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This is an example of a simile which is half a metaphor. If not for the structural word
‘seems’, we would call it a metaphor. It is a simile where the second member – the human
being – is only suggested by the word
faint.
Periphrasis – is the re-naming of an object by a phrase that brings out some
particular feature of the object. The essence of the device is that it is decipherable only in
context. If a periphrastic location is understandable outside the context, it is not a stylistic
device but merely a synonymous expression, they are also called traditional, dictionary or
language periphrasis. Here are some examples of well-known dictionary periphrasis
(periphrastic synonyms);the cap and gown (‘student body’).
Traditional, language or dictionary periphrasis and the words they stand for are
synonyms by nature, the periphrasis being expressed by a word combination. Periphrasis
as a stylistic device is a new, genuine nomination of an object, a process which realizes the
power of language to coin new names fro objects by disclosing some quality of the object,
even though it may be transitory, and making it alone represent the object, but at the same
time preserving in the mind the ordinary name of the concept. Here are some such stylistic
periphrases:
“I understand you are poor, and to earn money by nursing the little boy,
my son, who has been so prematurely deprived of
what can never be
replaced.” (Dickens)
The object clause ‘what can never be replaced’ is a periphrasis for the word
mother.
The concept is easily understood by the reader within the given context, the latter being
the only code which makes the deciphering of the phrase possible. This is sufficiently
proved by a simple
transformational operation,
viz. taking the phrase out of its context.
The meaning of ‘what can never be replaced’ used independently will bear no reference to
the concept mother and may be interpreted in many ways. The periphrasis here expresses a
very individual idea of the concept.
In some cases periphrasis is regarded as a demerit and should have no place in good,
precise writing. This kind of periphrasis is generally called
circumlocution. Thus Richard
Altick states that one of the ways of obscuring truth “…is the use of circumlocutions and
euphemisms.”
Stylistic periphrasis can also be divided into
logical and
figurative. Logical
periphrasis is based on one of the inherent properties or perhaps a passing feature of the
object described, as in
instruments of destruction (Dickens) = ‘pistols’;
the most
pardonable of human weaknesses (Dickens) = ‘love’;
the object of his admiration
(Dickens); that proportion of the population which… is yet
able to read words of more
than one syllable, and to read than without perceptible movement of lips (D.Adams) =
‘half-illiterate’).
Figurative periphrasis is based either on metaphor or on metonymy, the key-word of
the collocation being the word used figuratively as in ‘the punctual
servant of all work’
(Dickens) =
the sun; ‘in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes’ (Shakespeare) =
misfortune; ‘to tie the knot’ = to marry.
There is little difference between metaphor
or metonymy on the one hand, ad
figurative periphrasis on the other. It is the structural aspect of the periphrasis, which
always presupposes a word combination, that is the reason for the division.
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Note this example of a string of figurative periphrases reinforced by the balanced
constructions they are moulded into:
“Many of the
hearts that throbbed so gaily then have
ceased to beat; many of
the
looks that shone so brightly then have
ceased to glow.” (Dickens)
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