Epigrams - раздел Образование, PART I INTRODUCTION An Epigram Is A Stylistic Device Akin To A Proverb, The Only Difference Being...
An epigram is a stylistic device akin to a proverb, the only difference being that epigrams are coined by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are the coinage of the people. In other words, we are always aware of the parentage of an epigram and therefore, when using one, we usually make a reference to its author.
Epigrams are terse, witty, pointed statements, showing the ingenious turn of mind of the originator. They always have a literary-bookish air about them that distinguishes them from proverbs. Epigrams possess a great degree of independence and therefore, if taken out of the context, will retain the wholeness of the idea they express. They have a generalizing function and are self-sufficient. The most characteristic feature of an epigram is that the sentence gets accepted as a word-combination and often becomes part of the language as a whole. Like proverbs, epigrams can be expanded to apply to abstract notions (thus embodying different spheres of application). Brevity is the essential quality of the epigram. A. Chekhov once said that brevity is the sister of talent; 'Brevity is the soul of the wit' holds true of any epigram.
Epigrams are often confused with aphorisms and paradoxes. It is difficult to draw a demarcation line between them, the distinction being very subtle. Real epigrams are true to fact and that is why they win general recognition and acceptance.
Let us turn to examples. Somerset Maugham in "The Razor's Edge" says:
"Art is triumphant when it can use convention as an instrument of its own;;purpose."
This statement is interesting from more than one point of view. It shows the ingenious turn of mind of the writer, it gives an indirect definition of art as Maugham understands it, it is complete in itself even if taken out of the context. But still this sentence is not a model epigram because it lacks one essential quality, viz. brevity. It is too long and therefore cannot function in speech as a ready-made language unit. Besides, it lacks other features which are inherent in epigrams and make them similar to proverbs, i.e. rhythm, alliteration and often rhyme. It cannot be expanded to other spheres of life, it does Hot generalize.
Compare this sentence with the following used by the same author in the same novel.
"A God that can be understood is no God."
This sentence seems to meet all the necessary requirements of the epigram: it is brief, generalizing, witty and can be expanded in its application. The same applies to Byron's
"...in the days of old men made manners; Manners now ftiake men" ("Don Juan")
or Keats's
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."
Writers who seek aesthetic precision use the epigram abundantly; others use it to characterize the hero of their work. Somerset Maugham is particularly fond of it and many of his novels and stories abound in epigrams. Here are some from "The Painted Veil."
"He that bends shall be made straight."
"Failure is the foundation of success and success is the lurking
place of failure..."
"Mighty is he who conquers himself."
There are utterances which in form are epigrammatic—these are verses and in particular definite kinds of verses. The last two lines of a sonnet are called epigrammatic because, according to the semantic structure of this form of verse, they sum up and synthesize what has been said before. The heroic couplet, a special compositional form of verse, is also a suitable medium for epigrams, for instance:
"To observations which ourselves, we make, We grow more partial for th' observer's sake."
(Alexander Pope)
There are special dictionaries which are called "Dictionaries of Quotations." These, in fact, are mostly dictionaries of epigrams. What is worth quoting must always contain some degree of the generalizing quality and if it comes from a work of poetry will have metre (and sometimes rhyme). That is why the works of Shakespeare, Pope, Byron and many other great English poets are said to be full of epigrammatic statements.
The epigram is, in fact, a supra-phrasal unit in sense, though not in structure (see p. 194). " "
Poetry is epigrammatic in essence. It always strives for brevity of expression, leaving to the mind of the reader the pleasure of amplifying the idea. Byron's
"The drying up a single tear has more
Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore,"
is a strongly worded epigram, which impresses the* reader with its generalizing truth. It may be regarded as a supra-phrasal unit inasmuch as it is semantically connected with the preceding lines and at the same time enjoys a considerable degree of independence. The inner quality of any sentence to which the rank of epigram, in the generic sense of the term, can be attributed, is that the particularity of the event is replaced by a timeless non-particularity.1
Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care oi themselves,
Quotations
Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Emerson
A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech and the like used by way of authority, illustration, proof or as a basis for further speculation on the matter in hand.
By repeating a passage in a new environment, we attach to the utterance an importance it might not have had in the context whence it was taken. Moreover, we give it the status, temporary though it may be, of a stable language unit. What is quoted must be worth quoting, since a quotation will inevitably acquire some degree of generalization. If repeated frequently, it may be recognized as an epigram, if, of course, it has at least some of the linguistic properties of the latter.
Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inverted commas (" "), dashes (—), italics or other graphical means.
They are mostly used accompanied by a reference to the author of the quotation, unless he is well known to the reader or audience. The reference is made either in the text or in a foot-note and assumes various forms, as, for instance:
"as (so and so) has it"; "(So and so) once said that"...; "Here we quote (so and so)" or in the manner the reference to Emerson has been made in the epigraph to this chapter.
A quotation is the exact reproduction of an actual utterance made by a certain author. The work containing the utterance quoted must have been published or at least spoken in public; for quotations are echoes of somebody else's words.
Utterances, when quoted, undergo a peculiar and subtle change. They are rank-and-file members of the text they belong to, merging with other sentences in this text in the most natural and organic wayf bearing some part of the general sense the text as a whole embodies; yet, when they are quoted,, their significance is heightened and they become different from other parts of the text. Once quoted, they are no longer rank-and-file units. If they are used to back up the idea expressed in the new text, they become "parent sentences" with the corresponding authority and respect and acquire a symbolizing function; in short, they not infrequently become epigrams, for example, Hamlet's "To be or not to be!" X
A quotation is always4 set against the other sentences in the text by its greater volume of sense and significance. This singles it out, particularly if it is frequently repeated", as any utterance worth committing to memory generally is. The use of quotationsTpresupposes a good knowledge of the past experience of the nation, its literature and culture.1 The stylistic value of a quotation lies mainly in the fact that it comprises two meanings: the primary meaning, the one which it has in its original surroundings, and the applicative meaning, i.e. the one which it acquires in the new context.
1 A quotation from Byron's "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" will be apt as a comment here: "With just enough of learning to misquote."
Quotations, unlike epigrams, need not necessarily be short. A whole paragraph or a long passage may be quoted if it suits the purpose. It is to be noted, however, that sometimes in spite of the fact that the exact wording is used, a quotation in a new environment may assume a new shade of meaning, a shade necessary or sought by the quoter, but not intended by the writer of the original work.
Here we give a few examples of the use of quotations.
"Socrates said, our only knowledge was
"To know that nothing could be known" a pleasant
Science enough, which levels to an ass
Each man of Wisdom, future, past or present.
Newton (that proverb of the mind) alas!
Declared with all his grand discoveries recent
That he himself felt only "like a youth
Picking up shells by the great ocean—Truth." (Byron)
"Ecclesiastes said, "that all is vanity"—* Most modern preachers say the same, or show it
By their examples of the Christianity..," (Byron)
Quotations are used as a stylistic device, as is seen from these exam-j pies, with the aim of expanding the meaning of the sentence quoted and setting two meanings one against the other, thus modifying the original meaning. In this quality they are used mostly in the belles-lettres style. Quotations used in other styles of speech allow no modifications of meaning, unless actual distortion of form and meaning is the aim of the quoter.
Quotations are also used in epigraphs. The quotation in this case possesses great associative power and calls forth much connotative meaning,
Все темы данного раздела:
I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND Stylistics
Stylistics, sometimes called lingvo-stylistics, is a branch of general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent
T^jire treated are the main distinctive features of individual style.
The treatment of the selected elements brings up the problem of the norm. The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized o
EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD)
In linguistics there are different terms to den _by which utterances are foreground, i.e. made more conspicuous, more "effective and therefore imparting some additional information. They are c
GENERAL NOTES ON FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF LANGUAGE
We have defined the object,of linguo-stylistics as the study of the nature, functions and structure^ SDs and EMs, on the one hand, and the study of the functional styles, on the other. In section 2
The gap between the spoken and written varieties of language, wider
narrower at different periods in the development of the literary lan-
guage, will always remain apparent due to the difference in circumstances in which the two ar
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LITERARY (STANDARD) LANGUAGE
Up till now we have done little more than mention the literary (standard) language, which is one of the most important notions in stylistics and general linguistics. It is now necessary to elucida
MEANING FROM A STYLISTIC POINT OF VIEW
Stylistics is a domain where meaning assumes paramount importance.. This is so because the term 'meaning' is applied not only to words, word-combinations, sentences but also to the manner of expres
I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Like any linguistic issue the classification of the vocabulary here suggested is for purely stylistic purposes. This is important for the course in as much as some SDs are based on the interplay of
Common CoUo^uiaL Vocabulary
-Professionalisms i special Colloquial Vocabulary (non-Literary)
of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral
B) Poetic and Highly Literary Words
Poetic words form a rather insignificant layer of the special literary vocabulary. They are mostly archaic or very rarely used highly literary words which aim at producing an elevated effect. They
C) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words
The word-stock of a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some wo
D) Barbarisms and Foreignisms
In the vocabulary of the English language there is a considerable layer of words called barbarisms. These are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English lang
A) Slang
There is hardly any other term that is as ambiguous and obscure as the term slang. Slang seems to mean everything that is below the standard of usage of present-day English.
Much has been
B) Jargonisms
In the non-literary vocabulary of the English language there is a group of words that are called jargonisms. Jargon is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language an
C) Professionalisms
H Professionalisms, as the term itself signifies, are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. They commonly desi
D) Dialectal words
This group of words is obviously opposed to the other groups of the non-literary English vocabulary and therefore its stylistic, functions can be more or less clearly defined. Dialectal words are
E) Vulgar words or vulgarisms
The term vulgarism, as used to single out a definite group of words of non-standard English, is rather misleading. The ambiguity of the term apparently proceeds from the etymology of the word. Vulg
GENERAL NOTES
The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which, in a certain type of communication, viz. belles-lettres,
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by things (machines or taols, etc), by people (sighing, laughter, patter
Alliteration
Apt Alliteration's Artful Aid. Charles Churchill
Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in
A. INTENTIONAL MIXING OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECT OF WORDS
Heterogeneity of the component parts of the utterance is the basis for a stylistic device called b a th о s. Unrelated elements are brought together as if they denoted things equal in rank or belon
B. INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING
Words in context, as has been pointed out, may acquire additional lexical meanings not fixed in dictionaries, what we have called contextual meanings. The latter may sometimes deviate from the
INTERACTION OF PRIMARY DICTIONARY AND CONTEXTUALLY IMPOSED MEANINGS
The interaction or interplay between the primary dictionary meaning (the meaning which is registered in the language code as an easily recognized sign for an abstract notion designating a certain
Metaphor
The term 'metaphor', as the etymology of the word reveals, means transference of some quality from one object to another. From the times of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, the term has been known
Metonymy
Metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on identification, but on some kind of association connecting
INTERACTION OF PRIMARY AND DERIVATIVE LOGICAL MEANINGS Stylistic Devices Based on Polysemantic Effect, Zeugma and Pun
As is known, the word is, of all language units, the most sensitive to change; its meaning gradually develops and as a result of this develop-"' ment new meanings appear alongside the primary
INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS
The general notions concerning emotiveness have been set out in part I, § 6—"Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View" (p. 57). However, some additional information is necessary for a bette
Interjections and Exclamatory Words
Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings ^strongly and which may be said to exist in language as coriyeritional symbols of human emotions/The role of interjections in creating em
The Epithet
From the strongest means of displaying the writer's or speaker's emotionaj. attitude to his communication, we now pass to a weaker but still forceful, means — the ep i th e t. .The epithet is subtl
Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, for example:
'low sk
Antonomasia
We have already pointed out the peculiarities of nominal meaning. The interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word is call-ed antonomasia. As in other stylistic devices based on the
C. INTENSIFICATION OF A CERTAIN FEATURE OF A THING OR PHENOMENON
In order to understand the linguistic nature of the SDs of this group it is necessary to clear 4up some problems, so far untouched, of d e f i n i-t i о п as a philosophical category, Any definitio
Periphrasis
Periphrasis is a device which, according to Webster's dictionary, denotes the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter and plainer form of expression. It is also called circumlocuti
Euphemism
There is a variety of periphrasis which we shall call euphemistic.
Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acc
Hyperbole
Another SD which also has the function of intensifying one certain property of the object described is h у p e r b о I e. It can be defined as a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a featur
D. PECULIAR USE OF SET EXPRESSIONS
In language studies there are two very clearly-marked tendencies that the student should never lose sight of, particularly when dealing with the problem of word-combination. They are 1) the analyti
The Cliche
A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. As Random House Dictionary has it, "a cliche ... has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long over-us
Proverbs and Sayings
Proverbs and sayings are facts of language. They are collected in dictionaries. There are special dictionaries of proverbs and sayings. It is impossible to arrange proverbs and sayings in a form th
Allusions
An allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary, mythological, biblical fact or to "a fact of'everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The us
Decomposition of Set Phrases
Linguistic fusions are set phrases, the meaning of which is understood only from the combination as a whole, as to pull a person's leg or to have something at one's finger tips. The meaning of the
A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Within the language-as-a-system there establish themselves certain [definite types of relations between words, word-combinations, sentences I and also between larger spans of utterances. The branch
B. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF SPANS OF UTTERANCE LARGER THAN THE SENTENCE
In recent years a new theory concerning the inner relations between context and form within the sentence has appeared. This theory, elaborated by S. Harris, N. Chomsky, M. Postal and others, is ca
Supra-Phrasal Units
The term supra-phrasal unit (SPU) is used to denote a larger unit than a sentence. It generally comprises a number of sentences interdependent structurally (usually by means of pronouns, connective
The Paragraph
A p a r a g r a p h is a graphical term used to name a group of sentences marked off by indentation at the beginning and a break in the line at the end. But this graphical term has come to mean a
C. COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT
The structural syntactical aspect is sometimes regarded as the crucial issue in stylistic analysis, although the peculiarities of syntactical arrangement are not so conspicuous as the lexical and
Stylistic Inversion
W о r d-o r d e r is a crucial syntactical problem in many languages. In English it has peculiarities which have been caused by the concrete and specific way the language has developed. O. Jesperse
Detached Construction
a sentence by some specific
consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independ-
ent of Ще^ш^1У^^ parts of structures are called lie t ached. They seem_tCLjda
Parallel Construction
Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro-structures dealt with earlier, viz. the SPU and the paragraph. The necessary condition in par
Repetition
It has already been pointed out that r ej^e ti t i о п is1 an expressive means of language used when the speaker is imder the stress of strong ""ей^зпг-Jt^^ as in the following "pas
Enumeration
E n и т е г a tion is a stylistic device by which separate things, objects, phenomena, properties, actions are named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which, being syntactically
Suspense
S usp eji se i s a comppsitionjl device which consists in arranging the fffaFEe? of a commjuhTcation in such a way that the less important, "descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed af the b
Antithesis
In order to characterize a thing or phenomenon from a specific point of view, it may be necessary not to find points of resemblance or association between it and some other thing or phenomenon, bu
Asyndeton
Asyndeton, that is, connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences without any formal sign, becomes a stylistic device if there is a deliberate omission of the connective where it is g
Polysyndeton
Polysyndeton is the stylistic device of connecting sentences, or phrases, or syntagms, or words'by using connectives (mostly conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part, as in:
The Gap- Sentence Link
There is a peculiar type of connection of sentences which for want of a term we shall call the g ap-s en fence link (GSL). The connection is not immediately apparent and it requires a certain ment
E. PARTICULAR USE OF COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS
We have already pointed out some of the constructions which bear an imprint of emotion in the very arrangement of the words, whether they are neutral or stylistically coloured (see" p. 39). Su
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation, arising out of the situation. We mentioned this .peculiar feature of the spoken language when we characterized its essential qualities and properti
Question-in-the-Narrative
Questions, being both structurally and semantically one of the types of sentences, are asked by one person and e'xpected to be answered by another. This is the main, and the most characteristic pro
Represented Speech
There are three ways of reproducing actual speech: a) repetition of the exact utterance as it was spoken (direct speech), b) conversion of the exact utterance into the relater'smode of expression
A) Uttered Represented Speech
Uttered represented speech demands that the tense should be switched from present to past and that the personal pronouns should be changed from 1st and 2nd person to 3rd person as in indirect speec
B) Unuttered or Inner Represented Speech
As has often been pointed out, language has two functions: the communicative and the expressive. The communicative function serves to convey one's thoughts, volitions, emotions and orders to the m
Rhetorical Questions
The rhetorical q и e^s t i о n Is a special syntactical stylistic j device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical mean-j ing of the interrogative sentence. In other words, the q
Litotes
Litotes is a stylistic device consisting of a peculiar use of negative constructions. The negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish a positive feature in a person or thing. This positive
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
We have already mentioned the problem of what is known as / и n c-tional styles (FS) of language (see p. 32—35), but only to show that FSs should be distinguished from varieties of language. The ma
A. THE BELLES-LETTRES STYLE
We have already pointed out that the belles-lettres style is a generic term for three substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These thr
LANGUAGE OF POETRY
The first substyle we shall consider is v e r s e. Its first differentiating property is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhyt
Metre and Line
It is customary to begin the exposition of the theory of English versification with the statement that "...there is no established principle of English versification/'Eut this statement may a
The Stanza
We have defined rhythm as more or less regular alternations of similar units. Of the units of verse rhythm the following have been named: the syllable, the foot, the line and finally the stanza.
Free Verse and Accented Verse
Verse remains classical if it retains its metrical scheme.
There are, however, types of verse which are not classical. The one most popular is what is called "vers libre" which i
B) Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse
The phonetic features of the language of poetry constitute what we have called its external aspect. These features immediately strike the ear and the eye and therefore are easily discernible; but t
EMOTIVE PROSE
The substyle of emotive prose has the same common features as have been pointed out for the belles-lettres style in general; but all these features are correlated differently in emotive prose. The
LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA
The third subdivision of the belles-lettres style is the language of plays. The first thing to be said about the parameters of this variety of belles-lettres is that, unlike poetry, which, except f
B. PUBLICISTS STYLE
The publicist i*c s tу I e of language became discernible as a separate style in the middle of the 18th century. It also falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unli
ORATORY AND SPEECHES
The oratorical s ty I e of language is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. It has already been pointed out that persuasion is the most obvious purpose of oratory.
"Oratoric
THE ESSAY
As a separate form of English literature the essay dates from the close of the 16th century. The name appears to have become common on the publication of Montaigne's "Essays", a literary
JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES
Irrespective of the character of the magazine and the divergence of subject matter—whether it is political, literary, popular-scientific or satirical, all the already mentioned features of publicis
C. NEWSPAPER STYLE
N e w s paper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms.
English newspaper writing dat
BRIEF NEWS ITEMS
The principal function of a b r i e f news i te т is to inform the reader. It states facts without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most part
ADVERTISEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Advertisements made their way into the British press at an early stage of its development, i.e. in the micHTth century. So they are almost as old as newspapers themselves.
The principal fu
THE HEADLINE
The headline (the title given to a news item or an article) is a dependent form of newspaper writing. It is in fact a part of a larger whole. The specific functional and linguistic traits of the he
THE EDITORIAL
The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the
D. SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE
The language of science is governed by the aim of the functional style of scientific prose, which is to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, devel
E. THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
There is one more style of language within the field of standard literary English which has become singled out, and that is the s ty le of official d о с и т е п t s, or "officialese", a
FINAL REMARKS
This brief outline of the most characteristic features of the five language styles and their variants will show that out of the number of features which are easily discernible in each of the styl
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