View source for Isocolon

{{Short description|Figure of speech}}
{{for|the Unicode character tricolon (''ie.'' ⁝)|General Punctuation (Unicode block)}}
'''Isocolon''' is a rhetorical scheme in which [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|parallel elements]] possess the same number of words or syllables. As in any form of [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]], the pairs or series must enumerate like things to achieve symmetry.<ref>Corbett and Connors, 1999. p. 45</ref> The scheme is called '''bicolon''', '''tricolon''', or '''tetracolon''' depending on whether they are two, three, or four parallel elements.<ref name=UTET>''Dizionario di retorica e stilistica'', UTET, Toino, 2004. {{ISBN|9788877508850}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The term, a compound of {{lang|grc|ἴσος}} ''ísos'' 'equal' and {{lang|grc|κῶλον}} ''kôlon'' 'member, clause' was used in the classical Greek rhetorical literature:
{{poemquote
|text=
...εἶδος δὲ τοῦ παρομοίου τὸ ἰσόκωλον, ἐπὰν ἴσας ἔχῃ τὰ κῶλα τὰς συλλαωάς...
Under the heading of symmetry of members comes equality of members, which occurs when the members contain an equal number of syllables...
|author=pseudo-[[Demetrius of Phalerum]]
|source=Περὶ ἑρμηνείας (''On Style'')<ref>W. Rhys Roberts, ''Demetrius On Style'', Cambridge, 1902, [https://archive.org/details/demetriusonstyle00demeuoft/page/80 p. 80], at Archive.org</ref>
}}

The Greek plural is 'isocola', but 'isocolons' is also used in English.<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=isocolons%2Cisocola&year_start=1800&year_end=2010&corpus=15&smoothing=10&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cisocolons%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cisocola%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cisocolons%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cisocola%3B%2Cc0 Google ngrams frequency chart of isocola vs. isocolons]</ref>

==Bicolon==

An example of bicolon is the advertising slogan "buy one, get one free" (you pay for one item but you get another free).<ref name=UTET/>

In [[Biblical poetry]] it is standard to see a pair of adjacent lines of poetry in which the second echoes the meaning of the first.<ref name='longman'>Tremper Longman, Peter Enns, ''Dictionary of the Old Testament: wisdom, poetry & writings'' '''3''', p. 520</ref> This can be considered a bicolon.<ref name='longman'/>{{quotation requested|date=February 2014}} For example:
<blockquote>
# ''When Israel went out of Egypt, * the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:''
# ''Judea made his sanctuary, * Israel his dominion.''
# ''The sea saw and fled: * Jordan was turned back.''
# ''The mountains skipped like rams, * and the hills like the lambs of the flock.''
# ''What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: * and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back?''
# ''Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, * and ye hills, like lambs of the flock?''
# ''At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, * at the presence of the God of Jacob:''
# ''Who turned the rock into pools of water, * and the stony hill into fountains of waters.''
::&mdash;[[Psalm 114|Psalm 113:1-8 (Psalm 114 Hebrew)]]
</blockquote>

== Tricolon ==
:''Veni, vidi, vici''
::&mdash; ([[Julius Caesar]])

:"I came; I saw; I conquered."<ref name="Forsyth, 2014. p. 98">Forsyth, 2014. p. 98</ref>

A tricolon that comprises parts in increasing size, magnitude or intensity is called a ''tricolon crescens'', or an ascending tricolon.<ref>[http://latinaadvitam.blogspot.com/2007/02/poetry-device-of-day-tricolon-crescens.html Latina ad Vitam: Poetry Device of the Day: Tricolon Crescens<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Tricolon can sometimes be a [[hendiatris]].

Similarly, tricolon that comprises parts that decrease in size, magnitude, intensity, or word length is called a ''tricolon diminuens'', or a descending tricolon.

[[Abraham Lincoln]] used tricolon in many of his speeches.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} His [[Gettysburg Address]] has the following phrase: "We cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow..."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gettysburg address delivered at Gettysburg Pa. Nov. 19th, 1863. [n. p. n. d.]. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.24404500/?st=text |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Library of Congress}}</ref> Lincoln wrote in [[Lincoln's second inaugural address|his second inaugural address]], "with malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right...".<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=April 18, 2020 |title=Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address - Lincoln Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref>

[[Winston Churchill]] used the tricolon frequently, as in his June 1941 speech regarding the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], when he stated "It is a war in which the whole British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations is engaged without distinction of race, creed or party."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borup-Nielsen |first1=Grå |title=Collected Essays |date=2000 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-1635-5 |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLpuupTHgq0C&pg=PA32 |access-date=14 October 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Repeating the same thing multiple times is a special case of an isocolon, as a way of saying that only one thing is important, and it is very important. In about 1500, when [[Louis XII]] asked [[Giangiacopo Trivulzio]] what was necessary to win the [[Italian War of 1499–1504|war]] against [[Ludovico Sforza]], Trivulzio answered: "Three things, Sire, Money, money, money!"<ref>John Aikin, William Johnston, ''General Biography'', 1814, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Ug_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA477 p. 477]</ref> In the 20th century, the cliché "Location, location, location" was said to enumerate the three most important attributes of real property. This phrase appears in print in Chicago as early as 1926,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/magazine/28FOB-onlanguage-t.html On Language: Location, Location, Location] Safire, William; 26 June 2009.</ref> but is nonetheless frequently credited, incorrectly, to the British real estate magnate [[Harold Samuel, Baron Samuel of Wych Cross|Lord Harold Samuel]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2819464/Its-location-location-location-for-Land-Secs.html | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=It's location, location, location for Land Secs | first=Sophie | last=Brodie | date=14 November 2007 | access-date=11 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Safire |first=William |date=2009-06-26 |title=Location, Location, Location |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/magazine/28FOB-onlanguage-t.html |access-date=2023-02-02 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  British Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] set out his priorities for office in 1997 with "Education, education, education".<ref>{{cite web| first=Sean| last= Coughlan| title= 'Education, education, education'| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6564933.stm | date= 14 May 2007 | website= [[BBC News Online]]| accessdate= 4 May 2021 }}</ref>

==Tetracolon==

Tetracola are sometimes called "quatrains" (''cf.'' the usual meaning of [[quatrain]]).<ref name='longman'/>

An example of a tetracolon may be cited from a poem by [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]]:<ref name=UTET/>
{{quote|{{lang|it|Era calcina grossa, e poi era terra cotta, e poi pareva bronzo, e ora è cosa viva.}}<br />
("It was raw mortar, and then it was terra cotta, and then it seemed like bronze, and now it is a living thing.")}}

Another example can be cited from ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard II]]'', by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brandreth|first=Benet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARggEAAAQBAJ&dq=Isocolon+%E2%80%9CI'll+give+my+jewels+for+a+set+of+beads,+/My+gorgeous+palace+for+a+hermitage,+/My+gay+apparel+for+an+almsman+gown,+/My+figured+goblets+for+a+dish+of+wood%E2%80%A6%E2%80%9D&pg=PA179|title=Shakespearean Rhetoric: A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers|date=2021-03-25|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-350-08798-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-05-14|title=Isocolon - Definition and Examples of Isocolon|url=https://literarydevices.net/isocolon/|access-date=2021-04-23|website=Literary Devices|language=en-US}}</ref>

{{quote|I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads,<br />My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,<br />My gay apparel for an almsman’s gown,<br />My figured goblets for a dish of wood.}}

==Special cases==
A special type of [[collocation]] known as an [[irreversible binomial]] is a bicolon that is both short and so well known that it becomes a [[fixed expression]]. Not all irreversible binomials are bicolons or tricolons, however. Irreversible binomials generally consist of only a few words at most.

Examples of irreversible binomials that are bicolons or tricolons:
*''[[smoke and mirrors]]''
*''alive and kicking''
*''[[cloak and dagger]]''
*''[[command and control]]''
*''each and every''
*''part and parcel''
*''[[lie, cheat, or steal]]''
*''[[name it and claim it]]''
*''[[rank and file (disambiguation)|rank and file]]''
*''[[Signed, sealed, and delivered (disambiguation)|signed, sealed, and delivered]]''
*''[[tic-tac-toe]]''
*''finders, keepers; losers, weepers''
*''carpe diem, carpe noctem, carpe vitam''
*''in vino veritas, in aqua sanitas''
*''brain and brawn''
*''meat and potatoes''
*''rape and pillage''
*''divide and conquer''
*''tall, dark, and handsome''
*''pins and needles''
*''brains and beauty''
*''rock and roll''
*''spick and span''
*''chalk and cheese''

Examples of irreversible binomials that are ''not''{{Why|reason=further defining is needed since the examples are qualified by unclear conditions. What's the rule at work here?|date=January 2023}} bicolons or tricolons:
*''lost and found''
*''between the devil and the deep blue sea''
*''between a rock and a hard place''
*''double trouble'' (a verb and noun)
*''[[high crimes and misdemeanors]]''
*''over and done with''
*''[[Skull and crossbones (disambiguation)|Skull and crossbones]]''
*''sugar and spice and everything nice''

==See also==

* [[Hendiatris]]
*[[Figure of speech]]
* [[Rule of three (writing)]]
* [[Triad (disambiguation)]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* [[Chris Baldick|Baldrick, Chris]]. 2008. ''Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms''. Oxford University Press. New York. {{ISBN|978-0-19-920827-2}}
* [[Edward P. J. Corbett|Corbett, Edward P. J.]] and Connors, Robert J. 1999. ''Style and Statement''. Oxford University Press. New York, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-19-511543-0}}
* [[X. J. Kennedy|Kennedy, X.J.]] et al. 2006. ''The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader''. Pearson, Longman. New York. {{ISBN|0-321-33194-X}}
* [[Mark Forsyth|Forsyth, Mark]]. 2014. ''The Elements of Eloquence''. Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Publishing. New York. {{ISBN|978-0-425-27618-1}}
* Corbett, Edward P.J. ''Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student''. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
* {{cite book | last = Smyth | first = Herbert Weir | year = 1920 | title = Greek Grammar | publisher = Harvard University Press | location = Cambridge MA | isbn = 0-674-36250-0 | page = 680}}
{{refend}}

{{Figures of speech}}

[[Category:Figures of speech]]