Alexander Bain

DiscriminationRetentivenessAgreement

Bain’s Influence

• Paragraph Unity • Modes of Discourse– Description– Narration– Exposition– Persuasion

Intellectual Qualities

• Clearness• Simplicity (intelligibility)• Impressiveness• Picturesqueness

Clearness (Answers with one quoted and one original example)

1. What is it?2. What contributes to it?3. What obstructs it?4. How can we best deal with ambiguity?

Simplicity

• What is it?• How is simplicity distinct from clearness?• Discuss simplicity of terms vs. simplicity of

structure.• How is simplicity affected by

generality/abstractness and specificity/concreteness?

Impressiveness

• What is it?• What are some strategies for making our

writing or speaking more impressive?– P. 260 (I-VI)

• What role does emotion play in impressiveness? (read ex. On page 263)

Picturesqueness

• What is it and what are its aims?• Discuss these strategies for picturesque

descriptions:– Vocabulary (p. 267)– Structure (Plan & Parts) (p. 268)– Mutual Support (p. 270)– Individualizing (p. 271)

Picturesque Cont.

• Action (271)• Associated Circumstances (272)• Central and Suggestive features (273)• Respective demands of Intellect and Emotion

(277)

Analysis

• Choose one of the extended examples from literature that Bain analyzes from 278 (after “Promiscuous”) to end of book.– Read the excerpt or poem – Explain Bain’s criticism of it– Discuss how the criticism matches (or deviates

from) the principles previously discussed.

Picturesqueness Activity!

• Applying all of Bain’s principles and breaking none of them, compose a bite-sized paragraph (to be read aloud) on one of these topics:– A lovely scenic view (of the Mississippi River,

perhaps) (see 300)– A description of a famous person or celebrity

(Obama, Bush, etc.) modeled on the Queen of Scots passage (see 278-279)