CAMPBELL, George. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. London: V. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776. 2 vols.
[v.2, p. 348] That kind of period which hath most vivacity is commonly that wherein you and an antithesis in the members, the several parts of one Having a similarity to those of the other, adapted to some resemblance in the sense. The effect produced by the corresponding members in such a sentence is like that produced in a picture where the figures of the group are not all on a side, with their faces turned the same way, but are made to contrast each other by their several positions. Besides, this kind of periods is generally the most perspicuous. […]
[v. 2., p. 358] The antithesis, it is thought, is particularly unfavourable to persuasion, and therefore quite unfit for the more vehement and argumentative parts of a discourse. This is true of some sorts of antithesis (for they differ greatly in their nature), but it is not true of all. It is true of such as are sometimes found in long and complicated sentences, but it is not true of those which sentences of a less compound nature may admit. The enthymeme itself, the common syllogism of orators, is often successfully cast into this mould. [..]
[v. 2, p. 361] One thing to which it seems agreed on all sides that this figure is particularly adapted, is the drawing of characters. You hardly now meet with a character, either in prose or in verse, that is not wholly delineated in antithesis. This usage is perhaps excessive. Yet the fitness of the manner can scarcely be questioned, when one considers that the contrasted features in this moral painting serve to ascertain the direction and boundaries of one another with greater precision than could otherwise be accomplished. It is too nice a matter, without the aid of this artifice, for even the most copious and expressive language. For a specimen in this way take these lines of Pope:
» Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne, View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes, And hate for arts that caused himself to rise ; Damn with faint praise, || assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer ; Willing to wound, II and vet afraid to strike,Just hint a fault, || and hesitate dislike;
[v . 2. p. 362] Alike reserved to blame or to commend, A tim’rous foe, || by flatterers besieged, And so obliging || that he ne’er obliged.».
With what a masterly hand are the colours in this picture blended! And how admirably do the different traits, thus opposed, serve, as it were, to touch up and shade one another! I would not be understood by this to signify my opinion of its likeness to the original. I should be sorry to think that it deserves this praise. The poet had received, or fancied he had received, great provocation. A perfect impartiality in one under the influence of resentment is more than can be expected from human nature. I only speak of the character here exhibited, as one who, speaking of a portrait, without knowing the person for whom it was drawn, says it was well painted, and that there is both life and expression in the countenance.
If there be any style of composition which excludes antithesis altogether (for I am not positive that there is), it is the pathetic.
BLAIR, Hugh. Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. 1785. Ed. de Linda Ferreira-Buckley and S. Michael Halloram. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005.
Blair, Hugo. Lecciones sobre la retórica y las bellas letras. Trad. José Luis Munarriz. Madrid: Ibarra, 1817, 3ª ed.
Blair. (Ed. de Linda Ferreira-Buckley and S. Michael Halloram) 2005
[p. 189] As comparison is founded on the resemblance, so antithesis on the contrast or opposition of two objects. Contrast has always this effect, to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the stronger light. White, for instance, never appears so bright, as when it is opposed to black; and when both are viewed together. Antithesis, therefore, may, on many occasions, be employed to advantage, in order to strengthen the impression which we intend that any object should make. (…) In order to render an antithesis more complete, it is always of advantage, that the words and members of the sentence, expressing the contrasted objects, be (…) similarly constructed, and made to correspond to each other.
Blair (trad. Munarriz, 1817 )
[p. 118-120] Así como la comparación se funda en la semejanza; así la antítesis se funda en el contraste u oposición entre dos objetos. El contraste hace siempre que cada uno de los objetos contrastados aparezca en una luz mas fuerte. Lo blanco, por ejemplo, jamas parece tan blanco, como cuando está junto a lo negro. La antítesis puede pues emplearse ventajosamente en muchas ocasiones, para fortificar la impresión que queremos que haga un objeto. (…) Para hacer mas completa una antítesis conviene siempre, que las palabras y miembros de la sentencia, que expresan los objetos contrastados, estén construidos con igualdad (…) y que correspondan unos a otros.
Blair
[p. 189-190] At the same time, I must observe, that the frequent use of antithesis, especially where the opposition in the words is nice and quaint, is apt to render style disagreeable. (…) where a string of such sentences succeed each other; where this becomes an author’s favourite and prevailing manner of expressing himself, his style is faulty; and it is upon this account Seneca has been often, and justly, censured. Such a style appears too studied and laboured; it gives us the impression of an author attending more to his manner of saying things, than to the things themselves which he says.
Blair (trad. Munarriz, 1817)
[p. 120-121] También es preciso observar, que el uso frecuente de las antítesis, especialmente donde es sutil y conceptuosa la oposición entre las palabras, suele hacer desagradable el estilo. (…) cuando se sigue una cadena de estas sentencias; cuando este es el estilo favorito de un autor, es defectuoso: y en esta parte Séneca ha sido censurado muchas veces, y con razón. Este estilo aparece demasiado estudiado, y trabajado: y nos hace ver que su autor atiende mas al modo de decir las cosas, que á las cosas mismas.
Blair
[p. 190] There is another sort of antithesis, the beauty of which consists in surprising us by the unexpected contrast of things which it brings together. Much wit may be shown in this: but it belongs wholly to pieces of professed wit and humour, and can find no place in grave compositions.
Blair (trad. Munarriz, 1817)
[p. 122] Hay otra especie de antítesis, cuya belleza consiste en sorprendernos por el inesperado contraste de las cosas que reúne. En esta se puede manifestar mucho espíritu: pero viene bien solamente en obras de esta clase y en las jocosas; y no tiene lugar en las composiciones graves.
Blair
[p. 190] What is called the point of an epigram, consists, for the most part, in some antithesis of this kind; surprising us with the smart and unexpected turn which it gives to the thought; and in the fewer words it is brought out, it is always the happier.
Blair (Munarriz, 1817)
[pp. 122-123] La agudeza de un epigrama consiste por lo común en alguna antítesis de esta clase, sorprendiéndonos por el giro agudo e inesperado, que da al pensamiento: y será mas feliz cuanto mas breve sea.
Blair
[p. 190] Comparisons and antitheses are figures of a cool nature; productions of imagination, not of passion. Interrogations and exclamations, of which I am next to speak, are passionate figures.
Blair (trad. Munarriz, 1817)
[p. 123] Las comparaciones y las antítesis son figuras frías por su naturaleza; obra de la imaginación, y no de las pasiones.