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Monday, July 19, 2010

Figures of Speech 4

13. Onomatopoeia -- The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
Alter and Kermode, in
The Literary Guide to the Bible, find onomatopoeia in the Hebrew of Isaiah 5:24 and 24:19-20. I am not qualified to know whether this is correct, but pass it on to you who may.

14. Oxymoron -- A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
Isaiah 58:10, "...thy darkness [shall] be as the noonday:"

15. Paradox -- A statement that appears to contradict itself.
Matthew 13:12, "...whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."
Matthew 20:16, "So the last shall be first, and the first last:"
I'm thinking that those with a high view of inspiration might tend to find more paradoxes, while those with a low view might just pass them off as actual contradictions.

16. Personification -- A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
1 Corinthians 12:15-16, "If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?"

The Top 20 Figures of Speech (13-16)

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