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the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears?

15. IRONY.

Irony is a figure employed to express the opposite of the idea entertained.

Irony ridicules an object under the pretense of praising it. The true meaning is indicated sometimes by a sneering tone of voice, but generally the construction of the sentence is such as to indicate the irony. Thus, in the sentence from Johnson:

"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached the ground, encumbers him with help?"

Irony sometimes conveys a compliment in the guise of an insult, but more frequently an insult in the guise of a compliment, as in the following:

"For Brutus is an honorable man!

So are they all, all honorable men."

EXERCISE.

1. Point out the figure of Irony in the following sentences. 2. Rewrite each sentence so as to express the idea without Irony. 1. Have not the Indians been kindly treated? Have not the temporal things, the vain baubles and filthy lucre of this world, which were too apt to engage their worldly and selfish thoughts, been taken from them; and have they not instead thereof been taught to set their affections on things above?—Irving.

2. No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.-Job.

3. The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall attempt neither to palliate nor to deny.

EXERCISE.

1. Select several specimens of Irony.

2. Rewrite each specimen so as to express the same idea without Irony.

3. Compose several sentences each containing a figure of Irony.

THE TRANSFERRED EPITHET.

Kames, in his Elements of Criticism, gives what he calls the "transferred epithet," a figure in which the attributes of one subject are extended to another with which it is connected. He also gives the following forms:

1. An attribute of the cause expressed as an attribute of the effect:

"An impious mortal gave the daring wound."

2. An attribute of the effect placed as an attribute of the

cause:

"No wonder, fallen from such a pernicious height." 3. The effect itself placed as an attribute of the cause: "Casting a dim religious light."

4. An attribute of a subject given to one of its parts: "To stoop with wearied wing and willing feet."

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5. A quality of the agent given to the instrument: "He drew his coward sword."

6. An attribute of the agent given to that upon which it operates

"The high-climbing hill."

7. A quality of one subject given to another:

He steers the fearless ship.

8. A connected circumstance expressed as a quality of the

subject:

""Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try."

MINOR FIGURES.

In addition to the principal figures, the following are given as minor figures:

1. Alliteration, or the repetition of the same initial letter; as,—

"The lingering light of the setting sun."

2. Apophasis, Paralipsis, Omission, or the pretended suppression of what one is at the time actually mentioning; as,—

"I say nothing of the profligate character of this man-I say nothing as to his habit of prevarication—but still, I do not feel that I can trust him.”

3. Onomatopoeia, or the use of a word or a phrase to imitate the sound of the thing signified, as where we speak of "the buzz of the bee or "the rat-tat-tat on the door," meaning the knock.

4. Asyndeton, or the omission of connectives; as,"Thou openest thy hand, it is filled with riches."

5. Polysyndeton, or the repetition of connectives; as,—

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

Note.-The remaining four figures are known as figures of syntax.

1. Ellipsis, or the omission of such letters or words as are necessary to complete the sense and construction. The ellipsis of letters may be as follows:

a. Apheresis, or the omission of a letter or letters from the beginning of a word; as, 'gan for began.

b. Syncope, or the omission of a letter or letters from the middle of a word; as, lov'd for loved.

c. Apocope, or the omission of a letter or letters from the end of a word; as, tho' for though.

The second variety of Ellipsis is that of words, particularly connectives, as follows:

a. The omission of the relative pronoun; as, "This is the letter I wrote," for "This is the letter which I wrote."

b. The omission of the conjunction; as, "He came, saw, for "He came and saw and conquered."

conquered,"

The third variety of Ellipsis is that of an entire clause; as, "Astonishing !" for "This is astonishing."

2. Enallage, or a change of words.

The two most common forms of enallage are—

a. The use of one part of speech for another; as, "The winds blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle."

b. The use of one case for another; as, "A President than whom none was more beloved."

3. Pleonasm, or the use of more words than are necessary; as, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

4. Hyperbaton, or the intentional inversion of words. This is usually most prevalent in poetry, where it is known as poetic license, but it occurs also in prose; as, "You may search the wide world over, and you will not find one like him."

GENERAL EXERCISE.

Let the student name the figure or figures in each of the following sentences.

Wherever possible let each sentence be rewritten and expressed in plain language.

1. Literary taste swings like a pendulum.-Higginson.

2. Darwin's genius has been, in many ways, a web for the

feet of men whose conscience forbade them to walk in the paths of evolution.-Maurice Thompson.

3. I read the kettledrum novels which are said to represent American life.-Idem.

4. Lord Tennyson's heavy sabre-slash at Zola in his latest poem has elicited a swift stiletto-thrust in return.—Idem.

5. In two hours we arrived at a crest where great Orizaba with its brilliant hood of everlasting snow stood before us.— Hurst.

6. Those who have read Lothair will remember how Disraeli's keen, cutting knife dissects the question.

7. When the man's head is white with the snows of over seventy winters.

8. The fact that we have, as it were, macadamized all the roads of life, does not make the world softer to the feet of those who travel through it.

9. Sydney Smith's wit bears, like wine, the tang of its own soil.

10. The wit of fancy is the insane root that takes the reason prisoner.

11. Sheridan's wit sparkled like some rare spar among a heap of pebbles.

12. A sail passed at a distance.

13.

The worm, aware of his intent,

Harangued him thus, right eloquent.-Cowley.

14. His wit, like an elephant's proboscis, could uproot an oak tree or pick up a pin.

15. Human greatness is short and transitory, as the odor f incense in the fire.-Dr. Johnson.

16. Swifter than the whirlwind flies the leaden death. 17. Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.—Gray. 18. What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's beam !-Pope. 19. She from the rending earth and bursting skies Saw gods descend and fiends infernal rise; Here fixed the dreadful, there the blest abodes; Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods.-Pope.

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