give a clearer and deeper insight into the nature and
processes of criticism.

Part Second is chiefly concerned with the external elements of
literature. In three chapters it briefly discusses the diction, the
various kinds of sentences, the use of figures of speech, and the
different species of style as determined partly by the nature of the
discourse and partly by the mental endowments of the writer. It is
intended to embrace the rhetorical elements of form.

In Part Third the leading kinds of literature are discussed, and the
general principles governing each are presented. Special effort has been
made to throw light upon the nature and structure of poetry, fiction,
and the drama; and it is hoped that the chapters in which these subjects
are treated will be found particularly interesting and helpful.

Each chapter is followed by a list of review questions and by
illustrative and practical exercises. The aim has been to prepare not
merely a theoretical but especially a practical text-book, for which, it
is believed, there exists a felt and acknowledged need. It is hoped that
this little work will contribute in some measure to make literature one
of the most delightful, as it is surely one of the most important, of
all branches of study.
F. V. N. PAINTER.

SALEM, VIRGINIA,
August 15, 1903.

CONTENTS

PART FIRST

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

CHAPTER PAGE
I. NATURE AND OFFICE OF CRITICISM 1
II. THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORK 19
III. SOME AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES 34

PART SECOND

RHETORICAL ELEMENTS

IV. WORDS, SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS 55
V. FIGURES OF SPEECH 68
VI. STYLE 84

PART THIRD

KINDS OF LITERATURE

VII. NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF POETRY 103
VIII. KINDS OF POETRY 130
IX. EPIC AND DRAMATIC POETRY 145
X. NATURE AND FORMS OF PROSE 156
XI. ESSAYS AND ORATORY 167
XII. NATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF FICTION 178

LITERARY CRITICISM

PART FIRST

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

CHAPTER I

NATURE AND OFFICE OF CRITICISM

+1. Purpose of Literary Study.+ The study or reading of literature
ordinarily has a threefold purpose,--knowledge, pleasure,