Non Fiction Prose Sample: Biography of Émile Verhaeren by Stefan Zweig

Non Fiction Prose Sample: Biography of Émile Verhaeren by Stefan Zweig

Reviewed by Teresita Blanco

http://archive.org/stream/mileverhaeren35387gut/35387-0.txt

“A poet of our time can only be great when he conceives

this time as great. The preoccupations of his time must be his also; its

social problem must be his personal concern. In such a poet succeeding

generations would see how man has fought a way to them from the past,

how in every moment as it passed he has wrestled to identify the feeling

of his own mind with that of the cosmos. And even though the great works

of such a poet should be soon disintegrated and his poems obsolete,

though his images should have paled, there would yet remain imperishably

vivid that which is of greater moment, the invisible motives of his

inspiration, the melody, the breath, the rhythm of his time. Such poets,

besides pointing the way to the coming generation, are in a deeper sense

the incarnation of their own period. Hence the time has come to speak of

Émile Verhaeren, the greatest of modern poets, and perhaps the only one

who has been conscious of what is poetical in contemporary feeling, the

only one who has shaped that feeling in verse, the first poet who, with

skill incomparably inspired, has chiseled our epoch into a mighty

monument of rhyme.”

            The nonfiction prose writing that I chose belongs to Stefan Zweig, one of my favorite writers. His writing style is relevant to this class because he also wrote journalism pieces. I would have brought one of his articles to showcase in the class; sadly, Hitler destroyed most of Stefan Zweig’s writing. I think that is enough information on the author, now to review his writing style.  

               Normally, I never read biographies; however, I made an exception for Stefan Zweig. There is something about his writing style that makes everything interesting. The author’s word choice makes this piece good writing. Originally, Zweig was a poet. He took what he learned of his poetic experiments into his writings. As such, he knows how to make you interested in the world that he is describing. In the intro, we see certain suggested mini poems. Like the way he wrote that the poet had “chiseled our epoch into a mighty monument of rhyme.” This metaphor sounded good to my ears.

             Aside from his word choice, Zweig knows how to write a good attention getter. It is important for a Journalist to try to catch the reader’s attention in just a few lines. Since Zweig was an experience Journalist, he drew upon those experiences to forge this introduction.  Here, Zweig is trying to convince the reader that the poet Émile Verhaeren is worthy of admiration. To further his case, he gives describes what he considers a good poet. For Zweig, a good poet is someone in tune with his time and space. Via his word choice, he builds up the reader’s expectation. When he is certain that he has caught the readers’ attention, he allows Émile Verhaeren to enter the scene.

            Aside from his word choice, I like the way Zweig structures his sentences. Needless to say, he knows how to handle his commas. Unlike Tolstoy, Zweig only creates long sentences when they are necessary. He does not go out of his way to complicate things. Zweig is always concerned about his reader. He writes things in a way that facilitates the reading experience. For the reasons stated above, this nonfiction prose is a perfect example of good writing.