英语修辞与写作·16.3　Antithesis

16.3　Antithesis

16.3A　Antithesis的含义与形式

1） Antithesis汉译“平行对照”，可看作是Contrast+Parallelism，因为构成此辞格的成分之间须结构上对称，而意义上对照，例如：

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

（Abraham Lincoln）

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

（Samuel Johnson）

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

（Abraham Lincoln）

上述例句说明，平行对照格的成分可以是词，短语或分句。

2） 平行对照的两个成分可以是某个对象的不同方面的对比，也可以是两个对象的不同方面的对比。例如：

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

（John F. Kennedy）

Why are some people argumentative and domineering, while others are shy and hesitant? ... Why are some people greedy, selfish, and cynical, while others are kindly and easy to get along with?

（Gordon R. Lowe）

上述第二个例句还表明，除了由两个成分构成的平行对照外，还可能由这个平行对照结构同另一个类似的平行对照结构组成新的平行对照关系，可视作并列平行对照。又如：

In Australia, where people are few and rabbits are many, I watched a whole populace satisfying the primitive impulse in the primitive manner by the skillful slaughter of many thousands of rabbits. But in London or New York, where people are many and rabbits are few, some other means must be found to gratify primitive impulse.

（Bertrand Russell）

16.3B　Antithesis的使用

1） 平行对照格形式整齐匀称，音律节奏铿锵，内容既适于重复强调，又适于反衬对照，从音、形、义各方面看，都具有鲜明的修辞功能，在富于形象、音乐美的诗歌和充满逻辑辩证力量的论说文章和演说中特别常见。例如：

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are:

One equal temper of heroic hearts

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

（Tennyson）

Paine argued that Kings of England did not rule by divine right and wrote persuasively of the prospects for forming an independent government without any king at all, Americans, many of whom had hesitated to think such thoughts even as they had gone about the business of setting up idependent governments, found in common sense an ideological justification for their actions. The pamphlet was read in every city and hamlet in the colonies. It was read in taverns and at hearthside, denounced by furious loyalists and praised by friends of liberty, among whom it set in motion a groundswell of support for independence.

（Diana Karter Appelbaum）

It will not be easy. It will require sacrifice. But it can be done and done fairly. No choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake.

（Bill Clinton）

在劝说性的格言及现代广告中，都会经常出现平行对照格。它们用语简练，结构工整，往往通过鲜明的对照把深邃的哲理说得明白动听。例如：

There is more danger from a pretended friend than from an open enemy.

（Aesop's Fables）

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

（Holy Bible）

Small sorrows speak: great sorrows are silent.

— Proverb

Warehouse Clearance.

Pentax Importer Overstocked.

Their Loss, Your Gain.

（New Zealand Herald, May 10, 1991）

2） 平行对照格常常和明喻与隐喻（见8.1 和8.2）、逆论（见11.2A）、矛盾修饰法（见11.2B）、头韵（见17.1A）等辞格并用，从而使该辞格所具备的形式美、音韵美和内容上既有同向强调又可反向对照的特色得到更加充分的表现。例如：

False Eloquence, like the Prismatic Glass,

Its gaudy Colours spreads on ev'ry place;

The Face of Nature we no more survey,

All glares: alike, without Distinction gay:

But true Expression, like th' unchanging Sun,

Clears, and improves whate'er it shines upon,

...

（A. Pope）

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

（Bacon）

More haste, less speed.

— Proverb

Why then, O brawling love!

O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first great!

（W. Shakespeare）

Many are brash, but few are brave.

练习十六　（Exercise Sixteen）

I. Preview Questions:

1. Is the figure “Contrast” used to intensify differences or similarities?

2. Does Parallelism require that elements in the figure must be parallel in structure?

3. Antithesis can be regarded as a combination of Contrast and Parallelism that the elements of the figure are parallel in structure and contrastive in meaning. Do you agree with this statement?

4. Can you tell Contrast from Comparison in use?

5. What does a Balanced Sentence refer to?

6. Can you tell how to avoid Faulty Parallel Structures?

7. Can you cite examples to indicate how Antithesis is used with other figures of speech?

II. Identify what figures of speech are used in the following:

1. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flame of withering injustice.

（Martin Luther King, Jr.）

2. It is certain that if you were to behold the whole woman, there is that dignity in her aspect, that composure in her motion, that complacency in her manner, that if her form makes you hope, her merit makes you fear.

（Richard Steele）

3. To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.

（Edmund Burke）

4. Maintain its independence, uphold its constitution, preserve its union, defend its liberty, let it stand before the world in its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, equality and freedom to all within its boundaries, and shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway of human liberty, and Washington needs no other monument.

（Robert C. Winthrop）

5. My only love sprung from my only hate.

Too early seen unknown, and know too late.

（Shakespeare）

6. Let us be ruthless in our criticism, cruel to personal vanities, indifferent to age, rank or experience if these stand in our way. Let all theories be subjected to the bright clear light of practice.

（Norman Bethune）

III. Identify faulty elements in the following and revise them:

1. These books are not primarily for reading, but they are used for reference.

2. Gary is not a good track man, and neither is his swimming.

3. We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that the cavalry's winning was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.

4. When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know it, admit that you do not — this is true knowledge.

5. To know that we know what we know, and we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

6. Anaheim's recently rebuilt Fantasyland once looked like a cartoon collage; now the Tudor buildings make it resemble a small village. （Change some words in one of the clauses so that it is parallel in structure to the other.）

IV. Read the following statements and comment them with examples:

1. Antithesis is a figure which assumes a balanced structure and emphasizes a contrast in meaning by arranging antonymous elements （words, phrases, clauses, etc） in parallel construction, generally for a tuneful rhythm and wisdom of brevity.

2. “Contrast” points out difference;“compare to” points out likenesses; “compare with” does both. In the figure of Contrast, opposite ideas are expressed by structures which are different to each other （or one another.）

3. In rhetorical parallelism, the writer uses similar structures in separate sentences to express related ideas. The parallel sentences may occur one after the other, or they may be separated by other sentences or by whole paragraphs. Like rhetorical questions, Parallelism is common in argumentation and persuasion because it can help the writer emphasize important points.

4. Balanced constructions have similar form and function and approximately equal length, and they usually occur in the same sentence — occasionally in successive ones. Unlike parallel constructions, however, elements in balanced constructions do not necessarily relate grammatically to the same thing. Balanced elements may be played against one another, sometimes repeating the same idea, sometimes expressing contrasting ideas. When the contrast is sharply pointed it is called Antithesis: antithetical constructions are simply balanced phrases or clauses expressing opposed ideas.

参考答案

Ⅱ. 1. Simile （as a beacon light）; Metaphor （the flame）; Contrast （light of hope, flame of injustice）

2. Parallelism （if... if, that dignity ... that composure ... that complacency）; Antithesis （her form ... her merit ...）

3. Parallelism （four infinitive phrases in parallel）

4. Parallelism

5. Antithesis; Oxymoron; Repetition

6. Parallelism

Ⅲ. 1. These books are not primarily for reading but for reference. （Delete the wordy elements in the original sentence.）

2. Gary is not a good track man, nor is he a good swimmer. （There is faulty parallelism in the original because of the use of different grammatical structures to express coordinate ideas.）

3. ... books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. （When the phrase “the cavalry's winning” has turned into a clause beginning with “when”, the two “when” clauses become parallel.）

4. ... and when you do not know it, to admit that you do not — this is true knowledge. （Change “admit” into “to admit”, so that “to hold that ...” and “to admit that ...” form appropriate parallelism.）

5. To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know.... （Insert “that” between “and” and “we” so as to make the two “that” clauses parallel.）

6. ... now the Tudor buildings resemble a small village.