-
Alliteration
头韵
:
repetition of the same sound
beginning several words in sequence.
*Let us go forth to lead the land we
love.--- J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural
Anacoluthon
破格文体；错格
:
lack
of
grammatical
sequence;
a
change
in
the
grammatical construction
within the same sentence.
*Agreements entered into when one state
of facts exists -- are they to be maintained
regardless of changing conditions?
----J. Diefenbaker
Anadiplo
sis
顶真
:
(
specifically, repetition of
a word that ends one clause at the beginning of
the next.
*Men in great
place are thrice servants: servants of the
sovereign or state; servants of
fame;
and servants of business. Francis Bacon
*Senatus haec intellegit,
consul videt; hic tamen vivit. Vivit? Immo vero
etiam in
senatum venit. Cicero, In
Catilinam
*Aeschines 3.133
Anaphora
回指
,
首语重
复法
:
the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of
successive phrases,
clauses or lines.
*We shall
not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We
shall fight in France, we
shall fight
on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and
growing strength
in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever
the cost may be, we
shall fight on the
beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we
shall fight in the
fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall
never
surrender.---Churchill.
Anastrophe
倒置法
:
transposition of
normal word order; most often found in Latin in
the case of prepositions and the words
they control. Anastrophe is a form of
hyperbaton.
*The
helmsman steered; the ship moved on; yet never a
breeze up blew. Coleridge,
The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner
Antistr
ophe
逆转重复
:
repetition of the same word or phrase
at the end of successive
clauses.
*In 1931, ten years ago,
Japan invaded Manchukuo -- without warning. In
1935, Italy
invaded Ethiopia -- without
warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria --
without
warning. In 1939, Hitler
invaded Czechoslovakia -- without warning. Later
in 1939,
Hitler invaded Poland --
without warning. And now Japan has attacked Malaya
and
Thailand -- and the United States
--without warning. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Antithesis
对立面；
对照；
对仗
:
opposition, or contrast of ideas or
words in a balanced or
parallel
construction.
*The vases of
the classical period are but the reflection of
classical beauty; the vases
of the
archaic period are beauty itself.
Aporia
困惑
< br>:
expression of doubt
(often feigned) by which a speaker appears
uncertain as to what he should think,
say, or do.
*Then the
steward said within himself, 'What shall I do?'
Luke 16
Aposiopesis
< br>话语中断，歇后语
:
a form of
ellipse by which a speaker comes to an
abrupt halt, seemingly overcome by
passion (fear, excitement, etc.) or modesty.
Apostrophe
:
a sudden turn from the general audience
to address a specific group or
person
or personified abstraction absent or present.
*For Brutus, as you know,
was Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods,
how dearly Caesar loved him. Shakespeare, Julius
Caesar
Archaism
:
use of an older or obsolete form.
*Pipit sate upright in her
chair
Some distance from where I was
sitting; T. S. Eliot,
Assonance
:
repetition of the same sound in words
close to each other.
*Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done.
*O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!
Cicero, de consulatu
Asyndeton
:
lack of conjunctions between coordinate
phrases, clauses, or words.
*We shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardships, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival
and the success of liberty. J. F. Kennedy,
Inaugural
*But,
in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow
this
ground. Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
*Demosthenes, On the Crown 200
Brachylogy
:
a general term for abbreviated or
condensed expression, of which
asyndeton and zeugma are types. Ellipse
is often used synonymously. The suppressed
word or phrase can usually be supplied
easily from the surrounding context.
*Aeolus haec contra: Vergil, Aeneid
*Non Cinnae, non Sullae
longa dominatio. Tacitus, Annales I.1
Cacophony
:
harsh joining of sounds.
*We want no parlay with you and your
grisly gang who work your wicked will. W.
Churchill
*O Tite tute Tati
tibi tanta tyranne tulisti! Ennius
Catachresis
:
a
harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond
its strict sphere.
*I
listen vainly, but with thirsty ear. MacArthur,
Farewell Address
*Cynthia
prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis. Propertius
I.1.1
Chiasmus
:
two corresponding pairs arranged not in
parallels (a-b-a-b) but in
inverted
order (a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek letter
chi (X).
*Those gallant men
will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers
always.
MacArthur
*Renown'd for conquest, and in council
skill'd. Addison et pacis ornamenta et
subsidia belli. Cicero, Pro lege
Manilia
*Plato, Republic
494e
Climax
:
arrangement of words, phrases, or
clauses in an order of ascending power.
Often the last emphatic word in one
phrase or clause is repeated as the first emphatic
word of the next.
*One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong
in will
To strive, to seek, to find,
and not to yield. Tennyson, Ulysses
*Nonne hunc in vincula duci, non ad
mortem rapi, non summo supplicio mactari
imperabis? Cicero, In Catilinam
*Facinus est vincere civem
Romanum; scelus verberare; prope parricidium
necare:
quid dicam in crucem tollere?
verbo satis digno tam nefaria res appellari nullo
modo
potest. Cicero, In Verrem
*Demosthenes, On the Crown
179
Euphemism
:
substitution of an agreeable or at
least non-offensive expression for
one
whose plainer meaning might be harsh or
unpleasant.
*When the final
news came, there would be a ring at the front door
-- a wife in this
situation finds
herself staring at the front door as if she no
longer owns it or controls
it--and
outside the door would be a man... come to inform
her that unfortunately
something has
happened out there, and her husband's body now
lies incinerated in the
swamps or the
pines or the palmetto grass,
anyone who
had been around an air base very long (fortunately
Jane had not) realized
was quite an
artful euphemism to describe a human body that now
looked like an
enormous fowl that has
burned up in a stove, burned a blackish brown all
over, greasy
and blistered, fried, in a
word, with not only the entire face and all the
hair and the
ears burned off, not to
mention all the clothing, but also the hands and
feet, with what
remains of the arms and
legs bent at the knees and elbows and burned into
absolutely
rigid angles, burned a
greasy blackish brown like the bursting body
itself, so that this
husband, father,
officer, gentleman, this ornamentum of some
mother's eye, His
Majesty the Baby of
just twenty-odd years back, has been reduced to a
charred hulk
with wings and shanks
sticking out of it. Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff
Hendiadys
:
use of two words connected by a
conjunction, instead of subordinating
one to the other, to express a single
complex idea.
*It sure is
nice and cool today! (for
*I love the Lord, because he hath heard
my voice and my supplications. Psalms 116
*Perfecti oratoris
moderatione et sapientia. Cicero, De oratore
Hypallage
:
(
with another word which it
does not logically qualify. More common in poetry.
*Exegi monumentum aere
perennius
regalique situ pyramidum
altius, Horace, Odes III.30
Hyperbaton
:
separation of words which belong
together, often to emphasize the first
of the separated words or to create a
certain image.
*Speluncam
Dido dux et Troianus eandem Vergil, Aeneid 4.124,
165
Hyperbole
:
exaggeration for emphasis or for
rhetorical effect.
*My
vegetable love should grow
Vaster than
empires, and more slow;
An hundred
years should got to praise
Thine eyes
and on thine forehead gaze;
Two hundred
to adore each breast,
But thirty
thousand to the rest. Andrew Marvell,
Hysteron Proteron
(
often meant to stress the
event which, though later in time, is considered
the more
important.