English lesson 2

Presented by Dina Viktorovna Polyakova

LET’S  LEARN HOW AN EFFECTUAL PROSE IS DONE.

Not only our students, often  also teachers meet with some difficulties when they are invited to explain why  they  have enjoyed and approved or disliked a tale, a speech, a single sentence or even an entire book. And  not only in a foreign idiom.

This is, how to say, an awkward situation which may  happen also if we  have read or listened in our mother language.

First of all, we have, however, to define what we intend under the word "prose".

We call "prose" any sort of writing (either read or listened) not having a recognized poetical form. This, because poetical writing may very freely  handle a lot of peculiar, sometimes personal devices

Besides, we have to remember that "appreciate"  some prose is nothing else just the ability to state why we have "enjoyed" and approved what we have listened or read.

In order to acquire this ability, it is necessary to know how a passage of prose, even a single sentence is done and must be built in order to correctly, pleasantly and effectually it may express what  the writer  wants to say. 

What makes a novel, a speech or a simple sentence really exciting and pleasant to read and listen is not the story or the meaning of sentences in itself, but only the writer's  way of telling  that.

Pay attention, please, we try to find here how an effectual passage of prose is done. We do not aim to give a definition of the beauty, which is  aesthetical and   maybe  philosophical question.

On the contrary, we mind here to present some concrete, well known, unquestionable devices, which a writer need to build an effectual, perhaps beautiful "prose".

Because, just like a painter with his paintbrushes and colors, also a writer works through some "professional" devices in order to get an appreciable result: his beautiful pages.

The first step in writing is to get an aim, a final destination, a so-called "target".

Obviously, each target requires a peculiar form of writing according to the purpose of the message and, consequently, its suitable devices.

We can divide these different forms of writing into almost three types of "prose": Narrative, Descriptive, and Argumentative. While narrative prose and descriptive prose freely tend or pretend to acquire a literary character, argumentative prose  has to be built by  a series of sentences presenting a strictly logical trend.

In narrative and descriptive prose, not by chance often called "creative writing", the writer may, even not consciously use what we call devices so as to make a certain impression on his readers, simply having a sole aim to express what he  has seen or felt.

The writer of argument can never freely write to  please himself.

He has no story to tell, no atmosphere to create. His prose is not an absolutely "creative writing".  He has a sole aim: to convey an idea or a series of precepts in the most effective and convincing way possible. In this case, an orderly presentation is necessary and the writer of this kind of prose has to use all devices at his disposal in a consciously way in order to  keep the reader alert and attentive. 

Besides, he  has  an additional task: to make  difficult ideas or principles easy to grasp.

Actually, the devices at his disposal are of two different nature: structural devices like Unity, Balance, Contrast, Description, Illustration, Dialogue,  and  meaning devices like Style, Use of the words.

The first group, the structural devices, helps him to develop the prose according to some arrangements (Unity and Balance, Contrast) or to add a useful details (Description, Illustration, Dialogue).

According to the Unity of the writing, a writer has to observe how everything that happens in the argumentative prose contributes to the main purpose or thesis of his work. Since any argument involves careful reasoning on the part of the writer, each sentence is logically deducted from what has gone before and adds something new to the main purpose. So, the argument is gradually built until it reaches its conclusion.

If the piece is not well balanced providing too many or insufficient information, references to facts or logical deductions from what has preceded the development of the writing might be out  of all proportion.

The placing opposite situations side by side, that is the Contrast,  widely enlarges the interest of the readers, especially when these situations run parallel  until they finally meet.

Other important devices help the writer to reach his main purpose: a suitable detailed Description of the case and a more punctual Illustration of a similar convincing thesis, which sometimes  is a sort of didactic feature to better explain the facts according to an appointed demonstration.

Moreover, a useful device may be the Dialogue, very often of a socratic kind, where the possible reader's doubts are put in the form of questions and these doubts always find convincing, strictly logical answers.

The second group concerns the Meaning devices, adds accuracy to the prose. The most important is the Style in writing, which may be considered as the writer's signature, his unmistakable, sometimes unique way to write.

The style may be also considered the way a writer peculiarly handles all devices generally, just a personal use of words, which he sometimes intentionally repeats to impress a sort of personal signature.

Well. If we carefully search, find and analyze the above-written devices in whichever speech or text of argumentative  prose, we could rebuild not only the structure, the author's main ideas but sometimes also his intentions and the way to handle the language he performed in order to attain  a convincing result by means of suitable devices.                                              

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