The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

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 butter, 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 assert the reverse of what is asked; as, "Hast thou an arm like God? 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 citizenship!—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. Antithesis 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 circumstantial; 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, godliness; and to godliness, 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 shore,
    The hoarse 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 illustrate 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.

In the Fourteenth Praxis, are exemplified the several Figures of Orthography, of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Rhetoric, which the parser may name and define; and by it the pupil may also be exercised in relation to the principles of Punctuation, Utterance, Analysis, or whatever else of Grammar, the examples contain.

"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.

"God bless you, and lie still quiet (says I) a bit longer, for my shister'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 ypricked deep."—Thomson.

    "It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare,
    Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge pleasaunce grew."—Id.

   "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' aërial 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.

    "Vain tamp'ring has but foster'd his disease;
    'Tis desp'rate, and he sleeps the sleep of death."—Cowper.

    "'I have a pain upon my forehead here'—
    'Why that's with watching; 'twill away again.'"—Shakspeare.

    "I'll to the woods, among the happier brutes;
    Come, let's away; hark! the shrill horn resounds."—Smith.

"What prayer and supplication soever be made."—Bible. "By the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward."—Ib.

   "And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn,
    And [—] villager [—] abroad at early toil."—Beattie.

"The cottage curs at [—] early pilgrim bark."—Id.

    "'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears,
    Our most important [—] are our earliest years."—Cowper.

    "To earn her aid, with fix'd and anxious eye,
    He looks on nature's [—] and on fortune's course."—Akenside.

    "For longer in that paradise to dwell,
    The law [—] I gave to nature him forbids."—Milton.

"So little mercy shows [—] who needs so much."—Cowper.

    "Bliss is the same [—] in subject, as [—] in king;
    In [—] who obtain defence, and [—] who defend."—Pope.

    "Man made for kings! those optics are but dim
    That tell you so—say rather, they [—] for him."—Cowper.

    "Man may dismiss compassion from his heart,
    But God will never [———-]."—Id.

"Vigour [—] from toil, from trouble patience grows."—Beattie.

    "Where now the rill melodious, [—] pure, and cool,
    And meads, with life, and mirth, and beauty crown'd?"—Id.

    "How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
    How dumb the tuneful [——————]!"—Thomson.

    "Self-love and Reason to one end aspire,
    Pain [—] their aversion, pleasure [—] their desire;
    But greedy that its object would devour,
    This [—] taste the honey, and not wound the flower."—Pope.

"According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense."—Isaiah, lix, 18. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."—Song of Sol., v, 2. "Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God."—Jer., xxxi, 18. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow."—Matt., vi, 28. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."—2 Cor., x, 17.

"He too is witness, noblest of the train That wait on man, the flight-performing horse."—Cowper.

"'Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas:' which is, by interpretation a stone."—John, i, 42. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.'"—Jer., xlix, 35. "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."—Rom., ix, 33.

   "Thus Conscience pleads her cause within the breast,
    Though long rebell'd against, not yet suppressed."—Cowper.

    "Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;
    Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."—Id.

"For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods."—Milton, Paradise Lost, B. i, l. 432.

   "Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
    Are much condemned to have an itching palm,
    To sell and mart your offices for gold."—Shakspeare.

    "Come, Philomelus; let us instant go,
    O'erturn his bow'rs, and lay his castle low."—Thomson.

    "Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son
    Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire begun"—Pope.

    "Such was that temple built by Solomon,
    Than whom none richer reign'd o'er Israel."—Author.

    "He spoke: with fatal eagerness we burn,
    And quit the shores, undestin'd to return."—Day.

"Still as he pass'd, the nations he sublimes."—Thomson.

"Sometimes, with early morn, he mounted gay."—Id.

"'I've lost a day'—the prince who nobly cried, Had been an emperor without his crown."—Young.

"Such resting found the sole of unblest feet."—Milton.

"Yet, though successless, will the toil delight."—Thomson.

    "Where, 'midst the changeful scen'ry ever new,
    Fancy a thousand wondrous forms descries."—Beattie.

    "Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace,
    That who advance his glory, not their own,
    Them he himself to glory will advance."—Milton.

    "No quick reply to dubious questions make;
    Suspense and caution still prevent mistake."—Denham.