Sanders Union Fourth Reader | Page 7

BLAZING SPIRE!
4. Hear, O HEAVENS! and give ear, O EARTH!
NOTE V.--Emphasis sometimes changes the seat of accent from its ordinary position.
EXAMPLES.
There is a difference between _pos'_sibility and _prob'_ability. And behold, the angels of God _as'_cending and _de'_scending on it. For this corruptible must put on _in'_corruption, and this mortal must put on _im'_mortality. Does his conduct deserve _ap'_probation or _rep'_robation?
NOTE VI.--There are two kinds of Emphasis:--Absolute and Antithetic. ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS is used to designate the important words of a sentence, without any direct reference to other words.
EXAMPLES OF ABSOLUTE EMPHASIS.
1. Oh, speak to passion's raging tide, Speak and _say_: "PEACE, BE STILL!"
2. The UNION, it MUST and SHALL BE PRESERVED!
3. HUSH! breathe it not aloud, _The wild winds must not hear it! Yet, again_, _I tell thee_--WE ARE FREE! KNOWLES.
4. When my country shall take her place among the nations of the earth, THEN and not TILL then, let my epitaph be written. EMMETT.
5. If you are MEN, follow ME! STRIKE DOWN _yon guard, and gain the mountain passes._
6. OH! shame on us, countrymen, SHAME on us ALL, If we CRINGE to so dastard a race.
7. This doctrine _never was received_; it NEVER CAN, by any POSSIBILITY, BE RECEIVED; and, if admitted at ALL, it must be by THE TOTAL SUBVERSION OF LIBERTY!
8. Are you Christians, and, by upholding duelists, will you deluge the land with blood, and _fill it with widows and orphans._ BEECHER.
9. LIBERTY and UNION, NOW and FOREVER, ONE and INSEPARABLE. WEBSTER.
10. _Treason!_ cried the speaker; treason, TREASON, TREASON, reechoed from every part of the house.
11. The war is inevitable,--and LET IT COME! I repeat it, Sir,--LET IT COME! PATRICK HENRY.
12. Be we men, And suffer such dishonor? MEN, and wash not The stain away in BLOOD? MISS MITFORD.
13. O SACRED FORMS! how proud you look! How high you lift your heads into the sky! How huge you are! how mighty and how free! KNOWLES.
14. I shall know but one country. The ends I aim at, shall be "My COUNTRY'S, my GOD'S, and TRUTH'S." WEBSTER.
NOTE VII.--ANTITHETIC EMPHASIS is that which is founded on the contrast of one word or clause with another.
EXAMPLES OF ANTITHETIC EMPHASIS.
1. The faults of others should always remind us of our own.
2. He desired to protect his friend, not to injure him.
3. But yesterday, the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world; now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. SHAKESPEARE.
4. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. BIBLE.
5. We can do nothing against the truth; but for the truth. BIBLE.
6. He that is slow to anger, is better than the _mighty_; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. BIBLE.
NOTE VIII.--The following examples contain two or more sets of Antitheses.
1. Just men are only free, the rest are slaves.
2. Beauty is like the _flower of spring; virtue_ is like the stars of heaven.
3. Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, The eternal years of God are hers; But error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies amid her worshipers. BRYANT.
4. A false balance is _abomination to the Lord_; but a just weight is his delight. BIBLE.
5. A friend can not be known in _prosperity;_ and an enemy can not be hidden in adversity.
6. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my _dying sentiment:_ INDEPENDENCE NOW, and INDEPENDENCE FOREVER. WEBSTER.
7. We live in deeds, not years,--in thoughts, not breaths,--in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives, who THINKS THE MOST,--FEELS THE NOBLEST,--ACTS THE BEST.
8. You have done the mischief, and I bear the blame.
9. The wise man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he gains that of others.
10. We must hold them as we hold the rest of mankind--enemies in war,--in _peace, friends_. JEFFERSON.
NOTE IX.--The sense of a passage is varied by changing the place of the emphasis.
EXAMPLES.
1. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but Charles has.
2. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but he has heard from him.
3. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but he saw yours.
4. Has James seen his brother to-day? No; but he has seen his sister.
5. Has James seen his brother _to-day_? No; but he saw him yesterday.
REMARK.--To determine the emphatic words of a sentence, as well as the degree and kind of emphasis to be employed, the reader must be governed wholly by the sentiment to be expressed. The idea is sometimes entertained that emphasis consists merely in loudness of tone. But it should be borne in mind that the most intense emphasis may often be effectively expressed, even by a whisper.

SECTION III.
INFLECTIONS.
INFLECTIONS are turns or slides of the voice, made in reading or speaking; as; Will you