Chapter 6  Use of Words

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Figure of Speech 3

Hyperbole

 My backpack weighs a ton.  Can you carry something as heavy as a ton?  Let's look at more examples. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I've told you a million times. My belly is cold as if I had swallowed snowballs for pills to cool the veins.   From these examples,  I'm sure you've got the definition of hyperbole.   Hyperbole is a figure of speech testing of exaggerated or extravagant statement used to express a strong feeling or produce a strong impression and not intended to be understood literally.  So hyperbole can also be referred to as overstatement.  Let's enjoy famous lines from British romantic poet Burns.  “Till are the seas gone dry, my dear and rocks melt with the sun, and I will love you still, my dear, while the sands of life shall run.  Have you got any Chinese poems echoing in your mind? 《汉乐府·上邪》中的“山无陵，江水为竭，冬雷震震，夏雨雪，天地合，乃敢与君绝。  Even people are from different countries and cultures, they are likely to use the similar figure of speech to describe their feelings. By using hyperbole, the effect of the action or the emotion is emphasized and thus impressive and dramatic. Now you try, how would you like to describe the following statements by using hyperbole in your daily life.

Understatement

 Opposite to hyperbole, we have understatement which is also known aslitotes, it is a form of expressing an idea by stating its opposite or downplaying its gravity or implications. For example, “it took just a few dollars to build this indoor swimming pool. This piece of work is nothing to be proud of.”  Understatement or litotes refers to the statement which is not strong enough to express the full or true facts or feelings.  Here is the example from Catcher in the Ray by J.D.Salinger. "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." So an option on the brain is always serious in most peoples' eyes, but such operation is described as "isn't very serious". This is the use of understatement.

 There are some words frequently used in understatement. These words include “almost, hardly, kind of, rather, scarcely, something of, sort of ”. for example, he is something of hamlet in politics.   There was a slight disturbance in the soviet union last year, which caused the disintegration of the country. 

Irony

Irony indicates the use of words which are clearly opposite to what it meant, in order to achieve a special effect.

 For example, in the phrase "as rich as a new shorn sheep"; In the sentence"it must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket?

They're almost as wise as the wise men of Gotham.

 In the idioms, we may learn “ as welcome as a storm.  as slender in the middle is a cow in the waist.”

We should note that litotes is a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. That is sometimes seen as a form of understatement and also as a form of irony, but Irony usually expresses a sense of sarcasm. for example, we often say it's not bad. He's no Hercules. She's no beauty.

Euphemism

Euphemism is the substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsh or unpleasant one, as it makes reference to something that is socially sensitive or pejorative by substituting another word, such as to pass away instead of to die; a slow learner instead of a stupid student; a senior citizen instead of an old man.

Oxymoron and paradox 矛盾修辞

What’s oxymoron? Let’s look at some examples.

A wise fool

Victorious defeat

Cruel kindness

 Part is such sweet sorrow.

ore haste, less speed.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

What are the similarities and differences between the two groups of words? 

Oxymoron is the practice of using two apparently opposite terms next to or near one another. It is a statement that initially appears to be contradictory but, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense, a compressed paradox（自相矛盾）. oxymoron and paradox are two types of rhetoric method of contradiction(矛盾修辞法)

  The condensed type(紧缩型) is oxymoron（矛盾修饰法), while the enlarged type (展开型)：paradox（似非而是的隽语，悖论）.

 We may learn some classical examples of paradox from literary works.

https://literarydevices.net/paradox/

·       “I can resist anything but temptation.” – Oscar Wilde LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN

In his short lyric My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold, William Wordsworth remembers the joys of his past and says:

“The child is father of the man…”

This statement has a seemingly incorrect supposition, but when we look deep into its meaning, we see the truth. The poet is saying that the childhood experiences become the basis for all adult occurrences. The childhood of a person shapes his life, and consequently “fathers” or creates the grown-up adult. So, “The child is father of the man.”

The above reading may bring out the question, “Why is paradox or oxymoron used when a message can be conveyed in a straightforward and simple manner?” The answer lies in the nature and purpose of literature. One function of literature is to make the readers enjoy reading. Readers enjoy more when they extract the hiddenmeanings out of the writing rather than something presented to them in an uncomplicated manner. Thus, the chief purpose of a paradox or oxymoron is to give pleasure. Rather, it becomes an integral part of poetic diction. Poets usually make use of paradox to create a remarkable thought or image out of words. Some types of paradox in poetry are meant to communicate a tone of irony to its readers as well as make them think deeper and harder to enjoy the real message of the writing.

Antithesis

Antithesis is a rhetorical term used to refer to an author's use of two contrasting or opposite terms in balanced phrases or clauses for effect. The two terms are set near each other to enhance or highlight the contrast in opposite meaning. In grammatical terms, antithetical statements are parallel structures. Here are some examples:

Man proposes, God disposes."

Toerr is human; to forgive divine."

                              - Alexander Pope

  "it was a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind."

--- the first man walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong

The most well-known example comes from A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."

By using antithesis, usually the two characters are shown as opposites in order to highlight the good qualities of one and the evil qualities of the other.