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11. ANTITHESIS.

Antithesis is a comparison based upon contrast; as,"Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

The proper form of Antithesis is the balanced sentence, but there may be antithesis of thought without using the balanced sentence to express it.

The figure of Antithesis is one of the most effective in composition, and if obliterated it would carry with it much of the wit of literature.

It is a law of the mind that objects become more and more impressive by contrast. Thus, white appears even more bright when placed in contrast with black; a tall man seems taller when placed by the side of a dwarf; and either noise or silence is most impressive when immediately following the other. On this principle, the figure of Antithesis becomes a most important one, inasmuch as it gives vividness to an idea by putting it in contrast with its opposite.

SUGGESTIONS.

1. The Contrasted Ideas should have the same Verbal Construction. That is, nouns should be contrasted with nouns, verbs with verbs, etc., and the contrasted clauses should be as nearly alike in length and construction as possible.

2. Antithesis should be Used Sparingly.-When employed too frequently it is likely to produce the impression that the author is less interested in what he has to say than in the manner of saying it.

EXERCISE.

Show what produces the figure of Antithesis in the following:

1. At his touch crowns crumbled, beggars reigned, systems vanished.

2. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and heart to this vote.

3. Measures, not men.

4. When reason is against a man, he will be against reason. 5. Enemies in war, in peace friends.

6. Presence of mind is greatly promoted by absence of body. 7. Wise men sometimes change their minds; fools, never. 8. When bad men combine, the good must associate.

9. Excess of ceremony shows want of breeding.

10. Worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow.

11. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

12.

Man, like the child, accepts the proffered boon,
And clasps the bauble when he asked the moon.

EXERCISE.

1. Select ten examples of Antithesis, and show what words or ideas are in contrast in each sentence.

2. Construct five sentences, each containing the figure of antithesis.

12. CLIMAX.

Climax is a figure in which the strength of the thought increases to the close of the sentence or the paragraph. Thus,—

"In form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!"

The order of arrangement may hold with reference to either words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Climax may be associated with other figures, as in the example given above, in which it is associated with Exclamation.

The parts of a climax, beginning with the weakest, grow in importance, the most forcible standing last and making the strongest impression.

The opposite of this arrangement is called Anti-climax, in which the whole thought leaves a feeble impression because the closing part is feeble.

EXERCISE.

Show how the following sentences illustrate the figure of Climax : 1. A Scotch mist becomes a shower; and a shower, a flood; and a flood, a storm; and a storm, a tempest; and a tempest, thunder and lightning; and thunder and lightning, heavenquake and earthquake.

2 A day, an hour, an instant, may prove fatal.

3. It is the spirit of the English constitution, which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies, every part of the empire, even down to the minutest member.

4. The stream of literature has swollen into a torrent, augmented into a river, expanded into a sea.

5. We may die-die colonists, die slaves, die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold.

EXERCISE.

Rearrange the following so that each may form a climax :

1. The rain falls and deluges the land, the sky is overcast, the cloud breaks.

2. To weep for grief is human; to weep for compassion is divine; to weep for anger is womanish; to weep for fear is childish.

3. Here I stand for impeachment or trial! dare accusation! I defy their whole phalanx! I defy the Government! I defy the honorable gentleman!

4. All that I hope in this life, all that I have, and all that I am, I am now ready here to stake upon it.

5. I sink into the bosom of the grave, it opens to receive me, my race is run, my lamp is nearly extinguished.

13. EPIGRAM.

Epigram is that form of expression in which there seems to be a contradiction between the real and the apparent meaning.

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Epigram originally meant an inscription on a tombstone. Such inscriptions usually being short, but expressing much, the term "epigram was afterward applied to any brief but expressive saying. The term is still much used in this sense, but rhetorically it is the name given to an expression in which there seems to be a contradiction between the form of expression and the actual meaning.

Epigram and Antithesis are similar and yet different. They are similar, because in each there is an element of contradiction. They are different, because in antithesis the contrariety is between things, while in epigram it is between the real and the apparent meaning.

The following are examples of epigram:

"The child is father to the man."

"The favorite has no friend."

" When you have nothing to say, say it."

EXERCISE.

Explain what is meant by each of the following epigrams: 1. Language is the art of concealing thought.

2. Some are too foolish to commit folly.

3. Verbosity is cured by a large vocabulary.

4. He did not, indeed, wear his heart upon his sleeve.

5. Ignorance is the mother of devotion.

6. Necessity is the mother of invention. 7. Facts are stubborn things.

8. All is fish that cometh to net.

9. Born, lived, died, sum up the great epitome of man.

10. Never less alone than when alone.

11. A custom more honored in the breach than in the ob servance.

EXERCISE.

1. Select ten epigrams to present in class.

2. Explain the meaning of each of these epigrams.

8. Construct five epigrams.

14. INTERROGATION.

Interrogation is an animated form of expression by which the speaker puts forth in the form of questions what he neither doubts nor expects to be answered. Thus,

"Can storied urn or animated bust

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust,

Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?"

Note 1.-A negative interrogation affirms. Thus, “ Are we not men? Do we not bear the image of our Maker?" The natural answer must be in the affirmative.

Note 2.—An affirmative interrogation denies. Thus, "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?" Here the effect is to deny or give a negative answer to the question.

EXERCISE.

Note and tell the effect of the Interrogation in the following:

1. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? . Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

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2. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

3. Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall

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