22. Personification is that figure in which some action or attribute of a living being is ascribed to an inanimate object, as―

'The mountains sing together, the hills rejoice and clap hands."

23. Apostrophe is that figure in which something absent is addressed as though present. It is found chiefly in poetry and oratory.

"Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee."-Wordsworth.

24. Vision is the narration of past or absent scenes as though actually occurring before us. It is allied to and is often found associated with apostrophe.

I. Byron's description of the Dying Gladiator-
"I see before me the gladiator lie," etc.-

is a familiar example of vision.

II. Metastasis.—Metastasis is a kind of description similar to vision: it involves a transition from the present to the future. A good example is found in the peroration of Webster's reply to Hayne. (See p. 345 of this book.)

25. Allusion is that figure by which some word or phrase calls to mind something not directly mentioned, as

"It may be said of him that he came, he saw, he conquered."

The allusion here is to Cæsar's famous despatch (“Veni, vidi, vici"), which it calls to mind.

Rhetoricians make various degrees of allusion, and among others direct allusion (as "The patience of Job is proverbial"); but, properly speaking, this is not allusion: it is mere reference. Allusion is always oblique. The following, in which Milton wishes to denote Moses, is an allusion in the strict sense:

"That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed

In the beginning how the heaven and earth
Rose out of chaos."

26. Irony is a mode of speech expressing a meaning contrary to that which the speaker intends to convey, as in Job's address to his friends, "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom will die with you."

27. Sarcasm is a mode of expressing vituperation under

B

a somewhat veiled form. The Letters of Junius come under this description.

Sarcasm is generally softened in the outward expression by the arts and figures of disguise-irony, innuendo, and epigram. Pope's Atticus (see pp. 128, 129 of this book) is a fine example.

28. Synecdoche is that figure which consists in substituting words denoting a part, a species, or the concrete for words denoting the whole, a genus, or the abstract; or the Thus

reverse.

1. A part for the whole, as sail for ship.

2. The species for the genus, as "our daily bread" for our daily food.

3. The concrete for the abstract, as "The father yearns in the true prince's heart”—father meaning paternal love.

4. The whole for a part, as America for the United States.

5. The genus for the species, as a vessel for a ship, a creature for a man.

6. The abstract for the concrete, as

"Belgium's capital had gathered then

Her beauty and her chivalry,"

meaning her beautiful women and brave men.

Antonomasia.-Antonomasia is a form of synecdoche resembling (2), only that instead of the species being put for the genus, the individual is put for the species. It consists in using a proper name to designate a class, as a Solomon for a wise man, a Cræsus for a rich man.

29. Metonymy is that figure in which one thing is described by the name of another thing having to the thing described the relation of cause, effect, adjunct, or accompaniment. Thus:

1. Cause for effect, as "the savage desolation of war," where the cause of the desolation (a savage spirit) is put for the effect. 2. The effect for the cause, as gray hairs for old age.

3. The sign for the thing signified, as sceptre for royalty, the White House for the office of President.

4. The container for the thing contained, as bottle for intoxicating drink, purse for money.

5. The instrument for the agent, as the arbitration of the sword -meaning war.

6. An author for his works, as They have Moses and the prophets," "We find in Bacon”—meaning Bacon's writings. Distinction. From definitions 28 and 29 it may be inferred that a synecdoche is a figure in which a word is used to express a thing that differs from its original meaning only in degree, and not in kind; while a metonymy is a figure in which a word is used to express a thing differing from its original in kind. Hence metonymies are somewhat bolder than synecdoches. 30. Euphemism is the figure by means of which a harsh meaning is expressed in words of softer signification, as "He was unable to meet his engagements" for he failed in business.

31. Litotes is that figure in which, by denying the contrary, more is implied than is expressed, as

"Immortal names,

That were not born to die"-i. e., that will live.

32. Transferred Epithet.-An epithet is a word joined to another in order to explain its character, as sea-girt Salamis, the sunny South.

The transference of an epithet from its proper subject to some allied subject or circumstance is a common figure in poetry,

as

"Hence to his idle bed."

"The little fields made green By husbandry of many thrifty years."

II. FIGURES OF GRADATION.

33. Climax is an ascending series of thoughts or statements, increasing in strength or importance until the last. Thus:

"It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is an atrocious crime; to put him to death is almost a parricide; but to CRUCIFY him -what shall I call it?"-CICERO.

Anticlimax.-Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is called an anticlimax. Thus:

"If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."-DE QUINCEY.

34. Hyperbole is that figure by which more than the lit eral truth is expressed. It consists in magnifying objects beyond their natural bounds, so as to make them more impressive or more intelligible. Thus:

"Beneath the lowest deep, a lower deep,

Still threatening to devour me, opens wide."-MILTON.

III. FIGURES OF EMPHASIS.

35. Epizeuxis is the immediate repetition of some word or words for the sake of emphasis, as—

"Few, few shall part where many meet."

Repetitio Crebra. - The name "repetitio crebra" is applied to the frequent repetition of a word, as—

"He sang Darius, good and great,

Fallen, fallen. failen, fallen,

Fallen from his high estate. -DRYDEN.

36. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of each of several sentences, or divisions of a

sentence, as—

"By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed,
By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed,

By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned,

By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned."-POPE.

37. Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial letter of emphatic words, as

66

Apt alliteration's artful aid.”—CHURCHILL.

"Full fathoms five thy father lies."-SHAKESPEARE.

38. Anacoluthon is the device of leaving a proposition unfinished, and introducing something else to complete the sentence, as—

"If thou be'st he-but oh, how fallen, how changed

From him who," etc.

39. Aposiopesis is a sudden pause in the course of a sentence by which the conclusion is left unfinished, as— "For there I picked up on the heather, And there I put within my breast, A moulted feather, an eagle's featherWell-I forget the rest."-BROWNING.

IV. GRAMMATICAL FIGUres.

40. Ellipsis is the omission of words with a rhetorical purpose. Thus "Impossible!" is more expressive than a complete sentence affirming impossibility.

Asyndeton, or the omission of connectives, is a device of which considerable use is made both in prose and poetry: "The wind passeth over it-it is gone."

41. Enallage is the substitution of one part of speech for another, as-

"Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it,

If folly grow romantic, I must paint it."-POPE.

42. Pleonasm is the employment of more words than usual, or of redundant words, as "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

When properly employed, pleonasm is a legitimate rhetorical device, and may be productive of a high degree of emphasis.

II. THE ORDER OF WORDS.

43. Words may be arranged in two orders-the grammatical and the rhetorical order.

44. The grammatical order, otherwise called the direct, or prose order, is the ordinary prose arrangement of words in

a sentence.

There is a customary order of the parts of a sentence which in ordinary speech and writing we unconsciously follow. Thus the subject precedes the verb, and the arrangement of a simple sentence is in the order of subject, verb, object. But for the sake of emphasis or ornament this natural arrangement is often departed from.

45. The rhetorical order, otherwise called the indirect, or poetic order, is an inverted arrangement of words, adopted with a view to greater effect. It is characteristic of poetry, and of elevated or impassioned prose.