The Berean Expositor
Volume 27 - Page 183 of 212
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"With all thy getting, get understanding" (Prov. 4: 7).
#27.  Figures of Speech.
Figures involving Change: Simile, Metaphor, Hypocatastasis.
pp. 11 - 15
We pass over a number of lesser figures of speech involving change among separate
words (such as Hyperbaton), and change in sentences and phrases (such as Antithesis)
and come to the series of figures which affect the application of words. These constitutes
a very important section of our subject.
The figures of change that affect the application rather than the position of words, are
divided into a number of sub-sections:--
/ SENSE (16).
/ PERSONS (6)
Those that affect the application of words as to /  SUBJECT (5).
\  TIME (1).
\  FEELING (23).
\ ARGUMENTATION (19).
The figures in brackets at the end of each line denote the number of varieties in each
section noted in Dr. Bullinger's Figures of Speech. The three figures of chief importance
in this classes are Simile, Metaphor, and Hypocatastasis, and as these three figures are
related as "good", "better" and "best" are related, we shall consider them together, even
though we shall be obliged to occupy a little more space than usual.
SIMILE is concerned with Resemblance. Its key-words are "like", "as" and "so".
METAPHOR is concerned with Representation. Its key-words is the word "is".
HYPOCATASTASIS is concerned with Implication. There is no special key-word.
Simile differs from Comparison, for Comparison admits of dissimilitudes. It also
differs from Metaphor. While Simile says "All flesh is as grass", Metaphor more boldly
says "All flesh is grass". Simile also differs from Hypocatastasis, for while the latter
implies resemblance, Simile actually states it. Metaphor is the language of feeling. It
does not merely say that one thing is like another; it says that one thing is another. When
we point to a picture and say, "This is my mother", or when we say, "We are the sheep of
His pasture" we are using the figure Metaphor. The reader will realize that to refer to any
figure of speech as "metaphorical language" is, therefore, rather misleading.
Hypocatastasis is derived from the Greek word meaning "substitution". The word is a
compound of hupo "underneath", kata "down", and stasis "a stationing".  Hence a
"putting down underneath". The idea is that one of the names is given, but the other is
only implied; it is "put down underneath" and left to the imagination.