Difference between revisions of "Figures of Speech"

Revision as of 13:34, 2 June 2007

Tropes: not to be taken literally

Name	Explanation	Example
metaphor
metonymy
synekdoche
metalepsis
irony
paradox
oxymoron
litotes
hyperbole

Metaplastic figures: playing with spelling and sound

The addition of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
prosthesis	addition of letters to the beginning of a word
epenthesis	addition of letters to the middle of a word
paragoge	addition of letters to the end of a word

The omission of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
aphaersis	omission of letters to the beginning of a word
syncope	omission of letters to the middle of a word
apocope	omission of letters to the end of a word

The switching of letters and sounds

Name	Explanation	Example
antisthecon	substitution of a letter or sound for another within a word
metathesis	transposition of a letter out of its normal order in a word

Combinations of these factors

synaeresis

Playing with the structure of sentences

Words (seem to) get lost

Name	Explanation	Example
ellipsis	omission of a word
zeugma	an ellipsis of a verb, in which one verb is used to govern several clauses
scesis onamaton	omission of the verb of a sentence
anapodoton	omission of a clause
aposiopesis	stopping a sentence in midcourse so that the statement is unfinished
occupatio	The orator promises not to speak of a certain thing - and does it the more provocatively by doing so

Repetions of words

Name	Explanation	Example
epizeuxis	emphatic repetition of a word with no other words between
polyptoton	repetition of the same word or root in different grammatical functions or forms
antanaclasis	repetition of a word, but in two different meanings
anaphora	repetition of a word at the beginning of a clause, line, or sentence
epistrophe	repetition of a word at the end of a clause, line, or sentence	I'll have my bond!/ Speak not against my bond!/ I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.---The Merchant of Venice, 3.3.4
symploce	repetition of both beginnings and endings
epanalepsis	repetition of the beginning at the end
anadiplosis	repetition of the end of a line or clause at the next beginning	Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,/ Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain ---Sir Philip Sidney, Loving in Truth (1591)
gradatio
congeries	a heaping together and piling up of many words that have a similar meaning
antimetabole	repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order; a chiasmus on the level of words (AB; BA)
pleonasm

Figures of an unusual aarangement of clauses and thoughts

Name	Explanation	Example
auxesis	arrangement of clauses or sentences in ascending order of importance
isocolon	repetition of phrases or clauses of equal length and corresponding grammatical structure
chiasmus	reversal of grammatical structures or ideas in sucessive phrases or clauses, which do not necessarily involve a repetition of words
antithesis	repetition of clauses or idea by negation
periphrasis	the replacement of a single word by several which together have the same meaning; a substitution of more words for less
anastrophe	arrangment by reversal of ordinary word order, usually confined to the transposition of two words only
hyperbaton
hypallage	a reversal of words which seems to change the sense
parenthesis	a word, phrase, or sentence inserted as an aside in a sentence complete by itself

Peculiar thoughts

Name	Explanation	Example

anthimeria http://www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/williams/figofspe.htm#Figures%20of%20Repetition%20(clauses%20and%20ideas)