‘Nothing clears up one’s ideas like explaining them’
Muddle-headed inventor Professor Cavor needs to think aloud, and for reasons of his own Mr Bedford is anxious to listen.
1901
Muddle-headed inventor Professor Cavor needs to think aloud, and for reasons of his own Mr Bedford is anxious to listen.
1901
Mr Bedford has complained about Professor Cavor’s habit of humming loudly as he passes by, thinking scientific thoughts, on his regular afternoon walk. As a result, the Professor’s walks have lost their magic, and Bedford feels guilty.
I AM a man who believes in impulses. I made what was perhaps a rash proposition. But you must remember, that my compunction for his ruined walk still hung about me.
“Why not,” said I, “make this your new habit? In the place of the one I spoilt?
“What you want is to turn over your work in your mind. That you have always done during your afternoon walk. Unfortunately that’s over — you can’t get things back as they were.
“But why not come and talk about your work to me; use me as a sort of wall against which you may throw your thoughts and catch them again?
“It’s certain I don’t know enough to steal your ideas myself — and I know no scientific men — ”
I stopped. He was considering. Evidently, the thing attracted him. “Of course it would be a great help to me. Nothing clears up one’s ideas so much as explaining them.”
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
How had Professor Cavor annoyed Bedford?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Cavor had a habit. He hummed loudly on his afternoon walks. Bedford complained.