a bunch of punctuation question

engstu214041 · December 9, 2007, 12:30am

Hi everyone, can you help me with the bold portions of the passage …

This passage, written by John Fiske in the late 1800s, offers the author’s perspective on what he says are two kinds of genius.

There are two contrasted kinds of genius, the poetical and the philosophical; or, to speak yet more generally, the artistic and the critical. The former is distinguished by a concrete, the latter by an abstract, imagination. The former sees things synthetically, in all their natural complexity; the latter pulls things to pieces analytically and scrutinizes their relations. The former sees a tree in all its glory, where the latter sees an exogen with a pair of cotyledons. The former sees wholes, where the latter sees aggregates.

Corresponding with these two kinds of genius, there are two classes of artistic productions. When the critical genius writes a poem or a novel, he constructs his plot and his characters in conformity to some prearranged theory, or with a view to illustrate some favorite doctrine.When he paints a picture, he first thinks how certain persons would look under certain given circumstances, and paints them accordingly. When he writes a piece of music, he first decides that this phrase expresses joy, and that phrase disappointment, and the other phrase disgust, and he composes accordingly.We therefore say ordinarily that he does not create, but only constructs and combines. It is far different with the artistic genius, who, without stopping to think, sees the picture and hears the symphony with the eyes and ears of imagination, and paints and plays merely what he has seen and heard. When Dante, in imagination, arrived at the lowest circle of hell, where traitors like Judas and Brutus are punished, he came upon a terrible frozen lake, which, he says, “Ever makes me shudder at the sight of frozen pools.” I have always considered this line a marvelous instance of the intensity of Dante’s imagination. It shows, too, how Dante composed his poem.He did not take counsel of himself and say: “Go to, let us describe the traitors frozen up to their necks in a dismal lake, for that will be most terrible.” But the picture of the lake, in all its iciness, with the haggard faces staring out from its glassy crust, came unbidden before his mind with such intense reality that, for the rest of his life, he could not look at a frozen pool without a shudder of horror. He described it exactly as he saw it; and his description makes us shudder who read it after all the centuries that have intervened.

So Michelangelo, a kindred genius, did not keep cutting and chipping away, thinking how Moses ought to look, and what sort of a nose he ought to have, and in what position his head might best rest upon his shoulders. But, he looked at the rectangular block of Carrera marble, **and beholding **Moses grand and lifelike within it, knocked away the environing stone, that others also might see the mighty figure. And so Beethoven, an artist of the same colossal order, wrote out for us those mysterious harmonies which his ear had for the first time heard; **and which, in his mournful old age, it **heard none the less plainly because of its complete physical deafness. And in this way, Shakespeare wrote his Othello; spinning out no abstract thoughts about jealousy and its fearful effects upon a proud and ardent nature, but revealing to us the living concrete man, as his imperial imagination had spontaneously fashioned him.

1) A series of participial clauses here confused me.
But, he looked at …, and beholding …, knocked away…, that …

<ul>
<li>“and beholding” must be “beholding”, right ?
I saw a Collegeboard question that says: “He renounced any priviledge, and riding crowded city buses instead of limousine” must be “He renounced any priviledge, riding crowded city buses instead of limousine”. Is CB right ? In this case, “beholding” is true, right ?</li>
<li>What does “knocked away” modify ?</li>
<li>What does “that” modify ?</li>
</ul>

2)Look at the Beethoven sentence. Why can an adverbial clause "which … " appropriately follow a semicolon. I thought that what follows a semicolon must be a complete thought ???

Furthermore, what follows which is a complete clause. Is that right ? It must be “and which, in his mourful old age, heard none the less plainly …” instead of “and which, in his mournful old age, it heard …,” right ? “it” here is inappropriate, right ?

3)The same to sentence Shakespeare. What follows the semicolon is a participial clause : “spinning …”

4)I have one more question: in SAT: is this sentence correct: “I can’t see any “Contact us” link as I visit the website”. Is there necessarily a comma ?

5)When we have more than two equal clauses, can we list them all using only commas.
Is this correct:
“On that day, people visit their friends, shops close, children receive “lucky money” and animals are given their favourite food”

Thanks so much.

engstu214041 · December 9, 2007, 4:29am

How about this sentence:
“I don’t need to ask her any more because I know her well and I have no doubt about her.”

engstu214041 · December 10, 2007, 2:12am

Any body ?

engstu214041 · December 12, 2007, 8:18am

???

Chedva · December 12, 2007, 9:17am

1) No, it is “and beholding”. Using some simpler language, it would be “Michelangelo looked at the granite, and seeing Moses in it, knocked away . . .” If you take away the “and”, the sentence becomes awkward. It’s different than the “riding” sentence because, in that sentence, the clause is an alternative (to taking limousines). In the original sentence’s case, “and beholding” is in addition to “looking.”

“Knocked away” isn’t a modifier; it’s a verb. He chiseled the granite; “knocked away” is a more colloquial way of saying it.

“That” also isn’t really a modifier. It’s another way of saying “in order for” others to see Moses.

2) “It” is correct in the Beethoven sentence. The pronoun’s antecedent is “his ear” in the previous clause. The clauses are parallel. The semicolon is incorrect because techically one does not start an independent clause with “and”, just as one does not begin a proper sentence with “and.”

3) Not sure what you mean - as far as I can tell, the semicolon is incorrect.

4) I don’t think there’s a comma necessary, but I think “as I visit the website” is in the wrong place. “As I visit the website, I see no ‘Contact Us’ link.” It’s similar to the incorrect “I saw the trees walking through the woods”.

5) I believe this is correct.

I don’t understand the last sentence you added at all.

a bunch of punctuation question

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