Assimilative Memory Part 10

What is the price of success? _Effort_ is the price of success. Was effort the price of success? Effort _is_ the price of success. What bearing has effort on success? Effort is _the price_ of success. Effort is the price of what? Effort is the price of _success_.

"Truth seldom goes without a scratched face."

What seldom goes without a scratched face? _Truth_ seldom goes without a scratched face. Does truth ever go without a scratched face? Truth _seldom_ goes without a scratched face. What does truth seldom do without a scratched face? Truth seldom _goes_ without a scratched face.

Does truth seldom go with a scratched face? Truth seldom goes _without_ a scratched face. Truth seldom goes without what? Truth seldom goes without a _scratched face_. What kind of a face is spoken of? Truth seldom goes without a _scratched_ face. Without what scratched thing does truth seldom go? Truth seldom goes without a scratched _face_.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE.

1. Instinct is inherited memory.

2. Books are embalmed minds.

3. Words are the fortresses of thought.

4. A name denotes objects and connotes attributes.

5. Force is depersonalised will.

6. A somnambule only acts his dream.

7. Attention is fixation of consciousness.

8. Science is organised common sense.

The student of Interrogative a.n.a.lysis can apply this method to the examples given under the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic Method. This will give the needful additional practice. But let him not attempt too much at any one time. Three to four examples thoroughly studied are quite sufficient for one session or sitting.

POEMS LONG OR SHORT EASILY LEARNED BY HEART.

POE'S "BELLS."

1. Before attempting to memorize any selections of Prose or Poetry, never fail _first to read it carefully_ to ascertain what it is all about, to learn its aim and _mode of development_ and its _peculiarities_, and not least of all, to look up and note down in writing the _meaning of unfamiliar_ words.

2. In this poem the average reader might have to consult the dictionary for the precise meaning of "Crystalline" [clear, unalloyed], "Runic"

[old-fas.h.i.+oned, mystical], "Tintinnabulation" [bell-ringing], "Monody"

[a monotonous sound], "Ghouls" [imaginary evil beings supposed to prey upon human bodies], and "Paean" [a song of triumph]. The pupil should understand that except in the rare cases where mere sound helps us, we learn wholly through the _meaning_ of the words and their _relations_ between the meanings, and therefore if he fails to know the import of any word or words in a selection, he cannot receive the full benefit of the methods taught in this System.

3. The reader finds that there are four stanzas in this poem, each dealing with a different kind of bell, _viz._: Silver, Golden, Brazen and Iron bells.

4. It is always best to fix in memory the order of paragraphs or of stanzas the moment the opportunity occurs for that purpose, and here, before attempting to memorise the stanzas themselves, let the order of them be fixed.

5. The order of the bells is first "silver," second "golden," third "brazen," and fourth "iron." How establish this order in mind? Silver and gold are the precious metals used for coins. They occur here in the order of their value, "silver" being first and the cheaper, and "gold"

the second and the most valuable of all. Next we have "brazen," which resembles "gold" in colour, and fourth and last we have "iron," the cheapest of the four--silver, gold, bra.s.s and iron. If this a.n.a.lysis of the order of the subject-matter of the stanzas is retained, the student is ready to take account of other things which his first perusal of the poem has taught him.

6. Before doing so, however, let us notice a method of the old Mnemonics, which is still taught and which should never be resorted to.

It is their story-telling method. A story or narrative is invented for the purpose of helping the student, as it is claimed, to memorise it. In this poem we find there are four stanzas, each occupied with a different kind of bell. To help remember that the order of the bells is silver, gold, bra.s.s and iron, the old Mnemonics advises us to invent a story--the following will answer: A couple of lovers once took a sleigh-ride, the horses carrying _silver_ bells. After a time they marry, when wedding or _golden_ bells are used. Later on their house is on fire, when alarm or _brazen_ bells are brought into requisition, and last of all, one of the couple dies, when the _iron_ bells were tolled.

Whilst such a method is a novelty to the student, he might tolerate it as such, but as a memory-aid it is always unreliable, since it is something _in addition_ to the matter to be remembered and forming no part of it, the invented story, if remembered at all, is apt to be recalled as an integral part of the selection itself.

7. In this first perusal the reader has noticed that there is a _certain uniformity of construction_ in the first line of each stanza, as in the first stanza we have: "Hear the sledges with the bells--silver bells;"

in the second, "Hear the mellow wedding bells--golden bells;" in the third, "Hear the loud alarum bells--brazen bells;" and in the fourth and last, "Hear the tolling of the bells--iron bells."

8. The reader has also observed that the second line in each stanza contains a reflection in the form of an exclamation on the function or result of the uses of the bells spoken of, as in the second line of the first stanza we see: "What a world of merriment their melody foretells;"

in the second stanza the second line gives us, "What a world of happiness their harmony foretells;" the second line of the third stanza reads as follows: "What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells;"

and in the fourth stanza the second line runs thus: "What a world of solemn thought their monody compels."

9. Other points of resemblance [In.], or of unlikeness [Ex.], were noticed in the reader's first perusal of this poem, and these, as well as those already remarked upon, will greatly facilitate his learning the exact language of each stanza.

10. Now comes the _test_. It is often said that habit is "second"

nature. The Duke of Wellington more truly said: "Habit is _ten times_ nature." The reader early acquired the habit of learning prose and poetry by the _rote_ method--the method of repeating the sentences over and over again almost endlessly till ear or eye retains the exact language.

Now, if the reader has gained a _clear conception_ of the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic and Interrogative a.n.a.lysis methods, he is sure to be convinced of their undoubted superiority to the _rote_ method. And if he must needs learn Poe's "Bells" before to-morrow night, he would probably spend most of the intervening time in trying to learn it by the discredited _rote_ method, and most likely fail in the attempt, while he is satisfied in theory that he could memorise it by one of my methods in three hours, or in half of that time. The difficulty in his case is to induce him to exert his willpower long enough to practise my methods in learning not a few detached sentences, but an entire poem of 50 or 200 lines; but if he does this in one instance, he effectually breaks down the old bad habit of endless una.s.similating repet.i.tion and introduces a good habit instead. He will then learn Poe's "Bells" by my methods in one-tenth, if not one-fiftieth, part of the time it would take him to do it by the _rote_ method.

11. I here produce the poem in the hope that every one who studies my System will learn it by the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic method, and when he has learned the first stanza he should then glance at my a.n.a.lysis of it which follows the poem and compare his work with mine. Let him then learn the rest of the poem--and thereafter, as a genuine exercise of his _reviving_ power and as a training in attention, let him recall it as often as once a week for as many weeks as his desire for improvement continues, or until the recital of it becomes merely automatic.

THE BELLS.

Hear the sledges with the bells--silver bells-- What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the icy air of night!

While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens seem to twinkle with a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells-- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Hear the mellow wedding-bells, golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells-- Through the balmy air of night how they ring out their delight!

From the molten-golden notes, and all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats on the moon!

Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!

How it swells! how it dwells On the Future! how it tells of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, bells-- Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells-- To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

Hear the loud alarum bells--brazen bells!

What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright!

Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire Leaping higher, higher, higher, with a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavor now--now to sit or never, By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells!

What a tale their terror tells of despair!

How they clang, and clash, and roar! What a horror they outpour On the bosom of the palpitating air!

Yet the air, it fully knows, By the tw.a.n.ging and the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows; yet the ear distinctly tells In the jangling and the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells--of the bells-- Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells-- In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

Hear the tolling of the bells--iron bells!

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

In the silence of the night, How we s.h.i.+ver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone!

For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats is a groan.

And the people--ah, the people-- They that dwell up in the steeple, all alone!

And who tolling, tolling, tolling, in that m.u.f.fled monotone, Feel a glory in so rolling on the human heart a stone-- They are neither man nor woman-- They are neither brute nor human--they are Ghouls: And their king it is who tolls; And he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls a paean from the bells!

And his merry bosom swells with the paean of the bells!

And he dances and he yells; Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the paean of the bells--of the bells; Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the throbbing of the bells--of the bells, bells, bells, To the sobbing of the bells; keeping time, time, time, As he knells, knells, knells, in a happy Runic rhyme, To the rolling of the bells--of the bells, bells, bells-- To the tolling of the bells, of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells-- To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

EDGAR A. POE.

APPLICATION OF THE a.n.a.lYTIC-SYNTHETIC METHOD.

This method can be applied in several different ways according to the idiosyncrasies of different students. One way is as follows:--"Hear the sledges with the bells--silver bells." Applying this method, we have--1.

Hear the sledges; 2. Hear the sledges _with the bells_; 3. Hear the sledges with the bells--_bells_; 4. Hear the sledges with the bells--_silver_ bells. Or, if we use the Interrogatory a.n.a.lysis Method we could proceed thus: 1. What act of the mind do we exercise in regard to the sledges with the bells--silver bells? "_Hear_ the sledges with the bells--silver bells." 2. What kind of a vehicle do we hear with the bells? "Hear _the sledges_ with the bells--silver bells." 3. What is it we hear in connection with the sledges? "Hear the sledges with _the bells_--silver _bells_." 4. What kind of bells do we hear? "Hear the sledges with the bells--_silver_ bells."

We advance to the second line, which is a reflection on the facts stated in the first line. The two lines are thus connected through the operation of cause, or occasion. [Con.] "What a world of merriment their melody foretells." We will henceforth only use the a.n.a.lytic-Synthetic Method. 1. Melody foretells. 2. _Their_ melody foretells. 3. _What merriment_ their melody foretells. 4. What _a world_ of merriment their melody foretells. Having seen that the second line grows out of the first, and having memorised both we can recall them together thus: