The Art of Writing & Speaking the English Language by Sherwin Cody

 

The Art of Writing & Speaking the English Language 

 

by Sherwin Cody

 

How To Read And What To Read, Volume 6

 

CONTENTS

• Preface 7
• General Introduction to the Study of Literature II 
• Chapter I. What Constitutes a Good Poem?. 16 
• Chapter II. What Constitutes a Good Essay?. 25 
• Chapter III. What Constitutes a Good Novel? 31 
• Chapter IV. Landmarks in Modern- Literature 42 
• Chapter V. The Best Poetry and How to Read It 51 
• Chapter VI. How to Study Shakspere 65
• Chapter VII. The Best English Essays 73 
• Chapter VIII. Old Novels that Are Good 81
• Chapter IX. The Romantic Novelists — Scott, Hugo, Dumas 88 
• Chapter X. The Realistic Novelists — Dickens, Thackeray, Balzac 102 
• Chapter XI. The Short Story— Poe, Hawthorne, Maupasant 117 
• Chapter XII. Classic Stories for Young People 122
  

PREFACE

There are plenty of books telling what we should read if we were wise and judicious scholars, with all the time in the world ; and there are lists of the Hundred Best Books, as if there were some magic in the figures ioo.

This little book is for the average man who reads the newspaper more than he ought, and would like to know the really interesting books in standard literature which he might take pleasure in reading and which might be of some practical benefit to him.

I have begun by leaving out nearly all the ancient classics. Demosthenes's For the Crown is a great oration, but it is utterly dry and uninteresting to the ordinary modern. Even the great Goethe, while he may be the best of reading for a German, is not precisely adapted to the needs of the average American or Englishman. His novels are too sentimental ; and his great poem Faust, like all poems, loses too much in the translation.

And then to come down to our own literature, I must admit that I know that all the conservative professors of English will be shocked at the omission of Chaucer (but his language is too antiquated to be easily understood), Pope (who is more quoted than any other English poet except Shakspere, but ought to be read only in a book of quotations), Samuel Richardson (who is important historically, but whose novels are as dead as a door-nail), and some others.

Literature is not great absolutely, but it is useful and inspiring to those who read it. What has been inspiring once may have served its purpose, and when it is no longer inspiring it ought to be put away on the library shelves. But of the good and interesting books there are a great many more than any one person can ever hope to read. We have but a little time in this life, and in reading we ought to make the best of it. So what shall we choose?

First of all a book must be interesting if it is going to help us; but at the same time if it is a great book and can inspire us, our time is spent to double or treble the advantage that it would be if it were only a good book. If we can read the best books and not merely good books, we have actually added some years to our life, measuring life by what we crowd into it.

But no man can be another's sole guide and do his thinking for him. Every man must have stand-ards and principles, and be able to judge for himself. Such standards for judgment I have tried in this book first of all to give by simple illustrations.

So far as I know nearly every one who has written about books has recommended volumes in the lump, as Wordsworth's Poems, Lamb's Essays, Scott's novels, etc., as if every collection between covers were good all the way through.

The fact is, great books need to be sifted in them selves, as well as great collections of books. Only a few poems of Wordsworth's or Coleridge's or Keats' or Shelley's or Tennyson's or Longfellow's are first rate, and all the others in their complete works would better be left out as far as the average man I have in mind is concerned. Even the great novels have to be skimmed, and it is not every one who knows how to do that. I am therefore desirous of  giving assistance not only in the selection of volumes, but of the contents of each volume recommended.

I have tried my hand already with some success as far as the public is concerned in selecting "The Greatest Short Stories", "The Best English Essays", "The World's Great Orations" and the work of "The Great English Poets." It is now my hope to offer the public in convenient, well printed, prettily bound volumes a Nutshell Library of the World's Best Literature for English Readers. Unlike other compilations of this kind it will not be a collection of fragments and patchwork, so comprehensive that it includes thousands of things one does n't care for,  and so selective that it leaves out four fifths of the things one does want especially. In my library I shall make each volume complete in itself and an interesting evening's reading. The reader will be pleasantly introduced to the author as man and man-of-letters, so that he will know him the next time he meets him, and will get on terms of something like familiarity with him.

It is now almost impossible for the ordinary business man or even the busy woman of the house to read many books. Sometimes we get started on the latest novel, recommended by a friend, and sacrifice enough time to finish it; then we are usually sorry we did it And yet we know that the delicate enjoyment of life is in our cultivation of leisure in a refined and noble way. For all of us life would be better worth living, would be fuller of satisfaction and more complete in accomplishment, if we could  spend a certain amount of time every day or every week with the world's best society. This I hope to make it practically possible for many to do.

This little volume lays down the principles and maps out the field. It is entirely complete in itself; but at the same time it introduces an undertaking which I hope may develop into, wide usefulness.

I may add that only books that may properly be called "literature" are here referred to, and even orations are omitted, because they are meant to be heard and not read in a closet and most people will not find them inspiring reading. Neither have I ventured into history, science, philosophy, or economics.  

I desire to thank Dr. E. Benj. Andrews, Chan- cellor of the University of Nebraska, Mr. Fred. H. Hild, Librarian of the Chicago Public Library, and Mr. W. I. Fletcher, editor of the American Library Association's Index to General Literature and Li- brarian of Amherst College, for valuable assistance in preparing the list of books recommended.

Sherwin Cody.

About the Author 

 

Alpheus Sherwin Cody (November 30, 1868 – April 4, 1959) was an American writer and entrepreneur who developed a long-running home-study course in speaking and writing and a signature series of advertisements asking “Do You Make These Mistakes in English?” A critic of traditional English education, Cody advocated colloquial style and grammar. His course, presented in a patented workbook format which he described as self-correcting, was purchased by over 150,000 students from its inception in 1918. He published essays, books and articles virtually nonstop from 1893 through 1950. In a book published in 1895, he gave the advice, "Write what you know—so go out and know something." Wikipedia

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Also see:

• [v . 1] Word-Study 

  [v . 2] Grammar & Punctuation  

  [v . 3] Composition & Rhetoric 

  [v . 4] Constructive Rhetoric 

  [v . 5] Story Writing & Journalism 

  [v . 6] How To Read And What To Read

 

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