Humours:
The four fluids of human body which, according to the
ancient Greek theory, determine the personality of a man. The fluids are :
blood, phlegm, black bile (or melancholy) and yellow bile (or choler). These
four fluids are analogous to the four basic elements—air, water, earth and
fire. Thus blood is as hot and moist as air; phlegm is as cold and moist as
water; black bile is as cold and dry as earth; yellow bile is as hot and dry as
fire. According to the Hippocratic theories of physiology the predominance of
any of these humors determines the character of an individual. For example, the
predominance of blood makes a man sanguine, joyful and amorous.
The predominance of phlegm makes a man phlegmatic, dull and
cowardly. The predominance of black bile makes a man melancholic, thoughtful
and sentimental. The predominance Of bile makes a man choleric, impatient and
obstinate. Humour, therefore, means disposition or characteristic folly of a
person.
Iamb
(imbus):
metrical foot which consists of an unstressed syllable
followed by stressed syllable. (see, Foot)
Away! / away! / forl / will fly / to thee,
Not char / ioted / by Bac/chus and / his pards,
(Keats: "Ode to Nightingale")
Image:
"Picture in words". It is a replica produced in
the mind of the reader by sense perception. For example, the sentence,
"The black cat is now in the dark room" reflects in our mind a
picture of an animal which is not a dog or a tiger or a lion or any other four-footed
animal but the small animal which is named as cat. We also understand that its
colour is black. This picture of the black animal reflected in our mind is an
image in this sentence.
Imagery:
The collective use of images.
Innuendo :
A figure of speech which hints at something unpleasant
instead of stating it plainly . For example:
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine;
(Pope: The Rape of the Lock)
The unpleasant meaning suggested in these lines is that
dinner
Is more important to the judges than the life of the
accused.
Internal
rhyme:
Rhyme within a verse line. Example:
When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And laughing is heard on the hill, My heart is at rest
within my breast, And everything else
is still.
(Blake: "Nurse's Song)
Notice that the word "children" rhymes with
"green" as "rest' rhymes with "breast"
Invocation:
A formal prayer to the Muses for inspiration, help and
guidance a the beginning of an epic. Virgil in Aeneid prays:
"O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;"
Usually the invocation in an epic goes together with th
proposition (declaration) of its subject.
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