Tricolon
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In rhetoric, a bicolon, tricolon, or tetracolon (pl. -cola) is a sentence with two, three, or four clearly defined parts (cola), usually independent clauses and of increasing power.
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[edit] Bicolon
The bicolon is standard in Biblical poetry.[1]
[edit] Tricolon
A tricolon is a sentence composed of three clearly defined parts called cola. The plural of tricolon is either tricola or tricolons.[2]
- Veni, vidi, vici
- — (Julius Caesar)
- "I came; I saw; I conquered."
A tricolon that comprises parts that increase in size, magnitude, intensity, or word length[3] is called a tricolon crescens, or an ascending tricolon, whereas a tricolon that comprises parts that decrease in size, magnitude, intensity, or word length is called a tricolon diminuens, or a descending tricolon. Sometimes, two short cola are followed by a long colon.
Abraham Lincoln used tricola in many of his speeches. His Gettysburg Address has the following phrase: "We cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow..." Lincoln wrote in his second inaugural address, "with malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right...", which became the most famous expression in the speech.
The Simpsons character Homer Simpson bungles a tricolon when he states "I can't let that happen, I won't let that happen, and I can't let that happen!"
[edit] Tetracolon
Tetracola are sometimes called "quatrains" (cf. the usual meaning of quatrain).[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Tremper Longman, Peter Enns, Dictionary of the Old Testament: wisdom, poetry & writings 3, p. 520
- ^ http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/tricolonterm.htm
- ^ http://latinaadvitam.blogspot.com/2007/02/poetry-device-of-day-tricolon-crescens.html
[edit] See also
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