The seeing eye has been praised in an earlier chapter (on "Subject and

Preparation") and the imagination will be treated in a subsequent one (on

"Riding the Winged Horse"), but here we must consider the _picturing mind_: the

mind that forms the double habit of seeing things clearly--for we see more with

the mind than we do with the physical eye--and then of re-imaging these things

for the purpose of getting them before the minds' eyes of the hearers. No habit

is more useful than that of visualizing clearly the object, the scene, the

situation, the action, the person, about to be described. Unless that primary

process is carried out clearly, the picture will be blurred for the

hearer-beholder.

 

In a work of this nature we are concerned with the rhetorical analysis of

description, and with its methods, only so far as may be needed for the

practical purposes of the speaker.[20] The following grouping, therefore, will

not be regarded as complete, nor will it here be necessary to add more than a

word of explanation:

 

_Description for Public Speakers_

 

Objects { Still " " { In motion

 

Scenes { Still " " { Including action

 

Situations { Preceding change " " { During change " " { After change