Autobiography and Selected EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Autobiography and Selected Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
3. Does this quotation from Pater's essay on Style describe Huxley's
sentences? "The blithe, crisp sentence, decisive as a child's expression
of its needs, may alternate with the long-contending, victoriously
intricate sentence; the sentence, born with the integrity of a single
word, relieving the sort of sentence in which, if you look closely, you
can see contrivance, much adjustment, to bring a highly qualified matter
into compass at one view."
4. How do Huxley's sentences compare with those of Ruskin, or with those
of any author recently studied?
5. Are Huxley's sentences musical? How does an author make his sentences
musical?
C. Questions on words.
1. Do you find evidence of exactness, a quality which Huxley said he
labored for?
2. Are the words general or specific in character?
3. How does Huxley make his subject-matter attractive?
4. From what sources does Huxley derive his words? Are they every-day
words, or more scholarly in character?
5. Do you find any figures? Are these mainly ornamental or do they
re-enforce the thought?
8. Are there many allusions and quotations? Can you easily recognize the
source?
7. Pater says in his essay on Style that the literary artist "begets
a vocabulary faithful to the colouring of his own spirit, and in the
strictest sense original." Do you find that Huxley's vocabulary suggests
the man?
8. Does Huxley seem to search for "the smooth, or winsome, or forcible
word, as such, or quite simply and honestly, for the word's adjustment
to its meaning"?
9. Make out a list of the words and proper names in any given essay
which are not familiar to you; write out the explanation of these in the
form of notes giving any information which is interesting and relevant.
D. General questions on style.
1. How is Huxley's style adapted to the subject-matter?
2. Can you explain the difference in style of the different essays by
the difference in purpose?
3. Compare Huxley's way of saying things with some other author's way of
saying things.
4. Huxley says of his essays to workingmen, "I only wish I had had the
sense to anticipate the run these have had here and abroad, and I would
have revised them properly. As they stand they are terribly in the
rough, from a literary point of view."
Do you find evidences of roughness?
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY -- AUTOBIOGRAPHY [1]
And when I consider, in one view, the many things . . . which I have
upon my hands, I feel the burlesque of being employed in this manner at
my time of life. But, in another view, and taking in all circumstances,
these things, as trifling as they may appear, no less than things of
greater importance, seem to be put upon me to do.--Bishop Butler to the
Duchess of Somerset.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account