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I. FIGURES OF RELATIVITY.

18. Antithesis is the statement of a contrast or opposition of thoughts and words, as

"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As mild behavior and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Let us be tigers in our fierce deportment."

I. Oxymoron is an antithesis arising from the opposition of two contradictory terms, as "a pious fraud," "O victorious defeat!"

II. Antimetabole is an antithesis in which the order of words is reversed in each member, as “"A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits."

III. Parison, or isocolon, is an antithesis in which clauses of similar construction follow in a series, word contrasting with word, phrase with phrase, etc., as "Homer was the greater genius, Virgil the better artist. In the one we most admire the man, in the other the work. Homer hurries us with a commanding impetuosity, Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty."

19. The simile, or comparison, is a figure that formally likens one thing to another, as

"Him, like the working bee in blossom dust,

Blanched with his mill they found.”—TENNYSON,

20. The metaphor is a comparison implied in the language used. It transfers a word from the object to which it literally belongs, and applies it to another, as

He bridles his anger.

"Athens, the eye of Greece,

Mother of arts and eloquence.”—MILTON.

I. Metaphor dispenses with the connectives of comparison (like, as, etc.) used in the simile; and instead of stating that one thing resembles another, asserts that it is that other: thusSimile. He was as brave as a lion.

Metaphor. He was a lion in the combat.

II. Conversion into Simile.—Every metaphor may be converted into a simile, since every metaphor is a condensed simile. The process of expansion is a matter of tact rather than of rule; but so far as any rule can be given, the following may be serviceable. First, it is to be noted that a simile is a kind of

rhetorical proposition, and must, when fully expressed, contain four terms. Now let the metaphor to be explained be "The ship ploughs the sea." The following is the rule given by Seeley and Abbott (English Lessons, p. 131): “It has been seen that the simile consists of four terms. In the third term of the simile stands the subject ('ship,' for instance) whose unknown predicated relation ('action of ship on water') is to be explained. In the first term stands the corresponding subject (plough '), whose predicated relation (action on land') is known. In the second term is the known relation. The fourth term is the unknown predicated relation, which requires explanation." Thus

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III. Mixed Metaphors.-It is a well-known canon of the meta-
phor that in the same metaphor figures should not be mixed.
A familiar example is afforded by the following couplet from
Addison:

"I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain,
That longs to launch into a nobler strain."

Here the Muse, a goddess, is spoken of as being “bridled."
Then, after raising the image of a horse, the author con-
founds us by viewing the Muse as a ship that longs to launch
itself and into a "strain!" Yet it is Addison who formulated
this capital test of metaphors:

"Try and form a picture on them."

21. Allegory is a narrative with a figurative meaning, designed to convey instruction of a moral character. The Faerie Queene of Spenser and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress are the greatest allegories in English literature.

Allegory has been called "a prolonged metaphor." Subjects remote from each other are brought into a similitude sustained throughout the details. Thus in Bunyan's immortal work the spiritual life or progress of a Christian is represented in detail by the story of a pilgrim in search of a distant country, which he reaches after many struggles and difficulties. In the Faerie Queene the vices and virtues are personified, and made to act out their nature in a series of supposed adventures.

22. Personification is that figure in which some action or attribute of a living being is ascribed to an inanimate object, as

"The mountains sing together, the hills rejoice and clap hands."

23. Apostrophe is that figure in which something absent is addressed as though present. It is found chiefly in poetry and oratory.

"Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee."-Wordsworth.

24. Vision is the narration of past or absent scenes as though actually occurring before us. It is allied to and is often found associated with apostrophe.

I. Byron's description of the Dying Gladiator-
"I see before me the gladiator lie," etc.-

is a familiar example of vision.

II. Metastasis.-Metastasis is a kind of description similar to vision: it involves a transition from the present to the future. A good example is found in the peroration of Webster's reply to Hayne. (See p. 345 of this book.)

25. Allusion is that figure by which some word or phrase calls to mind something not directly mentioned, as—

"It may be said of him that he came, he saw, he conquered."

The allusion here is to Cæsar's famous despatch (“Veni, vidi, vici"), which it calls to mind.

Rhetoricians make various degrees of allusion, and among others direct allusion (as "The patience of Job is proverbial"); but, properly speaking, this is not allusion: it is mere reference. Allusion is always oblique. The following, in which Milton wishes to denote Moses, is an allusion in the strict sense:

"That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed

In the beginning how the heaven and earth
Rose out of chaos."

26. Irony is a mode of speech expressing a meaning contrary to that which the speaker intends to convey, as in Job's address to his friends, "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom will die with you."

27. Sarcasm is a mode of expressing vituperation under

B

a somewhat veiled form. The Letters of Junius come under this description.

Sarcasm is generally softened in the outward expression by the

arts and figures of disguise-irony, innuendo, and epigram. Pope's Atticus (see pp. 128, 129 of this book) is a fine example.

28. Synecdoche is that figure which consists in substituting words denoting a part, a species, or the concrete for words denoting the whole, a genus, or the abstract; or the Thus

reverse.

1. A part for the whole, as sail for ship.

2. The species for the genus, as "our daily bread" for our daily food.

3. The concrete for the abstract, as "The father yearns in the true prince's heart"-father meaning paternal love.

4. The whole for a part, as America for the United States.

5. The genus for the species, as a vessel for a ship, a creature for a man.

6. The abstract for the concrete, as

"Belgium's capital had gathered then

Her beauty and her chivalry,”

meaning her beautiful women and brave men.

Antonomasia.-Antonomasia is a form of synecdoche resembling (2), only that instead of the species being put for the genus, the individual is put for the species. It consists in using a proper name to designate a class, as a Solomon for a wise man, a Cræsus for a rich man.

29. Metonymy is that figure in which one thing is described by the name of another thing having to the thing described the relation of cause, effect, adjunct, or accompaniment. Thus:

1. Cause for effect, as "the savage desolation of war," where the cause of the desolation (a savage spirit) is put for the effect. 2. The effect for the cause, as gray hairs for old age.

3. The sign for the thing signified, as sceptre for royalty, the White House for the office of President.

4. The container for the thing contained, as bottle for intoxicating drink, purse for money.

5. The instrument for the agent, as the arbitration of the sword -meaning war.

6. An author for his works, as "They have Moses and the prophets," "We find in Bacon"-meaning Bacon's writings. Distinction.-From definitions 28 and 29 it may be inferred that a synecdoche is a figure in which a word is used to express a thing that differs from its original meaning only in degree, and not in kind; while a metonymy is a figure in which a word is used to express a thing differing from its original in kind. Hence metonymies are somewhat bolder than synecdoches. 30. Euphemism is the figure by means of which a harsh meaning is expressed in words of softer signification, as "He was unable to meet his engagements" for he failed in

business.

31. Litotes is that figure in which, by denying the contrary, more is implied than is expressed, as-

"Immortal names,

That were not born to die"-i. e., that will live.

32. Transferred Epithet.-An epithet is a word joined to another in order to explain its character, as sea-girt Salamis, the sunny South.

The transference of an epithet from its proper subject to some allied subject or circumstance is a common figure in poetry,

as

"Hence to his idle bed."

"The little fields made green By husbandry of many thrifty years."

II. FIGURES OF GRADATION.

33. Climax is an ascending series of thoughts or statements, increasing in strength or importance until the last. Thus:

"It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is an atrocious crime; to put him to death is almost a parricide; but to CRUCIFY him -what shall I call it?"-CICERO.

Anticlimax.-Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is called an anticlimax. Thus:

"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."-DE QUINCEY.

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