The following are examples: To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek! Woe unto you PHARISEES! HYPOCRITES! Days, months, years, and ages, shall circle away, In instances like the last, it is sometimes called the emphasis of specification. II. RELATIVE EMPHASIS. WORDS are often emphasized, in order to exhibit the idea they express, as compared or contrasted with some other idea. This is called RELATIVE EMPHASIS. The following are examples: It is much better to be injured, than to injure. They fight for plunder, we, for our country. Homer was the greater genius, Virgil, the better artist. This is sometimes carried through several sets or pairs of antithesis, or contrasted words; as, A friend can not be known in prosperity; an enemy can not be hidden in adversity. They follow an adventurer whom they fear; we serve a monarch whom we love. In many instances one part only of the antithesis is expressed, the corresponding idea being understood; as, A friendly eye would never see such faults. Here the unfriendly eye is understood. King Henry exclaims, while vainly endeavoring to compose himself to rest, How many thousands of my subjects are at this hour asleep. Here the emphatic words thousands, subjects, and asleep, aro contrasted in idea with their opposites, and if the contrasted ideas were expressed, it would be done something in this way: While I alone, their sovereign, am doomed to wakefulness. III. EMPHATIC PHRASE. SOMETIMES, several words in succession are emphasized. The following are examples. Shall I, the conqueror of Spain and Gaul, and not only of the Alpine nations, but of the Alps themselves—shall I compare myself with this HALF-YEAR-CAPTAIN? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the LAST TEN YEARS. And if thou said'st, I am not peer IV. EMPHATIC PAUSE. AN emphatic expression of sentiment often requires a pause, where the grammatical construction authorizes none. This is sometimes called the rhetorical pause. Such pauses occur, chiefly, before or after an emphatic word or phrase, and sometimes both before and after it. Their object is, to attract attention to the emphatic idea, or to give the mind time to dwell upon it, and thus increase the impression. Examples: Rise-fellow men! our country-yet remains! By that dread name we wave the sword on high, But most-by numbers judge the poet's song; Produced the beast, and lo!—'t was white. QUESTIONS.- -When is a word said to be emphasized? Upon what part of the word is the increased stress placed? What is the object of emphasis? In what other way, than the one just mentioned, can this be accomplished? How are emphatic words marked? What is said of the importance of emphasis? What other things yield to emphasis? Give some examples in which accent yields to it. What is absolute emphasis? Give examples. What is meant by relative emphasis? Give the examples, and show the words contrasted. Give the examples, in which the emphasis is carried through several sets of contrasted words, and point out which words are opposed to each other. Is the idea corresponding to the emphatic word ever left out? Explain the two last examples under this head, and show what is the idea opposed to friendly, in the one, and what are opposed to thousands, subjects, and asleep, in the other. What is meant by the emphatic phruse? Give the examples. What do you understand by the emphatic pause? Where does it occur? What is its object? Give examples. SECTION VII. POETIC PAUSES. IN poetry, we have three sets of pauses, viz., grammatical pauses, rhetorical pauses, which two are common to poetry and prose, and poetic pauses, which are peculiar to poetry. The object of these latter is simply to promote the melody. At the end of each line, a slight pause is generally proper, whatever be the grammatical construction or the sense. The purpose of this is, to make prominent the melody of the measure, and, in rhyme, to allow the ear to appreciate the harmony of the similar sounds. There is, also, another important pause, somewhere near the middle of each line, which is called the cesura, or cesural pause. In the following lines it is marked thus, There are hours long departed-which memory brings, Like blossoms of Eden-to twine round the heart, The cesural pause should never be so placed as to injure the The following lines, if melody alone were consulted, would be read thus, sense. With fruitless la-bor, Clara bound, And strove to stanch-the gushing wound; This manner of reading, however, it will be readily perceived, would very much interfere with the proper expression of the idea. This is to be corrected, by making the cesural pause yield to the The melody is not injured by this, as much as might be supposed. The above lines should be read thus, sense. With fruitless labor-Clara bound, And strove to stanch-the gushing wound; Exhausted-all the churches prayers. Sometimes, where the sense requires it, two cesural pauses may be made instead of one, as in some of the following lines: Soldier, rest!-thy warfare o'er, Sleep the sleep-that knows not breaking; Days of danger-nights of waking. "Ah, wretch!"-in wild anguish-he cried, Ere o'er the salt waves-thou wert borne." In lines like the following, three cesural pauses are proper. The first and last are slight, and are sometimes called demi cesuras. Our bugles-sang truce-for the night cloud-had lowered, QUESTIONS.-How many kinds of pauses are used in poetry? Which of them are common to both poetry and prose? Which is used in poetry alone? What is the object of this latter kind of pauses? Where is a slight pause generally proper? What is its object? What other pause in poetry is used? What is it called? Point it out in the example. What caution is given with regard to its use? Explain this by the example given in the lines "With fruitless labor," &c. When may there be two cesural pauses? When there are three, what are the first and last called? EXERCISES IN INFLECTION AND 'EMPHASIS. In these examples, the words to be inflected and emphasized have the appropriate mark, and the principles applicable to them are explained by reference to the proper rule. ON THE DEATH OF FRANKLIN. (To be read in a solemn tone.) Franklin is DEAD'. The genius who freed America', and poured a copious stream of knowledge throughout Europe', is returned unto the bosom of the Divinity. The sage to whom two worlds' lay claim, the man for whom science' and politics' are disputing, indisputably enjoyed an elevated rank in human nature'. The cabinets of princes have been long in the habit of notifying the death of those who were great', only in their funeral orations'. Long hath the etiquette of courts', proclaimed the mourning of hypocrisy. Nations' should wear mourning for none but their benefactors'. The representatives' of nations should recommend to public homage', only those who have been the heroes of humanity'. All the inflections in the above extract are explained by Rules I and IV, SEC. IV. BONAPARTE. He knew no motive' but interest'; acknowledged no criterion' but success'; he worshiped no God' but ambition', and with an eastern devotion' he knelt at the shrine of his idolatry'. Subsidiary to this, there was no creed' that he did not profess', there was no opinion' that he did not promulgate'; in the hope of a dynasty', he upheld the crescent'; for the sake of a divorce', he bowed before the cross'; the orphan of St. Louis', he became the adopted child of the republic'; and with a parricidal ingratitude', on the ruins both of the throne and the tribune', he reared the throne of his despotism'. At his touch, crowns' crumbled'; beggars' reigned'; systems' vanished'; the wildest theories' took the color of his whim'; and all that was venerable', and all that was novel', changed places with the rapidity of a drama'. Nature had no obstacle' that he did not surmount'; space no opposition' he did not spurn'; and whether amid Alpine rocks',—Arabian sands',—or Polar snows', he seemed proof against peril', and empowered with ubiquity'. The inflections in the above extract are chiefly explained by the principle of antithesis and series. Rules VI and II, 32, Sec. IV. 3 HAMLET'S REFLECTIONS ON SEEING THE SKULL OF YORICK. Alas! poor Yorick"! I knew him, well',2 Horatio'; a fellow of infinite jest', of most excellent fancy'. He hath borne me on his back', a thousand times';2 and now', how abhorred in my imagination is this skull!? My gorge rises' at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed, I know not how oft'.2 Where are your gibes', now?* your gambols your songs'25 your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table in a roar? Not one', now, to mock your grinning'? quite chopfallen'? Now get you to my lady's chamber', and tell her', if she paint an inch thick'," yet to this favor'3 will she come at last`.2 3 'SEC. IV, Rule II, 22. 2Rule I. Rule IV. Rule I, Remark. Rule III. *Now is contrasted with the past, and the circumflex is proper. Rule V. Rule IV, Exception or Rule II, 42. Rule II, 12. EXTRACT FROM A DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN FIELD. Around',' the battle yell'.? The border slogan rent the sky',2 A Home! a Gordon'! was the cry';2 Loud" were the clanging blows';? Advanced', forced back',-now low-now high" The pennon sunk'—and rose';a As bends the bark's mast in the gale',' When rent are rigging, shrouds'," and sail'," It wavered 'mid the foes'.2 |