The Figurative and Rhetorical Language

Figures of speech: are broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly a way of saying one thing and mean another. Tropes: figures which change or relate to the typical meaning of word(s). It may present stylistic effects. Imagery: is the representation through language of sense experience that produces a mental picture. Metaphysical Conceit: a fanciful or unusual image in which two apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. Metaphor: is a comparison between two objects for the purpose of describing one of them, and it states that the one is the other. (There is no relationship between the two objects) Kenning, a metaphorical compound word used as a poetic device. Archetype: an image, story pattern, or character type that recurs frequently in literary works and evokes strong, often unconscious, association in the reader. Simile: is a comparison between two objects in an explicit way and it states that the one is like, similar, resembles, seems, as the other. Analogy: a comparison made between two objects, situation, or ideas that are somewhat alike but unlike in most respect. Symbol: is a thing that stands for something else, but it is not merely descriptive. Allegory: is a narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one. Personification: is the act of representing objects or qualities as human beings. Pathetic fallacy: is the effect produced when animals and things are shown as having human feelings. Pun: is the same word in two or more senses in order to make people laugh. Onomatopoeia: is a word that echoes the sound which the word describes. Paradox (overstatement): is a statement that contains two opposite ideas or seems to be impossible but they are implicitly related. Oxymoron: is a phrase that combines two words that seem to be the opposite of each other. Hyperbole: exaggerated or extravagant statement used to make a strong impression, but not intended to be taken literally. Caricature: exaggeration of prominent features of appearance or character. Metonymy: is the fact of referring to something by the name of something else closely connected to it, used especially as a form of shorthand for something familiar or obvious. It is a noun is substituted for a noun in such a way that we substitute the cause of the thing of which we are speaking for the thing itself; this might be done in several ways: substituting the inventor for his invention, the container for the thing contained or vice versa, an author for his work, the cause for the effect or vice versa. Irony: a situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy. The main three kinds of Irony are: 1. Verbal Irony: a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant. 2. Dramatic Irony: an incongruity or discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives and what the author intends the reader to perceive) 3. Irony of Situation: a situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfilment or between the actual situation and what would seem appropriate. Metalepsis: a double metonymy in which an effect is represented by a remote cause. Synecdoche: substitution of part for whole, genus for species, or vice versa.

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Anthimeria: the substitution of one part of speech for another; for instance, an adverb for a noun or a noun for an adverb. Litotes: deliberate understatement or denial of the contrary.

Metaplasmic Figures: figures which move the letters or syllables of a word from their
typical places. Prosthesis: addition of letter(s) to the beginning of a word. Aphaeresis: omission of letter(s) from the beginning of a word. Epenthesis: addition of letter(s) to the middle of a word. Syncope: omission of letter(s) from the middle of a word. Paragoge: addition of letter(s) at the end of a word. Apocope: omission of letter(s) at the end of a word. 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.

Figures of Omission: figures which omit something (word(s), phrases(s), and clause(s))
from the sentence. Ellipsis: omission of word(s). 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.

Figures of repetition (words, clauses and ideas): figures which repeat a word a
phrase, a clause or an idea. 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. Symploce: repetition of a both beginnings and endings. Epanalepsis: repetition of the beginning at the end. Anadiplosis: repetition of the end of a line at the beginning of the next. Gradatio: repetition of anadiplosis. 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 (reversal of grammatical structures or ideas in successive phrases or clauses, which do not necessarily involve a repetition of a word) on the level of words. Pleonasm: the needless repetition of words; a Tautology (needless repetition of the same idea in different words) on the level of a phrase. Auxesis: arrangement of clauses or sentences in ascending order of importance. Isocolon: repetition of phrases or clauses of equal length and corresponding grammatical structure. Antithesis: a figure of speech in which one word or idea is set against another with the object heightening the effect of what is said by contrast. Periphrasis: the replacement of a single word by several which together have the same meaning; a substitution of more words for less.

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Figures of Unusual Word Order: figures which alter the ordinary order of words or
sentences. Anastrophe: arrangement by reversal of ordinary order, usually confined to the transposition of two words only. Hyperbaton: departure from ordinary word order. Hysteron/Proteron: reversal of temporal order. Hypallage: a reversal of words which seems to change the sense. Parenthesis: a word, a phrase, or sentence inserted as an aside in a sentence complete by itself.

Figures of Thought: a miscellaneous group of figures which deal with emotional appeals
and techniques of argument. Adynaton: the impossibility of expressing oneself adequately to the topic. Aporia: true or feigned doubt or deliberation about an issue. Correctio: a correction or revision of previous words. Prosopopoeia: representing an imaginary or absent person as speaking or acting; attributing life, speech or inanimate qualities to dumb or inanimate objects. Apostrophe: is a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it is alive and present and could reply. Cacophony: a harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds. Euphony: smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds.

Other Literary Concepts to Deliberate:

Editorializing: writing that departs from the narrative or dramatic mode and instructs the reader how to think or feel about the events of a story or the behaviour of a character. Proverb: a wise saying, usually quite old and usually of folk origin. Aphorism: a brief saying embodying a moral. Sermon: a written version of a speech on some aspect of religion, morality, conduct and the like. Condescending statement: is a statement in which the speaker kindly, from a lower place, looks at someone. Patronizing statement: is a statement in which the speaker haughtily, from a higher place, looks at someone. Epithet: a descriptive expression, usually mentioning a quality attribute of the person or thing being described. Sarcasm: bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed. Suspense: a quality that makes the reader or the audience anxious to know what is next. Sentimentality: unmerited or contrived tender feeling; that quality in a story that elicit tears through an oversimplification. Metamorphosis: a change, mainly of the shape or form. Allusion (Flash back): is a reference to something happened in history or previous literature. Foreshadowing: hinting for something that will happen in the future in a literary work. Invocation: the call on deity or muse for help or inspiration. Paraphrase: a summary or repetition of a literary work. Parody: a humorous imitation of serious writing. It follows the same form but often changes the sense to ridicule the writers style. Prologue: a section preceding the main body of a work and serving as an introduction.

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