Sunday, March 3, 2013

Rhetoric - hypallage



hypallage [hɪˈpælədʒi] n.

1.) The reversal of the usual syntactic or semantic relationship of words; especially, the transference of an adjective from the person who has the quality denoted to some object (person or thing) with reference to which the person manifests that quality, e.g. "flattering offer" (Garner's Modern American Usage 3rd Edition).

Etymology: Latin hypallagē, adopted from Greek ὑπαλλαγή, interchange, exchange, from ὑπό, in a subordinate degree, slightly + ἀλλάσσειν, to exchange. Cf. French hypallage.

"Adieu, adieu! my native shore
Fades o'er the waters blue;
The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,
And shrieks the wild sea-mew.
Yon sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight;
Farewell awhile to him and thee,
My Native Land—Good Night!"
(Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, George Gordon Byron, 1818)



...and now, fair Italy!
Thou are the garden of the world...
Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin graced
With an immaculate charm which cannot be defaced.

(Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - Italy, Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1823)
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Apparently those lines (also from the eponymous Byron poem) are supposed to be displayed with this painting.

7 comments:

E. said...

Great imagery, I can almost see the sunset and hear the seagulls. It reminds me of summer.

p.s: Would you care to -E-laborate on why it didn't fit? I enjoyed seeing them ridiculed and then blown up.

Jenny Woolf said...

Cripes never even heard of this word and it is quite a hard one for me to get my head around too. I'll have another go tomorrow. :)

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Sea-mew? Is that the sound made by an oceanic kitty?

Bibi said...

RYC: huh?

Eddie F said...

I had to read this twice too. To take the example given, 'a flattering offer': it's like a form of anthropomorphism, isn't it, as the inanimate noun is being credited with a human quality.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Like Debra, I too am too busy being enthralled by the term 'sea-mew.'

-E- said...

Come on people, it's a bird.

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