Periodic sentence

Last updated

A periodic sentence is a sentence with a stylistic device featuring syntactical subordination to a single main idea, which usually is not complete until the very end of the sentence. [1] The periodic sentence emphasizes its main idea by placing it at the end, following all the subordinate clauses and other modifiers that support the principal idea. [2] According to Merriam-Webster, the linguistic sense of the periodic sentence term was coined circa 1928, but there is evidence of its usage in a separate sense dating from 1766. [3] [4]

Contents

Characteristics

A periodic sentence unfolds gradually, so that the thought contained in the subject/verb group only emerges at the sentence's conclusion. [5] It is used mostly in what in oratory is called the grand style. [6] It is the opposite of the loose sentence, also continuous or running style, where the subject and verb are introduced at the beginning of the sentence. [5] Periodic sentences often rely on hypotaxis, whereas running sentences are typified by parataxis. [7] Cicero is generally considered to be the master of the periodic sentence. [8]

In English literature Jane Austen provides perhaps the finest examples of periodic sentences. The opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" - pierces to the heart of Mrs Bennet's character as well as the very difficult social circumstances of her daughters on which the story is founded. And the opening sentence of Emma - "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her" - similarly encapsulates the essence of the protagonist's character which drives the plot.

Decline

In English literature, the decline of the periodic sentence's popularity as identifiably grand style goes hand in hand with the development toward a less formal style, which some authors date to the beginning of the Romantic period, specifically the 1798 publication of the Lyrical Ballads , and the prevalence in twentieth-century literature of spoken language over written language. [7] In American literature, scholars note the explicit rejection by Henry David Thoreau of the formal style of his time, of which the grand style of periodic sentence was characteristic. In his journal, Thoreau criticized those sentences as the "weak and flowing periods of the politician and scholar." [9]

Rhetorical and literary usage

Periodic sentences are rooted in the rhetorical techniques of Isocrates, who focused on a natural style that imitated how people speak. According to William Harmon, the periodic sentence is used "to arouse interest and curiosity, to hold an idea in suspense before its final revelation." [5] In the words of William Minto, "the effect...is to keep the mind in a state of uniform or increasing tension until the dénouement." [10]

In his Handbook to Literature, Harmon offers an early example in American literature found in Longfellow’s "Snowflakes": [5]

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garment shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft, and slow,
Descends the snow.

Starting with a succession of parallel adverbial phrases ("Out of the bosom," "Out of the cloud-folds," "Over the woodlands," "Over the harvest-fields"), each followed by parallel modification ("of the air," "of her garment shaken," "brown and bare," "forsaken"), the sentence is left grammatically incomplete until the subject/verb group "Descends the snow". [5] Other American examples cited include the opening lines of William Cullen Bryant's "A Forest Hymn" and lines 9-16 of his "Thanatopsis". [11] A particularly long example is the opening stanza (lines 1-22) of Walt Whitman's "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"; [12] another is the opening sentence of Milton's Paradise Lost . [13]

A "now-famous periodic sentence" occurs in Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat": [14]

Even at those hours when the gray Petersburg sky is completely overcast and the whole population of clerks have dined and eaten their fill, each as best he can, according to the salary he receives and his personal tastes; when they are all resting after the scratching of pens and bustle of the office, their own necessary work and other people's, and all the tasks that an overzealous man voluntarily sets himself even beyond what is necessary; when the clerks are hastening to devote what is left of their time to pleasure; some more enterprising are flying to the theater, others to the street to spend their leisure staring at women's hats, some to spend the evening paying compliments to some attractive girl, the star of a little official circle, while some—and this is the most frequent of all—go simply to a fellow clerk's apartment on the third or fourth story, two little rooms with a hall or a kitchen, with some pretensions to style, with a lamp or some such article that has cost many sacrifices of dinners and excursions—at the time when all the clerks are scattered about the apartments of their friends, playing a stormy game of whist, sipping tea out of glasses, eating cheap biscuits, sucking in smoke from long pipes, telling, as the cards are dealt, some scandal that has floated down from higher circles, a pleasure which the Russian do never by any possibility deny himself, or, when there is nothing better to talk about, repeating the everlasting anecdote of the commanding officer who was told that the tail had been cut off the horse on the Falconet monument—in short, even when everyone, was eagerly seeking entertainment, Akaky Akakievich did not indulge in any amusement. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cicero</span> Roman statesman and lawyer (106–43 BC)

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry David Thoreau</span> American philosopher (1817–1862)

Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

Prose is the form of written language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows typical writing conventions and formatting. It differs from traditional poetry, where the format consists of verse: writing in lines that follow rhythmic metre or a rhyme scheme. The word "prose" first appears in English in the 14th century. It is derived from the Old French prose, which in turn originates in the Latin expression prosa oratio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catilinarian orations</span> Set of speeches to the Roman Senate given by Marcus Tullius Cicero

The Catilinarian orations are four speeches given in 63 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the year's consuls. The speeches all related to the discovery, investigation, and suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy, a plot that year to overthrow the republic. All of the speeches in the form available today were published, probably around 60, as part of Cicero's attempt to justify his actions during the consulship; whether they are accurate reflections of the original speeches in 63 is debated.

In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, and so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In English, a given word may have several senses, and be either a preposition or a conjunction depending on the syntax of the sentence. For example, after is a preposition in "he left after the fight" but is a conjunction in "he left after they fought". In general, a conjunction is an invariable (non-inflected) grammatical particle that may or may not stand between the items conjoined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Gogol</span> Russian writer of Ukrainian origin (1809–1852)

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1842.

Titus Albucius was a noted orator of the late Roman Republic.

Quintus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman and military leader, as well as the younger brother of Cicero. He was born into a family of the equestrian order, as the son of a wealthy landowner in Arpinum, some 100 kilometres (62 mi) south-east of Rome. He is known for his political career, governorship of Asia, time serving as a general in Gaul under Caesar, and for his relationship with Cicero.

Marcus Tullius Tiro was first a slave, then a freedman, of Cicero from whom he received his nomen and praenomen. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death Tiro published his former master's collected works of letters and speeches. He also wrote a considerable number of books himself, and is thought to have invented an early form of shorthand.

<i>De Officiis</i> 44 BC philosophical work by Cicero

De Officiis is a 44 BC treatise by Marcus Tullius Cicero divided into three books, in which Cicero expounds his conception of the best way to live, behave, and observe moral obligations. The work discusses what is honorable, what is to one's advantage, and what to do when the honorable and private gain apparently conflict. For the first two books Cicero was dependent on the Stoic philosopher Panaetius, but wrote more independently for the third book.

<i>Pro Archia Poeta</i>

Cicero's oration Pro Archia Poeta is the published literary form of his defense of Aulus Licinius Archias, a poet accused of not being a Roman citizen. The accusation is believed to have been a political move against Lucullus through Archias. The poet was originally Greek but had been living in Rome for an extended period of time. A letter from Cicero to Titus Pomponius Atticus in the year following the trial makes mention of Archias, but there is no conclusive evidence about the outcome of the trial. The oration was rediscovered in Liège by Petrarch in 1333.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arpino</span> Comune in Lazio, Italy

Arpino is a comune (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the Roman republic: Gaius Marius and Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Aulus Licinius Archias was a Greco-Syrian poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Overcoat</span> Story by Nikolai Gogol

"The Overcoat" is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: "We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat". Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described "The Overcoat" as "The greatest Russian short story ever written".

Skaz is a Russian oral form of narrative. The word comes from skazátʹ, "to tell", and is also related to such words as rasskaz, "short story" and skazka, "fairy tale". The speech makes use of dialect and slang in order to take on the persona of a particular character. The peculiar speech, however, is integrated into the surrounding narrative, and not presented in quotation marks. Skaz is not only a literary device, but is also used as an element in Russian monologue comedy.

Hortensius or On Philosophy is a lost dialogue written by Marcus Tullius Cicero in the year 45 BC. The dialogue—which is named after Cicero's friendly rival and associate, the speaker and politician Quintus Hortensius Hortalus—took the form of a protreptic. In the work, Cicero, Hortensius, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, and Lucius Licinius Lucullus discuss the best use of one's leisure time. At the conclusion of the work, Cicero argues that the pursuit of philosophy is the most important endeavor.

<i>Poor Folk</i> Novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Poor Folk, sometimes translated as Poor People, is the first novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, written over the span of nine months between 1844 and 1845. Dostoevsky was in financial difficulty because of his extravagant lifestyle and his developing gambling addiction; although he had produced some translations of foreign novels, they had little success, and he decided to write a novel of his own to try to raise funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obukhovsky Bridge</span>

The Obukhovsky or Obukhov Bridge is a bridge in St. Petersburg, Russia. It carries Moskovsky Prospekt over the Fontanka River.

References

  1. ↑ Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1999). Stephen Ciraolo (ed.). Pro Caelio (2 ed.). Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-86516-461-1.
  2. ↑ Baldwin, Charles Sears (1909). Composition, Oral and Written. Longmans, Green and Co. p.  122 . Retrieved 7 July 2011.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. ↑ "periodic sentence". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  4. ↑ "periodic sentence" . Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Harmon, William (2006). A handbook to literature (10 ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall. p. 386. ISBN   978-0-13-134442-6.
  6. ↑ Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1993). Harold C. Gotoff (ed.). Cicero's Caesarian speeches: a stylistic commentary. UNC Press. p. 279. ISBN   978-0-8078-4407-6.
  7. 1 2 Carter, Ronald; McRae, John (2001). The Routledge history of literature in English: Britain and Ireland. Routledge. p. 475. ISBN   978-0-415-24317-9.
  8. ↑ Chevalier, Tracy (1997). Encyclopedia of the essay. Taylor & Francis. p. 179. ISBN   978-1-884964-30-5.
  9. ↑ Dillman, Richard H. (1988). "Thoreau's Philosophy of Style". In Richard Fleming, Michael Payne (ed.). New interpretations of American literature. Bucknell UP. p. 93. ISBN   978-0-8387-5127-5.
  10. ↑ Minto, William (1895). A manual of English prose literature: biographical and critical, designed mainly to show characteristics of style. Ginn. p. 5.
  11. ↑ Blount, Alma (1914). Intensive studies in American literature. Macmillan. pp.  39–41.
  12. ↑ Blount, Alma (1914). Intensive studies in American literature. Macmillan. p.  277.
  13. ↑ Fitzgerald, William (2013). How to Read a Latin Poem: If You Can't Read Latin Yet EBSCO ebook academic collection. Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN   9780199657865.
  14. ↑ McFarlin, Harold A. (1979). "'The Overcoat' As a Civil Service Episode". Canadian-American Slavic Studies . 13 (3): 235–53. doi:10.1163/221023979X00096.
  15. ↑ Sarah Lawall; et al., eds. (2006). "Nikolai Gogol: "The Overcoat"". The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Vol. 2 (8 ed.). New York: Norton. pp.  1008–33. ISBN   978-0-393-92616-3. Quote on pp. 1016-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.