Climax (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, a climax (from the Greek κλῖμαξ klimax, meaning "staircase" and "ladder") is a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance. It is sometimes used with anadiplosis, which uses the repetition of a word or phrase in successive clauses.
Examples:
- "There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
- "I think we've reached a point of great decision, not just for our nation, not only for all humanity, but for life upon the earth." George Wald A Generation in Search of a Future, March 4, 1969.
- "...Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour." William Shakespeare, The Passionate Pilgrim, XIII
- "...the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream
- Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime
Similarly an anti-climax is an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which he appeared to be aiming at; as in the following well-known distich:
- "The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war,
- Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar."
An anticlimax can be intentionally employed only for a jocular or satiric purpose. It frequently partakes of the nature of antithesis, as–
- "Die and endow a college or a cat."
It is often difficult to distinguish between "anticlimax" and "bathos"; but the former is more decidedly a relative term. A whole speech may never rise above the level of bathos; but a climax of greater or less elevation is the necessary antecedent of an anticlimax.
See also
References
- Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 677. ISBN 0-674-36250-0.
