When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he, returning, chide;
Doth God exact day labor, light denied? 
I fondly ask.  But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need,
Either man’s work or his own gifts.  Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.  His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.

There is a form of sonnet called the Shakespearean which differs in its arrangement from the Italian sonnet.

C.  Dramatic poetry relates the occurrence of human events, and is designed to be spoken on the stage.  If the drama has an unhappy ending, it is a tragedy.  As is becoming in such a theme, the language is dignified and impressive, and the whole appeals to our deeper emotions.  If the drama has a happy conclusion, it is a comedy.  Here the movement is quicker, the language less dignified, and the effort is to make the whole light and amusing.

PART II

Description, Narration, Exposition, and Argument have been treated in an elementary way in Part I. A more extensive treatment of each is given in Part II.  It has been deemed undesirable to repeat in Part II many things which have been previously treated.  The treatment of any one of the forms of discourse as given in Part II is not complete.  By reference to the index all the sections treating of any phase of any one subject may be found.

[Illustration:  See page 224, C.]

VIII.  DESCRIPTION

+118.  Description Defined.+—­By means of our senses we gain a knowledge of the world.  We see, hear, taste, smell, and feel; and the ideas so acquired are the fundamental elements of our knowledge, without which thinking would be impossible.  It, therefore, happens that much of the language that we use has for its purpose the transmission to others of such ideas.  Such writing is called description.  We may, therefore, define description as that form of discourse which has for its purpose the formation of an image.

As here used, the term image applies to any idea presented by the senses.  In a more limited sense it means the mental picture which is formed by aid of sight.  It is for the purpose of presenting images of this kind that description is most often employed.  It is most frequently concerned with images of objects seen, less frequently with sounds, and seldom with ideas arising through touch, taste, and smell.  In this chapter, therefore, we shall consider chiefly the methods of using language for the purpose of arousing images of objects seen.