"How sleep the brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest!" .Collins. "After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well." - Macbeth. "Ah, Warwick, Montague hath breathed his last." For the second case, in Hamlet (11. 1), instead of "intoxicated" we have the polite "o'ertook." Cf. such colloquial and rather vulgar expressions as "appropriated" for plain "stolen." - 4. Irony. The contrast here consists in our believing the opposite of what is said. Irony may be light, almost harmless, as in Sterne; merciless and biting, as in Swift. Poetically it is often used:— "Now get you to my lady's chamber," says Hamlet to Yorick's skull, "and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that." A most admirable example of compliment shading into irony, and irony into bitter sarcasm, is Marc Antony's speech about the "honorable men.” Finally, we get the plain statement with the word "traitors." In epic poetry, irony alternates with direct abuse, — as in speeches of warriors about to fight. So Gabriel calls Satan "courageous chief." THE terms Trope and Figure have often been confused. Metaphors are called "figurative" language, and Trope is often just as loosely understood. But the distinction is useful and just. A trope deals with the expressions themselves; a figure, with their relations and arrangement. Figures may be based on Repetition, on Contrast, or on Combination. § I. FIGURES OF REPETITION. The repetition of certain relations of sounds is, as we shall see, the basis of metre; there is also a harmony and poetic effect gained by repetition of words and phrases. I. Iteration. - Single words are repeated. This is very common in dirges and in passages expressive of deep emotion. The tendency is to dwell on one name or thought. Lycidas is very remarkable in this respect: "For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, The poem is full of such iteration. So in Paradise Lost: "though fall'n on evil times, On evil times though fall'n and evil tongues." The strong passion and wonder of Hamlet find expression by dwelling on two words : “Oh villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down That one may smile and smile and be a villain." For sacred poetry, see the song of Deborah, Judges v. 26-28. Without any reference to emotion, iteration is used for the harmony of verse. "Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet." "See golden days fruitful of golden deeds." Both are from Paradise Lost. Milton thoroughly understood such cadences and harmonies. More involved iteration is seen in the following: 66 66 Increasing store with loss and loss with store." 'Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide." Or George Puttenham's example: — "Much must he be beloved that loveth much; Feare many must he needs, whom many feare." In these latter examples we find antithesis also. Cf. §3 of this chapter. 2. This iteration may vary the application of the word. "Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? If it doth prosper, none dare call it treason." "When thou hast done, thou hast not done; "And every fair from fair sometimes declines.”— Shakspere. "How beautiful, if sorrow had not made Sorrow more beautiful than beauty's self."— Keats. 3. Finally, this becomes word-play. So Antony, when he looks upon the body of Cæsar, cries out : "Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart; Here didst thou fall. . . . O world! thou wast the forest to this hart; And this indeed, O world! the heart of thee." Thence we come to the regular pun. The prince of pun-makers in verse is, of course, Thomas Hood. Where the pun is confined to one word, as is usual, it is not an example of repetition. But otherwise with "They went and told the sexton, And the sexton tolled the bell." 4. Whole sentences are repeated. The arrangement and matter are generally the same, but the expression is slightly changed. This figure is called Parallelism. It is very common in the Bible and in our AngloSaxon poetry : "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; ... The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon." In Anglo-Saxon poetry, this figure is combined with the trope of Variation. An example from Milton of Parallelism, though with order reversed for metrical reasons, is the beginning of the Morning Hymn (Par. Lost, 5. 153): "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Thus wondrous fair." § 2. FIGURES OF CONTRAST. Here the arrangement is different from the expected and ordinary arrangement. Hence, through surprise, a stronger impression. Thus, we usually speak of an absent person or thing in the third person. If we suddenly address it in the second person, as if it were present, we have Apostrophe. 1. Apostrophe. — Literally, this means a turning away from something. Quintilian says its origin was in the custom of orators, pleading in court, who were wont to turn from the judge and suddenly address some one else. Cicero, as we know, was pleading for Ligarius, when unexpectedly he broke off his argument and turned to the accuser, who was present, saying:—“Quid enim, Tubero, tuus ille destrictus in acie Pharsalica gladius agebat?" This stricter sort of apostrophe abounds in poetry. Let me not think on't - Frailty, thy name is woman A little month," etc. In a wider sense, apostrophe is any case where an absent person or thing is addressed as if present. Banquo, in his soliloquy, turns to Macbeth as if the latter were present: "Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all As the weird women promised; and I fear So Macbeth, about to murder Duncan, who sleeps in another room, hears the bell ring, and cries: "Hear it not, Duncan!" |