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The Epithet

From the strongest means of displaying the writer's or speaker's emotional attitude to his communication, we now pass to a weaker but still forceful means — the epithet. The epithet is subtle and delicate in character. It is not so direct as the interjection. Some people even consider that it can create an atmosphere of objective evaluation, whereas it actually conveys the subjective attitude of the writer, showing that he is partial in one way or another.

The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader, and frequently imposing on him, some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties. The epithet is markedly subjective and evaluative. The logical attribute is purely objective, non-evaluating. It is descriptive and indicates an inherent or prominent feature of the thing or phenomenon in question.

Thus in greenmeadows, whitesnow, roundtable, blueskies, palecomplexion, loftymountains and the like, the adjectives are more logical attributes than epithets. They indicate those qualities of the objects which may be regarded as generally recognized. But in wildwind, loudocean, remorselessdashofbillows, formidablewaves, heartburningsmile, the adjectives do not point to inherent qualities of the objects described. They are subjectively evaluative.

The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader, so much so, that the reader unwittingly begins to see and evaluate things as the writer wants him to. Indeed, in such word combinations as destructivecharms, glorioussight, encouragingsmile, the interrelation between logical and emotive meanings may be said to manifest itself in different degrees. The word destructive has retained its logical meaning to a considerable extent, but at the same time an experienced reader cannot help perceiving the emotive meaning of the word which in this combination will signify conquering, irresistible, dangerous. The logical meaning of the word glorious in combination with the word sight has almost entirely faded out. Glorious is already fixed in dictionaries as a word having an emotive meaning alongside its primary, logical meaning. As to the word encouraging (in the combination encouragingsmile ) it is half epithet and half logical attribute. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to draw a clear line of demarcation between epithet and logical attribute. In some passages the logical attribute becomes so strongly enveloped in the emotional aspect of the utterance that it begins to radiate emotiveness, though by nature it is logically descriptive. Take for example, the adjectives green, white, blue, lofty (but somehow not round ) in the combinations given above. In a suitable context they may all have a definite emotional impact on the reader. This is probably explained by the fact that the quality most characteristic of the given object is attached to it, thus strengthening the quality.

Epithets may be classified from different standpoints: semantic and structural. Semantically, epithets may be divided into two groups: those associated with the noun following and those unassociated with it.

Associated epithets are those which point to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: the idea expressed in the epithet is to a certain extent inherent in the concept of the object. The associated epithet immediately refers the mind to the concept in question due to some actual quality of the object it is attached to, for instance 'dark forest ', 'dreary midnight ', 'careful attention ', 'unwearying research ', 'indefatigable assiduity ', 'fantastic terrors ', etc.

Unassociated epithets are attributes used to characterize the object by adding a feature not inherent in it, i.e. a feature which may be so unexpected as to strike the reader by its novelty, as for instance, ' heart - burning smile', ' bootless cries', ' sullen earth', ' voiceless sands', etc. The adjectives here do not indicate any property inherent in the objects in question. They impose, as it were, a property on them which is fitting only in the given circumstances. It may seem strange, unusual, or even accidental.

In any combination of words it is very important to observe to what degree the components of the combination are linked. When they are so closely linked that the component parts become inseparable, we note that we are dealing with a set expression. When the link between the component parts is comparatively close, we say there is a stable word combination, and when we can substitute any word of the same grammatical category for the one given, we note what is called a free combination of words.

With regard to epithets, this division becomes of paramount importance, inasmuch as the epithet is a powerful means for making the desired impact on the reader, and therefore its ties with the noun are generally contextual. However there are combinations in which the ties between the attribute and the noun defined are very close, and the whole combination is viewed as a linguistic entity. Combinations of this type appear as a result of the frequent use of certain definite epithets with definite nouns. They become stable word combinations. Examples are: ' bright face', valuable connections', ' sweet smile', ' unearthly beauty', ' pitch darkness', ' thirsty deserts', ' deep feeling', ' classic example', ' powerful influence', ' sweet perfume' and the like. The predictability of such epithets is very great.

The function of epithets of this kind remains basically the same: to show the evaluating, subjective attitude of the writer towards the thing described. But for this purpose the author does not create his own, new, unexpected epithets; he uses ones that have become traditional, and may be termed "language epithets" as they belong to the language-as-a-system. Thus epithets may be divided into language epithets and speech epithets. Examples of speech epithets are: ' slavish knees', ' sleepless bay.'

The process of strengthening the connection between the epithet and the noun may sometimes go so far as to build a specific unit which does not lose its poetic flavour. Such epithets are called fixed and are mostly used in ballads and folk songs. Here are some examples of fixed epithets: ' true love', ' dark forest', ' sweet Sir', ' green wood', ' good ship', ' brave cavaliers'.

Structurally, epithets can be viewed from the angle of a) composition and b) distribution.

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into simple, compound and phrase epithets. Simple epithets are ordinary adjectives. Examples have been given above. Compound epithets are built like compound adjectives. Examples are:

' heart - burning sigh', ' sylph - like figures', ' cloud - shapen giant',

"... curly - headed good-for-nothing,

And mischief - making monkey from his birth." (Byron)

The tendency to cram into one language unit as much information as possible has led to new compositional models for epithets which we shall call phrase epithets. A phrase and even a whole sentence may become an epithet if the main formal requirement of the epithet is maintained, viz. its attributive use. But unlike simple and compound epithets, which may have pre- or post-position, phrase epithets are always placed before the nouns they refer to....

An interesting observation in this respect has been made by Prof. O. S. Akhmanova. "The syntactical combinations are, as it were, more explicit, descriptive, elaborate; the lexical are more of an indication, a hint or a clue to some previously communicated or generally known fact, as if one should say: 'You know what I mean and all I have to do now is to point it out to you in this concise and familiar way'."

This inner semantic quality of the attributive relations in lexical combinations, as they are called by Prof. Akhmanova, is perhaps most striking in the phrase and sentence epithets. Here the 'concise way' is most effectively used.

Here are some examples of phrase epithets:

"It is this do - it - yourself, go - it - alone attitude that has thus far held back real development of the Middle East's river resources." (N.Y.T. Magazine, 19 Oct., 1958.)

"Personally I detest her (Gioconda's) smug, mystery - making, come - hither - but - go - away - again - because - butter - wouldnt - melt - inmy - mouth expression (New Statesman and Nation, Jan. 5, 1957).

"There is a sort of ' Oh - whata - wicked - world - this - is - and - howI - wish - I - could - do - something - to - make - it - better - and - nobler’ "expression about Montmorency that has been known to bring the tears into the eyes of pious old ladies and gentlemen." (Jerome K- Jerome, "Three Men in a Boat".)

"Freddie was standing in front of the fireplace with a ' well - that ' s - the - story - what - are - we - going - to - do - about - it ' air that made him a focal point." (Leslie Ford, "Siren in the Night".)

An interesting structural detail of phrase epithets is that they are generally followed by the words expression, air, attitude and others which describe behaviour or facial expression. In other words, such epithets seem to transcribe into language symbols a communication usually conveyed by non-linguistic means.

Another structural feature of such phrase epithets is that after the nouns they refer to, there often comes a subordinate attributive clause beginning with that. This attributive clause, as it were, serves the purpose of decoding the effect of the communication. It must be noted that phrase epithets are always hyphenated, thus pointing to the temporary structure of the compound word.

These two structural features have predetermined the functioning of phrase epithets. Practically any phrase or sentence which deals with the psychological state of a person may serve as an epithet. The phrases and sentences transformed into epithets lose their independence and assume a new quality which is revealed both in the intonation pattern (that of an attribute) and graphically (by being hyphenated).

Another structural variety of the epithet is the one which we shall term reversed. The reversed epithet is composed of two nouns linked in an of-phrase. The subjective, evaluating, emotional element is embodied not in the noun attribute but in the noun described, for example: "the shadow of a smile"; "a devil of a job" (Maugham); "...he smiled brightly, neatly, efficiently, a militaryabbreviation of a smile" (Graham Green); "A devil of a sea rolls in that bay" (Byron); "A littleFlyingDutchman of a cab" (Galsworthy); "a dog of a fellow" (Dickens); "her brute of a brother" (Galsworthy); "...a longnightshirtof a mackintosh..." (Cronin)

It will be observed that such epithets are metaphorical. The noun to be assessed is contained in the of-phrase and the noun it qualifies is a metaphor ( shadow, devil, militaryabbreviation, FlyingDutchman, dog ). The grammatical aspect, viz. attributive relation between the members of the combination shows that the SD here is an epithet.

It has been acknowledged that it is sometimes difficult to draw a line of demarcation between attributive and predicative relations. Some attributes carry so much information that they may justly be considered bearers of predicativeness. This is particularly true of the epithet, especially genuine or speech epithets, which belong to language-in-action and not to language-as-a-system. These epithets are predicative in essence, though not in form.

On the other hand, some word combinations where we have predicative relations, convey so strongly the emotional assessment of the object spoken of, that in spite of their formal, structural design, the predicatives can be classed as epithets. Here are some examples:

^‘Fools that they are'; ' Wicked as he is.'

The inverted position of the predicatives 'fools' and 'wicked' as well as the intensifying 'that they are' and 'as he is' mark this borderline variety of epithet.

Some language epithets, in spite of opposition on the part of orthodox language purists, establish themselves in standard English as conventional symbols of assessment for a given period. To these belong words we have already spoken of like terrible, awful, massive, top, mighty, crucial (See p. 93).

From the point of view of the distribution of the epithets in the sentence, the first model to be pointed out is the stringofepithets. Here area few examples. In his depiction of New York, O. Henry gives the following string of epithets:

"Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city;"

Other examples are: a plump, rosy - cheeked, wholesomeapple-facedyoung woman (Dickens); "a well - matched, fairly - balancedgive - and - take couple." (Dickens)

As in any enumeration the string of epithets gives a many-sided depiction of the object. But in this many-sidedness there is always a suggestion of an ascending order of emotive elements. This can easily be observed in the intonation pattern of a string of epithets. There is generally an ascending scale which culminates in the last epithet; if the last epithet is a language epithet (great ), or not an epithet (young ), the culminating point is the last genuine epithet. The culminating point in the above examples is at fatal, apple - faced, and give - and - take.

Another distributional model is the transferred epithet. Transferred epithets are ordinary logical attributes generally describing the state of a human being, but made to refer to an inanimate object, for example: sickchamber, sleeplesspillow, restlesspace, breathlesseagerness, unbreakfastedmorning, merryhours, adisapprovingfinger, Isabel shrugged anindifferentshoulder.

As may be seen, it is the force contributed to the attribute by its position, and not by its meaning, that hallows it into an epithet. The main feature of the epithet, that of emotional assessment, is greatly diminished in this model; but it never quite vanishes. The meaning of the logical attributes in such combinations acquires a definite emotional colouring.

Language epithets as part of the emotional word stock of the language have a tendency to become obsolescent. That fs the fate of many emotional elements in the language. They gradually lose their emotive charge and are replaced by new ones which in their turn will be replaced by neologisms. Such was the fate of the language epithet good-natured. In the works of Henry Fielding this epithet appears very often, as for example, 'a good-natured hole', 'good-natured side'. The words vast and vastly were also used as epithets in the works of men-of-letters of the 18th century, as in vastrains, vastlyamused.

The problem of the epithet is too large and too significant to be fully dealt with in a short chapter. Indeed, it may be regarded as the crucial problem in emotive language and correspondingly among the stylistic devices of the language.

It remains only to say that the epithet is a direct and straightforward way of showing the author's attitude towards the things described, whereas other stylistic devices, even image-bearing ones, will reveal the author's evaluation of the object only indirectly. That is probably why those authors who wish to show a seeming impartiality and objectivity in depicting their heroes and describing events use few epithets. Realistic authors use epithets much more sparingly, as statistical data have shown. Roughly speaking, Romanticism on the other hand may to some extent be characterized by its abundant use of epithets. In illustration we have taken at random a few lines from a stanza in Byron's "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage":

The horrid crags, by toppling convent, crowned,

The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,

The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrown'd,

The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep,

The orange tints that gild the greenest bough...

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