What metaphors are there in the following lines? "Up springs the lark, Shrill voiced and loud, the messenger of morn ; Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts THOMSON. In the first of the following stanzas, addressed to an embalmed body, there are three nouns and one adjective used by the figure; in the second, two nouns, one adjective, two participles, and one verb. Which are they? Posthumous man, who quit'st thy narrow bed, Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning. "Why should this worthless tegument endure If its undying guest be lost for ever! O, let us keep the soul embalmed and pure CAMPBELL. The following analysis of the passage will assist the learner in determining what words are used by the figure: The metaphorical words are, statue, immortal, type, bed, tegument, guest, lost, embalmed, living, and bloom. 1. A statue is an image of the human form, wrought by art, of wood, clay, stone, metal, or some other substance; an embalmed body, therefore, is not a statue, but only resembles one in hardness and durability. It is thence denominated a statue by a metaphor, and an elliptical one, as the direct affirmation of it is omitted. 2. Whatever is immortal has life, but such a body is without life. It is called immortal, therefore, simply because, like an immortal existence, it is imperishable, or of a nature that precludes decay; that adjective, accordingly, is used by a metaphor in its elliptical form. 3. A type of evanescence is an emblem or representative of it. A body, however, rendered imperishable by embalming, instead of such a type, is an emblem of permanence. It only resembles an emblem of evanescence, therefore, in that in nature and shape it is still a human form, which is naturally perishable. Type is accordingly used by an elliptical metaphor. 4. A bed is an article on which the living sleep; it is by a metaphor, accordingly, that the coffin, sarcophagus, or vault, in which the embalmed body lay, is called a bed, because of the resemblance of its use to that of a bed, and the figure, is in this instance also elliptical. 5. A tegument is a covering of a material thing. As the body is called the tegument of the soul, which is immaterial, the term is used by an elliptical metaphor. 6. A guest is a stranger or visitor, who is received in a dwelling and entertained; but the soul is called the guest of the body, which is its natural residence, because its stay in it, like that of a visitor, was but temporary; and the term is used by an elliptical metaphor. 7. As the soul cannot be literally lost nor embalmed, nor virtue have a literal life, embalmed and living are used by a metaphor, the first and second to signify the preservation of the soul from the destructive consequences and impressions of sin, and the other that virtue should be made active and continuous, like the life of a conscious existence. 8. The spirit cannot literally blossom. The verb bloom is employed by a metaphor to signify that it may exist in a form, and make manifestations of itself, that in moral beauty and excellence shall resemble the blooming of a plant or tree. In the following description of a skull, there are eleven nouns, two adjectives, and one verb, used by the figure. Which are they? "Look at its broken arch, its ruined wall, Yes, this was once ambition's airy hall, The dome of thought, the palace of the soul; Behold through each lacklustre, eyeless hole, The gay recess of wisdom and of wit, And passion's host, that never brook'd control: BYRON. In the following passage on the passions, there are two nouns used by the figure, one adjective, five verbs, and three participles. There are also two comparisons. Which are they? "Their breath is agitation, and their life A storm whereon they ride, to sink at last; What metaphors are there in the following passage! BYRON. "Now morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime MILTON. In the following description of an Alpine storm there are two comparisons; and in the first stanza three nouns, three adjectives, and four verbs; and in the second, five nouns, one adjective, one verb, and two participles, are used by a metaphor. Which are they? "The sky is changed. And such a change! Oh, night, Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, "And this is in the night. Most glorious night! BYRON. Let each scholar form a sentence in which a noun is metaphorized. Let each form one in which a verb is metaphorized. Let each form one in which an adjective is used by the figure. Let each form one in which a noun and verb are used by it. Let each form one with a metaphorical noun, verb, and adjective. CHAPTER IV. THE METONYMY. THE Metonymy is a change of name, by the denomination of a thing by a noun that is not its proper nor its metaphorical denominative, but is the proper name of something with which, as a scene, place, cause, effect, or source, it is intimately connected; as when a person is said to have a clear head instead of a clear mind; and to keep a good table instead of good food; and when the name of a place is put for its population; as, "Assyria, the rod of mine anger" (Is. x. 5), in which the armies of Assyria are meant, instead of the country. "Thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob" (Is. ii. 6), where house is put for family, or descendants. "Ye have consumed the vineyard " (Is. iii. 14); "Your land, strangers devour it" (Is. i. 7), in which vineyard and land are put for their fruits. "Ramah trembles, Gibeah of Sau! |