Theme model 2

Theme model 2. The following poem by Southey contains a situation and retrospective narrative in dialogue.

THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM

Situation It was a summer evening ; Old Kaspar's work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun ; And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine. Transition She saw her brother Peterkin Roll something large and round, Which he beside the rivulet, In playing there, had found : He came to ask what he had found, That was so large and smooth and round. Old Kaspar took it from the boy, Who stood expectant by ; And then the old man shook his head, And with a natural sigh,— " 'T is some poor fellow's skull," said he, "Who fell in the great victory." "Now tell us what 't was all about," Young Peterkin he cries ; And little Wilhelmine looks up With wonder-waiting eyes ; "Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for." Retrospec- "It was the English," Kaspar cried, tive	"Who put the French to rout ; Narrative But what they fought each other for, I could not well make out ; But everybody said," quoth he, "That 't was a famous victory: "My father lived at Blenheim then, Yon little stream hard by ; They burnt his dwelling to the ground, And he was forced to fly ; So with his wife and child he fled, Nor had he where to rest his head. "They say it was a shocking sight After the field was won ; For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun ;. But things like that, you know, must be After a famous victory. "And everybody praised the duke, Who this great fight did win." Conclusion "But what good came of it at last?" Quoth little Peterkin. "Why, that I cannot tell," said he, "But 't was a famous victory."

-ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Outline. We derive the following outline from Southey's Battle of Blenheim:

The poem consists of four parts — a situation, a transition, retrospective narrative, and a conclusion. 1.	The situation belongs to Situation-type I. 2.	The transition provides an occasion for the telling of the story—here it is the finding of the skull, and the questions about it. The transition contains dialogue. Lowell begins his Vision of Sir Launfal with these words : "Over his keys the musing organist, Beginning doubtfully and far away, First lets his fingers wander as they list, And builds a bridge from Dreamland for his lay." The function of the transition, in Theme-model II., is to "build a bridge" from the situation to the retrospective narrative. 3. The retrospective narrative — a.	Deals with the story of events which hap¬pened previous to the time of the situation. b.	Follows the order of time. c.	The first sentence of the retrospective nar¬rative makes a general statement in regard to the event described. "T was a famous victory" charac¬terizes the event, the details of which Old Kaspar gives in the remainder of the retrospective narra¬tive. This introductory sentence we call the charac¬terizing sentence. d.	The rest of the retrospective narrative proves the general statement made in the introductory sentence by giving the details of the events which form the subject of the narrative. 4. The conclusion summarizes the story, and returns to the situation by means of dialogue. "And what good came of it at last ? "

The Paragraphing of Theme-model II. A story written according to the second theme-model, should be paragraphed as follows, the word paragraph meaning break in the text :

First paragraph — the situation. The situation should be written according to Situation-type 1.

Three or four paragraphs— transition in dia¬logue. The transition should give the occasion for the telling of the story.

A number of paragraphs varying with the length of the story— retrospective narrative in monologue or dialogue.

Three or four paragraphs — conclusion in dia¬logue. The conclusion should recall the mind of the reader to the situation and summa¬rize or comment on the story.

Another example:

Transition : "This young lady," said the Gryphon, "she wants to know your history, she does." "I'll tell it her," said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone : "Sit down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished." . . . . Retrospective Narrative : "Once," said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, "I was a real Turtle." These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an occasional exclamation of " Hjckrrh 1" from the Gryphon, and the constant heavy sobbing of the Mock Turtle "When we were little," the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though sobbing a little now and then, "we went to school in the sea Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it"— " I never said I didn't ! " interrupted Alice. "We had the best of educations—in fact, we went to school every day." "I've been to day-school, too," said Alice ; "you needn't be so proud as all that." "With extras ? " asked the Mock Turtle a little anxiously. "Yes," said Alice, "we learned French and music." "And washing ? " said the Mock Turtle. "Certainly not ! " said Alice, indignantly. " Ah ! Then yours wasn't a really good school,' said the Mock Turtle in a tone of great relief. "Now at ours they had at the end of the bill, French, music, and washing— extra." - CHARLES L. DODGSON (pseud. LEWIS CARROLL), Alic-e in Wonderland.

Theme-model 2. in Reproduction.

Reproduce according to Theme-model II. Whittier's Among the Hills or Wordsworth's We are Seven, or, THE MAN WHO PUT UP AT GADSBY'S. Each of these selections contains retrospective nar¬rative in dialogue, a situation, a transition, and a conclusion.

Theme-model II. Repeated. In Theme- model I. we learned how to find the three most impor¬tant situations in a story ; in Theme-model II. how to use retrospective narrative to explain the events which precede a situation and lead up to it. If we repeat Theme-model II. three times (see out¬- line below), placing the first situation in the prepa¬ration, the second at the climax, and the third in the sequel, we shall have a plan for telling a longer story than any we have yet attempted. The plan is as follows : Chapter I. (According to Theme-model II.) Situation—in the preparation — Situation-type I. or Situation-type II. Retrospective narrative in monologue—giving the events in the story which precede in time the first situation. Chapter II. (According to Theme-model II.) Situation—at the climax—Situation-type I. or Situ ation-type II. Retrospective narrative in monologue or dialogue—giv ing the events in the story between the time of the • first situation and that of the second. Chapter III. (According to Theme-model II.) Situation—in the sequel—Situation-type I. or Situ ation-type II. Retrospective narrative in monologue or dialogue—giv ing the events in the story between the time Of the second and that of the third situation. Use in each chapter a transition and a conclusion, each containing dialogue. It is well not to use Situation-type II. in all of the chapters, because too much dialogue may be¬come tedious.

The Selection Used as a Model. Matthew Arnold's Tristram and Iseult repeats the situation and retrospective narrative, and has suggested the theme-model outlined above. CHANGEABLE CHARLIE is simple and has the same arrangement ; namely, Theme-model II. repeated. It will be noticed that the three chapters of this selection have all the same plan ; a situation, a transition, retrospective nar¬rative, and a conclusion. How to reproduce Ruskin's The King of the Golden River using Theme model II. repeated