(2) Ascribing actions, as, The sea saw it, and fled.
(3) Ascribing attributes, such as speech and hearing, e.g.
The listening oaks, The babbling brook, etc.
Prosopopæia persons makes of things,

As, Now the moon her pearly radiance flings;'
'The brook goes prattling on its pebbly way;
Or, 'The still morn goes forth with sandals gray.'

5. Hyperbole.

Hyperbole (Greek, 'over-throwing') is an exaggeration for the sake of effect. Thus we say, 'as quick as lightning,' 'as hot as a furnace,' or 'as old as Adam.' This is a figure which occurs frequently in common conversation, though the frequency of its occurrence varies, perhaps, in inverse ratio to the culture of the individual. Properly managed, a certain amount of hyperbolical language lends life and vigour to the utterances of an orator or pleader.

6. Irony.

Hyperbole exaggeration shows;

As boundless wealth,' no brains,' 'ten thousand woes.'

Irony expresses a statement more emphatically, by using words which denote exactly the reverse, as, 'He is a perfect Solomon.' The real meaning of this assertion is that the person spoken of is very ignorant or foolish. See Job xii. 1 and 2: And Job answered and said, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.' By seeming to assert of his critics that there would be a dearth of wise men after they were dead, Job implies very ingeniously and severely that they were not wise, but foolish.

To Irony dissembling words belong,

As, 'Thanks, proud peacock, for thy tuneful song!'

7. Apostrophe.

Apostrophe is literally a turning off' (Greek, apostrophe). It means the turning off from the regular course of the subject to address some person or thing. (Compare the expression, 'a determination of the blood to the brain.') Things without life are addressed as though they were alive, and persons absent or dead as though they were living and present, eg.— 'O my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!'

Soul of the just! companion of the dead!

Where is thy home? and whither art thou fled ?'

This simple figure is one that is extensively used in poetry, and is exemplified in many noble and beautiful passages.

Apostrophe, as thoughts and feelings press,
Turns to some object with a brief address:
Accursed thirst of gold! The crimes how great,
Which thou dost urge mankind to perpetrate !'

8. Metonymy.

Metonymy (change of name') is the substitution of one name for another which expresses a kindred idea, or the substitution of the name of one thing for the name of another with which the first is closely connected. This figure has several varieties. For example, it puts

(a) The cause for the effect, as

I am reading Shakespeare (for Shakespeare's works). (b) The effect for the cause, as

Grey hairs (for old age).

(c) The sign for the thing signified, as

The Crescent (for the Turkish empire).

The Cross (for Christendom).

(d) The container for the thing contained, as

The flowing bowl' or 'the bottle' (for intoxicating
liquor).

The House (for the 670 members of Parliament).
The kettle (for the water, as in 'the kettle boils ').
Metonymy denotes a change of name ;-

Of different words the sense is still the same :

As, 'John reads Virgil' (meaning Virgil's works);

'Respect grey hairs;' 'Death in the bottle lurks;

"The kettle boils;' The Press hath wondrous power;'
'Here in the flesh we die from hour to hour,'

9. Synedoche.

Synedoche expresses a whole by naming a part, or vice versa. Thus forten line-of-battle ships,' we sometimes write, 'ten sail of the line;' and instead of 'I lived in his house ten years,' we say, 'I lived ten years under his roof.

Synedoche, we see, with pleasing art

Puts part for whole, and sometimes whole for part :

'Beneath this roof ten summers have I passed;'
'Yon fleet of twenty sail is anchored fast;
'And praising Spring, a voice from Virgil hear,-
Green are the woods; most beautiful the year!'

PRESENTIVE AND SYMBOLIC WORDS.

These terms have more to do with Philology than with Grammar, but they are so important that in a work dealing with Our Mother Tongue,' the absence of any explanation of them would be a grave omission.

A Presentive Word is one which of itself presents some conception to the mind or memory, as, poker, swallow, mercy, gnome, elucidation, strong, rough, large, here, strike, move, etc. Note also the Roman Numerals I., II., III.

A Symbolic Word is one which of itself presents no meaning to the mind, and which depends for its intelligibility on its relation to some Presentive Word or words, as, an, by, else, from, he, I, how, never, since, who, yet. Note also the Arabic Numerals and the Roman Numerals after III.

What Parts of Speech are Presentive or Symbolic?

As the Parts of Speech do not confine themselves in use to their own class, and indeed cannot be rigidly separated or 'demarcated,' our answer will only be generally correct.

Substantives, Adjectives, Nounal Adverbs, and the great mass of Verbs are Presentive.

Pronouns, Articles, Prepositions, Conjunctions, the Substantive and Auxiliary Verbs are Symbolic.

Onomatopoetic words and Interjections appear to be intermediary. Note also the Noun thing and the Verb do.

As long as one hundred and thirty-seven years ago this distinction of Symbolic and Presentive was noted, and in 'Hermes,' a famous book on Universal Grammar,' we find words classified, as—

(1) Significant by themselves (Presentive).

(2) Significant by Association (Symbolic).

These divisions are also called by Bopp the Nounal (Presentive) and Pronominal (Symbolic).

Transition from Presentive to Symbolic.
Presentive Words tend to become Symbolic.

Examples

1. Noun, e.g. thing.

Thing was originally Presentive, the Saxon Verb thingian meant to compromise (Latin pacisci). Even now we find it Presentive in kindred languages. The Norwegian Parliament is the THING. In the Isle of Man the hill from which the laws are proclaimed is Tynwald. And to the Hus- Ting (house thing) held at Mere Gathered the farmers far and near.'

-Longfellow's 'Soga of King Olaf. When things are opposed to persons, the word is used somewhat presentively. But it is employed purely symbolically in

'Thou, O Lorde God, art the thynge that I longe for.'
-Ps. lxxi. 4 (1539).

2. Verb, e.g. shall.

(a) Shall originally signified to owe, and was Presentive, e.g.

'Hu micel scealt thu?''How much owest thou ?'-Luke xvi. 5. 'By the faith I shal to God.'-Chaucer.

Cf. German schuldig = indebted.

(b) It is sometimes used intermediately, e.g.

'If the Reformers saw not where to draw the line, who shall arraign them.'-Milman.

'If I die, no man shall pity me.'-Richard III. Act v. Scene 3. (c) Now, shall is used Symbolically as a mere Auxiliary, e.g.

I shall come, to-morrow.

3. Adverb, e.g. now.

(a) Now is the accepted time (Presentive).

(b) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for (Symbolic).

This tendency is shown also in the rise of Alphabets, the letters at first being undoubtedly Presentive.

Our A was at first the picture of an eagle, B of some other bird, D was a man's hand, and it is probable that the Arabic Numerals were at first composed of the number of strokes which they represent.

Thus the pictorial and rhyming Alphabets, e.g.

'A was an archer, B was a Butcher,' etc.,

are founded on true principles, especially when the illustration can be made in the form of the letter, as → for snake.

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When A represents an Archer, it is Presentive; when it represents a vowel sound, it is Symbolic.

Caution.

Of course, all language is radically Symbolical, but our two terms are not used absolutely but relatively.

The real difference between the Presentive and Symbolic words lies not in the absence of symbolism in the former, but in the lack of the presentive faculty in the latter, which leaves their unmixed symbolic character fully exposed.