Poetical Words.

Much like "fine writing" is the use of poetical words in prose. _Enow,
erstwhile, besprent, methinks, agone,_ and _thine_ are examples of a
large class of words which, though in perfectly good taste in poetry,
are in extremely poor taste in prose. They are out of place; and so
attract attention to themselves, not to the thought they express. When
writing prose, avoid poetical words.

All of this comes at last to one rule: be exact, be accurate in the
choice of words. Not a word that half expresses the thought, not even
one that is pretty near, but the only word that exactly expresses the
meaning, that word must be used. It is not a question of long or
short, of Latin or Saxon, of general or specific; it is a question of
accuracy or inaccuracy, the whole or a part, the whole or too much, of
just right or about right. No one would entirely misunderstand the
following sentence; and just as certainly no one would derive from
these words the impression the author had when he wrote it. He has
phrased it as follows: "Another direction in which free education is
most valuable to society, is the way in which it removes the gulf
affixed between the rich and poor." The boy wanted the opening
sentence to sound big, and forgot that the first use of words is
accurately to express the thought. In this sentence are the commonest
errors in the choice of words. "Most valuable" says more than truth;
"direction" says less than truth; and "affixed" does not say anything.
Had the boy studied the dictionary, had he been familiar with the
Bible, had he carefully considered the figure he introduced with the
word "gulf," he would not have written this incongruous sentence; he
would not have been inaccurate. Spare no pains in your effort to be
exact. Search through the words of your own vocabulary; if these fall
short, find others in the dictionary. Get the word that exactly
expresses the thought. Let no fine-sounding or high-born word trick
you into saying what you do not mean. Be master of your words; never
let fine expressions enslave you. In a word, be accurate.

Such painstaking labor has its reward not alone in the increased power
of expression; there is also a corresponding growth in the ability to
observe accurately and to think clearly. No man can write such
descriptions as Ruskin and Stevenson have written without seeing
accurately; nor can a man speak with the definite certainty of Burke
without thinking clearly. T