Schemes and Tropes

1. Schemes and Tropes Stylistics 551 Lecture 25

2. Schemes and Tropes • Figures involving repetition • Figures involving semantic irregularities • Figures involving comparison • Figures involving substitution • Figures involving addition or amplification

3. Figures involving Substitution • Metonymy: is a trope in which one entity is used to stand for another associated entity. It means the change of a word naming an object for another word closely associated with it. • The word metonymy has been derived form “meta” indicating change and onoma meaning “a name” • It’s a substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is meant. • For example “crown” for royalty, “brass” for military officer, “pen” for writer.

4. 1.Metonymy • A figure of speech involving the substitution of one noun for another of which it is an attribute or which is closely associated with it, e.g. “the kettle boils” “he drank the cup” • 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/author for his work I am reading Shakespeare. • Substituting the container for the thing contained He drank the cup

5. Metonymy • In metonymy the word that triggers an association is historical reality. • Example: “The pen is mightier than the sword” Pen and sword represent publishing and military force respectively.

6. 2. Synecdoche • In Synecdoche a part is used to represent the whole. It s a figure of speech in which one of the following is expressed. • A part stands for a whole • An individual stands for a class • A material stands for a thing Examples • Lend me your ears (give me your attention)

7. Synecdoche • Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole thing. For example the head of a horse might substitute for the whole horse. • “…I surmised the horses’ heads were towards eternity” (Emily Dickenson) • In Ulysses Tennyson refers to Ulysses’ companions as “free hearts, free foreheads” • Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,/and burn the topless towers of Ileum?” (Dr. Faustus, Marlowe)

8. Irony • Irony means the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is meant, what is meant or said and what others understand. Sometimes irony is classified into following types: • Situational Irony: expectations aroused by a situation are reversed. • Dramatic Irony: the audience knows more that the characters in the paly, so the words and actions have additional meaning for them. • Verbal Irony:there is a difference between what is said and what is intended.

9. Sarcasm and Satire • Sarcasm: is one kind of irony, it praises which is in fact an insult. Sarcasm generally involves an insult, malice or a desire to put someone down “This is my brilliant son who failed out of college” • Satire: is the exposure of the vices and follies of an individual, group, institution, an idea, society etc. usual with a view to correcting it. A satirist frequently uses irony.

10. Symbolism • Symbolism is the systematic or creative use of arbitrary symbols as abstract representations of concepts or objects and distinct relationships in between, as they define both context and the narrower definition of terms. In a narrow context, symbolism is the applied use of any iconic representations which carry particular conventional meanings. • Example: colors : red symbol of love/danger, blues symbol of peace.etc • Dove symbol of innocence, peace, fox symbol of cunning.

11. Chiasmus • Chiasmus: a figure of speech based on inverted parallelism. It is a rhetorical figure in which two clauses are related to each other through a reversal of term in order to make a larger point. It is sometimes called reverse parallelism. It keeps the second part of the grammatical construction balanced or parallel with the first, but in the reverse order. • Examples: life imitates art far more that art imitates life” (Oscar Wilde)

12. Chiasmus • Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis) • “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”