Again, one should not always hesitate to set down an idea because one has not the sharpest, clearest possible notion of it. Vague ideas are sometimes valuable ones. They should receive earnest thought that they may take definite shape. But if they seem to defy definite form, they certainly should not be thrown away merely for that. Catching one’s exact idea is often as difficult as catching a trout. But a glimpse of the fine fish that gets away is worth something,—there are few of us who can resist the temptation to tell about it when we get home. Speaking of the mind, Emerson says, “It is wholesome to angle in those profound pools, though one be rewarded with nothing more than the leap of a fish that flashes his freckled side in the sun and as suddenly absconds in the dark and dreamy waters again.”[46] In Wordsworth’s poem, The Solitary Reaper, we hear of a song about old, unhappy, far-off things. That was exactly Wordsworth’s own vague notion, and down he set it—in words that make it clear (so to speak) that his idea was sweet and vague. Ruskin, describing the façade of St. Mark’s in Venice, tries to give a sense of the bewildering multiplicity of beautiful things on that wonderful front by saying, a confusion of delight. If he had used more definite words we should have missed the effect.
Oral Exercise.—Examine the passages from Johnson and Blackmore ([pp. 192-3]). Which passage contains more of general words than of specific? Which is more forcible in subject-matter? Which in diction.
Oral Exercise.—In the following passage, choose the better expression from each pair of brackets. Each pair contains one general and one specific term; choose the term which gives greater force or greater clearness than the other.
1. And therefore, first of all, I tell you earnestly and authoritatively (I know I am right in this) you must get into the [way, habit] of looking [rightly, intensely] at words, and [telling, assuring] yourself of their meaning, syllable by syllable—nay, letter by letter. For ... you might read all the books in accuracy]—you are forevermore in some [way, measure] an educated [man, person]. The entire difference between education and non-education (as regards the merely [mental, intellectual] part of it) consists in this [exactitude, accuracy]. A well-educated gentleman may not [read, know] many languages, may not be able to speak any but his own, may have read very few books. But whatever language he knows, he knows [well, precisely]; whatever word he [says, pronounces] he [says, pronounces] rightly. Above all, he is learned in the peerage of words, knows the words of [true, veritable] descent, and [old, ancient] blood, at a glance, from the words of [new, modern] canaille, remembers all their ancestry, their intermarriages, distant relationships, and the extent to which they were admitted, and offices they held, among the national noblesse of words at any time and in any [place, country]. But an uneducated person may know, by [heart, memory], many languages, and [use, talk] them all, and yet truly [know, apprehend] not a word of any—not a word even of his own. An ordinarily [clever, good] and sensible seaman will be able to make his way ashore at most [ports, places], yet he has only to speak And this is so [well, strongly] felt, so [conclusively, well] admitted, by educated persons, that a false accent or a [bad, mistaken] syllable is enough in the parliament of any civilized nation, to [assign, send] man to a certain degree of [lower, inferior] standing forever.
Oral Exercise.—Which words in the following are general, which specific? Does each seem appropriate in its place, or ought some words to have been more specific, others more general?
1. Her dress was dark and rich; she had pearls round her neck, and an old rococo fan in her hand.—Henry James.
2. When gratitude has become a matter of reasoning, there are many ways of escaping from its bonds.—George Eliot.
3. Friendships begin with liking or gratitude—roots that can be pulled up.—George Eliot.
4. What scene was ever commonplace in the descending sunlight, when color has awakened from its noonday sleep, and the long shadows awe us like a disclosed presence? Above all, what scene is commonplace to the eye that is filled with serene gladness, and brightens all things with its own joy?—George Eliot.
Oral Exercise.—Is there danger of misconception from the use of the following words? If so, how can the danger be avoided? Discuss in class. Fair, fine, certain, charity, democratic, republican, nature.