STYLE AND THE MAN
STYLE AND THE MAN
By
MEREDITH NICHOLSON
INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL CO.
PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1911
The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
FOREWORD
THE following pages contain the notes ofan address which I have delivered onvarious occasions. Some of the allusionsand criticisms are obviously frivolous, andothers were introduced merely to provokediscussion.
STYLE AND THE MAN
STYLE AND THE MAN
AT the word style the critics at oncesit up and take notice. We are allsensitive to style; we either like to drift withan easy, lazy current, or we prefer to fighta turbulent, resisting tide; we enjoy contemplatingthe moonlight upon tranquilwaters, or we find our greatest pleasure inwatching the ruffian billows breakingagainst rough shores. These are largelymatters of temperament or of mood. Theattitude of many of us changes from dayto day, from book to book; but at heart weall have a preference, a prejudice in favorof certain methods of writing, while othersawake our antagonism. It has probably[2]been the experience of all of us that booksthat reach the library table often lie unopenedfor many days; and then to our ownsurprise we some day take them up, readthem with delight, and wonder why we approachedthem so reluctantly. In the samewhimsical fashion we recur to volumes thatwe knew in old times, impelled by someinstinct that makes us long to experiencethe same emotion, the same thrill, the samepeace that gladdened our souls in happierdays. There are books that fit into moodsof sorrow, of loneliness, of anxiety; andothers are equally identified with moods ofhappiness, elation and hope. There are inall our libraries, great or small, stern Gibraltarsthat rise gloomily before us on shelvesto which we never turn with pleasure.
Great writers have rarely written of style,perhaps because it is so individual, so intimatea matter; and the trick of the thing[3]may not, except in rare cases be communicatedto the tyro. The convenient methodsof absent treatment advertised by correspondenceschools of authorship are of noavail in the business of style; style canno more be taught than the shadows ofclouds across June meadows, or the playof wind over wheat fields can be directedor influenced by the hand of man. Tograsp style much is inevitably presupposed,—grammar,sensibility, taste, a feeling forcolor and rhythm,—of such things as theseis the kingdom of style. In children weoften observe an individual and distinctiveway of saying things; we all have correspondentswhose letters are a joy becauseof their vivid revelation of the writer. Inevery community there are persons muchquoted for their wit or wisdom, whose sayingshave a raciness and tang.
The bulk of English is so enormous and[4]increases so rapidly that we have