Macaulay's Essay On Warren Hastings (1911) (Hardcover)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A SUGGESTED METHOD OF STUDY First, read rapidly the India and the British in India in the Introduction and glance at the map when names of places occur. Second, read the essay through as one would a story, simply for the story; afterward, it may be studied as a biography and an essay. Macaulay has allowed the periods of Hastings' life to govern the divisions of the essay. These parts are readily seen on a second reading; and form the main sections into which the outline falls. Take up the first paragraphs and examine them to see whether they belong under the first division or go to form an introduction to the whole essay. As the introduction and the conclusion are considered the most difficult parts of writing to the young essayist it may be well to notice how simply and naturally Macaulay begins and ends his essays. After the introduction is examined, each part may be taken up as a unit. Find what the author proposed to tell in each division and discuss his method of telling it by settling definitely the function of each paragraph in carrying on the story. While studying the purpose of the author, his style of expression may be studied also; but the more natural and interesting method seems to be to study the whole essay, division by division, to getA SUGGESTED METHOD OF STUDY lxxvii at the author's mind, then to return for comment on the devices he used in presenting his subject. It is impossible to read the essay twice without noticing his wealth of words and his exact use of them; and without recognizing the value of his figures, allusions, balanced structures, climaxes, repetitions, and the many other arts used to make his meaning clear and his work inviting. So the passages best adapted to intensive study will be forechosen. Those who have written on Maca...