William Atkinson - The Complete Works of William Walker Atkinson

VIII. Personification , or “the attributing of sex, life, or action to an inanimate object, or the ascribing of intelligence and personality to an inferior creature.” As for example: “The sea saw it and fled ;” or, “The worm, aware of his intent, harangued him thus.”

IX. Interrogation , or “the asking of questions, not ·for the purpose of expressing doubt or obtaining information, but in order:to assert strongly the reverse of what is asked.” As for example: “Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?” The employment of this figure imparts life and animation. The Book of Job gives us one of the best examples of its effective use.

X. Exclamation , or “the expression of some strong emotion for the purpose of impression.” As for example: “Oh! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!”

XI. Omission , or “the pretended suppression or omission of what one is actually mentioning all the time.” As for example: “ I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with which he has wasted an ample fortune; nothing of the disgusting intemperance which has sometimes caused him to reel in our streets—but I aver that he has exhibited neither probity nor ability in the important office which he holds.”

XII. Euphemism , or “the use of a delicate word or expression for one which is harsh, indelicate or offensive to delicate ears.” As for example: “ Intoxicated ” for “drunk;” “ passed away ” or “ passed out ” for” died;” “ casket ” for “coffin;” “ misappropriated property ” for “embezzled;” “ a disciple of Bacchus ” for “a drunkard;” “ a votary at the shrine of Venus ” for “a libertine;” “ limb ” for “leg;” “ vest ” for “undershirt; “ etc.

Of the above rhetorical figures, four (metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony) and often more, are frequently called “ tropes .” A Trope is: “a figurative use of a word; a word or expression used in a different sense from that which it properly possesses, or a word changed from its original signification to another for the sake of giving life or emphasis to an idea, as when we call a stupid fellow an ass, or a shrewd man a fox.” Blair says: “Figures of words are commonly called tropes , and consist in a word’s being employed to signify something that is different from its original and primitive, so that if you alter the word, you destroy the figure.”

Carlyle says of figures of speech: “Thinkest thou 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 for,—what thou callest a metaphor, trope, or the like? For every word we have, there was such a man and poet. 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.”

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THE VERB “to discourse” means: “To treat of; to talk over; to discuss; to relate; to debate; to reason; to pass from premises to consequences; to treat upon anything in a formal manner by words; to dilate; to hold forth; to expatiate; etc.” “Discoursive” of course means: “Of, or pertaining to reasoning or discourse.” By Discoursive Expression is meant the expression of one’s ideas or thoughts in the form of discourse.

The authorities recognize four distinct forms or phases of Discoursive Expression; viz., (1) Descriptive Discourse; (2) Narrative Discourse; (3). Expositive Discourse; and (4) Argumentive Discourse. Descriptive Discourse is that form of discourse in which the attributes, properties, qualities and relations of persons or things are explained in the form of a representation of them as they appear in the mind of the speaker. Narrative Discourse is that form of discourse in which acts or events are related in the form of a story. Expositive Discourse is that form of discourse in which the subject or object is analyzed and explained in detail, and definitely. Argumentive Discourse is that form of discourse in which an effort is made to so present the subject as to influence the opinion and understanding of the hearer, and to move his will.

Descriptive Discourse deals with the explanation of persons or things. “Description” means: “The act of describing, defining, or setting forth the qualities, characteristics, properties or features, of anything in words, so as to convey an idea of it to another.” In order to describe a thing we must state its various properties, qualities, attributes and relations. In order to do this, we must first analyze or “take apart” the thing itself—we must view it in its parts as well as a whole. We must be able to take the thing apart, mentally, and then put it together again. As Coleridge says: “Description seems to be like taking the pieces of a dissected map out of its box. We first look at one part and then at another, then join and dovetail them, and when the successive acts of attention have been completed, there is a retrogressive effort of mind to behold it as a whole.”

Descriptive Discourse may be divided into two general classes, viz., (a) Analytical Description; and (b) General Description.

In Analytical Description , the various parts, qualities, attributes, properties, etc., are considered and explained separately and apart, and without reference to each other or to the whole. In other words, the various items composing and constituting the whole thing are catalogued separately . This form of description is met with in technical and scientific discourse, and to a certain extent in legal statements. The “specifications” for the building of a house; the scientific description of an animal; the legal statement of the details of a patent, description of a piece of real estate, etc., give us examples of this form of description. The following Analytical Description of the Barn Swallow, given by Prof. Edward A. Samuels, will give an excellent example of this form of description:

“BARN SWALLOW ( Hirundo horreorum ): Tail very deeply forked; outer feather of tail several inches longer than the inner, very narrow towards the end; above glossy-blue, with concealed white in the middle of the back; throat chestnut; rest of lower part reddish-white, not conspicuously different; a steel-blue collar on the upper part of the breast, interrupted in the middle; tail feathers with a white spot near the middle, on the inner web. Female with the outer tail feathers not quite so long. Length, six and ninety one-hundredths inches; wing, five inches; tail, four and fifty one-hundredths inches.”

In General Description , the thing is considered as a whole, the general appearance being considered and explained. For instance, in the case of a house , the general appearance, shape, position, location, color, style of architecture, size, probable cost, general effect, etc., would be considered and described, without regard to the details of Construction contained in the “specification” which were considered in detail in the Analytical Description. In the case of the barn-swallow , the general appearance of the bird, its peculiar wings and long tail, its graceful flight, its color, its nest and dwelling-place, would be considered instead of the technical, scientific description made necessary in a scientific Analytical Description such