49 pages 1 hour read

E. M. Forster

Aspects of the Novel

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1927

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 8-9

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 8 Summary: “Pattern and Rhythm”

Returning to the form and approach he used in the first four named chapters, Forster works on defining “Pattern and Rhythm” by borrowing from other art forms. To illuminate the concept of pattern, Forster describes Thais by Anatole France as an hourglass. The two primary characters in the novel effectively switch moral places because of their experience with one another. The aesthetic pattern of the hourglass is what, Forster argues, makes that novel so satisfying. Next, he discusses Percy Lubbock’s Roman Pictures, saying that this novel takes the pattern of a chain—all the characters lock together at the end, unifying the seemingly disconnected events. Again, the pattern itself is what is so satisfying, rather than the unification.

Pattern, then, is the visual aesthetic sense of the novel that relies largely on the shape of the plot; Forster says it is the element of beauty in the plot. To further illustrate the beauty of pattern, Forster examines Henry James’s The Ambassadors, which has an hourglass-shaped plot and is internally tight and unified. The hero of The Ambassadors goes to Paris to retrieve his paramour’s wayward son, Chad; in the process, he discovers the profundity of life, which leads him to switch places with Chad.

Related Titles

By E. M. Forster

Study Guide

logo

A Passage to India

E. M. Forster

A Passage to India

E. M. Forster

Study Guide

logo

A Room with a View

E. M. Forster

A Room with a View

E. M. Forster

Study Guide

logo

Howards End

E. M. Forster

Howards End

E. M. Forster

Study Guide

logo

The Celestial Omnibus

E. M. Forster

The Celestial Omnibus

E. M. Forster

Plot Summary

logo

Where Angels Fear to Tread

E. M. Forster

Where Angels Fear to Tread

E. M. Forster