Hope you enjoyed the Easter break celebrating the return of Spring with a crucifixion is odd I know but that's life and death guys! Over the past few weeks I have been analysing Shakespeare's poetry and plays to ascertain the depth of knowledge required from the 16th century to write poetry and screenplays. It would seem that we have arrived at the letter "C" and that leads us into the use of the Caesura which coincidentally is a break or pause in the rhythm of a line. The pause, as every actor should know generally adds an immersive dramatic effect. The pauses can be initial, medial or terminal, and may follow masculine or feminine stresses. “To be, || or not to be, || that is the question. ||” (Hamlet. Act 3. Scene 1.64).  Caesura is an example of Omission.

Shakespeare often uses Catachresis (kat-a-kree'-sis) which is an implied or mixed metaphor, in which usually a verb or adjective are misapplied to the noun they reference. “Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love,” (Measure for Measure. Act 1. Scene 1.3). It is related to hyperbole and synaesthesia. Catachresis is an example of Arrangement, Substitution.

The term Catalexis (kat-a-lex-sis) is applied whenever the last syllable or syllables are omitted from a metrical line in usually a trochaic or dactylic verse to avoid monotony.

The use of Catastasis (kat-a-sta-sis) is employed in a two-fold manner firstly as a narrative introduction to a speech or as a third part of four sections of a drama or tragedy. The first is known as protasis, the second epistasis, the fourth catastrophe. Also of significance is Catharsis (Gr: “purging”) which is also used in tragedy in fear or pity purges negative or suppressed emotions and feelings.

A very popular and frequently used literary device is Chiasmus (ki-az'-mus) or commutatio is the repetition of two corresponding phrases arranged in a parallel inverse order. The second half is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Macbeth Act 1. Scene 1.1).  It is related to antimetabole, in which the two pairs suggest opposing or opposite meanings. Also similar to epanados, which also repeats the terms after presenting them eg:

First Witch:

When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch:

When the hurly-burly’s done,

When the battle’s lost and won.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Third Witch:

That will be ere the set of sun.

More pertinently the use of chiásmus, where the order in the second half of a sentence reverses the first. From the Greek meaning “placing cross-wise” a good example can be found in “All’s Well That Ends Well” in an exchange between Parolles and Helena:

Parolles:

Virginity being blown down, man will quicklier be

blown up: marry, in blowing him down again, with

the breach yourselves made, you lose your city. It

is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to

preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational

increase and there was never virgin got till

virginity was first lost. That you were made of is

metal to make virgins. Virginity by being once lost

may be ten times found; by being ever kept, it is ever lost:

More often we witness the use of climax, where a statement in say a monologue mounts gradually by degrees endowing growth and weight to its meaning. A good example can be found in Shakespeare’s “Timon Of Athens” where a degree of repetition lends poetry to the lines (Act 4, scene 3):

If thou wert the lion, the fox would

beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would

eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would

suspect thee, when peradventure thou wert accused by

the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would

torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a

breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy

greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst

hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the

unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and

make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert

thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse:

wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the

leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to

the lion and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on

thy life: all thy safety were remotion and thy

defence absence. What beast couldst thou be, that

were not subject to a beast? and what a beast art

thou already, that seest not thy loss in

transformation!

In terms of action on stage it is defined as anabasis, where it declines it is known as anti-climax. A simple example can be found again in an exciting exchange between Helena and Parolles after which he is called away and she is left alone to reflect on her private thoughts:

Helena:

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,

Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky

Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull

Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.

But, in case you had not noticed all manner of repetitive techniques from the dramatist’s playbook can be found in much of Shakespeare’s work including conduplicatio, epímone, epíphora, epizeúxis, parachésis, and polýptopon. Then there is the use of epanados, the repetition of certain words beginning or middle or vice versa within a particular sentence.

Shallow:

If it be confessed, it is not redress'd: is not that

so, Master Page? He hath wronged me; indeed he

hath, at a word, he hath, believe me: Robert

Shallow, esquire, saith, he is wronged. (The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Act 1, scene 1)

But within Shakespeare’s accomplished literary toolbox we also find the use of Diacope (di-a'-co-pee) which is the close repetition of words broken by one or two intervening words:

“Done like a Frenchman: turn and turn again.” Henry VI Pt. 1, 3.3.17.

Diacope is an example of Repetition.

The use of Dialysis (Gr: “dismembering”) occurs whenever an argument, analysis or line of enquiry for and against a situation or person are listed rationally and therefore disposed and put in their proper place or level of importance/status.

Another rare literary device is Diasyrmus (di'-a-syrm-os) which is the rejection of a position by comparing it to something very stupid or ridiculous. Diasyrmus is an example of Comparison.

A metrical line which lacks a syllable in the middle and at the end is described as Dicatalectic but see also Acatalectic and Catalexis.

Another dramatic or literary technique is Dichotomy which is the contrast between two things that are represented as being opposed or opposite, e.g, good and evil, black and white, thought and action, etc.

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” Macbeth,1.3.39

Dichotomy is an example of: Comparison, Parallelism

In a totally different vein, there is the use of ecphonema whenever an expression of joy, delight or amazement begins a sentence or line, eg: Oh, Ah, or Whoah, although expressions could just as easily be Nay, Tut, Tisk, etc. Shakespeare’s most common use of ecphonema is the exclamation “Oh!”, which occurs in nearly every play he wrote:

Oh for a Muse of fire! (Henry Vth)

O absence, what a torment would’st thou prove. (Sonnet 39)

Oh, speak again bright angel! (Romeo & Juliet)

O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb. (Julius Caesar)

Oh, that this all too solid flesh would melt. (Hamlet)

O! How much more doth beauty beauteous seem. (Sonnet 54)

But other uses can be found in Venus & Adonis: “Lo! Here the gentle lark, weary of rest”.

A rather obscure and rarely used technique from the Greek meaning “leaving out” is Ellipsis (el-lip'-sis) which is applied whenever words, or entire sentences are deliberately omitted or redacted leaving the reader to deduce what they might be. They might be used in secret communications or as an encrypted sentence but more usually by printers and compositors. Usually, several characters are embedded within the brackets such as a hyphen (-) or even several hyphens (---), a dotted line (...) or an asterisk (*), depending on the circumstances of the omission or who redacted them. The use of blanks between the brackets is unusual if rarely employed as far as I am aware. This occurs in only one of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (#126) and no viable reason has yet been given for its use by academics or researchers as far as I know. But it also applies to the omission of one or more words, which are intuitively assumed by the listener or reader or omitting a word implied by the previous clause:

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.” (The Merchant of Venice, Act 1. Scene 2.1 ) Ellipsis is an example of Omission.

The use of Enallage (e-nal'-la-ge) is the intentional use of a different gender, person, case, number, or tense when another is expected to characterize a speaker or to create a memorable phrase:

“This dream of mine—

Being now awake, I’ll queen it no inch farther,

But milk my ewes and weep.” (A Winter's Tale, Act 4. Scene 4.490)

Enallage is an example of: Substitution

Another rare use of rhetoric is Enthymeme (en’-thy-meem) which is an argument in which a premise is omitted but simply implied, or which bases a conclusion on the truth of its contrary:

“Marked you his words? He would not take the crown;

Therefore ’tis certain he was not ambitious.” (Julius Caesar, Act 3. Scene 2.82)

Enthymeme is an example of Omission.

The envelope is where an entire stanza with some slight variation from beginning to end is repeated yet again as if echoing its meaning, this is often found in lyrics composed by Shakespeare [chorus].

Another term Epanados (e-pan'-o-dos) is the repetition of the chief points in a discourse, especially in reverse order of that in which they were previously treated.

“Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war

How to divide the conquest of thy sight.

Mine eye my heart thy picture’s sight would bar,

My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.

My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, ” (Sonnet 46)

It is a type of chiasmus, which is the inversion of the verbal structure of phrases using the same words. Also similar to antimetabole, in which the two phrases are not just inverted but suggest opposing meanings. Epanados is an example of Parallelism, Repetition.

A frequently employed literary and poetical device is Epanalepsis which is the repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. Repetition of words after intervening words for emphasis, or the repetition of words at beginning and end of line, phrase, clause, or sentence:

“Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe.” (Julius Caesar, Act 3. Scene 2.14)

While epanalepsis (Gk: “taking up again”) is used whenever a figure of speech that begins a phrase or verse that is repeated somewhere else within another phrase or stanza:

King Claudius:

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,

To give these mourning duties to your father:

But, you must know, your father lost a father;

That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound

In filial obligation for some term

To do obsequious sorrow: (Hamlet, Act 1, scene 2).

Epanalepsis is an example of Repetition.

For the most part many of these so-called archaic techniques of repetition from Greek and Roman times have been abandoned by modern poets and it is hardly surprising since they are often considered contrived or simply distracting and difficult to read at the best of times. In effect it is as if the record player had got stuck and constantly repeats the same sound over and over again! However, it is often found in many modern musical compositions.

Where the normal or accepted rules of prosody are ignored there is an asynartete (Greek: “disconnected”) or asyntactic (Greek: “unarranged”) non-grammatical arrangement of words or verses in a variety of metrical forms. Or autotelic (Greek: “self-existing”) meaning that the poem or drama has no purpose or direct meaning (“art for art’s sake”).

Not wishing to bore the reader exhaustively with all these obscure, at least to the layman, literary tools, trawling through the plays and poetry there is also the use of Epenthesis (e-pen'-thes-is) which is the adding of an extra syllable or letters in the middle of a word (also called infixation).

“I have but with a cursitory eye / O’erglanced the articles.” (Henry Vth, Act 5. Scene 2.69) Epenthesis is an example of Augmentation.

In drama Epanorthosis (Gk: “setting straight again”) is whenever a statement or figure of speech is employed by someone who is corrected either by themselves on reflection or by another actor who might comment on the validity of their initial assertion.

In rhetoric or within oratory the term Epideitic refers to a statement that praises or blames someone in public for some triumph, error or disaster. For example a funeral oration, panegyric or public occasion. See Encomium, Epithalamion or Ode although you would struggle today to find examples of written poems that could be described as an elegy, ode, eulogy or nocturne to say the least.

An epilogue as every student of poetry or drama should know is a short speech given at the end of the play. Epilogues are found in “The Tempest”, “All’s Well That Ends Well”, “Henry VIIIth”, Henry Vth, "Henry IVth Part 2”, “The Two Noble Kinsmen”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Love’s Labours Lost”, and “As You Like It”.

Similar in theme or function to an epilogue is the epimythium which is an attempt to summarise the inherent moral of a fable usually at the end of the narrative. If it occurs at the beginning it is known as a promythium.

However, the frequent use of Epimone (e-pi'-mo-nee) is the repetition of a phrase or question; dwelling on a point:

“Remember thee? Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat

In this distracted globe. Remember thee?” Hamlet, 1.5.99.

Epimone is an example of Repetition.

Often employed in classical rhetoric, Epiphonema is a term for an exclamation or reflection that strikingly sums up a previous passage or discourse—a kind of moral of the story. It derives from the Latin epiphōnēma from Greek epiphṓnēma (a witty saying), from epiphōneîn “to mention by name, call out, address,” composed of a prefixal use of the preposition epí “upon, on” and phōneîn “to make a sound.” Phōneîn is derived from phonḗ “sound, tone, voice,” ultimately seen in a variety of English words, such as Anglophone, microphone, phonetics, phonology, polyphony, and (tele)phone. Oh, what euphonious words derive from ancient Greek!

While there is also found the use of Epistrophe (e-pis'-tro-fee) from the Greek “upon turning” which is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses, lines, or sentences:

“Is it possible he should know what he is, and be that he is?” (All's Well That Ends Well, Act 4. Scene 1.45)

But see also anaphora, the repetition of words at the beginning, and mesodiplosis, the repetition of words in the middle. Epistrophe is an example of Repetition.

In drama if an actor wished to argue against someone thereby shaming them into confession or admit an impediment they employ an Epiplexis (Gk: “on stroke”), in effect it is akin to awakening their innate conscience. A typical example can be found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet when he decides to put on a play entitled “Murder of Gonzago” to prompt the conscience of Claudius into admitting he was responsible for his father’s death.

The term Epitasis from the Greek meaning nearing manifestation occurs in drama just before a climactic event approaches, when the plot thickens when it precedes the catastrophe.

An Epithalamion is usually a song or poem recited in the bridal chamber on the night of a wedding (eg: Spenser’s “Epithalamion) although an entire play was normally celebrated for a wedding for example “Midsummer Night’s Dream” was performed for the wedding of the Earl of Derby to Elizabeth de Vere, “As You Like It” was performed for the marriage of Henry Wriosthesley (Shakespeare’s patron) to Elizabeth Vernon, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” was probably performed for the marriage of Edward de Vere to Anne Cecil, and “Measure For Measure” for the marriage of Susan de Vere to William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Indeed, the “Merry Wives Of Windsor” was probably written in anticipation of a marriage between Queen Elizabeth Ist to the Duke of Alencon but which never occurred.

As any aspiring poet or academic knows an Epithet is a noun-adjective combination as a means for amplification or further description, epithets can be semantically redundant or unusual. They are sometimes the literary source of nicknames:

“A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life,” (Romeo and Juliet, Act 1.Pro.1.)

Also see transferred epithet. An Epithet is an example of Augmentation.

Another important use in Greek prosody is Epizeuxis (e-pi-zook'-sis) which  is the repetition of words or phrases without intervening words:

 “O horror, horror, horror!

 Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! (Macbeth, Act 2 scene 2.3.73.)

Epizeuxis is an example of Repetition

The term Erotema (e-ro-tem'-a) is a classical term for a type of rhetorical question. Erotema is an example of Substitution.

The term Exordium is an introduction to a speech to catch the attention of the listeners:

 

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” (Julius Caesar, 3.2.82)

Exordium is an example of Augmentation.

Whoever “Shakespeare” was, it is quite clear from the linguistic cornucopia in the plays and poetry that he must have been a living, walking encyclopaedia on the subject of Greek and Roman prosody. Nearly every play and poem attributed to “Shakespeare” has a vast number of literary and rhetorical techniques, some rare, some extremely obscure and others which would require a classical education in some college or university and far removed from the sleepy, rural district of Stratford-upon-Avon. It appears that William Shakspere was born during the first onset of plague in 1564 and a short history of the town between the 16th-17th centuries entitled “A Market Town In Adversity” (J.M. Martin 1982) states:

At Stratford things got much worse after 1594 when new calamities struck the town: the first devastating fires in 1594-5; harvest failure leading to famine in November 1596; and finally the return of plague to the town in 1604. Like the ruinous rates and the immorality of the time these new misfortunes were blamed firmly upon the poorer classes of the town. So the fires it was alleged 'had their beginning in poor tenements and cottages which were thatched with straw of which sort very many have been lately erected';" a danger greatly' magnified by the widespread conversion of stables and outbuildings into dwellings for 'strangers and inmates'. In their listing of the inadequacies and misdemeanours of the poor inhabitants and of the coercive measures

taken to deal with them, the Corporation sounded a note of real anxiety. And this impression receives support from some occupational figures gleaned from the registers which throw some light on the social polarization under way: they show that 57 of 179 grooms staying on in Stratford between 1597 and 1624 were either labourers or paupers.

The absurd idea that a recently married eighteen year old boy was inclined to pursue the luxury of an elevated education reserved mainly for the élite or that beyond his financial means or mental capacity is highly unlikely.