For instance, the word _mellow_ is applied to
over-ripe fruit, and to light of a peculiarly soft quality, if one is
writing for a class of people who are familiar with the poets, it is
proper enough to use the word in its poetic sense; but if the majority
of the readers of one's work always associate _mellow_ with over-ripe
fruit, to use it in its poetic sense would be disastrous.
The repetition of the same word many times in succeeding phrases is a
figure of speech much used by certain recognized writers, and is a most
valuable one. Nor should one be afraid of repetition whenever clearness
makes it necessary. But the repetition of the same word in differing
senses in adjoining phrases is a fault to be strictly guarded against.
The writer was himself once guilty of perpetrating the following
abomination: "The _form_ which represented her, though idealized
somewhat, is an actual likeness elevated by the force of the sculptor's
love into a _form_ of surpassing beauty. It is her _form_ reclining on
a couch, only a soft, thin drapery covering her transparent _form,_ her
head slightly raised and turned to one side, and having concentrated in
its form and posture the height of the whole figure's beauty.
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