صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

III. RULES FOR RHETORICAL PAUSES.

Rule I. A rhetorical pause should be made between the subject and the predicate of a sentence when the subject is emphatic, or when it consists of a phrase or a clause, or of a noun modified by a phrase or a clause.

EXAMPLES.

1. Art is long, and time | is fleeting,

[ocr errors]

And the grave | is not its goal.

2. To err is human, to forgive, divine.

3. To reach the Indies | was the object of Columbus. 4. How he found his way out | is not known.

5. Whom the gods love | die young | was said of you. 6. Who steals my purse | steals trash.

7. No wind that blew was bitterer than he.

8. Not to know me argues yourself | unknown.

9. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead | had risen, that all nature | had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God. Death | had lost its térrors | and pleasure its charms.

Turn to any unmarked selection in Part III. and require pupils to point out further illustrations of this rule.

Rule II. Make a rhetorical pause before a clause used as a predicate nominative, or as the object of a verb.

EXAMPLES.

1. The truth is | he knows nothing about the subject. 2. It was in midwinter | that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

3. I do not know where he went.

[ocr errors]

4. He did not say | when he should go.

5. I wish that friends were always true,

And motives always pure;

I wish the good were not so few,

I wish the bad were fewer.

Rule III. Make a rhetorical pause after introductory or transposed adverbial words, phrases, or clauses.

EXAMPLES.

1. Slowly and sadly | we laid him down.

2. Forth in the pleasing spring | thy beauty walks. 3. In their ragged regimentals | stood the old continentals.

4. If he did that | he ought to be punished.

5. During that terrible storm | the ship foundered. 6. Who she was | nobody knows.

7. In all its history | the Constitution has been beneficent.

8. And up the steep | barbarian monarchs ride.

9. Down | came the blow! but in the heath
The erring blade found bloodless sheath.

Rule IV. Unless the phrases or clauses are short or very closely connected, make a rhetorical pause before adjective or adverbial phrases or clauses.

EXAMPLES.

1. There is a reaper | whose name is Death. 2. He is the same man | that you spoke of.

3. I will go when you are ready.

4. Let me have men about me | that are fat.

5. The swallows | that build their nests in the old barn | migrate when winter comes.

6. Our fathers raised their flag against a power | to which, for purposes of foreign conquest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of her glory, is not to be compared a power | which has dotted the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts; whose morning drum-beat, following the sun in his course, and keeping pace with the hours, daily circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain | of the martial airs of England.

WEBSTER.

Rule V. Make a pause before and after adverbs or adverbial phrases transposed so as to break the regular order of arrangement.

EXAMPLES.

1. The plowman | homeward | plods his weary way. 2. And some to happy homes | repair.

3. As we to higher levels | rise.

4. Who of this crowd | to-night | shall tread
The dance | till daylight | gleam again?

5. If Memory | o'er their tomb | no trophies raise.
6. Await alike | the inevitable hour.

7. Their furrow | oft | the stubborn glebe has broke.

Rule VI. In sentences introduced by idiomatic it or there, make a rhetorical pause before the subject-phrase or clause that is placed after the predicate.

EXAMPLES.

1. There came to the beach | a poor exile of Erin. 2. It is not known | how the prisoner made his escape. 3. It is not true | that the poet paints a life that does not exist.

4. There lies on the table before me | all that he had written of his latest and last story.

Rule VII.

Make a rhetorical pause after predicate adjectives used to introduce a sentence, and after nouns or pronouns in the objective case when they are transposed so as to come before the verbs which govern them.

EXAMPLES.

1. Sweet are the uses of adversity.

2. Few and short | were the prayers we said.

3. How sweet and solemn | is this midnight scene. 4. Thee | I revisit now | with bolder wing.

5. And all the air | a solemn stillness | holds.

Rule VIII. When an ellipsis of the verb occurs in a sentence, make a rhetorical pause.

EXAMPLES.

1. Homer was the greater genius; Virgil | [was] the better artist. In the one we most admire the man; in the other-[we most admire] the work.

2. Death had lost its terrors, and pleasure | [had lost] its charms.

3. Their palaces were houses | not made with hands; their diadems | [were] crowns of glory which should never fade away.

4. Lands he could measure, terms and tides | [he could] presage.

5. Thy waters wasted them while they were free, and many a tyrant [has wasted them] since.

Require the class to find five additional examples.

Rule IX. Unless the grammatical connection is very close, a short pause should be made at the end of every line of poetry, to mark the poetic rhythm.

EXAMPLES.

1. PARADISE LOST.

Anon | out of the earth | a fabric huge |
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound |
Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters | round
Were set, and Doric pillars, overlaid |
With golden architrave.

2. POWER OF MUSIC.

MILTON.

'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won |

By Philip's warlike son—

Aloft in awful state |

The godlike hero sate |

On his imperial throne.

DRYDEN.

[blocks in formation]

'T was twilight, for the sunless day went down |
Over the waste of waters, like a veil |

Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown |
Of one whose hate is masked but to assail.
Thus to their hopeless eyes | the night was shown,
And grimly darkled o'er their faces pale,
And the dim, desolate deep; twelve days | had Fear |
Been their familiar, and now Death | was here.

4.

THE LADDER OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

All these must first be trampled down |
Beneath our feet | if we would gain |
In the bright fields of fair renown |
The right of eminent domain.

BYRON.

LONGFELLOW.

IV. EMPHATIC PAUSES.

Rule I. Emphatic pauses occur when the reader desires to call marked attention to some word or group of words.

EXAMPLES.

1. The penalty was||| death.

2. My answer would be a blow.

3. You call me dôg; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus | much | moneys.

4. Hath a dog | money? Is it possible |

A cur can lend | | | three || thousand | | ducats! 5. Rider and horse, friend, foe, in one | red | burial | blent.

6. They did not see óne | màn, not | óne | wòman, | | not | óne | chìld, not óne | four-footed bèast | | of any descríption || whatever. One | dead | uniform | silence ! | reigned | over the whole region'.

BURKE.

« السابقةمتابعة »