高级英语修辞格1.docVIP

Rhetoric What is rhetoric? Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively. It is concerned with punctuation, diction, figures of speech, the principles of good writing and usage. In our discussion of rhetoric, emphasis is laid on figures of speech, since they play such an important and interesting role both in literature and in our daily life. What are figures of speech? Figures of speech are rhetorical devices of deviations from the ordinary or literal way of expressions, with a view to producing greater impressiveness and effect. Compare the following pairs of sentences in A and B: A. Figurative （转义） Just as painters draw pictures in colors, so writers paint pictures in words. They use figurative language—language that compares—to produce images in their description or narrations. 1. Sometimes non-human things are given human features (personification 拟人): —The front garden was a gravel square; four evergreen shrubs stood at each corner, where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main road. —… “Help, let me in, please let me in!” But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly… 2. Sometimes comparisons are made using the words like or as (simile 明喻): —The cheque fluttered to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. —He looked at me with an air of surprised disapproval, as a colonel might look at a private whose bootlaces were undone. —He is as stupid as an ass. —I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills. 3. More often comparisons are not stated but suggested (metaphor 暗喻): —This century… man has started to look into the workings of that other universe which is inside himself —the human brain. —His famous will… is a memorial to his interests and ideas. —I am a ministering angel in a Mini with a heavy coat and a bag of medicine. —There were no more butterflies in my stomach when I opened up an abdomen or a chest. —The Bathtub Navy —Life is a walking shadow. (or: Life is a brief candle.) B.