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It is a function of poetry to please us by objects of surpassing grandeur or loveliness, taken from nature and from humanity. Accordingly, it raises actual things by the force of elevated description, and by all the arts of admissible exaggeration. On account of this feature of the poetic art, Plato banished poets from his Republic, and Bentham styled poetry "misrepresentation in verse."

As a familiar instance, we may quote from Milton,

"So frowned the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown."

The hyperboles of Shakespeare are in keeping with the force and profusion of his genius. They minister to the intensity of passion in his characters. See, as an example, the soliloquy of Macbeth before the murder, Act I., Scene 7.

Exaggeration is largely resorted to for comic effect. As the ludicrous requires that a certain object should be depreciated in some mode or other, this is not unfrequently effected by gross exaggeration. Voltaire, speaking of our language, said "The English gain two hours a day by clipping words."

47. Hyperbole must be kept within the limits imposed upon the bolder figures. All such figures (1) should have regard to what the hearer is disposed to admit in the way of departure from the known reality, (2) should be sparingly used, and (3) should not be trite.

(1.) The feelings of those addressed must be sufficiently strong to come up to the hyperbolical expression. Few were prepared, in this respect, for Dryden's couplet on Charles II. :— "The star that at your birth shone out so bright, It stained the duller sun's meridian light."

The hyperboles of love are admissible only with the lover. (2.) A continued strain of Hyperboles, as in the Ossianic poems, is condemned as too exhausting.

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(3.) Originality is indispensable to hyperbole. exaggeration is easy; the kind that yields pleasurable surprise must have novelty, grandeur, or point, to recommend it. Plato

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compared the Idea of Good to the Sun. Horace speaks of a man "striking the stars with his sublime head."

Burke's famous passage on Marie Antoinette is a hyperbole, rendered impressive by chivalrous devotion and by originality in the language.

The following example is from Shelley :—

"There was such silence through the host, as when
An earthquake, trampling on some populous town,
Has crushed ten thousand with one tread, and men
Expect the second."

48. What is called putting an Extreme Case, is an important device of exaggeration for the purpose of illustrating truth.

We reproach a man for neglecting some common duty, by putting it to him what would be the consequences if every one were to be equally remiss.

To show the influence of the mind on the body, it is usual to quote the extreme instances of persons dying of a broken heart, or killed by a shock of grief or of joy.

Xenophanes illustrates the origin of the pagan gods, by the remark that, if oxen or lions were to become religious, they would in like manner provide for themselves gods of their own shape and character.

CLIMAX.

49. Climax is the arranging of the particulars of a period, or other portion of discourse, so as to rise in strength to the last.

The common example of this figure is from the Oration of Cicero against Verres. The orator, wishing to raise the indignation of the audience to the highest pitch, refrained from specifying the crime of the accused at once, and led the way up to it by successive steps: "It is an outrage to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is an atrocious crime; to put him to death is almost a parricide; but to Crucify him—what shall I call it?"

Climax owes its effect to the peculiar constitution of the mind. A slight stimulus is at first sufficient to afford gratification; as this palls, we must have something stronger; and so by successive steps the highest degree of strength is called for, and the greatest effect secured.

The principle of rising in this way by successive degrees applies to the sentence or period, to the paragraph, and to the entire composition. A play, or a romance, increases in excitement by degrees to the final catastrophe; and so ought an oration.

We do not here particularly inquire what constitutes degrees of strength or impressiveness. Whatever be the reasons why one expression, circumstance, or situation, stirs up a more lively feeling than another, the less lively should precede the stronger. It has been seen that the special or concrete is more impressive than the general or abstract. On this ground, Campbell considers that the following passage in the Song of Solomon constitutes a climax: "For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell." The description commences with the generalities, “winter,” the season of "rain; " proceeds to specialize the "flowers," the "birds; and comes at last to individuals, "the turtle," "the fig-tree," and "the vine.”

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The Climax is exemplified in the Appendix, Extracts I., IV., &c.

Burke's peroration in the impeachment of Warren Hastings, seems intended for a climax, but the gradation is scarcely apparent. "I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has abused (1). I impeach him in the name of our holy religion, which he has disgraced (2). I impeach him in the name of the English constitution, which he has violated and broken (3). I impeach him in the name of the Indian millions, whom he has sacrificed to injustice (4).

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I impeach him by the name and by the best rights of human nature, which he has stabbed to the heart (5)." The third sentence should have been second; between the third and fourth there would then have been a natural connection. The fourth derives its strength from speciality, while the fifth can merit the highest place only by the width of its comprehension, which redeems the abstractness of the subject, "the rights of human nature."

Any great departure from the order of ascending strength is called an Anti-climax.

INTERROGATION.

50. The Interrogation aims at conveying an opinion more strongly by giving it the form of a question. "Hath he said it, and shall he not do it?" affirms strongly that what is said will be done.

We may be listless while one is merely making declarations, but on being appealed to by a question we are obliged to attend.

The commencement of Cicero's First Oration against Catij line is considered a striking and well-timed employment of this figure. Demosthenes exemplifies it in his passages of denunciation in the Philippics, and in the Speech on the Crown. 66 Will you continue to go about to each other and ask, What's the news? Can anything be more new than that a man from Macedonia should subjugate Greece? Is Philip dead? No indeed; but he is ill. What matters it to you? To you, who, if he were to come to grief, would quickly get yourselves another Philip?"

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Chatham, in his grandest outburst, demands, "Who is the has dared to authorize and associate to our arms the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savage?" Pope concludes his passage in Addison :—

"Who would not laugh, if such a man there be?

Who would not weep, if Atticus were he?"

It will be seen from these examples that the negative interrogation affirms, and the positive denies.

A certain pitch of excitement is requisite to justify the boldness of this figure.

EXCLAMATION.

51. When from sudden and intense emotion, we give utterance to some abrupt, inverted, or elliptical expression, we are said to use an Exclamation; as "bravo," "dreadful," "the fellow," "what a pity!"

To comply with the full forms of ordinary speech demands a certain coolness and deliberation, the opposite of a state of sudden excitement.

The Interjection is a species of exclamation. Most interjections have no meaning except as indicating sudden emotion; oh, bah, hurrah. The cheers, hisses, and groans called forth by a public speaker are of this nature.

The Exclamation proper usually consists of words with meaning. Sometimes a part of the complete sentence is dropped: "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" "Oh, the riches both of the goodness and the mercy of God!" other times, it is the strong expression of a wish, as in Cowper's lines:—

"Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness," &c.

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APOSTROPHE.

52. Apostrophe consists in addressing something absent, as if present; as when an orator invokes some hero of other times, or a preacher appeals to angels and departed saints. It supposes great intensity of emotion.

This figure is often combined with personification. "O death, where is thy sting!" "O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet!"

So in Campbell's apostrophe:—

"Eternal Hope, when yonder spheres began," &c.

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