He assured his friends that he for his part would do all he possibly could to resist that measure. They knew that he had always been opposed to it; as recently as the day before he had spoken against it there in that very hall. Did they think, he asked, that the people of this country would tolerate such injustice? He was sure they would not.
EXPOSITION
Exposition is a form of composition designed to explain. Its important characteristic is clearness, and it, therefore, makes large use of illustration.
The main points may be stated in various ways in order to make them clear.
Essays and editorials are among the best known forms of exposition.
Essay.—An essay is a short composition upon any subject. The subject may be of any kind whatever, one fit for treatment, and with great fulness, in any of the species of discourse described above, or one without sufficient dignity for such treatment. No other species of writing ranges over so wide and varied a field of topics—nothing less than that of all others combined—and none other allows such freedom and diversity in the handling.
In style of thought the essay may be dreamy and semi-poetical, and charm by its beauty, it may be simply instructive or critical, it may blaze with its brilliancy, sting with its satire, convulse with its humor, convince with its logic, inflame with its appeal and move to instant duty. The author may wander off in leisurely excursions to the right and the left, and load his pages with gleanings by the way; or, like the orator, he may keep his eye on the point he would reach, and move, with the directness of an arrow’s flight, toward it.
The style of expression should fit the thought, and October woods are not more varied in color than this department of literature in utterance.
Outline of the Essay.—1. Give a clear definition of the subject or proposition to be discussed, amplified, paraphrased, or explained.
2. Set out the reason for, or the truth of, the proposition.