Anticlimax (Bathos)

SYNTACTICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

CLASSIFICATION

Particular Use of Colloquial Constructions

· Ellipsis

· Break

· Question-in-the-Narrative

· Represented Speech

Stylistic use of structural Meaning

· Rhetorical question

· Litotes

Compositional Patterns of Syntactical Arrangement

· Inversion

· Repetition. Parallel Construction Chiasmus

· Detachment

· Enumeration

· Suspense

· Climax (gradation) + Anticlimax

· Antithesis

Particular Ways of Combining Parts of Utterance

· Asyndeton

· Polysyndeton

· The Gap-Sentence-Link (Cf: Kukharenko: - Attachment)

· Apokoinu Construction

I: Particular Use of Colloquial Constructions

Ellipsis [I’lipsis]

(Greek ‘elleipsis’ –недостаток, нехватка)

Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation. It is simply a norm of the spoken language (not a SD) when one or 2 principal parts of the sentence are omitted in direct intercourse. The missing parts can be easily restored.

e.g.: Alice (merely): Where’s the man I’m going to marry?

Genevra [d I’nevr ]: Out in the garden.

Alice (crossing to windows): What’s he doing out there?

Genevra: Annoying Father.

When used in writing, ellipsis can become a SD. In this case it imitates the common features of colloquial language, where the situation predetermines the absence of certain members of the sentences like “See you tomorrow”, “Had a good time?” “Won’t do ”, “You say that?” are normal syntactical structures. When such structures appear in literary texts, they bear some definite stylistic function. This is due to a psychological effect produced by the relative rarity of the construction in literary narrative, on the one hand, and non-expectancy of any strikingly colloquial expression, on the other.

We should distinguish between the author’s ellipsis (1) and ellipsis in the speech of the characters (2) of a literary work. The former allows to emphasize the most essential points in the utterance: the latter helps to create the natural atmosphere of colloquial speech.

Cf. the two types of ellipsis:

(1 ) I went to London as one goes to exile; she – to New York.

e.g. I led her to a chair and tried to soothe her as one might – a frightened child.

(2) Couldn’t come earlier, being away since 6 o’clock; on my feet since that time. Utterly exhausted.

Break-in-the Narrative (Aposiopesis)

[ po(u)saio(u)’pi:sis] – апозиопесис, умолчание,недосказ

(From the Greek ‘aposiopesis’- молчание)

Aposiopesis is a device which is defined as “stopping short for rhetorical effect”. This is true. But this definition is too general to disclose the stylistic functions of the device.

In oral intercourse, a break-in-the-narrative is usually caused by unwillingness to continue speaking, by uncertainty as to what should be said and the like. In writing, a break is always a SD used for some stylistic effect.

In conversation we can express what is implied by an adequate gesture. In writing it is the context that suggests the adequate intonation, which is the only key to decoding the aposiopesis.

e.g. (I) “If you continue your intemperate way of living, in six months’ time …” (warning)

(2) “You just come home or I’ll…” (threat)

The second example shows that without a context the implication (подразумеваемое) can only be vague. But when one knows that the words were said by an angry father to his son over the telephone, the implication becomes more apparent.

Aposiopesis is a syntactical SD which can convey a very strong upsurge (подъём) of emotions to the reader. The idea of this device is that the speaker cannot proceed: his feelings deprive him of the ability to express himself in words.

e.g. (Byron) Don Juan’s address to Julia:

“ And oh, if e’er I should forget, I swear –But that’s impossible, and cannot be. ”

Break-in-the-narrative as a SD is used in complex sentences, in particular, conditional sentences. The if-clause is given full, and the second part is only implied.

It may also be used in other syntactical structures for euphemistic considerations –unwillingness to name a thing which is offensive to the ear.

Break is a device which, on the one hand, offers a number of variants in deciphering the implication and, on the other hand, is highly predictable. The problem of implication is crucial in Stylistics. What is implied often outweighs what is expressed. (In other SDs the degree of implication is not so high as in break). A sudden break-in-the –narrative will inevitably focus the attention of the reader on what is left unsaid.

The role of intonation in aposiopesis cannot be overestimated.

The pause after the break is generally charged with meaning and it is the intonation only that will decode the communicative significance of the utterance.

Question –in-the -Narrative

Questions (structurally and semantically one of the types of sentences) are usually asked by one person and expected to be answered by another. They belong to spoken language and presuppose the presence of an interlocutor, i.e. they are commonly used in dialogue.

Question-in-the-narrative changes the real nature of a question and turns it into a SD. It is asked and answered by the same person, usually the author.

e.g. from Byron’s “Don Juan”

“And starting, she awoke, and what to view?”

Oh, Powers of Heaven. What dark eye meets she there?

“Tis – ‘tis her father’s –fixed upon the pair.”

As seen from the example, the questions asked, unlike rhetorical questions, do not contain statements (answers).

Sometimes question –in – the –narrative gives the impression of an intimate talk between the writer and the reader:

e.g. “Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners…” (Dickens)

Question-in-the-narrative is often used in oratory. This is explained by one of the leading features of oratorical style – to induce the desired reaction to the content of the speech. Questions chain the attention of the listeners to the matter under discussion and prevent it from wandering. They also give the listeners time to absorb what has been said, and prepare them for the next point.

Represented Speech

See: Types of Narration

II: Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning

On analogy with transference of lexical meaning, in which words are used in a sense other than their primary logical meaning, syntactical structures can also be used in meanings different from their primary ones.

When a structure is used in some other function, it assumes a new structural meaning (which is) similar to a transferred lexical meaning. Among syntactical SDs with transferred meaning we distinguish – rhetorical question and litotes.

Rhetorical Question

(From the Greek ‘rhetor’ - оратор)

The essence of the rhetorical question consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence. In other words the rhetorical question is no longer a question but a statement in the form of an interrogative sentence. Thus, there is an interplay of 2 structural meanings: (1) that of the question and (2) that of the statement (affirmative or negative). Both are materialized simultaneously.

e.g. “ Is there not blood enough upon your penal code, that more must be poured forth to ascend to Heaven and testify against you?”

Rhetorical questions are generally structurally embodied in complex sentences where a subordinate clause contains the pronouncement. Rhetorical questions based on negation have an additional shade of meaning implied: doubt, suggestion, etc. They are full of emotive meaning and modality.

The stylistic effect of the transference of structural meaning is achieved only through the simultaneous realization of the 2 grammatical meanings: direct and transferred. Both the question-meaning and the statement-meaning are materialized with an emotional charge which can be deciphered only through the intonation of the speaker.

e.g. In the question-sentence (from Byron) instead of a categorical pronouncement one can detect irony:

“ Is the poor privilege “ to turn the key upon the captive, freedom?”

Rhetorical questions may also be defined as utterances in the form of questions which pronounce judgement and also express various kinds of modal shades of meaning: doubt, challenge, scorn, irony, etc.

Due to their power of expressing a variety of emotive meanings, they are often used in publicist style and oratory, where the rousing of emotions is the effect that is generally aimed at.

Litotes

(From the Greek ‘litotes’ – простота)

Litotes is a SD consisting in peculiar use of negative constructions:

The negation ‘Not/No’ + Noun/adjective

serves to establish a positive feature of a person or thing. This positive feature however, is somewhat diminished in quality as compared with a straightforward synonymous way of expressing the positive idea.

e.g. It’s not a bad thing. – It’s a good thing.

He is no coward. - He is a brave man.

In both cases the negative construction is weaker than the affirmative one. Still, the negative constructions produce a stronger impact on the reader. Unlike the affirmative constructions, they have additional connotation. That is why they are regarded as SDs.

Litotes is a deliberate understatement used to produce a stylistic effect. It is a negation that includes affirmation. Therefore, we can speak of transference of meaning: the direct (negative) and the transferred (affirmative) meanings are materialized simultaneously.

The negation in litotes should not be regarded as a mere denial of the quality mentioned. The structural aspect of the negative combination backs up the semantic aspect: the negatives ‘no’ and ‘not’ are more emphatically pronounced than in ordinary negative sentences. This brings to mind the corresponding antonym.

The stylistic effect of litotes depends mainly on intonation.

Cf.: He was not without taste…

It troubled him not a little.

He found that this was no easy task.

She was no country cousin. She had style, or ‘devil’ as he preferred to call it.

A variant of litotes is a construction with 2 negations as in

not unlike

not unpromising

not displeased and the like.

Here according to general logical and mathematical principles two negative make a positive. Thus, in the sentence “Soames, with his lips and his squared chin, was not unlike a bull dog” the litotes may be interpreted as ‘ somewhat resembling’.

Despite the fact that such constructions make the assertion (утверждение) more logically apparent, they lack precision, whereas the structures of litotes with one negation are much more categorical in stating the positive quality of a person or thing.

Litotes is used in different functional styles, except the so-called matter-of-fact styles like official style and scientific prose. In poetry it is used to suggest that language fails to adequately convey the poet’s feelings. Therefore he uses negation to express the inexpressible.

e.g. My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130).

III: Compositional Patterns of Syntactical Arrangement

In Grammar certain types of utterances have already been patterned. There are all kinds of simple compound or complex sentences that may be regarded as neutral or non- stylistic patterns.

Utterances with peculiar structural design bearing some emotional colouring are considered stylistic syntactical patterns belonging to the expressive means of the language. They should not be regarded as violation of the literary norms of Standard English.

Stylistic (Emphatic) Inversion

(From the Latin ‘inversio’ - переворачивание)

The fixed (predominating) S-P-O (Subject-Predicate-Object) word-order makes any change in the structure of the sentence conspicuous and inevitably results in a modification of the intonation design. The most conspicuous places in the sentence are considered to be the first and the last: the first because the full force of the stress can be felt at the beginning of the utterance, and the last because there is a pause after it.

e.g. in the sentences from “David Copperfield” by Dickens

“Talent Mr. Micawber [mi’k:b ] has; capital Mr. Micawber has not”

the first and the last position being prominent, in the inverted word-order not only the object ‘talent’ and ‘capital’ become conspicuous, but also the predicates ‘has’ and ‘has not’.

Here we can speak of stylistic inversion. Unlike grammatical inversion, stylistic inversion does not change the structural meaning of the sentence (Cf.: grammatical inversion changes the communicative type of the sentence: e.g. an affirmative sentence becomes interrogative).

Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress and/ or additional emotional colouring to the meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is an inevitable satellite of inversion.

The following patterns of stylistic inversion are most frequently in both English prose and poetry:

1) The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence (see: example above);

2) The predicate is placed before the subject:

e.g. A good generous prayer it was. (Mark Twain);

3) The predicative precedes the link-verb and both are placed before the subject:

e.g. “Rude am I in my speech.” (Sh.);

e.g. “Inexpressible was the astonishment of the little party when they returned to find that Mr. Pickwick had disappeared” (Dickens)

4) The attribute is placed after the word it modifies (postpositive attribute):

e.g. “With fingers weary and worn “ (Thomas Hood)

e.g. “Once upon a midnight dreary …” (Edgar Poe);

5) The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence:

e.g. “Eagerly I wished the morrow” (E.A.Poe)

e.g. “A tone of most extraordinary compassion she said it in” (Dickens)

e.g. “I can’t bear to see him. Over by St. Paul he stands and there is no money in it.” (Galsworthy);

6) Both the modifier and the predicate stand before the subject:

e.g. “In went Mr. Pickwick” (Dickens)

e.g. “Down dropped the breeze” (Coleridge)

e.g. “Down came the storm” (Longfellow).

These 6 models comprise the most common and recognized models of inversion. However, in modern English and American poetry there is a tendency to experiment with the word-order to such an extent that it makes the message difficult to understand. In this case there may be an unlimited number of rearrangements of sentence members.

Inversion as a SD is always sense-motivated. There is a tendency to account for inversion in poetry by considerations of rhythm. But really talented poets will never sacrifice sense for form, i.e. content for rhythm.

Inversion is one of the forms known as emphatic constructions. It should not be regarded as a violation of the regular word-order in the sentence, but as an EM of the language, having typical structural models.

Repetition

Repetition is an EM of the language used when the speaker is under the stress of some strong emotion. It shows the state of mind of the speaker, as in the following example:

“Stop!”- she cried, “Don’t tell me! I don’t want to hear; I don’t want to hear what you’ve come for. I don’t want to hear”. (Galsworthy).

Here the repetition of “I don’t want to hear” is not a SD; it is a means by which the excited state of the speaker’s mind is shown, which is suggested by “she cried”.

When used a SD, repetition acquires different functions. It does not aim at making a direct emotional impact. On the contrary, stylistic repetition aims at logical emphasis which is necessary to fix the attention of the reader on the key-word of the utterance.

e.g. ”For that was it! Ignorant of the long stealthy march of passion, and of the state to which it had reduced Fleur; ignorant of how Soames had watched her, ignorant of Fleur’s reckless desperation… - ignorant of all this, everybody felt aggrieved.”

(Galsworthy)

e.g. Supposing his head been held under water for a while. Supposing he had been shot. Supposing he had been strangled.

Repetition is classified according to its compositional patterns into the following groups:

(1) anaphora (анафора/единоначалие) (Greek ‘anaphora’ - вынесение наверх) - the repeated unit (word or phrase) comes at the beginning of 2 or more successive sentences, clauses or phrases.

Function: to emphasize the repeated unit, foregrounding the non-repeated unit.

e.g. Farewell to the mountains high covered with snow!

Farewell to the straths and green valleys below!

Farewell to the forests and wild –hanging woods!

Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods!

(Burns)

(2) epithora (эпифора или концовка) (Greek ‘epithora’) - the repeated unit is placed at the end of 2 or more successive phrases, clauses or sentences.

Function: to add stress to the final words of the sentence.

e.g. I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as that. I am above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy in such a case as that. (Dickens)

(3) framing -the initial part of a syntactical unit (in most cases a paragraph) is repeated at the end.

Function: to explain, clarify, specify (elucidate) the notion mentioned in the beginning.

e.g. Poor doll’s dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the eternal road and asking guidance. Poor, little doll’s dressmaker! “

(Dickens)

Framing makes the whole utterance more compact and complete. It is most effective in singling out paragraphs.

(4) anadiplosis [ n dip’l usis] (сцепление/ удвоение) (linking/ reduplication)

The structure of this device is the following: the last word or phrase of one part of the utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next part, thus hooking the 2 parts together. Instead of going on with the narrative the author steps back and picks up the last word (s).

Function: specification of semantics.

e.g. “Freeman and slave … carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight,a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstruction of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes” (Marx, Engels)

Sometimes the writer can use the linking device several times in one utterance:

e.g. “ A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick’s face: the smile extended into a laugh: the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general”.

(Dickens)

This pattern is called chain repetition. It creates the effect of smoothly developing logical reasoning.

There are some other types of repetition:

· Ordinary/ simple repetition –repetition of the word or phrase the position of which is not fixed in the utterance.

Function: emphasis of the logical and emotional meaning of the repeated unit.

· Root repetition where it is not the same words that are repeated but the same roots.

e.g. “To live again in the youth of the young ” (Galsworthy)

e.g. He was a brute, brutishbrute. (London)

Function: see ordinary repetition.

· Semantic or synonymic repetition (tautology or pleonasm)

It is the repetition of the same idea expressed by synonymous words which intensify the impact of the utterance on the reader by adding a slightly different nuance of meaning. Tautology can be regarded as a fault of style only if it is not motivated by the aesthetic purpose of the writer.

e.g. from Keat’s Sonnet “ The Grasshopper and the Cricket”:

“The poetry of the earth is never dead

The poetry of earth is ceasing never …” (fault of style?)

Other examples:

e.g. It was a clear starry night, and not a cloud was to be seen”

e.g. He was the only survivor: no one else was saved.

Parallelism (Parallel Construction)

Parallelism is a device which can be encountered not so much in the sentence as in macro-structures, i.e. SPU =supra [‘sju:pr ] phrasal units (units larger than a sentence) and the paragraph. The necessary condition in parallel construction is identical, or similar syntactical structure in 2 or more sentences or parts of a sentence in close succession.

e.g. There were,…, real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real chinacups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes and toast in.

(Dickens)

Parallel constructions are often backed by repetition of words (lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeton). Thus producing a very strong effect, enchancing the logical, rhythmic, emotive and expressive aspects of the utterance. Pure parallel construction, however, does not depend on any other kind of repetition but the repetition of the syntactical design of the sentence.

Parallel constructions can be partial and complete. Partial parallel arrangement is the repetition of some parts of successive sentences or clauses. Complete parallel arrangement (also called balance) maintains the principle of identical structures throughout the corresponding sentences, as in:

e.g.”The seeds ye sow –another reaps,

The robes ye weave –another wears,

The arms ye forge –another bears” (P.B. Shelley)

Parallel construction is most frequently used in enumeration, antithesis and in climax (нарастание), thus consolidating the general effect achieved by these SDs.

Parallel construction is used in different styles of writing with slightly different functions. In the belles-lettres style it carries an emotive function. In the following example parallelism is backed up by repetition, alliteration and antithesis, making the whole sentence almost epigrammatical:

“And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,

And then, from hour to hour we rot and rot.” (Shakespeare)

Parallelism always generates rhythm. Hence it is frequently used in poetry.

Chiasmus (Reversed Parallelism)

(from the Greek ‘chiasmos’ - расположение крест-накрест)

Chiasmus belongs to the group of SDs based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a reversed order of words and phrases. The structure of 2 successive sentences or parts of a sentence is repeated in an inverted way.

e.g. As high as we have mounted in delight

In our dejection do we sinkas low (Wordsworth)

e.g. Down dropped the breeze,

The sails dropped down. (Coleridge)

Chiasmus is sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active to passive voice or vice versa.

e.g. The register of the burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. (Dickens)

This device is effective because it helps to lay stress on the second part of the utterance which is opposite in structure, as in ‘in our dejection’, or ‘Scrooge signed it’. This is due to the sudden change in the structure which by its very unexpectedness, linguistically, requires a slight pause before it.

It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexical device, i.e. it is only the arrangement of parts of the utterance which constitutes it. For example, in the famous epigram by Byron “In the days of old men made manners, manners now make men”

There is no inversion, only lexical repetition. Both parts of the sentence have the same, normal order of words. This device can be classified as lexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition.

Syntactical chiasmus is used to break the monotony of parallel constructions, whatever its purpose, it will always bring some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis on some portion of the second part of the utterance.

Detached Construction (or Detachment) (обособление)

Sometimes one of the secondary parts of a sentence (by some specific consideration of the author) is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Such parts are called detached (or detachment). They seem to dangle in the sentence as isolated parts. The detached part assumes a greater degree of significance and is made prominent by intonation.

The structural patterns of detached constructions have not been classified yet. The most noticeable cases are those with an attribute or adverbial modifier placed in a position which makes them seem independent from the referent.

e.g. Sir Pitt came in first, very much flushed, and rather unsteady in his gate.

(Thackeray)

Detached constructions in their common forms make the written variety of language akin (сродни) to the spoken variety where the relations between the component parts is effectively materialized with the help of intonation. Detached construction, thus becomes a peculiar device bridging the gap between the norms of the written and spoken language.

This device is also akin to inversion. Their functions are almost the same. But detachment produces a much stronger effect, because it presents parts of the utterance significant from the author’s point of view in a more or less independent manner.

e.g. She was lovely: all of her -delightful. (Dreiser)

In the example above with the word ‘delightful’ the mark of punctuation plays an important role. The dash before the word makes it conspicuous. ‘Delightful’ becomes the culminating point of the climax ‘lovely- delightful’, i.e. the peak of the whole utterance. The phrase ‘all of her’ is also somehow isolated. The general impression we get is a strong feeling of admiration, and, the fact is, strong feelings may result in incoherent and illogical syntax.

In the English language detached constructions are generally used in the belles-lettres style, mainly with words that have some explanatory function.

e.g. June stood in front, fending off this idle curiosity – a little bit of a thing, as somebody said, ‘all hair and spirit’ … (Galsworthy)

e.g. Daylight was dying, the moon rising, gold behind the poplars. (Galsworthy)

A variant of detached construction is parenthesis which is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word (phrase, clause, sentence) or other sequence which interrupts a syntactic construction, it often has a characteristic intonation. It is indicated in writing by commas, brackets or dashes.

Enumeration

Enumeration is a SD by which separate things (objects, phenomena, properties, actions) are named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which are syntactically in the same position – they are homogeneous parts of the sentence. That is why they are forced to display some kind of semantic homogeneity [ homod n ti], remote though it may seem.

Most of our notions are associated with other notions due to some kind of relation between them; dependence, cause, result, likeness, dissimilarity, sequence, experience (personal and/or social), proximity, etc. Associations + social experience have resulted in the formation of what is known as ‘semantic fields’. Enumeration as a SD may be called a sporadic semantic field. Many cases of enumeration have no continuous existence as semantic fields do. The grouping of sometimes absolutely heterogeneous notions occur only in isolated instances to meet some peculiar purport of the author.

When each word is closely associated semantically with the following and preceding words in the enumeration, the utterance is perfectly coherent; and there is nothing in it to arrest the reader’s attention (the enumeration is not a SD). In case the enumeration is heterogeneous, there must be a kind of clash in it, a clash typical of any stylistic device: a clash of concepts, or a clash between words belonging to different layers of vocabulary, terminology, etc.

Enumeration is often used to depict scenery, as for example, scenery is depicted through a tourist’s eyes in “To Let” by John Galsworthy:

“Fleur’s wisdom in refusing to write to him was profound, for he reached each new place entirely without hope or fever, and could concentrate immediate attention on the donkeys and tumbling bells, the priests, patios, beggars, children, crowing cocks, sombreros, cactus hedges, old high white villages, goats, olive trees, greening plains, singing birds in tiny cages, water-sellers, sunsets, melons, mules, great churches, pictures, and swimming grey-brown mountains of a fascinating land.”

Galsworthy found it necessary to arrange the Spanish attractions not according to logical semantic centres, but in such an order that would suggest the rapidly changing impressions of a tourist. Enumeration of this kind assumes a stylistic function and therefore be regarded as a SD.

Suspense

Suspense is a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of communication in such a way that the less important, descriptive subordinate parts are placed at the beginning, and the main idea is withheld until the end of the utterance. Thus, its function is to keep the reader in the state of uncertainty and expectation.

e.g. “ Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand years ate their meat raw.”

Suspense is especially favoured by orators. This is due to the strong influence of intonation which helps to create the desired atmosphere of anticipation and emotional tension which goes with it.

Suspense always requires long stretches of speech or writing. A whole poem can be built on it. For example, in R.Kipling’s “If” where all the eight stanzas consist of if-clauses and only the last 2 lines constitute the principal clause:

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

And make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can dream and not make dreams your master,

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim, […]

Yours will be the earth and everything that’s in it,

And which is more, you’ll be a Man, my son.”

The main purpose of suspense is to prepare the reader for the only logical conclusion of the utterance.

Climax/Gradation (нарастание)

(from the Greek ‘climax’ – лестница; Cf.: Latin ‘gradatio’- постепенное восхождение)

Climax is an arrangement of sentences (or homogeneous parts of a sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension of the utterance.

e.g. “It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city.”

The gradual increase in emotional evaluation of the city in the given example is realized through the distribution of the corresponding lexical units: ‘lovely, beautiful, fair, veritable gem’.

We distinguish 3 types of climax: logical, emotional and quantitative.

Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts from the point of

view of the concepts they embody. It can be built on a descending or an ascending scale.

e.g. No branch, or twig, or leaf moved in the still air.

e.g. “Not a sound, “-said Mr. Pickwick.

“Not a syllable,” –said another gentleman.

“Not a word,” echoed the third.

e.g. Illness, poverty, vice, crime.

e.g. It’s done –passed – finished!

Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced by words with emotional meaning.

e.g. See the 1^st e.g.

e.g. The girl was wonderful, magnificent.

E.g. I’ve been so unhappy here, so very miserable.

e.g. The liar! The brute! The monster!

Quantatitive climax represents an evident increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts.

e.g. “They looked at hundreds of houses, they climed thousands of stairs, they inspected enumerable kitchens.”

e.g. Hours, days, weeks, months of unspeakable bliss.

Anticlimax (Bathos)

Anticlimax is a slackening of tension in a sentence or a longer piece of utterance in which the ideas expressed fall off in dignity or become of less importance. Anticlimax is often achieved by adding a humorous or an ironical detail to the utterance which weakens the impression of the preceding idea.

e.g. A woman who could face the very devil himself – or a mouse – loses her grip and goes all to pieces in front of a flash of lightning. (M. Twain)

e.g. Harris never weeps, he knows not why. If Harris’s eyes fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions … (Jerome)

Bathos is akin (сродни) to anticlimax. The difference lies in the fact that in bathos we descend from noble or high to low.

e.g. The first lord in the country – and the last beggar – are equal in the face of the Law.

Antithesis

(from the Greek ‘antithesis’ –противоположение)

In order to characterize a thing or phenomenon from a specific point of view, it may be necessary to find points of its resemblance or association between it and some other thing or phenomenon, or to find points of sharp contrast.

e.g. saint - devil

hell - heaven, paradise

to reign - to serve

Logical and stylistic opposition should not be confused. Any opposition will be based on the contrasting features of 2 objects. These contrasting features are represented in pairs of words which are called antonyms. Stylistic opposition or antithesis is of different linguistic nature: it is based on relative opposition arising in context.

e.g. His lessons were light and his fees high.

The words ‘light’ and ‘high’ are not antonyms, but drawn into a pair of sentences with parallel construction they seem to express antonymous ideas. The antagonistic features of the 2 objects or phenomena are more easily perceived when they stand out in similar structures. If the structural design of antithesis is not conspicuously marked in the utterance, the effect might be lost.

Sometimes it is difficult to single out the elements which distinguish antithesis from logical opposition. Thus, in Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” the first paragraph is practically built on opposing pairs:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

(Dickens)

Here the structural pattern of the utterance, the pairs of objective antonyms as well as of those on which the antonymical meanings are imposed by the force of analogy – makes the whole paragraph stylistically significant and the general device which makes it is therefore antithesis.

Antithesis is a device bordering between stylistics and logic. The extremes are easily seen, but most cases are intermediate. However, it is essential to distinguish between antithesis and contrast which is a literary (not a linguistic) device based on logical opposition between the phenomena set one against another.

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