Euphemism is a form of understatement where an expression says something in a mild manner so as not to cause offense. One of the most famous examples of euphemism is in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" (1842):
Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive.
The poem is a monologue by a Duke who sentenced his wife to death for smiling innocently at other men. Her death is described mildly as "all smiles stopped together." Euphemism is typically used to avoid offense. Here, its use reveals the cold nature of the duke and the fact that he may well be psychopathic.
Why writers use euphemism
Writers use euphemism as a literary device for several reasons. However, the main one is to avoid offense or to come across as polite. It can be used to politely describe things such as sexual intercourse and death. It can also be used as a form of irony.
In our previous example of "The Last Duchess," Euphemism is used to reveal the irony between the polite manners of the duke describing how he had his wife killed over nothing and the horrid act itself. The irony reveals that we are listening to an insane man who thinks of himself as God-like in the power that he possesses over others.
Examples of euphemism
Euphemism is used as a form of censorship to describe sexual intercourse and murder. Let's look at another example of a dramatic monologue from Robert Browning.
1. Browning, Porphyria's Lover (1836):
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain.
The poem describes a man who decides to strangle his lover, Porphyria, to death. He does so for a peculiar reason. At the moment, he was sure that she loved him and knowing that love is something that always changes, he decides to make this love permanent by strangling her to death. The poem states clearly he "strangled her."
There's no euphemism there. However, the process by which he came to make that decision is casually described as "I found / A thing to do." The euphemism used here portrays the speaker as a man who has no regard for conventional human morality. This is reinforced at the end of the poem when he claims:
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!
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However, love does not always have to be so bleak. Here is one example of euphemism being described conventional love, where no one gets killed:
Blake, "Song: How Sweet I Roam'd From Field to Field" (1783):
How sweet I roam'd from field to field,
And tasted all the summer's pride,
'Till I the prince of love beheld,
Who in the sunny beams did glide!
He shew'd me lilies for my hair,
And blushing roses for my brow;
He led me through his gardens fair,
Where all his golden pleasures grow.
With sweet May dews my wings were wet,
And Phoebus fir'd my vocal rage;
He caught me in his silken net,
And shut me in his golden cage.
He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.
The poem is an allegory for how love leads to obligations that seem like imprisonment. "And blushing roses for my brow" is a euphemism for kissing. The two lines that come after it and that culminate with "Where all his golden pleasures grow" have sexual connotations, as do the lines referring to sweet May dews. The poet is using euphemisms to tastefully describe the sexual act.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, December 5). What is Euphemism? EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-euphemism |
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