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Literary Order The idea that in a masterpiece everything contributes to the whole can be traced back through Hegel's principle of 'organic unity' to Aristotle's theory of tragedy. For Coleridge, "organic unity" was the manifestation of a poet's powers of synthesising. It was Baumgarten (1714-62, his Aesthetica was written in Latin) who coined the term 'perfectible beauty' according to which the beauty of an artwork or natural object corresponds to the degree of its organization or integration. In the ideal case no elements of an object should appear arbitrary, accidental, or irrational - it's a microcosm of the greater 'totality'. With order and harmony comes unity and a way to distinguish what "belongs" from what doesn't. Workshop criticism of short stories and poetry is often harsh on the apparently inconsequential - anything not contributing to the main theme is easily dismissed as not belonging. But the need for ...

It sounds better Sound has a strong, innate effect. Artists need a restriction to fight against. "Poetry without rhyme is like tennis without a net" - Frost Rhyme can be built into a poem without detrimentally affecting other aspects of the poem. It can be used to emphasise words or connections. It binds a poem together. Disadvantages It sounds worse - sing-song, jangly, childish. J. Jerome in a writers' guide says that "much of your effort in rhyming is to subdue it" by spreading the rhymes out, avoiding rare words, using enjambment, etc. Why bother in the first place? Even the experts can't please everyone: Kay Ryan's poetry has been described as "too rhyme-driven"; Frederick Seidel "even makes his admirers nervous ... unexpected, bathetic, clanging end-rhymes that critics have compared to those of Dr Seuss" Rhyme is the most superficial of sound effects. The English language isn't well suited to rhyme. Poetry writi...