HOW TO RENDER COMPOSITION BEAUTIFUL
So far, so good. But, if some one were to ask me in what way, and by
attention to what principles, literary structure can be made beautiful,
I should reply: In no other way, believe me, and by no other means,
than those by which it is made charming, since the same elements
contribute to both, namely noble melody, stately rhythm, imposing
variety, and the appropriateness which all these need. For as there
is a charming diction, so there is another that is noble; as there
is a polished rhythm, so also is there another that is dignified; as
variety in one passage adds grace, so in another it adds mellowness;
and as for appropriateness, it will prove the chief source of beauty,
or else the source of nothing at all. I repeat, the study of beauty in
composition should follow the same lines throughout as the study of
charm. The prime cause, here as before, is to be found in the nature
of the letters and the phonetic effect of the syllables, which are the
raw material out of which the fabric of words is woven. The time may
perhaps now have come for redeeming my promise to discuss these.