CHAPTER XVII: PRAISE and BLAME

Let's go back to the word REPROACH, which means to scold, blame, or criticize. When a speech is full of REPROACH, we call it a TIRADE. A TIRADE is a criticizing or condemning speech. TIRADE is also called DIATRIBE, INVECTIVE, HARANGUE, or PHILIPPIC. The term INVECTIVE comes from INVEIGH, which means to criticize severely. The following words are some of the synonyms of INVEIGH:

IMPUGN

LAMBASTE

FLAIL

EXCORIATE

CENSURE

CONDEMN

DENOUNCE

DECRY

FULMINATE

All the above words imply DISAPPROVAL, CRITICISM, or BLAME.

Here are a few antonyms that appeared earlier in GRE.

FULMINATION x PRAISE

LAMBASTE x EXTOL(praise highly)

CONDEMN x COMMEND (praise)

DECRY x LAUD (praise)

CENSURE x EULOGIZE (praise)

CRITICISM x APPROBATION.

Just as a condemning (criticizing) speech is called a TIRADE or DIATRIBE, a commending (praising speech) is called a EULOGY. Hence,

TIRADE: CONDEMNATION

EULOGY: COMMENDATION

(tirade is an expression of condemnation just as eulogy is an expression of commendation)

OR

DIATRIBE: ABUSE

EULOGY: APPROVE

(the function of diatribe is to abuse, just as the function of eulogy is to approve)

OR

HARANGUE: REPROACHFUL

DECLAMATION: GRANDILOQUENT

(just as harangue is reproachful in its nature, declamation[ showy speech] is grandiloquent [ showy] in its nature)

OR

TIRADE: CRITICAL

BOMBAST: POMPOUS

{tirade is critical speech, in the same way as, bombast(showy speech) is pompous(showy) speech}

EULOGY is a praising speech, but if our praise is in the form of a song, we call it a PAEAN; if it is in the form of a poem, we call it a PANEGYRIC. Thus,

EULOGY: DISCOURSE(speech)

PAEAN: SONG

PANEGYRIC: POEM

DIATRIBE: DISCOURSE

We shouldn't confuse EULOGY with another term ELEGY. An ELEGY is a poem of grief, written on the death of someone. If that grief is expressed in the form of a song or music, we call it a DIRGE. Hence,

ELEGY: POETRY

DIRGE: MUSIC

TANGO: DANCE

PAEAN: SONG

WALTZ: DANCE

An elegy or dirge expresses sorrow, a paean, or eulogy, or panegyric expresses admiration, and a tirade, or diatribe, or invective, or harangue, or philippic expresses abuse or disapprobation. So,

DIRGE: GRIEF

DIATRIBE: DISAPPROBATION

PAEAN: ADMIRATION

Now, take up the following problem of sentence completion.

Unlike other examples of _________ verse, Milton's Lycidas does more than merely mourn the death of Edward King; it also denounces corruption in the church in which King was ordained.

A. satiric B. elegiac C. free D. droll E. didactic

The first part of the sentence mentions that Milton's Lycidas more than merely mourns[expresses sorrow], unlike other verses; i.e., other verses merely mourn[express sorrow]. So, those verses are sorrow-expressing verses. Such verses are therefore ELEGIAC[expressing sorrow.] Hence, choice B.