ar form of discourse, it is the most natural. It is the first
form of connected discourse of the child; it is the form employed by
the uncultured in giving his impressions; it is the form most used in
conversation. Moreover, narration is the first form found in great
literatures: the Iliad and the Odyssey, the songs of the troubadours
in France, and the minnesingers in Germany, the chronicles and ballads
of England,--all are narrative.

Language as a Means of Expression.

Narration is especially suited to the conditions imposed by language.
Men do not think in single words, but in groups of words,--phrases,
clauses, and sentences. In hearing, too, men do not consider the
individual words; the mind waits until a group of words, a phrase, or
a simple sentence perhaps,--which expresses a unit of thought, has
been uttered. In narration these groups of words follow in a sequence
exactly as the actions which they represent do. Take this rather lurid
bit from Stevenson:--

"He dropped his cutlass as he jumped, and when he felt the
pistol, whipped straight round and laid hold of me, roaring
out an oath; and at the same time either my courage came
again, or I grew so much afraid as came to the same thing;
for I gave a shriek and shot him in the midst of the body."
("Kidnapped.")

Each phrase or clause here is a unit of thought, and each follows the
others in the same order as the events they tell of occurred. On the
other hand, when one attempts description, and exposition too in many
cases, he realizes the great difficulties imposed by the language
itself; for in these forms of discourse the author not infrequently
wishes to put the whole picture before the reader at once, or to set
out several propositions at the same time, as belonging to one general
truth. In order that the reader may get the complete picture or the
complete thought, he must hold in mind often a whole paragraph before
he unites it into the one conception the author intended. In narration
one action is completed; it can be dropped. Then another follows,
which can also be dropped. They need not be held in mind until the
paragraph is finished. Narration is exactly suited to the means of its
communication. The events which are recorded, and the sentences which
record them, both follow in a sequence.

Without Plot.

The sequence of events in narration may be a simple sequence of time,
in which case the narrative is withou