In last week’s column we started discussing
SCHEMES as the second broad class of the English figures of speech. Consisting of four groups, namely
(1) structures of balance,
(2) changes in word order,
(3) omissions, and
(4) repetitions, schemes artfully deviate from the usual ways we expect to see written or hear spoken words.
We have already taken up and provided examples of
(1) structures of balance, which include
(a) parallelism,
(b) isocolon,
(c) tricolon,
(d) antithesis, and
(e) climax;
(2) changes in word order, the most common of which are the
(a) anastrophe,
(b) parenthesis, and
(b) apposition; and
(3) omissions, among which are the
(a) ellipsis,
(b) asyndeton,
(d) brachylogia, and
(e) polysyndeton.
The fourth group of schemes,
repetitions, provide not only emphasis but artfully and purposively reaarange words for rhythm and easier retention. Their 10 most common forms are
(a) alliteration,
(b) assonance,
(c) polyptoton,
(d) antanaclasis,
(e) anaphora,
(f) epistrophe,
(g) epanalepsis,
(h) anadiplosis,
(i) antimetabole, and
(j) chiasmus.
We already took up and examples of
alliteration and
assonance in last week’s column, so we will now do the same for the remaining eight forms of repetitions.
The
polyptoton repeats words derived from the same root, as in these lines of verse:
“Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances, /Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; /Let there bechance him pitiful mischances, /To make him moan but pity not his moans” (
The Rape of Lucrece, Shakespeare)
The
antanaclasis repeats a word in two different senses:
“But lest I should be condemned of introducing license, when I oppose licensing” (
Areopagitica, John Milton).
The
anaphora repeats the same word or group words at the beginning of successive clauses:
“Some measure comely tread, /Some knotted riddles tell, /Some poems smoothly read” (Thomas Campion, English poet).
The
epistrophe repeats the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses:
“I’ll have my bond! Speak not against my bond! /I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond” (
Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare).
The
epanalepsis repeats at the end of the clause rthe same words used at the beginning of the clause:
“Weep no more, woeful shepherds weep no more, /For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, /Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor /So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed” (
Lycidas, John Milton).
The
anadiplosis repeats the last word or one clause at the beginning of the following clause:
“When I give I give myself. The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose” (
Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman).
The
antimetabole repeats words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order:
“Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” (
Meditation XVII, John Donne).
Lastly,
chiasmus repeats grammatical structures in reverse order in successive phrases or clauses:
“Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight” (
Hamlet, Shakespeare).
Schemes, along with
tropes, are true pleasures of the language and of being human, but even as we savor them, we should not completely forget that they do not necessarily vouch for the logical correctness of what they say. At their worst, they could be vexations or assaults to the spirit. At their best, like the best of all the other forms of rhetoric, they are flowers and ornaments cultivated to a fine art, and, to quote a line of verse by the great English poet John Keats, are
“a thing of beauty and a joy forever.”--------------------
A Happy, Prosperous, and Healthful New Year to All My Readers!Read this essay online in
The Manila Times: “Schemes as fancier forms of wordplay - 2”This essay, 2079th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the January 6, 2022 Internet edition of The Manila Times,
© 2022 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. It is part of a condensed version of two expositions totaling 1,641 words, “Deeper Devices for Rhetoric” and “More Schemes and Wordplay,” that first appeared in the author's “English Plain and Simple” column in The Manila Times
and that later formed part of his book English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today's Global Language
(Manila Times Publishing Corp., first edition 2004, and second updated edition 2008). All rights reserved.(Next week:
Proper use of “there was/were” anticipatory causes) January 13, 2022
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
