Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric. Ward Farnsworth

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      Shaw, The Irrational Knot (1905)

      4. Independent statements followed by identical commentaries; as when various deeds by the same actor lead to the same outcome or judgment.

      We are fond of talking about “liberty”; that, as we talk of it, is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “progress”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “education”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good.

      Chesterton, Heretics (1905)

      The repetition of the verbal pattern matches the claim that seemingly different acts serve the same purpose.

      There is an agreement that the boards of accounts and stamps should be united; that agreement they violated. There is an agreement that the revenue board should be confined to seven commissioners; that agreement they violate. There is a King’s letter, declaring that the salaries of the ordnance shall be reduced; that declaration they violate. There are principles and law against the sale of honours; those principles and law they have violated.

      Grattan, speech in the Irish Parliament (1790)

      Buonaparte, it seems, is to reconcile every thing by the gift of a free constitution. He took possession of Holland, he did not give her a free constitution; he took possession of Spain, he did not give her a free constitution; he took possession of Switzerland, whose independence he had guaranteed, he did not give her a free constitution; he took possession of Italy, he did not give her a free constitution; he took possession of France, he did not give her a free constitution; on the contrary, he destroyed the directorial constitution, he destroyed the consular constitution, and he destroyed the late constitution, formed on the plan of England!

      Grattan, speech in the House of Commons (1815)

      A related construction applies symploce to statements of an “if, then” character: again a variety of possibilities all come to the same result in sound and substance.

      The Conservative party are accused of having no programme of policy. If by a programme is meant a plan to despoil churches and plunder landlords, I admit we have no programme. If by a programme is meant a policy which assails or menaces every institution and every interest, every class and every calling in the country, I admit we have no programme.

      Disraeli, speech at Manchester (1872)

      If, living in Italy, you admire Italian art while distrusting Italian character, you are a tourist, or cad. If, living in Italy, you admire Italian art while despising Italian religion, you are a tourist, or cad. It does not matter how many years you have lived there.

      Chesterton, The Aristocratic ’Arry (1912)

      5. Lengthenings. As with all other figures of repetition, the impact of symploce often is increased when it is combined with variety in the length or rhythm of the phrases involved. One possibility, familiar from earlier chapters, is to lengthen the last section. The repetition at the start and end continues, but the structure is varied:

      That Angelo’s forsworn, is it not strange?

       That Angelo’s a murderer, is’t not strange?

       That Angelo is an adulterous thief,

       An hypocrite, a virgin-violator,

       Is it not strange and strange?

      Measure for Measure, 5, 1

      O, what men dare do! what men may do! what

       men daily do, not knowing what they do!

      Much Ado about Nothing, 4, 1

      In this last case two types of variety are introduced in the last part: a longer syllable (daily instead of dare and may); and a longer separation between what men and the last word of the sentence. Both changes gently disrupt the expectations that the first two rounds of repetition had created.

      Is not the maintaining so numerous an army in time of peace to be condemned? Is not the fitting out so many expensive and useless squadrons to be condemned? Are not the encroachments made upon the Sinking Fund; the reviving the salt duty; the rejecting many useful bills and motions in Parliament, and many other domestic measures, to be condemned?

      Pitt, speech in the House of Commons (1742)

      By the time the third sentence arrives here, the listener has learned how the end of the pattern goes, so the speaker can afford to stack up more examples before getting there. Postponing the conclusion in this way makes it more climactic. This passage also illustrates a useful bit of technique in working with symploce: repeating the same grammatical structure within the middle part even as the words change. Here the use of gerunds mostly repeats (the maintaining . . . the fitting out . . . the reviving . . . the rejecting). This helps to sustain the sense of parallelism, especially when there is some distance between the repeated words at the beginning and end of each sentence.

      6. Abandonment. Symploce also can be abandoned entirely and to good effect after it has conditioned the listener’s expectations. We saw some examples in passing earlier in the chapter; here are a few others.

      He was there before the murder; he was there after the murder; he was there clandestinely, unwilling to be seen.

      Webster, argument in the murder trial of John Francis Knapp (1830)

      [T]here is nothing in the way of your liberty except your own corruption and pusillanimity; and nothing can prevent your being free except yourselves. It is not in the disposition of England; it is not in the interest of England; it is not in her arms.

      Grattan, speech in the Irish Parliament (1790)

      Mrs. Sparkler, lying on her sofa, looking through an open window at the opposite side of a narrow street over boxes of mignonette and flowers, was tired of the view. Mrs. Sparkler, looking at another window where her husband stood in the balcony, was tired of that view. Mrs. Sparkler, looking at herself in her mourning, was even tired of that view: though, naturally, not so tired of that as of the other two.

      Dickens, Little Dorrit (1857)

      And if this Germanic sociology is indeed to prevail among us, I think some of the broad-minded thinkers who concur in its prevalence owe something like an apology to many gallant gentlemen whose graves lie where the last battle was fought in the Wilderness; men who had the courage to fight for it, the courage to die for it and, above all, the courage to call it by its name.

      Chesterton, The Crimes of England (1915)

      Notice that in these cases the repetition is sustained at the start of every clause straight through to the end. The abandonment comes just at the finish of the last part. The device also can be abandoned for a moment somewhere in the middle, as here:

      And, as to the man, is Mr. Hastings a man, against whom a charge of bribery is improbable? Why, he owns it. He is a professor of it. He reduces it into scheme and system. He glories in it.

      Burke, argument in the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings (1788)

      Taking a break from the symploce (by ending a sentence with scheme and system) avoids monotony and also gives the harangue a more spontaneous sound. The speaker isn’t trying too hard to hold to a pattern; he is too excited СКАЧАТЬ