Rhetorical Devices

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Henry Hitchings, Recipes for Killer One-Liners. Dorothy Parker once said of her tiny apartment: ‘I’ve barely enough room to lay my hat and a few friends.’ That’s syllepsis. Wall Street Journal, Oct 31, 2014
online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-elements-of-eloquence-by-mark-forsyth-1414713336
(book review on Mark Forsyth, The Elements of Eloquence. Secrets of the perfect turn of phrase. Berkley Publishing Group, 2014)

Note:
(a)
(i) Berkley Books
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkley_Books
(an imprint of Penguin Group (USA))

has nothing to do with UC Berkeley.
(ii) Dorothy Parker
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker
(1893 – 1967; American)

choi

(b) What is “syllepsis”?
(i) "A figure of speech by which a word, or a particular form or inflection of a word, is made to refer to two or more words in the same sentence, while properly applying to them in different senses: eg ‘Miss Bolo…went home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair’ (Dickens, Pickwick Papers, ch. 35). Cf zeugma."
www.oxfordreference.com/view/10. ... y.20110803100546611
(ii) syllepsis (n): “2: the use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent words in the context with one literal and the other metaphorical in sense”
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syllepsis
(iii) “I’ve barely enough room to lay my hat and a few friends.”
(A) lay (vt): “often vulgar :  to copulate with”
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay
(B) Can’t believe a woman would say it?  Google together sex and the quotation.
(iv) zeugma
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma
(syllepsis from the Ancient Greek sullēpsis, lit. "a taking together;" section 3 Type 2)
(A) "He took his hat and his leave."
* It is attributed to Charles Dickens.
* leave (n): "authorized especially extended absence from duty or employment"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leave
(B) "Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey, Dost sometimes Counsel take – and sometimes Tea.' (Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto III)"
* dost (v): “(archaic) second-person singular simple present form of do“
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dost
* Alexander Pope
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope
(1688 – 1744; an English poet)
* Bill Moore, Words That Taste Good; More than 600 short, sharp, sparkling bits of poetry. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers Ltd, 1987, at page 57
books.google.com/books?id=ThvDLrRaR68C&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=Here+Thou,+great+Anna!+whom+three+Realms+obey,+Dost+sometimes+Counsel+take+–+and+sometimes+Tea."+(Alexander+Pope&source=bl&ots=kp1353FIiy&sig=JARjdowUD6ywgCRNY2k4TTpVw_U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YQ9cVNjuC7j9sASRtoLYDw&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Here%20Thou%2C%20great%20Anna!%20whom%20three%20Realms%20obey%2C%20Dost%20sometimes%20Counsel%20take%20%E2%80%93%20and%20sometimes%20Tea.%22%20(Alexander%20Pope&f=false

Quote: "The way we pronounce words in English has changed over the centuries. In the early eighteenth century, when Pope was writing, for example, tea was pronounced tay:

           Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey, Dost sometimes Counsel take – and sometimes Tea.  ALEXANDER POPE”

* tea (n; Chinese (Xiamen) dé; First Known Use: circa 1655)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tea

In Hoklo/Taiwanese, “tea” is pronounced “de.” where “e” sounds like that in “let.”
* “Anna” alluded to Queen Anne.
* The Rape of the Lock. Cummings Study Guide, undated
www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Pope.html

Quote:

“At the beginning of "The Rape of the Lock," Pope identifies the work as a “heroi-comical poem.” Today, the poem—and others like it—is referred to as a mock-epic and sometimes as a mock-heroic. Such a work parodies the serious, elevated style of the classical epic poem—such as The Iliad or The Odyssey, by Homer—to poke fun at human follies. Thus, a mock-epic is a type of satire

"The rest of the story (Cantos III-V) takes place where Belinda debarks—Hampton Court Palace, a former residence of King Henry VIII on the outskirts of London

"Anne (1665-1714), queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1702 to 1714.

* The Rape of the Lock. Sparknote, undated
www.sparknotes.com/poetry/rapeofthelock/section3.rhtml
(“In introducing Hampton Court Palace, he [Pope] describes it as the place where Queen Anne 'dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.' * * * 'take' * * * applies to the paralleled terms 'counsel' and 'tea.' But one does not 'take' tea in the same way one takes counsel, and the effect of the zeugma is to show the royal residence as a place that houses both serious matters of state and frivolous social occasions")
* The “lock” refers not to a lock (with a key), but to “the theft of a lock of hair.” Wikipedia   The “rape” is an exaggeration, alluding to the “theft.” If you really want to get to the plot, go to Wiki, but it really is unnecessary.
(C) "'Where the washing is not put out, nor the fire, nor the mistress.' (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)"

washing (n): "articles washed or to be washed : WASH"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/washing
(D) “Eggs and oaths are soon broken.'  (English proverb)"

In the Web, some say “Eggs and oaths are easily broken” is a Danish proverb.
(E) "' * * * a house they call the rising sun, where love and money are made.' (Dolly Parton's rendition of House of the Rising Sun)"
* The House of the Rising Sun
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun
(basically: origin unknown; section 4 Jody Miller, Dolly Parton versions)
* lyrics of Dolly Parton, The House Of The Rising Sun
www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/dolly ... the_rising_sun.html

When men sing it, “girl” turns to “boy.”
(iii) French Quarter
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Quarter
(also known as the Vieux Carré: "Old Square" in English)
(iv) French English dictionary:
* vieux (adjective masculine; ultimately from Latin Vetus): "old"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vieux
* carré (noun and adjective masculine; Latin quadratus): "square"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carré

choi

(c) “As a 7-year-old boy, JRR Tolkien wrote his first story. When his mother read it, she remarked that his reference to a ‘green great dragon’ was a mistake. Instead, she said, he should have written ‘great green dragon.’ Instinctively we agree with Tolkien’s mother. Yet I have to admit that, until reading Mark Forsyth’s ‘The Elements of Eloquence,’ I had never paused to analyze with any precision the way in which we customarily sequence adjectives. Mr Forsyth explains that, in English, adjectives follow the pattern opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose—’so you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.’”
(i) Letter 163  To WH Auden. In Humphrey Carpenter (ed), The Letters of JRR Tolkien. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981
85.17.122.176/bookreader.php/139008/The_Letters_of_J.R.R.Tolkien.pdf
I first tried to write a story when I was about seven. It was about a dragon. I remember nothing
about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that
one could not say 'a green great dragon', but had to say 'a great green dragon'. I wondered why, and
still do. The fact that I remember this is possibly significant, as I do not think I ever tried to write a
story again for many years, and was taken up with language.
(ii) The Letters of JRR Tolkien
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Letters_of_J._R._R._Tolkien
(published in 1981)
(iii) JRR Tolkien
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien
(1892 – 1973; English; an Oxford professor)
(iv) WH Auden
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden
(Wystan Hugh Auden; 1907 – 1973; born in England, later an American citizen)

choi

(d) “‘The Elements of Eloquence’ is billed as a ‘how-to’ guide, designed to teach readers the secrets of the perfect turn of phrase. But it has a broader purpose: to stimulate interest in the rhetorical devices we use every day, often unwittingly, to animate our speech and writing. Some of these are familiar from high-school English class: alliteration, hyperbole, paradox. Others, though, sound like medical complaints. There’s syllepsis, which involves using a single word in two or more ways with incongruous effects. Thus Dorothy Parker, on the smallness of her apartment: ‘I’ve barely enough room to lay my hat and a few friends.’ There’s the sandwich effect known as diacope: Othello’s ‘Put out the light, and then put out the light’ or Martin Luther King ’s ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last.’ And there’s epizeuxis, a form of immediate repetition exemplified in British prime minister Tony Blair ’s insistence that his government’s chief priorities were ‘Education. Education. Education.’”
(i) alliteration (n): "the use of words that begin with the same sound near one another (as in wild and woolly or a babbling brook)”
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alliteration
(A) wooly (adj)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wooly
(B) Wikipedia under this title gives another example: "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers" (where the Piper is the surname)
* peck (n): "[MASS NOUN] archaic, informal food <he wants a little more peck>" (brackets in original)
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/peck
(ii) paradox
(A) MC Escher
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher
is often associated with visual paradox.
(B) Similar to MC Escher’s is
paradox (n): “A situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities <the mingling of deciduous trees with elements of desert flora forms a fascinating ecological paradox>
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/paradox
(C) There are other types of paradoxes--in a language, I mean.
(iii) “There’s the sandwich effect known as diacope: Othello’s ‘Put out the light, and then put out the light’ or Martin Luther King ’s ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last.’”
(A) diacope
diacopeen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacope
(It derives from a Greek word meaning "cut in two")
(B) The preceding Wiki page presents: "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!—Shakespeare’s Richard III”
* Richard III (play)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)
(by William Shakespeare;  written in approximately 1592)

Quote: "At the Battle of Bosworth Field * * * [King] Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and cries out, ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!’ Richmond [Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond –  later King Henry VII] kills Richard in the final duel.
* The truth is, there was no duel. Henry Tudor’s soldiers vied to kill the king, in order to be rewarded handsomely.

Richard III of England
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England
(section 6 Death at the Battle of Bosworth Field)

Richard III’s skeletons were recently located and dug up, which betrayed a violent death.
(C) A lot of English dictionary does not include the word “diacope.” Because it is Latin, the word is pronounced the Latin (not English, that is) way.

diacope (n; Latin, from Ancient Greek [noun feminine] diakopḗ gash, cleft, rupture, from diá through, across + kopḗ cutting)
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diacope
(D) For “Put out the light, and then put out the light,” see antanaclasis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antanaclasis
(section 1.1 Shakespeare)
(iv)
(A) epizeuxis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epizeuxis
(B) epizeuxis (n; Late Latin, from Greek, literally, act of fastening together, from epizeugnynai to fasten together (from epi- [on, at, besides, after] + zeugnynai to join, yoke) + -sis)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epizeuxis

choi

(e) “Occasionally his somewhat facetious tone gives way to what seems a rather callous flippancy: * * * Of Arthur Henry Hallam, the inspiration for Tennyson ’s long poem ‘In Memoriam,’ he says: ‘Alfred Tennyson’s best friend went on holiday and died. This was a bad thing for Tennyson, but a good thing for English poetry.’”

Arthur Hallam
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hallam
(1811-1833; section 3 Death)

Section 2 states “he [Hallam] met and fell in love with Tennyson's eighteen-year-old sister, Emily, who was just seven months younger than Hallam. * * * and became engaged to Emily.”

(f) “There are also mistakes. Mr. Forsyth insists that the saying ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ was first recorded in 1921, although it’s in James Allan Mair ’s ‘Handbook of Metaphors’ (1873).”

Curiosity killed the cat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_killed_the_cat