avenue and was bowing deeply as he showed the lady out of the door as he turned back to his counter his manner seemed much changed that monkey book i heard him remember to his assistant is going to be a pretty stiff proposition but he had no time for further speculation another lady entered this time even to an eye less trained than mr selier's the deep expensive mourning and the pensive eye proclaimed the sentimental widow something new in fiction repeated the manager yes madam here's a charming thing golden dreams he hung lovingly on the words a very sweet story singularly sweet in fact madam the critics are saying it is the sweetest thing that mr slush has done is it good said the lady i began to realize that all customers asked this well a charming book said the manager it's a love story very simple and sweet yet wonderfully charming indeed the reviews say it's the most charming book of the month my wife was reading it aloud only last night she could hardly read for tears i suppose it's quite a safe book is it as the widow i want it for my little daughter oh quite safe said mr selier with an almost parental tone in fact written quite in the old style like the dear old books of the past quite like here mr selier paused with a certain slight haze of doubt visible in his eye like dickens and fielding and stern and so on we sell a great many to the clergy madam the lady bought golden dreams received it wrapped up in green enameled paper and passed out have you any good light reading for vacation time called out the next customer in a loud breezy voice he had the air of a stockbroker starting on a holiday oh yes said mr selier and his face almost broke into a laugh as he answered oh here's an excellent thing golden dreams quite the most humorous book of the season simply screaming my wife was reading it aloud only yesterday she could hardly read for laughing what's the price one dollar one fifty all right wrap it up there was a clink of money on the counter and the customer was gone i began to see exactly where professors and college people who want copies of epictetus at eighteen cents and sections of world reprints of literature at twelve cents a section come in in the book trade yes judge said the manager to the next customer a huge dignified personage in a wide awake hat see stories certainly excellent reading no doubt when the brain is overcharged as yours must be here is the very latest among the monkeys of new guinea ten dollars reduced to four fifty the manufacturer alone cost six eighty we're selling it out oh thank you judge send it yes good morning after that the customers came and went in a string i noticed that though the store was filled with books ten thousand of them at a guest mr selier was apparently only selling to every woman who entered went away with golden dreams every man was given a copy of the monkeys of new guinea to one lady a golden dreams was sold as exactly the reading for a holiday to another as the very book to read after a holiday another bought it as a book for a rainy day and a fourth as the right sort of reading for a fine day the monkeys was sold as a sea story a land story a story of the jungle and a story of the mountains and it was put at a price corresponding to mr selier's estimate of the purchaser at last after a busy two hours the store grew empty for a moment wilfred said mr selier turning to his chief assistant i'm going out to lunch keep those two books running as hard as you can we'll try them for another day and then cut them right out and i'll drop round to dock and and discount the publishers and to make a kick about them and see what they'll do i felt that i had lingered long enough i drew near with the epictetus in my hand uh yes sir said mr selier professional again in a moment epictetus a charming thing eighteen cents thank you uh perhaps we have some other things there that might interest you we have a few secondhand things in the alcove there that you might care to look at there's an Aristotle two volumes a very fine thing practically illegible that you might like and a cicero came in yesterday very choice damaged by damp and i think we have a macchia valley quite exceptional practically torn to pieces and the cover's gone a very rare old thing sir if you're an expert uh no thanks i said and then from a curiosity that had been growing in me and that i could not resist that book golden dreams i said you seem to think at a very wonderful work mr selier directed one of his shrewd glances at me he knew i didn't want to buy the book but perhaps like lesser people he had his off moments of confidence he shook his head uh bad business he said the publishers have unloaded the thing on us and we have to do what we can they're stuck with it i understand and they look to us to help them they're advertising it largely and may pull it off of course there's just a chance one can't tell it's just possible we may get the church people down on it and if so we're all right but short of that we'll never make it i imagine it's perfectly rotten haven't you read it i asked dear me no said the manager his heir was that of a milkman who has offered a glass of his own milk a pretty time i'd have if i tried to read the new books it's quite enough to keep track of them without that but those people i went on deeply perplexed who bought the book won't they be disappointed mr selier shook his head oh no he said you see they won't read it they never do but at any rate i insisted your wife thought it a fine story mr selier smiled widely i am not married sir he said end of the methods of mr selier a bookstore study by steven leacock read by david wales michael angelo as poet by william wells newell this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org michael angelo who considered himself as primarily sculptor afterwards painter disclaim the character of poet by profession he was nevertheless prolific in verse the pieces which survive in number more than 200 probably represent only a small part of his activity in this direction these compositions are not to be considered merely as the amusement of leisure the biplay of fancy they represent continued meditation frequent reworking careful balancing of words he worked on a sonnet or a madrigal in the same manner as on a statue conceived with ardent imagination undertaking with creative energy pursued under the pressure of a super abundance of ideas occasionally abandoned and dissatisfaction but at other times elaborated to that final excellence which exceeds as well as includes all merits of the sketch and as he himself said constitutes a rebirth of the idea into the realm of eternity in the sculptor's time the custom of literary society allowed an encouraged interchange of verses if the repute of the rider or the attraction of the rhymes commanded interests these might be copied reach in expanding circle and achieve celebrity in such manner partly through the agency of michael angelo himself the sonnets of vitoria coluna came into circulation and obtained an acceptance ending in a printed edition but the artist did not thus arrange his own rhymes does not appear even to have kept copies written on stray leaves included in letters they remained as loose memoranda or were suffered altogether to disappear the fame of the author secured attention for anything to which he chose to set his hand the verses were copied and collected and even gathered into the form of books one such manuscript gleaning he revised with his own hand the sonnets became known the songs were set to music and the recognition of their merit induced a contemporary author in the 71st year of the poet's life to deliver before the florentine academy a lecture on a single sonnet diffusion through the printing press however the poems did not attain not until 60 years after the death of their author did a grand nephew also called michael angelo on rote edit the verse of his kensman in this task he had regard to supposed literary proprieties conventionalizing the language and sentiment of lines which seemed harsh or impolite supplying endings for incomplete compositions and in general doing his best to deprive the verse of an originality which the age was not inclined to tolerate the recast was accepted as authentic and in this mutilated form the poetry remained accessible fortunately the originals survived partly in the handwriting of the author and in 1863 were edited by guaste the publication added to the repute of the compositions and the sonnets especially had become endeared to many English readers the long neglect of michael angelo's poetry was owing to the intellectual deficiencies of the seceding generation in spite of the partial approbation of his contemporaries is likely that these were not much more appreciative and that their approval was rendered rather to the fame of the maker than to the merits of the work the complication of the thought frequently requiring to be thought out word for word demanded a mental effort beyond the capacity of literati whose ideal was the simplicity and triviality of Petrarchian imitators guacci assuredly had no genuine comprehension of the sonnet to which he devoted three hours of his auditor's patience bernie who affirmed that michael angelo wrote things while other authors used words to judge by his own compositions could scarce have been more sensible of the artist's emotional depth the sculptor who bitterly expressed his consciousness that for the highest elements of his genius his world had no eyes must have felt a similar lack of sympathy with his poetical conceptions here he stood on less safe ground unacquainted with classic literature unable correctly to write a latin phrase he must have known to use his own metaphor that while he himself might value plain homespun the multitude admired the stuffs of silk and gold that went to the making of a tailor's man it is likely that the resulting intellectual loneliness assumed the form of modesty and that Michelangelo took small pains to preserve his poetry because he said on it no great value the verse especially lyric owed his inspiration to experience a complete record would have constituted a biography more intimate than any other but such memorial does not exist of early productions few survive the extant poems for the most part appear to have been composed after the 60th year of their author the series begins with a sonnet written in 1506 when michael angelo was 31 years of age the sculptor had been called to roam by pope julius who conceived that the only way to ensure an adequately magnificent mausoleum was to prepare it during his own lifetime a splendid design was made for the monument destined to prove the embarrassment of Michelangelo's career but the pope was persuaded that it was not worthwhile to waste his means in marvels and in the spring of 1506 the artist fled to Florence in that city heat may have penned the sonnet in which julius is blamed for giving ear to the voice of echo misreporting column theaters instead of holding the balance even in the sword erect in the character of sculpture justice the writer adds a bitter complaint of the injustice of fate which sends merit to pluck the fruit of a withered bow another sonnet of the period seems to have been written in Rome the subscription reads your Michelangelo in turkey the piece contains an indictment against the papal court at that time occupied with plans for military advancement where the eucharistic cup is changed into helmet and cross into lance for safety's sake let christ keep aloof from a city where his blood would be sold drop wise work there is none and the medusa like pope turns the artist to stone if poverty is beloved by heaven the servants of heaven under the opposite banner are doing their best to destroy that other life in 1509 a sonnet addressed to Giovanni of Pistoia describes the sufferings endured in executing the frescoes of the sistine chapel we are shown Michelangelo bent double on his platform the paint oozing on his face his eyes blurred and squinting his fancy occupied with conjecture of the effect produced on spectators standing below illusion is made to hostile critics the writer bids his friend maintain the honor of one who does not profess to be a painter while looking upward to the vault retained in the memory of many persons is the most holy spot in europe it is well to recollect the sufferings of the artist who in an unaccustomed field of labor achieved a triumph such as no other decorator has attained a fourth sonnet addressed to the same Giovanni reveals the flaming irritability of a temper prone to exaggerate slights especially from a pistoian presumably insensible to the preeminence of Florence that precious joy with this group can be certainly classed only one sonnet of a different character number 20 this was penned on a letter of December 1507 addressed to Michelangelo at Bologna where he was then leading a miserable life engaged on the statue of Julius this work on which he wasted three years was fondly melted into a cannon in order that the enemies of the pope might fire at the latter by means of his own likeness the verse is a spontaneous and passionate outburst of admiration for a beautiful girl with this piece might be associated two or three undated compositions of similar nature would serve to show the era of the supposition that the artist was insensible to feminine attractions it may be affirmed that the reverse was the case and that the thoughtful temper of the extant poetry is due solely to the sobering influences of time the verse which might have exhibited the transition from early to later manhood has not been preserved during 20 years survived no compositions of which the date is assured subsequently to that time assistance is derived from the fortunate accident that several of the sonnets were written on dated letters it is true that this indication is far from furnishing secure testimony even at the present day when paper is so easily obtained i've known a writer of rhyme who was in the habit of using the backs of old letters that Michelangelo sometimes did the same thing appears to be demonstrated by the existence of a sonnet number 50 which though written on the back of a letter of 1532 professes to be composed in extreme old age the evidence therefore is a valued only when supported by the character of the piece nor is internal testimony entirely to be depended on it is to be remembered that all makers of verse remodel former work complete imperfect essays put into form reminiscences which essentially belong to an earlier stage of feeling attempts to classify the productions must follow a subjective opinion very apt to err nevertheless something may be accomplished in this direction the nephew states that two sonnets numbers 24 and 25 were found on a leaf containing a memorandum of 1529 extant is another sonnet certainly written on a page having entry of that year these three sonnets seem to breathe the same atmosphere the emotion is sustained by a direct impulse the verse is apparently inspired by a sentiment too lyric to be unhappy the employment of theologic metaphor and platonic fancy is still subsidiary to emotion allowing for the imaginative indulgence of feeling common to lyrical poets it seems nevertheless possible to perceive a basis of personal experience with these pieces may be associated a number of sonnets and madrigals among the most beautiful productions of the author which may conjecturally be assigned to the period before his permanent roman residence or at any rate may be supposed to represent the impressions of such a time as compared with the work which may with confidence be dated as produced within the ensuing decade these correspond to an earlier manner wanting the direct and impetuous passion of the few youthful verses they nevertheless show a spiritual conception of sexual attachment not yet resolved into religious aspiration they suggest that the inflammable and gentle hearted artist pass through a series of inclinations known of which terminated in a permanent alliance at the end of 1534 near his 60th year Michelangelo came to live in Rome into that city three years later Vittoria Colonna came for a long visit in the 12th year of her widowhood and the 47th of her life an acquaintance may have been established in the course of previous years when the lady visited Rome or possibly even at a prior time whatever was the date of the first encounter allusions in the poem seem to imply that the meeting produced a deep impression on the mind of the artist madrigals 54 and 72 at all events the relations of the two grew into a friendship hardly to be termed intimacy only a very few of the poems are known to have been addressed to Vittoria but the veiled references of several pieces and the tone of the poetry appear to justify the opinion that admiration for this friend was the important influence that affected the character of the verse written during the 10 years before her death in 1547 in Rome the Marchioness of Pescara made her home in the convent of San Sylvestro where she reigned as queen of an intelligent circle a charming and welcome glimpse of this society is furnished by Francis of Holland who professes to relate three conversations held on as many Sunday mornings in which the sculptor took a chief part it's not difficult to imagine the calmness and coolness of the place the serious and placid beauty of the celebrated lady the figure of Michelangelo the innocent devices by which the sympathetic Vittoria contrived to induce his vehement outburst on artistic questions the devout listening of the stranger hanging on the chief artist of Italy with the attention of a reporter who means to put all into a book so far as the conversation represents a symposium on matters of art no doubt the account is to be taken as in good measure the method adopted by Francis to put before the world his own ideas but among the remarks are many so consonant to the character of the sculpture that it is impossible to doubt the essential correctness of the narration in the language of Michelangelo speaks haughty reserve the consciousness of superiority a company by a sense that his most precious qualities exceeded the comprehension of a world which rendered credit less to the real man than to the fashionable artist and whose attention expressed not so much gratitude for illumination as desire become associated with what society held in respect all students who have had occasion to concern themselves with the biography of Vittoria Colonna have been impressed with the excellence of her character after the loss of a husband to whom she had been united in extreme youth she declared her intention of forming no new ties and it must have been an exceptional purity which the sensorious and corrupt world could associate with no breath of scandal she had been accounted the most beautiful woman in Italy of that golden-haired and broad-browed type recognized as favorite but her intelligence rather than personal attractions or social position had made her seclusion in ischia a place of pilgrimage for men of letters the attraction she possessed for the lonely reserved and proud artist is a testimony that to her belonged especially the inexplicable attraction of sympathetic nature such disposition as the sufficient explanation of her devotion to the memory of a husband who appears to have been essentially a conderiote of the time a soldier who made personal interest his chief consideration she may also be credited with a sound judgment and pure ethical purpose in the practical affairs of life yet to allow that Vittoria Colonna was good and lovable does not make it necessary to worship her as a tenth muse according to the partial judgment of her contemporaries unfortunately time has spared her verses respecting which may be repeated device bestowed by mrs. browning in regard to another female author by no means to indulge in the perusal in as much as they seem to disprove the presence of a talent which she nevertheless probably possessed in the case commented on by the modern writer the genius absent in the books is revealed in the correspondence but epistolary composition was not the forte of the martianess of pescara whose communications regarded as pabulum for a hungry heart are as jejun as can be conceived neither is she to be credited with originality in her attitude towards political or religious problems does not appear that she quarreled with the principles of the polite bandit of her own family nor was she able to attain even an elementary notion of Italian patriotism she has been set down as a reformer in religion but such tendency went no further than a sincere affection toward the person of the founder of christianity impiety in no way inconsistent with ritual devotion when it came to the dividing of the ways she had no thought other than to follow the beaten track nor in the world of ideas did she possess greater independence with all her esteem for Michelangelo as artist and man it is not likely that she was able to estimate the sources of his supremacy any more than to foresee a time when her name would have interest for the world only as associated with that of the sculptor it may be believed that a mind capable of taking pleasure in the common places of Iran could never have appreciated the essential merits of the mystic verse which she inspired here also Michelangelo was destined to remain uncomprehended vittoria presented him with her own poems neatly written out and bound but never seems to have taken the pains to gather those of the artist intellectually therefore her limitations were many but she was endowed with qualities more attractive a gentle sympathy a noble kindness a person an expression representative of that ideal excellence which the sculptor could appreciate only as embodied in human form while earlier writers of biography were inclined to exaggerate the effect on Michelangelo of his acquaintance with vittoria colonna later authors as i think have fallen into the opposite error to vittoria indeed whose thoughts were not taken up with devotional exercises were occupied with the affairs of her family or of the church such enmity could occupy only a subordinate place one of her letters to Michelangelo may be taken as a polite repression of excessive interest but on the other side the poetry of the artist is a clear almost a painful expression of his own state of mind we're shown in the mirror of his own verse sensitive self-contained solitary nature aware that he is out of place in a world for which he lacks essential graces and in which he is respected for his least worthy qualities that under such circumstances he should value the kindness of the only woman with whom he could intelligently converse that he should feel the attraction of eyes from which seemed to descend star influences that he should suffer from the sense of inadequacy and transitoriness from the difference of fortune and the lapse of years the contrasts of imagination and possibility was only as he would have said to manifest attribute in act to suffer the natural pain incident to sensitive character in the most striking of the compositions devoted to the memory of vittoria colonna Michelangelo speaks of her influence as the tool by which his own genius had been formed and which when removed to heaven and made identical with the divine archetype left no earthly substitute that the language was no more than an expression of the fact is shown by the alteration which from this time appears in his verse poetry passes over into piety artistic color is exchanged for the monotone of religious emotion one may be glad that the old age of whose trials he has left a terrible picture found its support and alleviation yet the later poems distressing in their solemnity pietistic in their self depreciation exhibit a declining poetic faculty and in this respect are not to be ranked with their forerunners the verse of Michelangelo has been lauded as philosophic the epithet is out of place if by philosophy be meant metaphysics there is no such thing as philosophic poetry poetry owes no debt to metaphysical speculation can coexist as well with one type of doctrine as with another the obligation is on the other side philosophy is petrified poetry which no infusion of adventitious sap can relegate to vital function like all other developments of life philosophic theories can be employed by poets only for colors of the palette if platonic conceptions be deemed exceptional it is because such opinions are themselves poetry more than metaphysics and constitute rather metaphorical expressions for certain human sentiments than any system of rationation for the purposes of Michelangelo these doctrines supplied an adequate means of presentation quite independent of the abstract verity of the principles considered as the product of reasoning with the sculptor it was the impressions and feelings of later life that this philosophy served to convey the few remains of comparative youth lead us to suppose that in the verse of this time the reflective quality was subordinate the productions of later manhood breathe the gentle emotion which allowing for contrasts may be compared with that animating the poetry of wordsworth only in compositions belonging to incipient age do we find a full development of platonic conceptions these again constitute a step in the progress toward that christian quietism into which the stream of the poet's genius emerges as from its impetuous source through the powerful flow of its broadening current a great river at last empties itself into the all-encompassing sea this philosophy was no result of reading but a deposit from conversations which the youth had overheard in the Medici and gardens where he may have listened to the eloquence of Marsilio Ficino when the time came these reminiscences were able to influence imagination and color fancy for a commentary on Michelangelo one is no need to go to the phaedorus or symposium the verse like all true poetry is self-illuminative that god is the archetype and fountainhead of all excellency that external objects suggest the perfection they do not include that objects of nature reflected in the mirror of the intelligence move the soul to perform the creative act by which outward beauty is reborn into her own likeness and loved as the representation of her own divinity that the highest property of external things is to cause human thought to transcend from the partial to the universal these are conceptions so simple and natural that no course of study is necessary to their appreciation the ideas are received as symbols of certain moral conditions and so far not open to debate only when the attempt is made to generalize to set them up as the sum of all experience do they become doubtful the principles are better comprehended without the dialectic and indeed it frequently happens that he who has paid most attention to the latter is least informed respecting the true significance of the imaginations for the sake of which the argument professes to exist hand in hand with this Hellenistic one might say human mysticism want the Christian mysticism expressed in the poetry of Dante in place of the serene archetype the aptheosis of reason we are presented with the archetypical love reaching out toward mankind through the forms of nature no longer the com friend the beloved person is conceived as the ardent angel messenger from the imperian descending and revealing has been held that these two forms of thought are irreconcilable i should consider them as complimentary before the beginnings of the christian church had been affected a union of platonic imagination with Hebrew piety christian sentiment expresses in terms of affection the philosophic doctrine also pious and poetic however proclaimed under the name and with the coloring of sober reason it could not have been expected that in the political activities which of necessity with him remained a subordinate interest Michelangelo should have manifested the full measure of that independent force which in two arts had proved adequate to break new channels this third method of expression served to manifest a part of his nature for which grander tasks did not supply adequate outlets the verse accordingly reveals new aspects of character it was for gentle wistful meditative emotions that the artist found it necessary to use rhyme if not torrential the current was vital no line on freshened by living waters this function explains the limitation of scope essays in pastoral and tercery ma served to prove that here did not lie his path in the conventional forms of the sonnet and the madrigal he found the medium desired the familiarity of the form did not prevent originality of substance he had from youth been intimate with the youthful melodies of Dante the lucid sonnets of petrarch but his own style controlled by thought is remote from the gentle music of the one the clear flow of the other the verse exhibits a superabundance of ideas not easily brought within the limits of the rhyme amid an imagery prevailingly tender and reflective now in that a gleam or a flash reveals the painter of the sistine and the sculptor of the Medici and chapel essentially individual is the autistic imagery as Michelangelo was above all a creator whose genius inclined him toward presentation of the unadorned human form so his metaphors are prevailingly taken from the art of sculpture alone which enriches the verse by the association with immortal works these comparisons taken from the methods of time are not altogether such as could now be employed at the outset indeed the procedure scarcely differed with the sculptor of the Renaissance the first step was to produce a sketch of small dimensions the same thing is done by the modern artist who commonly uses clay and plaster in place of wax it is in the nature of the design or as Michelangelo said of the model that as having the character of an impression it must super abound in rude vitality as much as it is deficient in symmetry and measure the next step then is now might be the preparation of a form answering in size to that of the intended figure but also in wax or clay in the final part of the process however the distinction is complete in the 16th century no way was open to the maker but himself to perfect the statue with hammer and chisel the advance of mechanical skill has enabled the modern artist to dispense with this labor it may be questioned whether the consequence saving of pains is in all respects an advantage at least I have the authority of one of the most accomplished a modern portrait sculptors for the opinion that in strict propriety every kind of plastic work ought to receive its final touches from the hand of the designer even if this were done the method would not answer to that of the earlier century when it was the practice to cleave away the marble and successive planes in such manner as gradually to disengage the outlines of the image which thus appeared to lie veiled beneath the superfixes as an indwelling tenant waiting release from the hand of the carver moreover the preciousness of the material had on the fancy a salutary influence before beginning his task the sculpture was compelled to take into account the possibility of execution he will commonly feel himself obliged to make use of any particular block of marble which he might have the fortune to possess it might even happen that such a block possessed an unusual form as was the case where the stone placed at the disposal of Michelangelo and from which he created his David the test of genius would therefore be the ability on perception of the material to form a suitable conception a sculptor if worthy of his name would perceive the possible nature within the mass the metaphor so frequently and beautifully used by Michelangelo which represents the artist as conceiving the dormant image which his toil must bring forth from its enveloping stone is therefore no commonplace of scholastic philosophy no empty phrase declaring that matter potentially contains unnumbered forms but a true description of the process of creative energy in as much as by an inevitable animism or conceptions derived from human activity are imaginatively transferred to external life the comparison is extended into the realm of nature which by a highly poetic forecast of the modern doctrine of evolution is said through the ages to aim at attaining an ideal excellence the impulse visible in the art of the sculptor thus appears in his poetry which also perfected through unwaryed toil terminates in a result which is truly organic and in which all parts seem to derive from a central idea a lyric poet if he possessed genuine talent is concerned with the presentation not a form of thought but a motion is fancy therefore commonly operates in a manner different from that of the artist whose duty it is primarily to consider the visual image the verse of the latter if he undertakes to express himself also in the poetic manner is usually characterized by the predominance of detail and over distinctness of parts an inability of condensation qualities belonging to an imagination conceiving of life as definitely formal rather than as vaguely impressive on the contrary michael angelo is a true lyricist whose mental vision is not too concrete to be also dreaming this property is a strange proof of the multi-formity of his genius for it is the reverse of what one would expect from a contemplation of his plastic work the inspiration though in a measure biographic is no mere reflection of the experience notwithstanding the sincerity of the impulse as should be the case in lyric verse the expression transcends to the universal does not detract from his worth as a lyrical writer that the range of his themes is narrow a limitation sufficiently explained by the conditions the particular sentiment for the expression of which he needed rhyme was sexual affection in the verse if not in the art all thoughts all passions all delights are ministers of that emotion michael angelo is as much a poet of love as heina or shelling the sonnets were intended not to be sung but to be read this purpose may account for occasional deficiencies of music the beauty of the idea the abundance of the thought the sincerity of the emotion caused them to stand in clear contrast to the productions of contemporary versifiers less attention has been paid to the madrigals on which the author bestowed equal pains these are songs and the melody has affected the thought the self-consciousness of the poet is subordinated to the objectivity of the musician who aims to render human experience into sweet sounds for the most part and with some conspicuous exceptions even where the idea is equally mystical the reasoning is not so intricate nor the sentiment so biographic a certain number had the character of simple love verse in these compositions art is unchecked by reflection and desire allowed its natural course unquenched by the abundant flow of the thought which it has awakened what assumes the aspect of love sorrow is in reality a joyous current of life mocking grief with the music of its ripples if one desired to name the composer whom the sentiment suggests he might mention shuman rather than Beethoven other and different artists have been excellent poets and other tolerable versifiers clever artists but only once in human history has coexisted the highest talent for plastic form and verbal expression had these verses come down without name had they been disinterred from the dust of a library as the legacy of an anonymous singer they would be held to confer on the making a title to rank among intellectual benefactors it would be said that an unknown poet whose verse proved him also a sculptor had contributed to literature thoughts whose character might be summed up in the lines of his madrigal dale più altestele descende un esplendore che desirciere a chelli e che si chiama amore end of Michelangelo as poet by William Wells Newell the mind and its education by George Herbert Betts this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org chapter one the mind or consciousness we are to study the mind and its education but how it is easy to understand how we may investigate the great world of material things about us for we can see it touch it weigh it or measure it but how are we to discover the nature of the mind or come to know the processes by which consciousness works for mind is intangible we cannot see it feel it taste it or handle it mind belongs not to the realm of matter which is known to the senses but to the realm of spirit which the senses can never grasp and yet the mind can be known and studied as truly and as scientifically as can the world of matter let us first of all see how this can be done how mind is to be known the personal character of consciousness mind can be observed and known but each one can know directly only his own mind and not another's you and I may look into each other's face and there guess the meaning that lies back of the smile or frown or flash of the eye and so read something of the mind's activity but neither directly meets the other's mind I may learn to recognize your features know your voice respond to the clasp of your hand but the mind the consciousness which does your thinking and feels your joys and sorrows I can never know completely indeed I can never know your mind at all except through your bodily acts and expressions nor is there any way in which you can reveal your mind your spiritual self to me except through these means it follows therefore that only you can ever know you and only I can ever know I in any first hand and immediate way between your consciousness and mind there exists a wide gap that cannot be bridged each of us lives apart we are like ships that pass and hail each other in passing but do not touch we may work together live together come to love or hate each other and yet our inmost selves forever stand alone they must live their own lives think their own thoughts and arrive at their own destiny introspection the only means of discovering nature of consciousness what then is mind what is the thing that we call consciousness no mere definition can ever make it clearer than it is at this moment to each of us the only way to know what mind is is to look in upon our own consciousness and observe what is transpiring there in the language of the psychologist we must introspect for one can never come to understand the nature of mind and its laws of working by listening to lectures or reading textbooks alone there is no psychology in the text but only in your living flowing stream of thought in mind true the lecture in the book may tell us what to look for when we introspect and how to understand what we find but the statements and descriptions about our minds must be verified by our own observation and experience before they become vital truth to us how we introspect introspection is something of an art it has to be learned some master it easily some with more difficulty and some it is to be feared never become skilled in its use in order to introspect one must catch himself unawares so to speak in the very act of thinking remembering deciding loving hating and all the rest these fleeting phases of consciousness are ever on the wing they never pause in the restless flight and we must catch them as they go this is not so easy as it appears for the moment we turn to look in upon the mind that moment consciousness changes the thing we meant to examine is gone and something else has taken its place all that is left us then is to view the mental object while it is still fresh in the memory or to catch it again when it returns studying mental states of others through expression although I can meet only my own mind face to face I am nevertheless under the necessity of judging your mental states and knowing what is taking place in your consciousness for in order to work successfully with you in order to teach you understand you control you or obey you be your friend or enemy or associate with you in any other way I must know you know but the real you that I must know is hidden behind the physical mask that we call the body I must therefore be able to understand your states of consciousness as they are reflected in your bodily expressions your face form gesture speech the tone of voice laughter and tears the poise of attention the droop of grief the tenseness of anger and start of fear all these tell the story of the mental state that lies behind the senses these various expressions are the pictures on the screen by which your mind reveals itself to others they are the language by which the inner self speaks to the world without learning to interpret expression if I would understand the workings of your mind I must therefore learn to read the language of physical expression I must study human nature and learn to observe others I must apply the information found in the texts to an interpretation of those about me this study of others may be uncritical as in the mere intelligent observation of those I meet or it may be scientific as when I conduct carefully planned psychological experiments but in either case it consists in judging the inner states of consciousness by their physical manifestations the three methods by which mind may be studied are then one textbook description and explanation two introspection of my own conscious processes and three observation of others either uncritical or scientific the nature of consciousness inner nature of the mind not revealed by introspection we are not to be too greatly discouraged if even by introspection we cannot discover exactly what the mind is no one knows what electricity is though nearly everyone uses it in one form or another we study the dynamo the motor and the conductors through which electricity manifests itself we observe its effects in light heat and mechanical power and so learn the laws which govern its operations but we are almost as far from understanding its true nature as were the ancients who knew nothing of its uses the dynamo does not create the electricity but only furnishes the conditions which make it possible for electricity to manifest itself in doing the world's work likewise the brain or nervous system does not create the mind but it furnishes the machine through which the mind works we may study the nervous system and learn something of the conditions and limitations under which the mind operates but this is not studying the mind itself as in the case of electricity what we know about the mind we must learn through the activities in which it manifests itself these we can know for they are in the experience of all it is then only by studying these processes of consciousness that we come to know the laws which govern the mind and its development what it is that thinks and feels and wills in us is too hard a problem for us here indeed has been too hard a problem for the philosophers through the ages but the thinking and feeling and willing we can watch as they occur and hence come to know consciousness as a process or stream in looking in upon the mind we must expect to discover then not a thing but a process the thing forever eludes us but the process is always present consciousness is like a stream which so far as we are concerned with it in a psychological discussion has its rise at the cradle and its end at the grave it begins with the babes first faint gropings after light in his new world as he enters it and ends with the man's last blind gropings after light in his old world as he leaves it the stream is very narrow at first only as wide as the few sensations which come to the babe when it sees the light or hears the sound it grows wider as the mind develops and is at last measured by the grand sum total of life's experience this mental stream is irresistible no power outside of us can stop it while life lasts we cannot stop it ourselves when we try to stop thinking the stream but changes its direction and flows on while we wait and while we sleep while we are unconscious under anesthetic even some sort of mental process continues sometimes the stream flows slowly and our thoughts lag we feel slow again the stream flows faster and we are lively and our thoughts come with a rush or a fever seizes us and delirium comes on then the stream runs wildly onward defying our control and a mad jargon of thoughts takes the place of our usual orderly array in different persons also the mental stream moves at different rates some minds being naturally slow moving and some naturally quick in their operations consciousness resembles a stream also in other particulars a stream is an unbroken hole from its source to its mouth and an observer stationed at one point cannot see all of it at once he sees but the one little section which happens to be passing his station point at the time the current may look much the same from moment to moment but the component particles which constitute the stream are constantly changing so it is with our thought its stream is continuous from birth till death but we cannot see any considerable portion of it at one time when we turn about quickly and look in upon our minds we see but the little present moment that of a few seconds ago is gone and will never return the thought which occupied us a moment sense can no more be recalled just as it was then can the particles composing a stream be recollected and made to pass a given point in its course in precisely the same order and relation to one another as before this means then that we can never have precisely the same mental state twice that the thought of the moment cannot have the same associates that it had the first time that the thought of this moment will never be ours again that all we can know of our minds at any one time is the part of the process present in consciousness at that moment the wave in the stream of consciousness the surface of our mental stream is not level but it is broken by a wave which stands above the rest which is but another way of saying that some one thing is always more prominent in our thought than the rest only when we are in a sleepy reverie or not thinking about much of anything does the stream approximate a level at all other times some one object occupies the highest point in our thought to the more or less complete exclusion of other things which we might think about a thousand and one objects are possible to our thought at any moment but all except one thing occupy a secondary place or are not present to our consciousness at all they exist on the margin or else are clear off the edge of consciousness while the one thing occupies the center we may be reading a fascinating book late at night in a cold room the charm of the writer the beauty of the heroine or the bravery of the hero so occupies the mind that the weary eyes and chattering teeth are unnoticed consciousness has piled up in a high wave on the points of interest in the book and the bodily sensations are for the moment on a much lower level but let the book grow dull for a moment and the makeup of the stream changes in a flash hero heroine or literary style no longer occupies the wave they forfeit their place the wave is taken by the bodily sensations and we are conscious of the smarting eyes and shivering body while these in turn give way to the next object which occupies the wave consciousness likened to a field the consciousness of any moment has been less happily likened to a field in the center of which there is an elevation higher than the surrounding level this center is where consciousness is piled up on the object which is for the moment foremost in our thought the other objects of our consciousness are on the margin of the field for the time being but any of them may the next moment claim the center and drive the former object to the margin or it may drop entirely out of consciousness this moment a noble resolve may occupy the center of the field while a troublesome tooth begets sensations of discomfort which lingered dimly on the outskirts of our consciousness but a shooting pain from the tooth or a random thought crossing the mind and low the tooth holds sway and the resolve dimly fades to the margin of our consciousness and is gone the piling up of consciousness is attention this figure is not so true as the one which likens our mind to a stream with its ever onward current answering to the flow of our thought but whichever figure we employ the truth remains the same our mental energy is always piled up higher at one point than at others either because our interest leads us or because the will dictates the mind is withdrawn from the thousand and one things we might think about and directed to this one thing which for the time occupies chief place in other words we attend for this piling up of consciousness is nothing after all but attention content of the mental stream we have seen that our mental life may be likened to a stream flowing now faster now slower ever shifting never ceasing we have yet to inquire what constitutes the material of the stream or what is the stuff that makes up the current of our thought what is the content of consciousness the question cannot be fully answered at this point but a general notion can be gained which will be of service why we need minds let us first of all ask what mind is for why do animals including men have minds the biologists would say in order that they may adapt themselves to their environment each individual from mollusk to man needs the amount and type of mind that serves to fit its possessor into its particular world of activity too little mind leaves the animal helpless in the struggle for existence on the other hand a mind far above its possessor station would prove useless if not a handicap a mollusk could not use the mind of a man content of consciousness determined by function how much mind does man need what range and type of consciousness will best serve to adjust us to our world of opportunity and responsibility first of all we must know our world hence our mind must be capable of gathering knowledge second we must be able to feel its values and respond to the great motives for action arising from the emotions third we must have the power to exert self-compulsion which is to say that we possess a will to control our acts these three sets of processes knowing feeling and willing we shall therefore expect to find making up the content of our mental stream let us proceed at once to test our conclusion test our conclusion by introspection if we are sitting at our study table puzzling over a difficult problem in geometry reasoning forms the wave in the stream of consciousness the center of the field it is the chief thing in our thinking the fringe of our consciousness is made up of various sensations of light from the lamp the contact of our clothing the sounds going on in the next room some bit of memory seeking recognition a tramp thought which comes along and it doesn't other experiences not strong enough to occupy the center of the field but instead of the study table and the problem give us a bright fireside an easy chair and nothing to do if we are aged memories images from out the past will probably come thronging in and occupy the field to such extent that the fire burns low and the room grows cold but still the forms from the past hold sway if we are young visions of the future may crowd everything else to the margin of the field while the castles in Spain occupy the center our memories may also be accompanied by emotions sorrow love anger hate envy joy and indeed these emotions may so completely occupy the field that the images themselves are for the time driven to the margin and the mind is occupied with its sorrow its love or its joy once more instead of the problem or the memories or the castles in Spain give us the necessity of making some decision great or small where contending motives are pulling us now in this direction now and that so that the question finally has to be settled by a supreme effort summed up in the words I will this is the struggle of the will which each one knows for himself for who has not had a raging battle of motives occupy the center of the field while all else even the sense of time place and existence gave way in the face of this conflict this struggle continues until the decision is made when suddenly all the stress and strain drop out and other objects may again have place in consciousness the three fundamental phases of consciousness thus we see that if we could cut the stream of consciousness across as we might cut a stream of water from bank to bank with a huge knife and then look at the cutoff section we should find very different constituents in the stream at different times we should at one time find the mind manifesting itself in perceiving remembering imagining discriminating comparing judging reasoning or the acts by which we gain our knowledge at another in fearing loving hating sorrowing enjoying or the acts of feeling at still another in choosing or the act of the will these processes would make up the stream or in other words these are the acts which the mind performs in doing its work we should never find a time when the stream consists of but one of the processes or when all these modes of mental activity are not represented they will be found in varying proportions now more of knowing now a feeling and now of willing but some of each is always present in our consciousness in our consciousness the nature of these different elements in our mental stream their relation to each other and the manner in which they all work together in amazing perplexity yet in perfect harmony to produce the wonderful mind will constitute the subject matter we shall consider together in the pages which follow where consciousness resides I the conscious self dwells somewhere in this body but where when my fingertips touch the object I wish to examine I seem to be in them when the brain grows weary from overstudy I seem to be in it when the heart throbs the breath comes quick and the muscles grow tense from noble resolve or strong emotion I seem to be in them all when filled with the buoyant life of vigorous youth every fiber and nerve is a tingle with help and enthusiasm I live in every part of my marvelous body small wonder that the ancients located the soul at one time in the heart at another in the pineal gland of the brain and at another made it co extensive with the body consciousness works through the nervous system later science has taught that the mind resides in and works through the nervous system which has its central office in the brain and the reason why I seem to be in every part of my body is because the nervous system extends to every part carrying messages of sight or sound or touch to the brain and bearing in return orders for movements which set the feet of dancing or the fingers of tingling but more of this later this partnership between mind and body is very close just how it happens that spirit may inhabit matter we may not know but certain it is that they interact on each other what will hinder the growth of one will handicap the other and what favors the development of either will help both the methods of their cooperation and the laws that govern their relationship will develop as our study goes on problems in observation and introspection one should always keep in mind that psychology is essentially a laboratory science and not a textbook subject the laboratory material is to be found in ourselves and in those about us while the text should be thoroughly mastered its statements should always be verified by reference to one's own experience and observation of others especially should prospective teachers constantly correlate the lessons of the book with the observation of children at work in the school the problem suggested for observation and introspection well if mastered do much to render practical and helpful the truths of psychology one think of your home as you left it can you see vividly just how it looked the color of the paint on the outside with the familiar form of the roof and all can you recall the perfume in some old drawer the taste of a favorite dish the sound of a familiar voice in farewell two what illustrations have you observed where the mental content of the moment seemed chiefly thinking knowledge process chiefly emotion feeling process chiefly choosing or self-compulsion willing process three when you say that you remember a circumstance that occurred yesterday how do you remember it that is do you see in your mind things just as they were and hear again sounds which occurred or feel again movements which you performed do you experience once more the emotions you then felt four what forms of expression most commonly revealed thought what reveal emotions i.e. can you tell what a child is thinking about by the expression on his face can you tell whether he's angry frightened sorry by his face is speech as necessary in expressing feeling as an expressing thought five try occasionally during the next 24 hours to turn quickly about mentally and see whether you can observe your thinking feeling or willing in the very act of taking place six what becomes of our mind or consciousness while we are asleep how are we able to wake up at a certain hour previously determined can a person have absolutely nothing in his mind seven have you noticed any children especially adept in expression have you noticed any very backward if so in what form of expression in each case eight have you observed any instances of expression which you were at a loss to interpret remember that expression includes every form of physical action voice speech face form hand etc end of the mind and its education chapter one by george herbert betts motor truck halls janeva bell flower from the american miller and processor volume 41 october 1st 1913 this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org it halls janeva bell flower there is probably no fairer region in illinois than the country surrounding the city of janeva located on the fox river a distance from chicago of a couple of hours run on the chicago and northwestern railroad it is surely a land flowing with milk and honey with fertile farms and flourishing industries among which and taking no small part in the commercial life of janeva is the bennett milling company the company's mill is a fine water power property and has a daily capacity of 250 barrels its principal brand is janeva bell and to get this flower to patrons promptly president fred e bennett placed in commission a little over a year ago the three-ton motor truck shown in our illustration this truck delivers to elgin aurora weaton and naperville covering a radius in all of about 25 miles mr. bennett is well pleased with the work of the truck and has computed it costs about the same to operate it as three two horse teams the truck does the work of four two horse teams eight horses he says would never stand up under the work given the truck neither would they be on time every time as is the truck furthermore from an advertising standpoint alone the truck is invaluable end of motor truck halls janeva bell flower from the american miller and processor volume 41 october 1st 1913 read for libervox by sue anderson