Page:Lovecraft - Style in English.djvu/1



Omaha, Feb. 20.—To the Editor of The Bee: All attempts at gaining literary polish must begin with judicious reading, and the learner must never cease to hold this phase uppermost. In many cases, the usage of good authors will be found a more effective guide than any amount of precept. A page of Addison or of Irving will teach more of style than a whole manual of rules, while a story of Poe's will impress upon the mind a more vivid notion of powerful and correct description and narration than will 10 dry chapters of a bulky text book. Let every student read unceasingly the best writers.

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 its Saxon vocabulary and poetic rhythm be unsuited to general composition, it is invaluable for writers. Lord Dunsany, 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 traditions. H. P. LOVECRAFT.