‘Pen, Pencil, and Poison’ is one of Wilde’s most intriguing essays. Part biography, part social commentary, and part philosophical debate, he writes the biography of an art critic, who was also convicted of murder. However, in true Wildean style, there’s more to the essay than meets the eye. While documenting the life and crimes of Thomas Griffiths Wainwright, Wilde explores the ideas of dual identity, sin in the formation of the personality, and the relationship between crime and culture. ‘Pen, Pencil, and Poison’ is a fascinating insight into some of the conventions of the time. Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish novelist, poet, playwright, and wit. He was an advocate of the Aesthetic movement, which extolled the virtues of art for the sake of art. During his career, Wilde wrote nine plays, including ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ and ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ many of which are still performed today. His only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was adapted for the silver screen, in the film, ‘Dorian Gray,’ starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. In addition, Wilde wrote 43 poems, and seven essays. His life was the subject of a film, starring Stephen Fry.

The Writing & Rhetoric series method employs fluent reading, careful listening, models for imitation, and progressive steps. It assumes that students learn the best by reading excellent, whole-story examples of litereature and by growing their skills through imitatiion. Each excercise is intended to impart a skill (or tool) that can be employed in all kids of writing and speaking. The excercises are arranged from simple to more complex. What's more, the exercises are cumulative, meaning that later exercises incorporate the skills acquired preceding exercises. This series is a step-by-step apprenticeship in the art of writing and rhetoric. Fable, the first book in the Writing & Rhetoric series, teaches students the practice of close reading and comprehension, summarizing a story aloud and in writing, and amplification of a story through description and dialogue. Students learn how to identify different kinds of stories; determine the beginning, middle, and end of stories; recognize point of view; and see analogous situations, among other essential tools. The Writing & Rhetoric series recovers a proven method of teaching writing, using fables to teach beginning writers the craft of writing well.

Warns against common errors in structure, style, and diction, and explains the fundamentals of conducting interviews and writing travel, scientific, sports, critical, and humorous articles.

Excerpt from A First Book in Writing English I'r sometimes happens that the study of the prin ciples of composition is left until the overcrowded last year of the high school, under the plea that facts ought to precede generalizations. Is it not better to have the pupil begin two or three years earlier than this to frame simple generalizations for his own future guidance The first year stu dent daily awakes to new experiences and prob lems. He demands rules and reasons: How shall he choose theme topics How much shall he put into a sentence? Why is electrocution in bad usage? Lift principle is asked for, should it not be given as much of it as can be digested? When such a course is followed time enough is left in the big? School 913 composition to become a habit. The complex process wherein invention. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.