Parenthesis
Parenthesis is the insertion of a word or clause in a position that interrupts the normal syntactic flow of the sentence. “But he, his own affections' counsellorApposition, / Is to himself—I will not say how trueParenthesis, / But to himself so secret and so close, / So far from sounding and discovery, / As is the bud bit with an envious worm.” Romeo and Juliet, 1.1.118. Similar to an apposition but a parenthesis is more interruptive, less like a clause and more like colloquial speech. In the passage from Romeo and Juliet, the first underline is an apposition and the second is a parenthesis.
Notes on Parenthesis
Quotes including the Figure of Speech Parenthesis
Two households, both alike in dignity
Read the SonnetTwo households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudgeParenthesis break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.Antanaclesis & Synecdoche
From forth the fatal loins of these two foesAlliteration, Oxymoron & Synecdoche
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
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An untimely ague Stayed me a prisoner in my chamber
Read the QuoteBuckingham
An untimely ague
Stayed me a prisoner in my chamber when
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,Anaphora, Pun & Metaphor
Met in the vale of Andren.
Norfolk
’Twixt Guynes and Arde.
I was then present, saw them salute on horseback,
Beheld them when they lighted,
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O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
Read the QuoteLady Montague
O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
Benvolio
Madam, an hour before the worshiped sun
Peered forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drove me to walk abroad,
Where underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from this city side,
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Why, all this business Our reverend cardinal carried
Read the QuoteBuckingham
Why, all this business
Our reverend cardinal carried.
You know his nature,
That he’s revengeful, and I know his sword
Hath a sharp edge
Norfolk
Like it your Grace,
The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the Cardinal. I advise you—
And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honor and plenteous safety—that you read
The Cardinal’s malice and his potency
TogetherParenthesis;
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Say not “treasonous.”
Read the QuoteNorfolk
Say not “treasonous.”
Buckingham
To th’ King I’ll say ’t, and make my vouch as strong
As shore of rock.Hyperbaton & Simile
This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both—for he is equal rav’nous
As he is subtle, and as prone to mischief
As able to perform ’t
I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham Is run in your displeasure
Read the QuoteQueen Katherine, to the King
I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham
Is run in your displeasure.
When these so noble benefits shall prove
Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt,
They turn to vicious forms ten times more ugly
Than ever they were fair.
King
It grieves many.
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O that this too too solid flesh would melt
Read the QuoteO, that this too too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!Epizeuxis & Metaphor
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!Metonymy O God, God,
How Synonymiaweary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
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For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,
Read the QuoteLaertes
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,
Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,Hendiadys & Synecdoche
A violet in the youth of primy nature,Metaphor
Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,
Hendiadys & MetaphorThe perfume and suppliance of a minute,
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What news, Sir Thomas Lovell?
Read the QuoteChamberlain
What news, Sir Thomas Lovell?
Lovell
Faith, my lord,
I hear of none but the new proclamation
That’s clapped upon the court gate.
’Tis time to give ’em physic, their diseases
Are grown so catching.
Chamberlain
What is ’t for?
Lovell
The reformation of our traveled gallants
That fill the court with Bathosquarrels,
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She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France
Read the QuoteShe-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France,
Whose Synecdochetongue more poisons than the adder’s tooth:Metaphor, Diacope & Parenthesis
How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex
To triumph like an Amazonian trull
Upon their woes whom Fortune captivates.Simile
O, tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide,
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