tricolon

Figure Name tricolon
Source Silva Rhetoricae (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Silva.htm), ODLT (http://www.odlt.org/ballast/tricolon.html); De Mille (1882) ("tricola")
Earliest Source None
Synonyms tricola
Etymology None
Type Scheme
Linguistic Domain Syntactic
Definition

1. Three parallel elements of the same length occurring together in a series. (Silva Rhetoricae)

2. 88. TRICOLA.
Another variety [of Parallelism] is found when similar clauses are arranged by threes. (De Mille)

Example

1. Veni, vidi, vici. —Julius Caesar
("I came; I saw; I conquered." However, the English is not a true tricolon, for its verbs are not all the same length, as is the case in the Latin). (Silva Rhetoricae)

1. Let's dine, let's dance, let's kiss. (Silva Rhetoricae)

2. This is called "tricola:"
"Such notions shock ever precept of morality, every feeling of humanity, ever sentiment of honor." -CHATHAM.
"He has this day surprised the thousands who hung with rapture on his accents, by such an array of talents, such an exhibition of capacity, such a display of power, as are unparalleled in the annals of oratory." -BURKE

2."My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man,
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die." -WORDSWORTH.

Kind Of Symmetry
Repetition
Series
Part Of
Related Figures isocolon, parallelism, figures of parallelism, figures of balance
Notes
Confidence Unconfident
Last Editor Samantha Price
Confidence Unconfident
Editorial Notes
Reviewed No