The Grammar of English Grammars Part 184

V. _Synecdoche_, (that is, _Comprehension_,) is the naming of a part for the whole, or of the whole for a part; as, (1.) "This _roof_ [i.e., house]

protects you." (2.) "Now the _year_ [i.e., summer] is beautiful." (3.) "A _sail_ [i.e., a s.h.i.+p or vessel] pa.s.sed at a distance." (4.) "Give us this day our daily _bread_;" i.e., food. (5.) "Because they have taken away _my Lord_, [i.e., the body of Jesus,] and I know not where they have laid him."--_John_. (6.) "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand _souls_;" i.e., persons.--_Acts_. (7.) "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all _the world_ [i.e., the Roman empire] should be taxed."--_Luke_, ii, 1.

VI. _Hyperbole_ is extravagant exaggeration, in which the imagination is indulged beyond the sobriety of truth; as, "My little finger _shall be thicker_ than my father's loins."--_2 Chron._, x, 10. "When I washed my _steps with b.u.t.ter_, and the rock poured me out _rivers of oil_."--_Job_, xxix, 6.

"The sky _shrunk upward with unusual dread_, And trembling Tiber _div'd beneath his bed_."--_Dryden_.

VII. _Vision_, or _Imagery_, is a figure by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination, as actually before his eyes, and present to his senses; as,

"I see the dagger-crest of Mar!

I see the Moray's silver star Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake comes winding far!"--_Scott, L. L._, vi, 15.

VIII. _Apostrophe_ is a turning from the regular course of the subject, into an animated address; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death!

where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 55.

IX. _Personification_ is a figure by which, in imagination, we ascribe intelligence and personality to unintelligent beings or abstract qualities; as,

1. "The _Worm_, aware of his intent, Harangued him thus, right eloquent."--_Cowper_.

2. "Lo, steel-clad _War_ his gorgeous standard rears!"--_Rogers_.

3. "Hark! _Truth_ proclaims, thy triumphs cease!"--_Idem_.

X. _Erotesis_ is a figure in which the speaker adopts the form of interrogation, not to express a doubt, but, in general, confidently to a.s.sert the reverse of what is asked; as, "Hast thou an arm like G.o.d? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?"--_Job_, xl, 9. "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"--_Psalms_, xciv, 9.

XI. _Ecphonesis_ is a pathetic exclamation, denoting some violent emotion of the mind; as, "O liberty!--O sound once delightful to every Roman ear!--O sacred privilege of Roman citizens.h.i.+p!--once sacred--now trampled upon."--_Cicero_. "And I said, O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."--_Psalms_, lv, 6.

XII. _Ant.i.thesis_ is a placing of things in opposition, to heighten their effect by contrast; as, "I will talk of things _heavenly_, or things _earthly_; things _moral_, or things _evangelical_; things _sacred_, or things _profane_; things _past_, or things _to come_; things _foreign_, or things _at home_; things more _essential_, or things _circ.u.mstantial_; provided that all be done to our profit."--_Bunyan, P. P._, p. 90.

"Contrasted faults through all his manners reign; Though _poor, luxurious_; though _submissive, vain_; Though _grave_, yet _trifling_; _zealous_, yet _untrue_; And e'en _in penance, planning sins_ anew."--_Goldsmith_.

XIII. _Climax_ is a figure in which the sense is made to advance by successive steps, to rise gradually to what is more and more important and interesting, or to descend to what is more and more minute and particular; as, "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, G.o.dliness; and to G.o.dliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."--_2 Peter_, i, 5.

XIV. _Irony_ is a figure in which the speaker sneeringly utters the direct reverse of what he intends shall be understood; as, "We have, to be sure, great reason to believe the modest man would not ask him for a debt, when he pursues his life."--_Cicero_. "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you."--_Job_, xii, 2. "They must esteem learning _very much_, when they see its professors used with such little ceremony!"--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 150.

XV. _Apophasis_, or _Paralipsis_,[482] is a figure in which the speaker or writer pretends to omit what at the same time he really mentions; as, "I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit _I do not say to thee_, how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."--_Philemon_, 19.

XVI. _Onomatopoeia_ is the use of a word, phrase, or sentence, the sound of which resembles, or intentionally imitates, the sound of the thing signified or spoken of: as, "Of a knocking at the door, _Rat a tat tat_."--J. W. GIBBS: _in Fowler's Gram._, p. 334. "_Ding-dong! ding-dong!_ Merry, merry, go the bells, _Ding-dong! ding-dong_!"--_H. K. White_.

"Bow'wow _n._ The loud bark of a dog. _Booth_."--_Worcester's Dict._ This is often written separately; as, "_Bow wow_."--_Fowler's Gram._, p. 334.

The imitation is better with three sounds: "_Bow wow wow_." The following verses have been said to exhibit this figure:

"But when loud surges lash the sounding sh.o.r.e, The hoa.r.s.e rough verse should like the torrent roar."

--_Pope, on Crit._, l. 369.

OBS.--The whole number of figures, which I have thought it needful to define and ill.u.s.trate in this work, is only about thirty. These are the _chief_ of what have sometimes been made a very long and minute catalogue.

In the hands of some authors, Rhetoric is scarcely anything else than a detail of figures; the number of which, being made to include almost every possible form of expression, is, according to these authors, not less than two hundred and forty. Of their _names_, John Holmes gives, in his index, two hundred and fifty-three; and he has not all that might be quoted, though he has more than there are of the forms named, or the figures themselves. To find a learned name for every particular mode of expression, is not necessarily conducive to the right use of language. It is easy to see the inutility of such pedantry; and Butler has made it sufficiently ridiculous by this caricature:

"For all a rhetorician's rules Teach nothing but to name his tools."--_Hudibras_, P. i, C. i, l. 90.

SECTION V.--EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS XIV.--PROSODICAL.

_In the Fourteenth Praxis, are exemplified the several Figures of Orthography, of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Rhetoric, which the pa.r.s.er may name and define_; _and by it the pupil may also be exercised in relation to the principles of Punctuation, Utterance, a.n.a.lysis, or whatever else of Grammar, the examples contain_.

LESSON I.--FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

MIMESIS AND ARCHAISM.

"I _ax'd_ you what you had to sell. I am fitting out a _wessel_ for _Wenice_, loading her with _warious keinds_ of _prowisions_, and _wittualling_ her for a long _woyage_; and I want several _undred_ weight of _weal, wenison_, &c., with plenty of _inyons_ and _winegar_, for the _preserwation_ of _ealth_."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 292.

"G.o.d bless you, and lie still quiet (_says_ I) a bit longer, for my _s.h.i.+ster's_ afraid of ghosts, and would die on the spot with the fright, _was_ she to see you come to life all on a sudden this way without the least preparation."--_Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent_, p. 143.

"None [else are] so desperately _evill_, as they that may _bee_ good and will not: or have _beene_ good and are not."--_Rev. John Rogers_, 1620. "A Carpenter finds his work as _hee_ left it, but a Minister shall find his _sett_ back. You need preach continually."--_Id._

"Here _whilom ligg'd_ th' Esopus of his age, But call'd by Fame, in soul _yp.r.i.c.ked_ deep."--_Thomson_.

"It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare, Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge _pleasaunce_ grew."--_Id._

LESSON II.--FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.

APHaeRESIS, PROSTHESIS, SYNCOPE, APOCOPE, PARAGOGE, DIaeRESIS, SYNaeRESIS, AND TMESIS.

"Bend _'gainst_ the steepy hill thy breast, Burst down like torrent from its crest."--_Scott_.

"_'Tis_ mine to teach _th'_ inactive hand to reap Kind nature's bounties, _o'er_ the globe _diffus'd_."--_Dyer_.

"Alas! alas! how impotently true _Th' aerial_ pencil forms the scene anew."--_Cawthorne_.

"Here a deformed monster _joy'd_ to won, Which on fell rancour ever was _ybent_."--_Lloyd_.

"_Withouten_ trump was proclamation made."--_Thomson_.

"The gentle knight, who saw their rueful case, Let fall _adown_ his silver beard some tears.

'Certes,' quoth he, 'it is not _e'en_ in grace, _T'_ undo the past and eke your broken years."--_Id._