Brief note on 'Kinds of Style'

 Kinds of Style

Aristotle's observations on style are contained in Poetics and Rhetoric. The object of writing is to communicate the writer's meaning. So, it should be clear and intelligible. “The perfections of style are to be clear without being mean.” The use of current and proper words contributes to clarity and lucidity. Writing is an art and it should aim at dignity and the employment of unusual words leads to loftiness and charm. By “unusual Aristotle means strange or rare words impart the difference from the normal idiom. The use of metaphorical words imparts the semblance of riddle to style.

 A diction that is made up of strange or rare terms is a jargon. The inclusion of such elements in diction is necessary to some extent. The use strange, metaphorical and ornamental diction raises the style above the commonplace and mean, while the use of proper words makes it perspicuous. Aristotle writes: “For by deviating in exceptional cases from the normal idiom, the language will gain distinction; while at the same time, the partial conformity with usage will give perspicuity.” A good writer must observe propriety in the use of several modes of expression. He points out that the compound words are best adapted to dithyrambs, rare words to heroic poetry, and metaphors to iambic. 

In heroic poetry, indeed, all these varieties are serviceable. But in iambic verse, which reproduces, as far as may be, familiar speech, the most appropriate words are those which are found even in prose. These are the current or proper, the metaphorical, the ornamental. In Rhetoric Aristotle elaborates his comments on composition in prose and style in general. “The style of prose is distinct from that of poetry.” Poetry largely draws upon unfamiliar words to attain dignity and charm, prose, dealing with everyday subjects, can use only familiar or current words. The use of metaphor is a common source of charm in both. By employing it judiciously prose can also introduce an element of novelty and surprise in its otherwise plain statements. In the arrangement of words into sentences, multiplicity of clauses, parentheses and ambiguous punctuations should be carefully avoided. Words can be arranged into two kinds of style -loose or periodic. The loose style is made up of a series of sentences, held together by connective words. 

In the periodic style each sentence is a complete whole, with a beginning, an end, and a length that can be comprehended at a glance. The loose style is formless, being just a chain of sentences that may be increased or reduced at will; the periodic style has a form that cannot be so easily tampered with. The loose style therefore is less intelligible than the periodic and also less graceful. They are just runs on, and the other follows a measured course that imparts to it the charm of poetry.