OBSERVATIONS. "Enallage, in OBS. 1.-Enallage is a Greek word, signifying commutation, change, or exchange. a general sense, is the change of words, or of their accidents, one for another."-Grant's Latin Gram., p. 322. The word Antimeria, which literally expresses change of parts, was often used by the old grammarians as synonymous with Enallage; though, sometimes, the former was taken only for the substitution of one part of speech for an other, and the latter, only, or more particu larly, for a change of modification-as of mood for mood, tense for tense, or number for number. The putting of one case for an other, has also been thought worthy of a particular name, and been called Antiptosis. But Enallage, the most comprehensive of these terms, having been often of old applied to all such changes, reducing them to one head, may well be now defined as above, and still applied, in this way, to all that we need recognize as figures. The word Enallaxis, preferred by some, is of the same import. "ENALLAXIS, So called by Longinus, or ENALLAGE, is an Exchange of Cases, Tenses, Persons, Numbers, or Genders."-Holmes's Rhet., Book i, p. 57. "An ENALLAXIS changes, when it pleases, Tenses, or Persons, Genders, Numbers, Cases."-Ib., B. ii, p. 50. OBS. 2. Our most common form of Enallage is that by which a single person is addressed in the plural number. This is so fashionable in our civil intercourse, that some very polite grammarians improperly dispute its claims to be called a figure; and represent it as being more ordinary, and even more literal than the regular phraseology; which a few of them, as we have seen, would place among the archaisms. The next in frequency, (if indeed it can be called a different form.) is the practice of putting we for I, or the plural for the singular in the first person. This has never yet been claimed as literal and regular syntax, though the usages differ in nothing but commonness; both being honourably authorized, both still improper on some occasions, and, in both, the Enallage being alike obvious. Other varieties of this figure, not uncommon in English, are the putting of adjectives for adverbs, of adverbs for nouns, of the present tense for the preterit, and of the preterit for the perfect participle. But, in the use of such liberties, elegance and error sometimes approximate so nearly, there is scarcely an obvious line between them, and grammarians consequently disagree in making the distinction. OBS. 3.-Deviations of this kind are, in general, to be considered solecisms; otherwise, the rules of grammar would be of no use or authority. Despauter, an ancient Latin grammarian, gave an improper latitude to this figure, or to a species of it, under the name of Antiptosis; and Behourt and others extended it still further. But Sanctius says, "Antiptosi grammaticorum nihil imperi tius, quod figmentum si esset verum, frustra quæreretur, quem casum verba regerent." And the Messieurs De Port Royal reject the figure altogether. There are, however, some changes of this kind, which the grammarian is not competent to condemn, though they do not accord with the ordinary principles of construction. 66 V. Hyperbaton is the transposition of words; as, " He wanders earth around."— Cowper. 'Rings the world with the vain stir."-Id. "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."-Acts, xvii, 23. "Happy', says Montesquieu, is that nation whose annals are tiresome.' "— Corwin, in Congress, 1847. This figure is much employed in poetry. A judicious use of it confers harmony, variety, strength, and vivacity upon composition. But care should be taken lest it produce ambiguity or obscurity, absurdity or solecism. OBS.-A confused and intricate arrangement of words, received from some of the ancients the name of Syn'chysis, and was reckoned by them among the figures of grammar. By some authors, this has been improperly identified with Hyper' baton, or elegant inversion; as may be seen under the word Synchysis in Littleton's Dictionary, or in Holmes's Rhetoric, at page 58th. Synchysis literally means confusion, or commixtion; and, in grammar, is significant only of some poetical jumble of words, some verbal kink or snarl, which cannot be grammatically resolved or disentangled: as, "Is piety thus and pure devotion paid ?"-Milton, P. L., B. xi, l. 452. The flies that tickle him, away; But man delights to have his ears Blown maggots in by flatterers."-Butler's Poems, p. 161. SECTION IV.-FIGURES OF RHETORIC. A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words. Several of this kind of figures are commonly called Tropes, i. e., turns; because certain words are turned from their original signification to an other.* 28. * Between Tropes and Figures, some writers attempt a full distinction; but this, if practicable, is of little use. According to Holmes, "TROPES affect only single Words; but FIGURES, whole Sentences."-Rhetoric, B. i, p. "The CHIEF TROPES in Language," says this author, "are seven; a Metaphor, an Allegory, a Metonymy, a Synecdoche, an Irony, an Hyperbole, and a Catachresis.”—Ib., p. 30. The term Figure or Figures is more comprehensive than Trope or Tropes; I have therefore not thought it expedient to make much use of the latter, Numerous departures from perfect simplicity of diction, occur in almost every kind of composition. They are mostly founded on some similitude or relation of things, which, by the power of imagination, is rendered conducive to ornament or illustration. The principal figures of Rhetoric are sixteen; namely, Sim'-i-le, Met'a-phor, Al'-le-gor-y, Me-ton'-y-my, Syn-ec'-do-che, Hy-per'-bo-le, Vis'ion, A-pos'-tro-phe, Per-son'-i-fi-ca'-tion, Er-o-te'-sis, Ec-pho-ne'-sis, An-tith'-e-sis, Cli'-max, I'-ro-ny, A-poph'-a-sis, and On-o-ma-to-pœ'-ia. EXPLANATIONS. 1. A Simile is a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by like, as, or so: as, "Such a passion is like falling in love with a sparrow flying over your head; you have but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight."— Collier's Antoninus, p. 89. "Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away; as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney."--Hosea, xiii, 3. "At first, like thunder's distant tone, The rattling din came rolling on."-Hogg. The strength he gains, is from th' embrace he gives."-Pope. OBS.-Comparisons are sometimes made in a manner sufficiently intelligible, without any express term to point them out. In the following passage, we have a triple example of what seems the Simile, without the usual sign-without like, as, or so: "Away with all tampering with such a question! Away with all trifling with the man in fetters! Give a hungry man a stone, and tell what beautiful houses are made of it;-give ice to a freezing man, and tell him of its good properties in hot weather;-throw a drowning man a dollar, as a mark of your good will;-but do not mock the bondman in his misery, by giving him a Bible when he cannot read it."-FREDERICK DOUGLASS: Liberty Bell, 1848. II. A Metaphor is a figure that expresses or suggests the resemblance of two objects by applying either the name, or some attribute, adjunct, or action, of the one, directly to the other; as, 1. "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress.”—Psal., xviii, 1. 2. "His eye was morning's brightest ray.”—Hogg. 3. 4. 5. "An angler in the tides of fame."-Id., Q. W., p. 30. Gambol'd unbridled and unbound."-Hogg, Q. W., p. 90. 6. "Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of wo."-Thomson. OBS.-A Metaphor is commonly understoood to be only the tropical use of some single word, or short phrase; but there seem to be occasional instances of one sentence, or action, being used metaphorically to represent an other. The following extract from the London Examiner has several figurative expressions, which perhaps belong to this head: "In the present age, nearly all people are critics, even to the pen, and treat the gravest writers with a sort of taproom familiarity. If they are dissatisfied, they throw a short and spent cigar in the face of the offender; if they are pleased, they lift the candidate off his legs, and send him away with a hearty slap on the shoulder. Some of the shorter, when they are bent to mischief, dip a twig in the gutter, and drag it across our polished boots: on the contrary, when they are inclined to be gentle and generous, they leap boisterously upon our knees, and kiss us with bread-and-butter in their mouths."-WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. III. An Allegory is a continued narration of fictitious events, designed to represent and illustrate important realities. Thus the Psalmist represents the Jewish nation under the symbol of a vine: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou in either the singular or the plural form. Holmes's seven tropes are all of them defined in the main text of this section, except Catachresis, which is commonly explained to be "an abuse of a trope." According to this sense, it seems in general to differ but little from impropriety. At best, a Catachresis is a forced expression, though sometimes, perhaps, to be indulged where there is great excitement. It is a sort of figure by which a word is used in a sense different from, yet connected with, or analogous to, its own; as, "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, That tears shall drown the wind."—Shak., Macbeth, Act i, Sc. 7. hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root; and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.”—Psalms, lxxx, 8-10. OBS.-The Allegory, agreeably to the foregoing definition of it, includes most of those similitudes which in the Scriptures are called parables; it includes also the better sort of fubles. The term allegory is sometimes applied to a true history in which something else is intended, than is contained in the words literally taken. See an instance in Galatians, iv, 24. In the Scriptures, the term fable denotes an idle and groundless story: as, in 1 Timothy, iv, 7; and 2 Peter, i, 16. It is now commonly used in a better sense. A fable may be defined to be an analogical narrative, intended to convey some moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects are introduced as speaking."-Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 280. 66 IV. A Metonymy is a change of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on some such relation as that of cause and effect, of progenitor and posterity, of subject and adjunct, of place and inhabitant, of container and thing contained, or of sign and thing signified: as, (1.) "God is our salvation;" i. e., Saviour. (2.) "Hear, O Israel;" i. e., O ye descendants of Israel. (3.) "He was the sigh of her secret soul;" i. e., the youth she loved. (4.) "They smote the city;" i. e., the citizens. (5.) "My son, give me thy heart," i. e., affection. (6.) "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah;" i. e., kingly power. (7.) "They have Moses and the prophets;" i. e., their writings. See Luke, xvi, 29. 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 ship or vessel] passed 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. c., persons.—Acts. (7.) "There went out a decree from Cæsar 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 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; "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. as, 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; 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,* 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; âlbeit 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! dingdong!"-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., 1. 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, 1. 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 parser may name and define; * Holmes, in his Art of Rhetoric, writes this word “ Paraleipsis," retaining the Greek orthography. So does Fowler in his recent "English Grammar," § 646. Webster, Adam, and some others, write it "Paralepsis." I write it as above on the authority of Littleton, Ainsworth, and some others; and this is according to the analogy of the kindred word ellipsis, which we never write either ellepsis, or, as the Greek, elleipsis. 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. LESSON I.-FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. MIMESIS AND ARCHAISM. "I ar'd you what you had to sell. I am fitting out a wessel for Wenice, loading her with warious keinds of provisions, 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, Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge pleasaunce grew."—Id. LESSON II.-FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY. APHÆRESIS, PROSTHESIS, SYNCOPE, APOCOPE, PARAGOGE, DIÆRESIS, SYNÆRESIS, 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' 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. 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 shill 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. LESSON III.-FIGURES OF SYNTAX. FIGURE 1.-ELLIPSIS. "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. |