2. Thought, the entire range presented by all the discourse processes; yet such thought as bears a definite relation to the action proposed.

3. Expression, Energetic, with Clearness and Elegance as means.

Transforming the above for the more immediate application in construction and analysis gives the following:

2. To what grade of either is the discourse adapted ? II. THEME. 1. By what theme is the purpose accomplished, or to be accomplished?

2. What kind of theme-individual or general? If individual, by what process presented, Description or Narration? If general, by Exposition or Argumentation? If Exposition, whether matter-of-fact or ideal truth?

3. Analysis of the particular process employed into the thought relations as they are organized in the presentation of the theme, and their presentation tested by all the laws of the process Purpose, Unity, Selection, Method, and Completeness.

III. STYLE.

1.

From the purpose, should the style be Clear, Elegant, or Energetic?

2. How is the particular quality desired secured? If the quality desired is Clearness, test by applying the laws of Clearness; if Elegance, by applying laws of Elegance; if Energy, by applying laws of Energy.

From this point the student is ready to proceed consciously and systematically with his general practice of reading and writing of interpreting and composing discourse. One phase of this will develop into and continue as a special and formal study, called the study of Literature. It is hoped that the foregoing exposition of discourse will form the basis of scientific literary analysis. In conclusion, to point the way in that direction, and to further impress the general application of the doctrine of discourse to practice, a brief outline analysis of a short literary selection will now be given.

ANALYSIS OF "THE RAINY DAY."

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

The purpose of the poem is to touch the emotions.

This our experience testifies to in reading it.

It gives

no instruction; neither does it stimulate to any definite volition and action. The emotion does not prompt to action, but is entertained and enjoyed by the reader for the sake of the emotion itself. In reading the poem the feelings absorb the attention to the exclusion of both intellectual and volitional consciousness. Hence, this selection is a poem, or piece of literature.

But the effect is more definite than that of arousing emotion in general; to be a poem it must arouse some particular emotion. At the outset there is awakened, through the image of the rainy day, the vague feeling of depression. This is the setting for the more definite feeling of sadness, which is overcome by the hope and cheer of life. The definite effect of the poem thus appears to be the rally of life over the trials and tribulations of life; it is a spiritual uprising under the deadening weight of grief and melancholy, - the reclaiming of oneself when hope and life seem lost; an idealized resolution to hold on to life in spite of all reverses and undercurrents which tend to forestall the good and promise of life.

In this ideal rally of life this selection fills another requirement of literature; namely, in that it must appeal to the universal interests of life. It is the law of life that the soul rise upon the dead self to higher things. This rally of life above depressing influences is one of the ever-present phases of human life; hence, every soul is touched by the theme of this poem. It would be interesting to note how many of Longfellow's poems have the same theme. To such an extent is this true that Longfellow is called the poet of consolation. This 3

arose from the fact that he was painfully sensitive to such visitations of sorrow, and equally sensitive to the bright and cheerful influence of life. He could well exclaim with Byron: "Man thou pendulum between a smile and a tear."

nature.

All literature seeks to relieve the soul from some form of bondage, and each selection of literature, as in the present case, seeks to bring relief from some definite limiting condition in which man finds his spiritual In this selection the soul finds itself limited by sadness or grief, and it must overcome its sadness or its sadness will overcome it. It is the typical battle of life the battle for life. strive to persist and hold its advances in self-realization. under one or the other of these two forms of striving; the "Rainy Day" is a type of one, "Excelsior" of the other.

The soul must either own or to make distinct All literary themes fall

The theme in this poem is, therefore, emotionally and universally entertained, as required by all true literary selections. But literature deals with the ideal in human life rather than the real. In the present case the victory over the tribulations of life is more complete and decisive than is experienced in the regular order of our lives. That is, the sadness and the cheer are farther apart; the sadness is more intense and the cheer ideally complete. At first Longfellow would have us feel that there is nothing in life but coldness, darkness, and dreariness; would produce in us an ideal condition of sadness, in order to produce an ideal victory over it. The poem consists in this tension of the

opposite conditions of life. The amplitude and intensity of the vibrating chord measure the poem. If a poem on the same theme could be written to produce a greater amplitude and intensity in the vibrating chord it would be a better poem. This would not be a poem were not the experience of the soul more prolonged and intense than is experienced in the ordinary course of life. Because it is so the theme is an ideal rather than a real condition of life.

The only further question to be considered is how the author produces the foregoing effect; that is, what in his language, or style, gives the ideal effect desired.

It

This is accomplished, chiefly, through figurative, or indirect, language. The primary conception is that of life in the form of a rainy day. The author assumes that life is a rainy day; hence the poem is allegorical, and more effective than if the comparison were directly made. In all literature the theme is mirrored forth by a concrete object. This object has a point of identity and of difference with the life which it expresses. is by means of this likeness and difference that the theme is expressed. If Longfellow had asserted instead of assuming he would have said that life is a rainy day. They differ in all obvious points, but there is a point in which a rainy day may be truly affirmed to be human life. In both there are two sides, an upper and a lower; a polarity, a tension, a warfare. The rainy day and life are identical in the point of selfopposition and striving.

But every literary embodiment must have not only some essential point of identity to human life, but must