element in every novel; and it may be the dominant type of structure, as in the philosophical novel, and in some historical novels-the real aim being to explain some idea or some state of society. In the purpose novel, the inclusive scheme may be argumentative.

A distinction between the forms of discourse which serve respectively as a means and as an end may sometimes be helpful. Narration, for example, in the novel as in the sermon, may be merely the agent of an expository purpose or of a lyrical impulse.

177. Prose and Poetry.—In systematic German criticism, the novel is usually considered as belonging to poetics, and it is discussed in close connection with the drama, the epic, and the lyric. English rhetoric has more commonly associated it with the other forms of prose literature. The typical novel is neither entirely prosaic nor entirely poetic, but is perhaps the best existing example of a literary form which combines these two qualities.

The criticism of the romantic movement suggested the phrase "science and poetry" as denoting a more accurate contrast than "prose and poetry." Some students have seen in the novel an unusual opportunity to harmonize the modern interest in science with the permanent human interest in poetry. Purely scientific value must remain subordinate in the novel, as now understood; for science yearns for the abstract formulas of metaphysics and mathematics, while concreteness has been named as one of the stylistic qualities of the novel. It would offend the laws of mental economy to call a novel into existence for the sake of a scientific exposition. A cathedral may illustrate certain laws of physics, chemistry, and geology, but it would not be reasonable to build cathedrals mainly for the sake of such illustration.

In an individual novel, study the application of the conceptions of poetry found in the Defenses of Sidney and Shelley, and in the preface of the Lyrical Ballads. Compare the statement of the relations of poetry and science in the last, with that of Lanier: "And now if we pass one step farther and consider what would happen if the true scientific activity and the true poetic activity should engage themselves upon one and the same set of facts? We arrive at the novel." 1

178. Prose and Verse. The elementary relations of prose, poetry, and verse may be simply arranged thus:

Examples of these four relations can easily be recalled by the student of literature. The only one that may be considered, in most cases, to be abnormal, is the second. It is chiefly because the novel carries so great a weight of prose substance that prose form seems to be its natural medium. In more detail, these are among the characteristics of the novel which point to the necessity or propriety of prose structure: (1) its great length; (2) the variety and frequency of its structural transitions, as from dialogic to non-dialogic form; (3) its desire to use document or speech actually historical, or seemingly so, in form as well as in substance; (4) its historical and æsthetic association with other types of prose; -in this connection it might be said that just because the novel is so closely allied with the epic, a different external medium is desirable, to give it greater individuality; (5) its modern quality, and its appeal to an audience for which prose is in general more attractive than verse. Most of the stylistic qualities

1 The English Novel, p. 10.

of the novel given in Chapter VIII have at least a decided tincture of prosaic value.

Compare the prose short story with such realistic verse as the tales of Crabbe, and many of the dramatic monologues of Browning. The "novel in verse "has never shown a very rich development, but it has a field of its own, and is valuable for purposes of comparison. Many of the long narrative poems of Browning are very closely akin to the realistic novel in spirit, and to a large extent in method. Study also the novelistic elements in Lalla Rookh, Aurora Leigh, The Princess, Amours de Voyage, and The Angel in the House. Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is a famous example of this type in Russian fiction.

For a brief discussion of prosimetrical structure, see Section 12.

179. The Short Story. The novelist has often served an apprenticeship as a short story writer, or has carried on the two branches of the art together. If he confines himself to the longer form, his work may yet show the influence of the masters in the sister type. In very many early novels and romances, short stories are included, independent in artistic value, and sometimes independent in origin. Except in this manner, the great English novel- . ists of the mid-eighteenth century- Richardson, Fielding, Smollett-produced very little in the field of the short

story.

In some respects the relation of the short story to the novel is similar to that of the ballad to the epic, and an interesting study might be made by tracing out the analogy in detail. Kindred analogies between a lesser and a greater type might perhaps be discovered in architecture, painting, and music.

Among the single clues to the nature of the short story, as compared with the novel, criticism suggests its artificiality — its greater isolation in relation to the total experi

ence of life; and its more pronounced unity. The unity may be found not only in the subject and structure of the fiction itself, but in the process of composition, the shaping forces, and particularly in the impression upon the reader. Because it is less like life than the novel, the short story may approach more nearly the perfection of art, and may be judged somewhat more severely. The development of the prose poem, and of all very short, highly finished fictions, has created a standard of excellence in detail quite alien to the history of the novel. Sharp, sustained antithesis, extreme repression, and dominant symbolism, are among the methods better adapted to the briefer form. A review of the qualities of style given in Chapter VIII will show that several of them are not characteristic of the short story, and that one or two of them are even opposed to its normal tendency.

Study the technic and spirit of Adam Bede, with reference to the Scenes of Clerical Life. - Compare the same types of incident, character, and settings, as they appear in the two forms of fiction. - Write in outline or in full text, short stories based on well-marked episodes of a novel, such as the Lantern Yard history, the coming of Eppie, and the visit of Godfrey and Nancy to the cottage, in Silas Marner. Compare the results, in artistic meaning, with the original passages. — Condense an entire novel into a short story, and note the æsthetic gain and loss. - Give a critical explanation of the reasons why such genuine short stories as The Gold-bug, The Ambitious Guest, and Ethan Brand, cannot be transformed into novels.

180. The Epic. The better histories of prose fiction give extended discussion of its historical relations to epic poetry. Every individual novel is in one way or another an example of these relations. Up to the nineteenth century, the novel was very frequently modeled after the epic, as a matter of conscious artistic method. This is notably

true in respect to the Greek romances, the romances of chivalry, and the heroic romances. Fielding's conception of the novel was based largely upon its correspondence with the epic, though he also noted the contrasts. During the nineteenth century, a conscious critical distinction between the epic and the novel has aided in defining the exact position of the latter. In extreme form, such distinction marks what is almost an antagonism between the two types, if by epic is understood the original, primitive heroic poem.

Few writers have produced both great epic poems and great novels, of pure types. The epic poet since the Renaissance has usually been academic and traditional; while the representative novelist has often been exactly the opposite. Scott is probably one of the best examples, in later times, of a high degree of power in both types of literature; though his narrative poems are not epic in the fullest sense.

In technic, many of the differences between the two forms are due to the fact that one uses prose, the other verse. A comparison of dialogue, settings, characterization, motivation, etc., in a representative epic and a representative novel, will throw light upon the kind of technical mastery demanded of the novelist. The difference in subject-matter-in the themes of love, the supernatural, and the martial, for example — leads also to differences in form. Many such epic motifs as the invocation of the muses, the catalogue of forces, the monologue of a martial leader, and the combat with a monster, have no direct analogies in the novel. In many novels, however, these and similar motifs, as well as epic similes and other stylistic details, are imitated, either seriously or in a spirit of burlesque. The theoretical comparison of the two types includes