第十章 PERSONIFICATION，ZOOSEMY，ONOMATOPOEIA
10.1 Personification
10.1A Personification的含义与形式
1） Personification译作“拟人法”，它实际上也是一种比喻，尤其是隐喻。其形式是通过把原属于人所特有的品质、行为、情感等赋予大自然其他有生命或无生命的东西，使它们具有类似人的特征，因此，也有人把拟人法叫做“静物动化”的一种修辞技巧。例如：
The sun kissed the green fields.
The thirsty desert drank up the water.
Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.
（Walter Savage Landor）
There has been, after all, something in the talk of American innocence. No doubt it is a false innocence, fabricated by a myth-charged education: the lady who was “once a beauty of magnificence unparalleled” nourished her complexion on genocide and slavery. Yet her beauty existed in the eyes of her children, especially her adopted, immigrant children.
（Conor Cruise O'Brien）
2） 拟人法虽然本质上是一种隐喻，但有两个特点：一是与人相联系，包括人特有的形象、动作、情感等，二是通常用动词、形容词、副词或副词性短语，利用这类具有动态或描述性的词语“移花接木”，达到借物喻人的目的，若用名词，则会变成了simile或metaphor。例如：
The little goat was so fussy that he often cried for wolf. — personification
The little goat was like the shepherd who often cried for wolf. — simile
The little goat became a shepherd who often cried for wolf. — metaphor
10.1B Personification的使用
1） 利用拟人法借物寓情，把人的喜怒哀乐之情渗透到所描写的客观对象之中，从而起到烘托人物的作用。例如：
The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments.The trees and flowers around them danced heartily as if touched by merry mood.
（Y. Miyashita）
The interview was over. Mary Thompson said good-bye to the manager, turned back and stepped out merrily and light-heartedly. The gate smiled after her and the sun stretched out her arms to greet her.
（J. Wooten）
The night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand at our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained face up to hers, and, though she does not speak, we know that she would say and lay our hot, flushed cheek against her bosom and the pain is gone.
（Jerome K. Jerome）
2） 利用拟人法借物喻人，不论影射时政，或是鞭挞小人，皆可收到戏剧性的效果。例如：
There is a rowdy strain in American life, living close to the surface but running very deep. Like an ape behind a mask it can display itself suddenly with terrifying effect. It is slack-jawed, with leering eyes and loose, wet lips, with heavy feet and ponderous cunning hands; now and then when something tickles it, it guffaws, and when it is angry it snarls; and it can be aroused more easily than it can be quieted. Mike Fink and Yankee Doodle helped to father it, and Judge Lynch is one of its creations; and when it comes lumbering forth it can make the whole country step in time to its own irregular pulse beat.
（Bruce Catton）
Besides, the Kettle was aggravating and obstinate ... it wouldn't hear of accommodating itself kindly the knobs of coal; it would lean forward with a drunken air, and dribble, a very idiot of a kettle.
（Dickens）
3） 拟人法能使抽象的概念具体化，使之具有人的某种形貌、声音、性格、行为等。下述前三例皆涉及人生命运，十分感人；第四例讲社会变化，其中rank and fashion代表贵族，他们车轮滚滚到西区，trade代表新兴资产者，他们蹑手蹑脚，但迅速扩展地盘，完全把社会的变动形象化了。
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
（Milton）
Death feeds on his mute voice, and laughs at our despair.
（Shelley）
Ignominy, Want, Despair and Madness have, collectively or separately, been the attendants of my career.
（Dickens）
As London increased, however, rank and fashion rolled off to the west, and trade, creeping on at their heels, took possession of their deserted abodes.
（Washington Irving）
10.2 Zoosemy
10.2A Zoosemy的含义与形式
1） Zoosemy译作“拟物法”，同拟人法相反，拟物法是把人当成物来描写，包括描写成动物、植物、无生命物、抽象概念等。例如：
“A lucky dog you are!” exclaimed Jim.
Terribly hungry, the man wolfed down all the cakes.
Children are flowers of our country.
She found in him model and admiration.
2） 拟物法在形式上同明喻、隐喻一样，唯内容局限于把人物化。试比较：
Ill-gotten wealth is like a palace built on the sand. — Simile
Ill-gotten wealth is a palace built on the sand. — Metaphor
Ill-gotten wealth is but an evil friend. — Personification
His spoilt children are （like） ill-gotten goods that'll never prosper. — Zoosemy
为此，有时同一个句子既可以说是用了拟物，也可以说是用了明喻或隐喻。
10.2B Zoosemy的使用
1） 拟物法往往含褒义或贬义。前者突出美丽、忠贞、勇敢等优秀品质，表示敬仰、热爱等感情色彩。例如：
O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like the melody,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
（Burns）
Like a lion he rushed to meet his foe.
（Homer）
Mr. Smith may serve as a good secretary, for he is as close as an oyster.
2） 表示贬义时，则是把人同低等或丑恶的东西相比，以示嘲弄、讽刺、鞭挞等。例如：
He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.
（George Eliot）
That wretch who daily glides through the middle of the forum like a crested serpent, with curved fangs, poisonous glance, and fierce panting, looking about him on this side and that ....
（Patricia Bizzell）
She lives separate from her husband, and talks on platforms; so she's already singled out from the sheep, and, as far as I can see, hasn't much to lose.
（D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers）
3） 有时拟物法不带明显的感情色彩，只是为了更加生动、形象。例如：
He slept like a log.
They [prostitutes] are nothing but paper toys, played, ruined, torn, and thrown into the garbage can.
（NBC TV Debate, Feb. 9, 1993）
10.3 Onomatopoeia
10.3A Onomatopoeia的含义与形式
1） Onomatopoeia译作“拟声法”，是模拟声音的一种构词方法（创造拟声词，参见5.2A），又是一种生动逼真的修辞手段。试比较：
a） The stream flows through the woods. b） The stream is murmuring through the woods.
Dasi started laughing. Dasi started giggling.
The door was pushed open. The door crashed open.
Heavy rain drops fell on the tent. Heavy rain drops began pitter-pattering on the tent.
上述A、B两组句子中，每对句子表示的意思相近，但由于B句都采用拟声法，即利用拟声词突出了人或物的动作声响，因而较为生动。
2） 拟声法在汉语中也很常见，汉语中也有大量的拟声词，例如上述B组各句都能在汉语中同样以拟声法表示：
小溪带着潺潺的流水声穿过树林。
戴西咯咯地笑了起来。
门砰地一声开了。
沉重的雨点啪哒啪哒地落到帐篷上。
3） 除了运用拟声词这一直接的基本形式外，还可巧妙地利用音韵的特殊组合取得某种拟声效果，达到拟声修辞目的（详见10.3B3）。
10.3B Onomatopoeia的使用
1） 恰当地运用拟声词是拟声法的基本技巧。拟声词种类繁多，有的模拟人的声音，有的模拟动物的叫声，还有很多是模拟各种客观事物的声响。例如：
chortle（哈哈大笑），snigger（扑哧地笑），snore（呼噜声），mumble（咕咕噜噜说话声），cackle（母鸡下蛋后咯咯的叫声），baa（羊、小牛的咩咩声），clink（杯子的碰撞声），clank（金属撞击声），bump（重物碰撞声），crack（鞭炮等的响声），等等。有些声响类似，因而有些拟声词可以表示几种不同的声响，如bang（桌上敲击声，呯地关门声，枪炮声等），boom（隆隆的雷声、炮声、波涛澎湃声等），grumble（人嘟嘟囔囔的抱怨声，沉闷的雷声等）。
拟声词是一个开放性词类，作家可以利用原有拟声词，也可以根据情况需要创造出新的拟声词（参见5.2A）。
2） 通过拟声的连串使用，或者以拟声词为核心，伴以谐音、半谐音词，造成一种声音回响，从而达到扩大和增强拟声效果的目的。例如：
Tires booped and whoosed, the fenders queeled and graked, the steering wheel rose up like a spectre and disappeared in the direction of Franklin Avenue with a melancholy whistling sound, bolts and gadgets flew like sparks from a Catherine wheel.
（James Thurder）
上例中两对新创的拟声词连用，描绘汽车被撞的情景，使之如同发生在眼前，既看得明明白白，又听得清清楚楚。又如：
The traffic has just started, not yet a roar and a stink. One car at a time goes by, the tires humming almost like the sound of a brook a half mile down in the crease of a mountain I know — a sound that carries not because it is loud but because everything else is still.
（John Ciardi）
上例描写清晨偶尔有辆汽车在路上开过的情景，其中只有hum这个拟声词带来声响，但整段文章读下来似乎耳边既有来往汽车的嗡嗡声，却又不像白天马路上通常那样繁闹，这是由于上下文词语搭配得当，加上那个恰到好处的比喻。
3） 不使用拟声词，而是巧妙地利用音素组合创造所需要的音响效果。一般说来，/s/表示柔和的音响，如（蛇、沸水等的）嘶嘶声；/l/表示流畅、欢快的音响，如（小溪的）流水声等；/m/，/n/等表示郁闷、冗长的音响；/k/，/g/表示急促、尖锐的嗓音，等。元音也一样，长元音、双元音和三元音柔和、婉转，短元音急促、粗硬，等等。
下面的A、B两段文章都是描写一对恋人在河边行走的情景，其中A段连用拟声词，B段不用拟声词，但读来都有清晰的音响感：流水潺潺，和风飒飒，私语窃窃，近处情意绵绵，远方一片喧闹。
A） ... She looked at me with intensity. “It is the gift of the great,” she went on, and the sound of her low voice seemed to have the accompaniment of all other sounds, full of mystery, desolation, and sorrow, I have ever heard — the ripple of the river, the soughing of the trees swayed by the wind, the murmurs of the crowds, the faint ring of incomprehensible words cried from afar, the whisper of a voice speaking from beyond the threshold of an eternal darkness. “But you have heard him! You know!” she cried.
（Joseph Conrad）
B） Ursula and Anton Skrebensky walked along the ridge of the canal between. The berries on the hedges were crimson and bright red, above the leaves. The glow of evening and the wheeling of the solitary peewit and the faint cry of the birds came to meet the shuffling noise of the pits, the dark, fuming stress of the town opposite, and the two walked the blue strip of water-way, the ribbon of sky between.
（D. H. Lawrence）
练习十 （Exercise Ten）
I. Preview Questions:
1. Personification is in essence a kind of comparison, isn't it?
2. Do you know that the word zoosemy is derived from zoosemiotics, a word created by Thomas A. Sebeok in the year of 1965?
3. Can you cite an example to indicate how an English poet used personification in his or her poetry?
4. What effect can the figure of personification achieve in describing something abstract?
5. What other figures you have learned are similar to zoosemy?
6. Can you give examples to indicate how zoosemy is used to express certain favorable sense or unfavorable sense?
7. Can you tell some words that are formed like “cuckoo” to refer to a bird or animal or something that make that sound?
8. What other devices can you use to achieve the effect of onomatopoeia without using onomatopoeic words?
II. Identify the figures used in each of the following sentences:
1. “Well, the sight of me is good for sore eyes, as the Scotish say,” replied Steerforth, “and so is the sight of you, Daisy, in full bloom.”
（Dickens）
2. The handsome houses on the street to the college were not fully awake, but they looked very friendly.
（Lionel Trilling）
3. Rent a toot or buy a tweet, boom, zing, twant, tinkle, hum or plink.
（Lionel Trilling）
4. Ignominy, Want, Despair and Madness have, collectively or separately, been the attendants of my career.
（Dickens）
5. Freedom blushed for shame.
Justice lamented the deed.
King of the jungle, the lion strode across the plain.
How rarely Reason guides the stubborn choice.
（Samual Johnson）
6. Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
（P. B. Shelley）
7. “Hold him by the nose, dearie, then he'll splutter and wake up.”
（转引自张培基）
8. ... The place presents itself as pathetic fallacy: the sky “broods,” the stones “weep,” a constant seepage of water weighting the ferns and moss. The foliage is thick and slick with moisture. The only sound is a steady buzz, I believe of cicadas.
（Joan Didion）
III. Read the following passages and the questions, and then determine whether each answer in brackets is true （T） or false （F）.
Personification means referring to inanimate things or abstractions as if they were human. Personification is really a special kind of metaphor. At its simplest it consists of using personal pronouns for objects, as when sailors speak of their ship as “she”.
Personification can be more subtle. Thus Washington Irving personifies the social changes in a London neighborhood:
As London increased, however, rank and fashion rolled off to the west, and trade, creeping on at their heels took possession of their deserted abodes.
“Rank” and “fashion” are abstractions personifying aristocratic Londoners, “trade” an abstraction signifying the merchant class. These abstractions behave in the manner of the beings they personify, “rolling off” elegantly （in carriages） and “creeping” in with the deference of inferiors.
The purpose of personification — like that of metaphor generally — is to explain, to expand, to vivify. The following figure implies, in only eight words, a great deal about the relationship between ambition and greed:
Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.
Personification can help one make his point with extraordinary emphasis, which has the additional advantage of bringing a topic into a human and social relationship to the reader. Skillfully employed, personification is one of the most dramatic of all figures of speech.
Opposite to personification is zoosemy in which names of animals are metaphorically used to denote human qualities, as in “You're shedding crocodile tears”, which means “You're shedding insincere tears”.
Onomatopoeic words are those that are formed by directly imitating sounds, including those produced by metals （clang, clank, clash, ding-dong, jangle, tick-tack, ting, tinkle, etc.）, those produced by water or other liquids （bubble, drip-drop, sizz, sizzle, splash, splish-splosh, etc.）, those produced by various animals （coo, hiss, moo, miao, screech, etc.）, those produced by human beings （chatter, chuckle, grumble, grunt, gurgle, mumble, murmur, shriek, smack, sneeze, snigger, snort, sputter, whisper, whoop, etc.）, etc.
Questions:
1. What figure of speech is it when sailors call their ship “she”?
（Personification.）
2. What does the word “trade” refer to in Washington Irving's description of London?
（The merchant class.）
3. Is it advisable to use “rolling off” for “trade” and “creeping” for “rank and fashion”?
（Yes, it is.）
4. What's the general purpose of using personification?
（To explain, to expand and to vivify.）
5. What is the advantage of using personification?
（It can bring a topic into a human and social relationship to the reader, and make one's speech or writing more vivid, more impressive, and less effective.）
6. Can you cite an example of zoosemy?
（Yes. For example, “The bad guy is shedding crocodile tears.”）
7. How are onomatopoeic words formed?
（They are formed by directly imitating sounds.）
8. Is there anything similar in personification and zoosemy?
（No, but they are in essence metaphors.）
IV. Tell what kind of figurative language you find in each of the following, and tell if they are properly used:
1. It was a long head, bony, tight of skin, and set on a neck as stringy and muscular as a celery stalk.
（Steinbeck）
2. He thought he had a key to the problem, but he found he did not get to the heart of it.
（M. E. Adelstein）
3. Her hands trembled among the hooks and eyes, and her eyes had a feverish look, and her hair swirled crisp and crackling under the comb.
（W. Faulkner）
4. You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ‘Sblood, do you think that I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.
（Shakespeare）
5. A little while later, the ice accepted the moonlight. The tip of the moon's upper limb was actually shining through miles and miles of piled-up ice! The light rays glittered, splintered, and slithered at odd angles, flashing right across the horizon. Then, slowly, the moon showed herself, her light shining horizontally over the cluttered masses of ice, casting long shadows.
