NOTE VI.-There are two kinds of Emphasis :— Absolute and Antithetic. ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS is used to designate the important words of a sentence, without any direct reference to other words. 1. EXAMPLES OF ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS. Он, speak to passion's raging tide, 2. The UNION, it MUST and SHALL BE PRESERVED! 3. HUSH! breathe it not aloud, The wild winds must not hear it! Yet, again, KNOWLES. 4. When my country shall take her place among the nations of the earth, THEN and not TILL then, let my epitaph be written. EMMETT. 5. If you are MEN, follow ME! STRIKE DOWN yon guard, and gain the mountain passes. 6. OH! shame on us, countrymen, SHAME on us ALL, If we CRINGE to so dastard a race. 7. This doctrine never was received; it NEVER CAN, by any POSSIBILITY, BE RECEIVED; and, if admitted at ALL, it must be by THE TOTAL SUBVERSION OF LIBERTY! 8. Are you Christians, and, by upholding duelists, will you deluge the land with blood, and fill it with widows and orphans? BEECHER. 9. LIBERTY and UNION, NOW and FOREVER, ONE and INSEPARABLE. WEBSTER. 10. Treason! cried the speaker; treason, TREASON, TREASON, reechoed from every part of the house. 11. The war is inevitable,—and LET IT COME! I repeat it, Sir,-LET IT COME! 12. PATRICK HENRY. Be we men, And suffer such dishonor? MEN, and wash not The stain away in BLOOD? 13. O SACRED FORMS! how proud you look! MISS MITFORD. How high you lift your heads into the sky! How huge you are! how mighty and how free! KNOWLES 14. I shall know but one country. The ends I aim at, shall be "My COUNTRY'S, my GoD's, and TRUTH'S." WEBSTER. NOTE VII.-ANTITHETIC EMPHASIS is that which is founded on the contrast of one word or clause with another. EXAMPLES OF ANTITHETIC EMPHASIS. 1. The faults of others should always remind us of our own. 2. He desired to protect his friend, not to injure him 3. But yesterday, the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, SHAKSPEARE. BIBLE. 4. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. 5. We can do nothing against the truth; but for the truth. BIBLE. 6. He that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. BIBLE. NOTE VIII.—The following examples contain two or more sets of Antitheses. . 1. Just men are only free, the rest are slaves. 2. Beauty is like the flower of spring; virtue is like the stars of heaven. 8. Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, The eternal years of God are hers; But error, wounded, writhes in pain, BRYANT. 4. A false balance is abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his delight. BIBLE. 5. A friend can not be known in prosperity; and an enemy can not be hidden in adversity. 6. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; INDEPENDENCE NOW, and INDEPENDENCE FOREVER. WEBSTER. 7. We live deeds, not years,-in thoughts, not breaths,-in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives, who THINKS THE MOST, FEELS THE NOBLEST,-ACTS THE BEST. 8 You have done the mischief, and I bear the blame. 9. The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool, when he gains that of others. 10. We must hold them as we hold the rest of mankind-enemies in war,-in peace, friends. JEFFERSON. NOTE IX.-The sense of a passage is varied by changing the place of the emphasis EXAMPLES. 1. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but Charles has. 2. Has James seen his brother to-day? him. No; but he has heard from No; but he saw yours. 3. Has James seen his brother to-day? 4. Has James seen his brother to-day? No: but he has seen his sister. 5. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but he saw him yesterday. REMARK.-To determine the emphatic words of a sentence, as well as the degree and kind of emphasis to be employed, the reader must be governed wholly by the sentiment to be expressed. The idea is sometimes entertained that emphasis consists merely in loudness of tone. But it should be borne in mind, that the most intense emphasis may often be effectively expressed, even by a whisper. SECTION III. INFLECTIONS. INFLECTIONS are turns or slides of the voice, made in reading or speaking; as, Will you go to New All the various sounds of the human voice may be comprehended under the general appellation of tones. The principal modifications of these tones are the MONOTONE, the RISING INFLECTION, the FALLING INFLECTION, and the CIRCUMFLEX. The Horizontal Line The Rising Slide The Falling Slide -) denotes the Monotone. (1) denotes the Falling Inflection. The MONOTONE is that sameness of sound, which arises from repeating the several words or syllables of a passage in one and the same general tone. REMARK.-The Monotone is employed with admirable effect in the delivery of a passage that is solemn or sublime. EXAMPLES. 1. O thōu that rōllēst ābōve, round as the shield of my fathērs: whence are thy bēāms, O sūn, thy ēvērlāsting light? OSSIAN. 2. 'Tis midnight's hōly hōur, and silence now Is brōōding, like ā gēntlē spīrīt, ō'ēr The still and pulseless world. Hark! ōn the winds PRENTICE. 3. Gōd came from Tēmān, and the Holy One from Mount Pārān. Sēlāh. His glōry cōvēred the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. 4. Before Him went thē pēstīlēnce, and burning cōals went forth at His feet. He stood and measured the earth: Hē bēhēld, and drōve asunder the nations; and thē ēvērlāstīng mountains wēre scattered, the pērpētual hills did bōw: His ways are ēvērlāsting. BIBLE. 5. The heavens declare the glory of Gōd, and the firmament showēth His handy work. Day untō day ūttērēth speech, and night untō night showēth knowledge. There is no speech nōr language, where their voice is not heard. 6. How brief is life! how passing brief! How brief its joys and cares! It seems to be in league with time, And leaves us unawares. ID. 7. The thunder rōlls: bē hūshed the prōstrāte wōrld, THOMSON. REMARK.—The inappropriate use of the monotone, -a fault into which young people naturally fall,-is a very grave and It is always tedious, and often even ridiculous. obstinate error. It should be studiously avoided. The RISING INFLECTION is an upward turn, or slide of the voice, used in reading or speaking; as, Are you The FALLING INFLECTION is a downward turn, or slide of the voice, used in reading or speaking; as, What are In the falling inflection, the voice should not sink below the general pitch; but in the rising inflection, it is raised above it. The two inflections may be illustrated by the following diagrams: |