CHAPTER VI FIGURES OF SPEECH 1. LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE We have now to consider the difference between literal and figurative expression. "The soldier is strong and brave." This sentence means exactly what it says. It is perfectly matter-of-fact, i. e., it is a literal statement. "The soldier is a perfect lion in battle." Of course this does not mean that the soldier is exactly a lion, with four feet and a shaggy mane; but he has the unusual courage and strength that we associate in our thought with the king of beasts. Such less direct manner of expression is figurative; it contains a Figure of Speech. Literature is full of figures; for the well-chosen figure, through its power of suggestion, stimulates the reader's imagination and adds greatly to the force of expression. In our daily language, also, we use many figures. There are fifty sails (ships having sails) on the bay. A red-coat (a man wearing one) rode up. The boy broke loose from authority (as a colt breaks away from his post). I was tied up at home (as a horse is tied to a post). It is interesting to know that some of our prosiest, most matter-of-fact words originated in figures. Language has been called "a bunch of faded metaphors." That we may better understand how to interpret the figures of speech, we shall divide them into a number of classes. Most of these classes are called by Greek names, for the Greek rhetoricians were the founders of our study of figures. The names may seem a little difficult, but it is always convenient to have names for things we must talk about, and we are obliged to use the nomenclature we find in the language. The important thing, however, is not to know the names merely, but to learn to interpret the figures so that we shall grasp their meaning and feel their strength. 2. FIGURES OF COMPARISON 2. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs. SHAKESPEARE: King Lear. 3. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O Lord. Dragged down the weary, winding road To feel the stress and the strain Of the wind and the reeling main, Whose roar Would remind them forever more Of their native forests they should not see again. LONGFELLOW: The Building of the Ship. Let us study the comparisons in these quotations. We notice about them, first, that they are not literal. In reality a hare is not like a shadow (1), nor a maiden like a barge (4). In each comparison the things compared seem, at first glance, strangely coupled, because they belong to quite different classes. But, on further study, they reveal, in spite of their differences, some point of likeness, which brings them together. The shadow cast by a cloud is like a hare in the silence and swiftness of its movement. The beautiful young woman, on the eve of her wedding-day, was about to begin a new life, just as the graceful, newly-built ship on the shore was waiting to begin its career on the sea. These are all figurative comparisons. They are to be interpreted not simply by our matter-of-fact reason, but by our imagination. And our interpretation of them depends on our clear recognition of the point of likeness in the two things compared. Until we have had considerable experience in the study of literature, it is well for us to state accurately the meaning of the figurative comparison, that we may not fall into the bad habit of reading vaguely. Figures of comparison that contain some word indicating comparison (as, like, resemble, etc.) are called Similes. We find similes in the quotations numbered 1, 3, 4. Explain the |