LESSON 44. IMAGERY. THE COMPARISON. Things First Known and Named. Our first knowledge is of concrete things-objects in the outer, the material, world. Some of these things we only see or hear, some we see and touch, and some we see, touch, taste, and smell. By the use of our senses we learn the diverse qualities of things, and we learn to distinguish things by their quali ties. This knowledge we begin early to acquire, we acquire it all through life; and, having to deal often with the same objects, we learn again and again the lessons they teach. With no other things are we so familiar as with those of the outer world, of no other knowledge are we so certain as of this, and no other words do we use with the clearness and ease with which we handle those denoting the objects of our senses. And what is true of us individually is true of the race taken as an individual. It was long engrossed with what appealed so powerfully to the senses the objects of the material world. Some of these objects were seen less frequently than others, and so were less thoroughly known. In process of time men came to think of things which they could not see or hear, touch, taste, or smell — abstract things, such as honesty, truth, health, strength; and things of the inner world, such as spirit, recollection, deliberation. Thinking of the new things of the inner world or of the outer, men would soon wish to speak of them. But the day for forming new words from new roots was then past. And even if it had not been, it was obvious that the old words, if they could be used, would be better understood. It was soon seen that the old words could be put to these new uses. They were, and on this principle things, wherever they exist, stand in many striking relations to each other. In certain remarkable qualities and offices, real or imagined, things are (1) like each other, or (2) unlike each other, or, speaking generally, (3) they are connected by some other natural law, or relation. Things which men know to be connected in any of these ways are so associated in men's minds that one thing readily suggests the other. Basis of Imagery. Upon the basis of these real or fancied relations between things rests the possibility of setting one of these things over against the other, or of speaking of one of them in the terms that denote the other. Figures of Speech-Images- are those expressions in which, departing from our ordinary style, we assert or assume any of these notable relations. As images are used in all kinds of discourse, imagery may well be regarded as a quality of style. Figures of speech of all kinds are invaluable, because, as we have seen, they convey the thought more clearly than plain language could, and thus make it easier of apprehension. They multiply the resources of language, too, enabling us to use the same word in many senses. They beautify style while being of service to the thought-a diamond pin may adorn while it does toilet duty. A comparison, or simile, is a figure of speech in which a likeness is pointed out or asserted between things in other respects unlike. Its rhetorical value lies mainly in the fact that it makes the thought easy of apprehension. Direction. - Substitute, occasionally, plain language for the figura. tive, and note the loss of distinctness and of beauty : 1. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. 2. Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale. 3. How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings! 4. His words were shed softer than leaves from the pine, and they fell on Sir Launfal, as snows on the brine. 5. The Kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed, is like leaven hid in three measures of meal. 6. A wordy writer commands his language as a rider governs the horse that is running away with him. 7. The blood dropped out of her cheeks, as the mercury drops from a broken barometer tube. 8. The little bird sits at his door in the sun, atilt like a blossom among the leaves. 9. With wings folded, I rest on mine airy nest, as still as a brooding dove. 10. Their lives glide on like rivers that water the woodland. II. Cowards whose hearts are all as false as stairs of sand, with livers white as milk. 12. Poets commonly have no larger stock of tunes than a hand organ has. 13. It [mercy] droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven upon the place beneath. 14. She sat like Patience on a monument, smiling at grief. 15. She let concealment, like a worm in the bud, feed on her damask cheek. 16. A fatal habit settles upon one like a vampire, and sucks his blood. 17. Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips. 18. The vulgar intellectual palate thinks nothing good that does not go off with a pop like a champagne cork. 19. She saw my statue, which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts, did run pure blood. 20. As fire drives out fire so pity, pity. Direction. here begun : - Find apt resemblances, and complete the comparisons 10. The 1. The vessel swept toward the reef- 2. Darkness falls from the wing of night-3. She melted from her seat-4. It was besmeared as black —5. The Old Guard rushed upon the broken squares of the English-6. A thought sometimes hits one-7. He is as deaf.-8. He was as blind—9. He is more puzzled telegraph stretches its ugly length across the continent II. Little troops of sparks, scattering as in fear, thread the tangled darks of the chimney—12. Locomotives with their trains fly to and fro over the continent-13. Webster's thoughts stand out as plainly to the sight-14. In "Sartor Resartus" and in much of modern literature, pantheism gleams and glitters — 15. As we grow old we should grow sweet and mellow — Direction. - Supply the words like, as, just as, or so, and convert each pair of sentences numbered below, into a single sentence: — 1. Odious habits fasten only on natures that are already enfeebled. Mosses and fungi gather on sickly trees, not on thriving ones. 2. One may speak and write in a style too terse and condensed. Hay and straw must be given to horses in order to distend the stomach. 3. Specific words are more effective than general terms. The edge of a sword cuts deeper than the back of it. 4. Till men are accustomed to freedom, they do not know how to use it. In climates where wine is a rarity intemperance abounds. 5. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. The tortoise reached the goal before the hare. 6. When the presumption is on your side, you should not neglect the advantage. A body of troops able to defend a fortress, when inside of it, may be beaten if they sally forth, and fight in the open field. 7. Gentle means sometimes accomplish what harsh measures cannot. The sun made the traveller take off his coat when the wind failed to do it. 8. To adduce more than is needed to prove your conclusion is suicidal. If one strikes a wedge too violently, the elasticity of the wood throws it out. LESSON 45.. THE COMPARISON. Direction. Bring into the class twenty-five rare comparisons twenty of which were found in your reading, and five are your own Let some be like those last given in the Lesson above. LESSON 46. THE METAPHOR. In the comparison, the relation of likeness between things is, as you have seen, pointed out or asserted. But this relation may be assumed. It being taken for granted that the reader or hearer sees the point of resemblance, the words like, as, just as, and so may be omitted, and the word or words that denote one of the things may be brought over and applied to the other. This assumption of likeness may be of different degrees. We may, for example, say, The stars are night's candles; or, presuming on the reader's or hearer's fuller knowledge of the likeness between the things, candles and stars, we may substitute the name of one for that of the other, and, with out using stars at all, say, Night's candles are burned out, meaning, of course, that the stars have vanished in the dawn. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which, assuming the likeness between two things, we apply to one of them the term that denotes the other. This figure is encountered everywhere in speech-in almost every sentence. Often |