RHETORIC
Representative Student
Answers*
RHETORIC MIDTERM 2002: Part A (Short Passages for Analysis)
1. TETRACOLON CLIMAX and EPIPHORA
If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather
Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all
free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice
at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.
. . . There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honour for his valor, and death
for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for
him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any,
speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country?
If any, speak, for him have I offended.
(Brutus in Julius Caesar)
Answer
Tetracolon climax is a series of four member whose combination together lead to
a climax of sorts, at the end of the 4 members; epihora is the repetition of words
at the end of sentences. The tetracolon climax in Brutus's speech is
"There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and death for
his ambition." Note how Brutus escalates each part of this line and culminates
with a climax at the end. The epihora comes as the answers to his hypohora–like
questions, as he answers the three questions raised, "If any, speak, for him I have
offended." Another example of epihora is a few lines up as Brutus says,
"As Caesar loved me, I weep for him, as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it, as he was
valiant, I honor him, but as he was ambitious, I slew him." Both of these
examples of epihora are used for rhetorical effect: as they are repeated, the point Brutus
is making is boldly reiterated to the audience. [BB]
2. ANAPHORA and APOSIOPESIS
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
Oh, do not ask, " What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit. [ . . .]
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet [ . . .]
(T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock")
Answer
The anaphora (a word or words repeated at the beginning of a
clause or line) in Eliot’s "Love Song," is "Let us go," a
phrase that calls attention to a romantic/archaic tone, then lets it drop with a clatter
into etherized patients. The contrast is thus more stark and the mournful "ache of
modernism" betters shines through. The aposiopesis (an unfinished
thought or broken sentence) following "the overwhelming question" indicates the
speaker's uncertainty: he cannot even name, much less answer, "the overwhelming
question," thus giving a hint as to the coming depression. [MH]
3. PARISON and EROTESIS
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and this
mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality; then shall be brought
to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
(St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians)
Answer
The Apostle uses parison (similarity of structure and sound between two
clauses) mainly for antithesis in this passage. He writes, "We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed." These clauses look and sound very similar,
so the antithetical meanings they carry come almost as a shock. Another example of
this antitheses causes in the clauses which speak of the "corruptible" putting
on "incorruption" and the "mortal" putting on "immortality":
the structure of parison makes the antithetical ideas stand put more clearly. The erotesis
(rhetorical question implying strong affirmation or denial) comes, fittingly, at the end
of the passage after Paul has shown that death has no power. These questions have the
effect of humiliating death and the grave. [EV]
4. DEHORTATIO and CROT
. . . And should you see a sign on the far side of the street flashing
BEEF-BOOZE-NO STRINGS, then you can forget it. The only way to get
across the road is to be born there. All the ped-xing signs say
DON'T WALK, all of them, all the time. That is the message, the
content of Los Angeles: don't walk. Stay inside. Don't walk.
Drive. Don't walk. Run! I tried the cabs. No use. The cabbies are
all Saturnians who aren't even sure whether this is a right
planet or a left planet. The first thing you have to do, every
trip, is teach them how to drive.
(John Self, narrator of Money, by Martin Amis)
Answer
The dehortatio (dissuasive advice) is found throughout the entire passage in
the exhortations not to walk but to move quickly through the world of LA. The
dehortatio helps create the speaker’s ethos: he is a negative person who can only
grant negative advice. The crots (fragmentary or extremely short sentences)
of this passage are numerous. They come mainly at the end of the passage:
"don’t walk. Stay inside . . . No use." They speed up the passage and
create the sense of rush that the speaker is trying to convey. [EV]
5. EXTENDED METAPHOR and ANTITHESIS
Once in a while something slips--one of the actors goes up in his lines and the
whole performance stumbles and halts. My pig simply failed to show up for a meal. The
alarm spread rapidly. The classic outline of the tragedy was lost. I found myself cast
suddenly in the role of pig's friend and physician--a farcical character with an enema bag
for a prop. I had a presentiment, the very first afternoon, that the play would never
regain its balance and that my sympathies were now wholly with the pig. This was
slapstick--the sort of dramatic treatment that instantly appealed to my old dachshund,
Fred, who joined the vigil, held the bag, and, when all was over, presided at the
interment. When we slid the body into the grave, we both were shaken to the core. The loss
we felt was not the loss of ham but the loss of pig. He had evidently become precious to
me, not that he represented a distant nourishment in a hungry time, but that he had
suffered in a suffering world.
(E. B. White, third paragraph of "Death of a Pig")
Answer
The extended metaphor (a metaphor carried throughout a passage) of this
excerpt from "Death of a Pig" is that of a tragic, though at times tragicomic,
play – the farmer must assume a role he never considers, that of "pig’s
friend and physician." The extended metaphor serves to remind us that the
pig’s death has more meaning that the pig itself, while simultaneously reinforcing
the almost surreal metaphors and setting of the essay. A pig missing a meal
wouldn’t raise alarms with most; to the practiced eye, the missing meal threw the
whole play off. Besides (as for the comic in the tragedy) one cannot give the
impression that one is taking oneself too seriously if we’re discussing the death of
a pig and a deadly dachshund. The moment where the farmer realizes the death is more that
"the loss of ham" is a moment of antithesis (balanced contrast) wherein
the speaker begins to connect the pig’s experience with humanity's own. [MH]
6. APOSTROPHE and ENTHYMEMES*
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.
For, those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
(John Donne, "Death, be not proud")
* Be sure to locate the enthymemes that appear here, in the octave
of the sonnet–not those that are developed in the sestet (not reprinted here).
Answer
The opening apostrophe (breaking off to address an absent or abstract entity or
concept) gives Donne’s Sonnet a clear focus, and seems to diminish death’s power
by naming him. When one confronts fear head-on, some of the power is lost. The second
apostrophe ("poor death") in which Death does not even merit a capital letter
reinforces the reduction of death’s power. The two clearest enthymemes
(informally stated syllogisms) are as follows: Death is not mighty, for those he thinks he
conquers are not truly dead, for they will awake again; and rest and sleep are mirrors of
death, and as they are nothing to fear, death is nothing to fear. Again, if you
accept his logic, death’s power is diminished. [MH]
7. TRICOLONS and EPIPLEXIS
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted
over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages,
or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at
my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!
And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man--when I could get
it--and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and
seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but
Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
(Sojourner Truth, "Ain’t I a Woman?")
Answer
Sojourner Truth uses tricolons (series of three items with similar
structure) to contrast her plight with the status of white women on order to reveal the
inherent hypocrisy of slavery. While women are "helped into carriages, and
lifted over ditches, and …have the best place everywhere –" by repeating
that tricolon with new significance, Sojourner calls into question both slavery and
sexism. The epiplexis (asking questions to reproach) can then have only one
answer: Sojourner Truth was obviously a woman, so her refrain of "Ain’t I
a woman?" asks and answers simultaneously. Again, the object is to expose
hypocrisy. [MH]
8. PARATAXIS and POLYSYNDETON
In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more. It was
cold in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early. Then the electric lights came on,
and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. There was much game hanging
outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their
tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the
wind turned their feathers. It was a cold fall and the wind came down from the mountains.
(Ernest Hemingway, "In Another Country")
Answer
Parataxis is when the ranking of the parts of a sentence or passage is
left up to a reader to decipher – as opposed to hypotaxis, where the ranking
is clearly prescribed through subordinate structures. Polysyndeton is the
use of many connector words and conjunctions. This piece by Hemingway
shows how he is a master of both parataxis and polysyndeton in his writing
style. The style of the sentences is very basic, yet leaves several blanks
(enthymemes of sorts) for the reader to fill in, showing how it’s a text in
paratactic style. The various ways Hemingway strings together ideas in one
sentence--"the deer hung stiff and heavy, and empty, and small birds blew in
the wind and the wind tumed their feathers"--show his repeated reliance on
the connector "and," listing together his ideas in a paratactic style.
This
polysyndeton gives the text an insistent rhythm while also leaving the reader
to fill in any gaps in the logic. [BB]
*Answers provided by Becky Bennetch, Melissa Hill, and Eric
Verhine