Standard English Prose - Livres de poche

Excerpt from Standard English Prose: Bacon to Stevenson

This collection is intended for students of literature rather than for those who are chiefly occupied with the historic changes in the language, with the various forms of prose composition, or with the peculiarities of prose style. The plan and purpose of the book have imposed limitations which I could not refuse to recognize. A short passage, or even a single paragraph, may he sufficient to illustrate an author's language or style; but such fragmentary passages are almost useless to the student of literature. If we are to enjoy a work as a piece of literature, we must, if possible, read the whole of it; at the least we must read enough of it to enter into the authors purpose, to put ourselves in sympathy with his spirit. My object, then, required selections that should be, so far as possible, complete in themselves, and it involved the assignment of a relatively large amount of space to each writer included. I have accordingly confined myself almost entirely to essays, sketches, and such short forms of composition as could be given without abridgment, and I have reluctantly passed over many writers, in order to gain space for the more adequate representation of a few.

To compensate for these omissions, so far as I could, I have added in an appendix short extracts or single paragraphs from a few writers prior to Bacon, as specimens of language and style. One selection in the appendix, however (that from the Morte d'Artkur), has so pronounced a literary value that I have used a modernized version, in which it could be more readily understood and enjoyed.

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