their original meaning are now literal in a sense once figurative. Thus, we speak of an edifying discourse, but no longer of "edifying a cathedral;" of spiritual ardor, but not of the "ardor of a fire;" of an acute mind, but not of an "acute razor;" of philosophical speculation, but not of "speculation in those eyes; "1 of the levity of a conversation, but not of the "levity of cork." "Thinkest thou," asks Carlyle, "there were no poets till Dan Chaucer? No heart burning with a thought, which it could not hold, and had no word for; and needed to shape and coin a word what thou callest a metaphor, trope, or the like? For every word we have, there was such a man and poet. for, The coldest word was once a glowing new metaphor, and bold questionable originality. Thy very ATTENTION, does it not mean an attentio, a STRETCHING-TO?' Fancy that act of the mind, which all were conscious of, which none had yet named, — when this new 'poet' first felt bound and driven to name it! His questionable originality, and new glowing metaphor, was found adoptable, intelligible; and remains our name for it to this day."" literal and Numerous words are still used in both a literal and a figurative meaning. Such are those originally applied to objects of the senses, and subsequently Words at once extended to mental phenomena. Minds and figurative. mirrors alike reflect; there are sources of information as well as of rivers, flights of fancy as well as of birds; we launch new projects as well as new vessels; we store knowledge as well as merchandise; we sound the depths of grief as well as of water. We speak of "a hard lot," "soft manners," "a harsh temper," "a sweet disposition," "a sharp tongue," "a light heart," "a heavy sorrow," "a quick mind," "a white soul," "stormy passions." Some words have been used so often in the same figure that the figure has lost its force; but, if the words retain 1 Macbeth, iii. 4. 2 Carlyle: Past and Present, book ii. chap. xvii. their literal meaning, the figure may, in the hands of a skilful writer, become as fresh as ever. For example: "His diction is flowing and harmonious, and the 'flowing' may be said of it advisedly, because it always finds its own level.” 1 "To convince Carp of his mistake, so that he would have to eat his own words with a good deal of indigestion, would be an agreeable accident of triumphant authorship." 2 "2 A word that still exists in both a literal and a figurative sense should be used in a manner consistent with both meanings, whenever both meanings are likely to be suggested. One may "throw light" on obscurities but not unravel them, "unravel" perplexities but not throw light on them. Knowledge may be "drawn from" or "derived from" sources of information, but not based on or repeated from them. "Our language," says Bain, "has many combinations of words, indifferent as regards the metaphor, but fixed by use, and therefore not to be departed from. We say 'use or employ means,' and 'take steps,' but not use steps. One may acquire knowledge, take degrees, contract habits, lay up treasure, obtain rewards, win prizes, gain celebrity, arrive at honours, conduct affairs, espouse a side, interpose authority, pursue a course, turn to account, serve for a warning, bear no malice, profess principles, cultivate acquaintance, pass over in silence; all which expressions owe their suitability, not to the original sense of the words, but to the established usages of the language." 8 In another class of the tropes which invigorate expression, a part is put for the whole, a species for the genus, Synecdoche an individual for the species, the abstract for the concrete, or vice versa, - the figure in each of these cases being that which is called in the old books and metonymy. 1 Mrs. Browning: Letters to Richard Hengist Horne, letter xlii. 2 George Eliot : Middlemarch, book iv. chap. xlii. 8 Alexander Bain: English Composition and Rhetoric, part i. chap. i. 2 synecdoche:1 or the cause is put for the effect, the sign for the thing signified, an adjunct for the principal, an instrument for the agent, or vice versa, - the figure in each of these cases being called metonymy. The distinction between synecdoche and metonymy still lingers in some school-rooms; but it is obviously of no practical value, for the force of tropes belonging to either class lies in the fact that they single out a quality of the object, or a circumstance connected with it, and fix the attention upon that. The quality or the circumstance thus emphasized should, of course, be the real centre of interest. Familiar examples are: The bench, the bar, the pulpit, for "the judges on the bench," "the lawyers within the bar," "the clergymen in the pulpit; horse and foot for "soldiers on horseback and on foot; " red tape for "that which uses red tape;" "twenty sail in the offing" for "twenty vessels with sails; ""The pen is mightier than the sword "8 for "The instruments of peace are mightier than those of war;' "Her commerce whitens every sea; "He was all impatience; Up goes my grave impudence; "He keeps a good table;" "To be young was very Heaven; "5 "The fortress was weakness itself; "a Daniel come to judgement; "6"some village Hampden; "7 "a carpet-bag senator;" "Go up, thou bald head;"8 "bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." 66 "4 The most common and, generally speaking, the most serviceable of tropes is the SIMILE or METAPHOR. The 1 From σúv, together with, and éxdéxoμai, take or understand in a certain sense. 2 From μerá, implying change, and ovoμa, name. 8 Bulwer (Lytton): Richelieu, act ii. scene ii. • The Tatler, No. 32. 5 Wordsworth: The Prelude, book xi. Shakspere: The Merchant of Venice, act iv. scene i. 7 Gray: Elegy written in a Country Churchyard. 82 Kings ii. 23. • Genesis xlii. 38. Similes and two may be considered as one, since they differ only in form. The simile affirms that one object or act is like another; the metaphor calls one by the metaphors. name of the other: that is to say, the simile expresses distinctly what the metaphor implies. Every simile can, accordingly, be condensed into a metaphor, and every metaphor can be expanded into a simile. Lear's metaphor, "Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend," 1— if changed to "Ingratitude, thou fiend (or, thou who art like a fiend) with heart like marble," becomes a simile. The simile affirms a resemblance between the heart and marble; the metaphor does nothing more, for the assertion that the heart is marble is a rhetorical exaggeration which deceives nobody. Tennyson's metaphor, – "Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move," 2 is easily changed to a simile that says the same thing in tamer language: "Experience, in its relation to the unknown fu ture, is like an arch in its relation to the yet unvisited world beyond it." Reason for the superiority of All writers agree that, other things being equal, the metaphor is more forcible than the simile; but opinions differ as to the true explanation of this fact. metaphors to According to Whately, who adopts the idea similes. from Aristotle, the superiority of the metaphor is ascribable to the fact that "all men are more gratified at catching the Resemblance for themselves, than at having it pointed out to them;"3 according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, "the great economy it achieves will seem the 1 Shakspere: King Lear, act i. scene iv. 2 Tennyson: Ulysses. 8 Whately: Elements of Rhetoric, part iii. chap. ii. sect. iii. more probable cause:"1 but neither explanation is altogether satisfactory. The truth seems to be that the metaphor, though shorter than the simile, does not achieve a "great economy" in mental effort. It usually demands more mental effort, but it enables us to make the effort with greater ease. We are "gratified," but we are also stimulated. A study of the metaphors in the following passages will show that they could not be changed into similes without loss of force: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." 2 "A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off." "To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle "Dead scandals form good subjects for dissection." "In civilized society, law is the chimney through which all that smoke discharges itself that used to circulate through the whole house, and put every one's eyes out; no wonder, therefore, that the vent itself should sometimes get a little sooty."7 "The academical establishments of some parts of Europe are not without their use to the historian of the human mind. Immovably moored to the same station by the strength of their cables and the weight of their anchors, they enable him to measure the rapidity of the current by which the rest of the world is borne along." 8 1 Spencer: The Philosophy of Style. 2 Ezekiel xviii. 2. 8 Shakspere: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii. scene iv. 4 Ibid. Much Ado About Nothing, act ii. scene i. 5 Ibid. Richard II., act i. scene iii. : Byron Don Juan, canto i. stanza xxxi. Scott: Guy Mannering, vol. ii. chap. x. * Dugald Stewart. Quoted in The Atlantic Monthly, November, 1883, p. 686 (note). |