Page:Stevenson - The Art of Writing (1905).djvu/50

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
36
THE ART OF WRITING

in line four there is a marked subsidiary M, which again was announced in line two. I stop from weariness, for more might yet be said.

My next example was recently quoted from Shakespeare as an example of the poet's colour sense. Now, I do not think literature has anything to do with colour, or poets anyway the better of such a sense; and I instantly attacked this passage, since 'purple' was the word that had so pleased the writer of the article, to see if there might not be some literary reason for its use. It will be seen that I succeeded amply; and I am bound to say I think the passage exceptional in Shakespeare—exceptional, indeed, in literature; but it was not I who chose it.

'The BaRge she sat iN, like a BURNished throNe
BURNt oN the water: the POOP was BeateN gold,
PURPle the sails and so PUR* Fumèd that*per
The wiNds were love-sick with them.'[1]

  1. Antony and Cleopatra.