APPENDIX

Definitions of Rhetorical Figures and Tropes

Note: further illustrations and discussions of the figures and tropes

may be found in Taylor (1937); Rubel (1941); Joseph (1947); Heinrich
Lausberg, Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik, 2 vols. (Munich, 1960)
and Elemente der literarischen Rhetorik (Munich, 1963); L. A. Sonnino,
A Handbook to Sixteenth-Century Rhetoric (London, 1968); Richard A.
Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms: A Guide for Students of English
Literature (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968); Arthur Quinn, Figures of
Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1982); Bernard
Dupriez, Gradus: Les procedes litteraires (Dictionnaire) (Paris, 1984). All the
illustrations are from Shakespeare's works.
Adynaton, the impossibility of expressing oneself adequately to the
topic:
3 Gent. Did you see the meeting of the two kings?
2 Gent. No.
3 Gent. Then have you lost a sight which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of.
Winter's Tale,. 5. 2. 39

Anadiplosis (or reduplicatio), where the last word(s) of one clause or

sentence become(s) the first of the one following:

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd.
Sonnet 29

Anaphora (or repetitio), where the same word is repeated at the

beginning of a sequence of clauses or sentences:

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,

Some in their wealth, some in their body's force ...
Sonnet 91

Antanaclasis, where a word is used twice (or more) in two (or more) of
its senses:
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
Othello, 5. 2. 7
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APPENDIX 493
Anthypophora (or rogatio), to ask a q u e s t i o n a n d to a n s w e r it oneself:
Asyndeton (or dissolutio), the a b s e n c e of c o n n e c t i n g particles b e t w e e n
What is in that word honour? What is that honour? Air. A trim reckoning! clauses:
Who hath it? He that died a' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it?
No. Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear,
Made old offences of affections new.
1 Henry IV, 5. 1. 131
Sonnet n o
Antimetabole (or commutatio), w h e r e t w o or m o r e w o r d s are r e p e a t e d in
i n v e r s e order:
Auxesis (or incrementum), w h e r e w o r d s are a r r a n g e d in a s c e n d i n g o r d e r
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? of i m p o r t a n c e :

Sonnet 8 Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'er-sways their power . . .
Antithesis' (or comparatio), where contraries are opposed and
distinguished: Sonnet 65

A bliss in proof; and prov'd, a very woe; Brachylogia (or articulus), the a b s e n c e of c o n n e c t i n g particles b e t w e e n
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream.
single w o r d s , w h i c h are t h u s s e p a r a t e d only b y c o m m a s :
Sonnet 129 . . . till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,
Antonomasia (or pronominatio), s u b s t i t u t i o n of n a m e , e i t h e r (1) of a
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust. . .
d e s c r i p t i v e p h r a s e for a p r o p e r n a m e ; or (2) of a p r o p e r n a m e for a
quality associated w i t h it: Sonnet 129

(1) Cupid is 'that same wicked bastard of Venus. . . . that blind rascally boy.'
(2) I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir;
I have not much skill in grass.
Aposiopesis (or praecisio), breaking off a
incomplete.
I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall — I will do such things —
What they are yet I know not, but they shall be
The terrors of the earth!
Apostrophe (or aversio), a t u r n i n g of s p e e c h from o n e topic or p e r s o n to
a n o t h e r , often for e m o t i o n a l e m p h a s i s :
Within a month . . .
She married—O most wicked speed: to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets . . .
Chiasmus, r e p e a t i n g i d e a s (not necessarily in t h e s a m e w o r d s , c o n t r a s t
As You Like It, 4. 1. 211 antimetabole) in i n v e r t e d order:
But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves.
All's Well, 4. 5. 21 Othello, 3. 3. 169
sentence with the sense
Climax (or gradatio), w h e r e t h e last w o r d of o n e c l a u s e or s e n t e n c e
b e c o m e s the first of t h e o n e following, as in anadiplosis, b u t c o n t i n u e d
t h r o u g h three or m o r e stages—like t h e r u n g s of a l a d d e r :
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
King Lear, 2. 4. 281 And every tale condemns me for a villain. . . .
Richard III, 5. 3. 193 ,
Ecphonesis (or exclamatio), the e x c l a m a t i o n of e x t r e m e e m o t i o n s u c h as
a n g e r , grief, a d m i r a t i o n :
O sides, you are too tough!
Will you yet hold?
Hamlet, 1.2. 153
King Lear, 2. 4. 197
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Epanalepsis (or resumptio), w h e r e t h e s a m e w o r d is r e p e a t e d at t h e Homoioptoton (or similiter cadens), w h e r e c o r r e s p o n d i n g w o r d s (often at
b e g i n n i n g a n d e n d of c l a u s e , a line, or s e n t e n c e :
the e n d of a s e q u e n c e of c l a u s e s or sentences) h a v e similar case e n d i n g s
Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind . . . . (not p o s s i b l e in uninflected l a n g u a g e s ) :
Sonnet 105
Veni, vidi, vici.
Epanodos (or regressio), w h e r e t h e m a i n t e r m s in an a r g u m e n t are
r e p e a t e d in t h e c o u r s e of it: Homoioteleuton (or similiter desinens), w h e r e c o r r e s p o n d i n g w o r d s (often
at t h e e n d of a s e q u e n c e of c l a u s e s or s e n t e n c e s ) h a v e similar e n d i n g s :
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight: My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling,
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar, our cat wringing her hands . . .
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2 . 3 . 6
Sonnet 46
Hypallage (or submutatio), 'changing the true construction and
Epanorthosis (or correctio), w h e r e a w o r d or i d e a is c o r r e c t e d a n d
application o f t h e w o r d s w h e r e b y t h e s e n s e i s p e r v e r t e d a n d m a d e v e r y
r e p l a c e d b y o n e m o r e suitable:
absurd' (Puttenham):
A good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon, or rather the sun and not the
moon; for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is
not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my
Henry V, 5. 2. 162 dream was.
Midsummer Night's Dream, 4 . 1 . 211
Epiphonema (or acclamatio), a p i t h y s u m m i n g - u p of an a r g u m e n t , often
in t h e form of an e p i g r a m or sentential Hyperbaton (or transgressio), t h e alteration of w o r d o r d e r for p u r p o s e s of
emphasis:
This I do vow and this shall ever be:
I will be true despite thy scythe and thee. Yet I'll not shed her blood,
Sonnet 123 Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow . . .
Othello, 5.2.3
Epistrophe (or conversio), w h e r e t h e s a m e w o r d is r e p e a t e d at t h e e n d
of a s e q u e n c e of clauses or s e n t e n c e s : Hyperbole (or superlatio), e x a g g e r a t i o n of scale in o r d e r to describe
o u t s t a n d i n g qualities:
Is this nothing?
Why then the world and all that's in't is nothing, His legs bestrid the ocean, his rear'd arm
My wife is nothing, nor nothing have these nothings, Crested the world, his voice was propertied
If this be nothing. As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends . . .

Winter's Tale, 1.2. 292 Antony and Cleopatra, 5. 2. 82

Epizeuxis (or subjunctio), w h e r e a w o r d is r e p e a t e d t w o or m o r e t i m e s Hypotyposis (or demonstratio, evidentia), vivid d e s c r i p t i o n a p p e a l i n g to

with no other word intervening: t h e s e n s e of sight:

Howl, howl, howl! Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i'th' receiving earth . . .
King Lear, 5. 3. 257 Henry V, 1. Pro. 26
Euphemismos, s u b s t i t u t i n g a m o r e favourable for a pejorative t e r m :
Hysteron proteron (or praeposteratio), t h e p l a c i n g first in a s e n t e n c e or
Falstaff . . . when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body clause of w o r d s w h i c h , in t e r m s of s e n s e , o u g h t to c o m e later: :
['we that take purses'] be call'd thieves of the day's beauty. Let us be Diana's
foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon . . . Th'Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral,
With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder.
1 Henry IV, 1. 2. 13 ff. Antony and Cleopatra, 3. 10. 2
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Isocolon (or compar), w h e r e a s e q u e n c e of clauses or s e n t e n c e s is of an And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds . . .
identical l e n g t h ( a n d often of an identical s t r u c t u r e : s e e parison): Have patience, gentle friends; I must not read it.
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you . . .
Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Julius Caesar, 3. 2. 130
Was ever woman in this humour won?
Parison (or compar), c o r r e s p o n d i n g or s y m m e t r i c a l s t r u c t u r e of a
Richard III, 1. 2. 227
s e q u e n c e of c l a u s e s or s e n t e n c e s :
Meiosis (or extenuatio), a form of ' d i m i n i s h i n g ' a t o p i c by belittling it:
As Caesar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he
But when my glass shows me myself indeed, was valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him.
Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity . . . Julius Caesar, 3. 2. 24
Sonnet 62 Paronomasia (agnominatio or allusio), w h e r e , t w o or m o r e w o r d s are u s e d
Metalepsis, a t t r i b u t i n g a p r e s e n t effect to a r e m o t e c a u s e : i n p r o x i m i t y w h i c h are similar i n s o u n d b u t different i n s e n s e :

There spake my brother! There my father's grave Mad in pursuit and in possession so.
Did utter forth a voice. Sonnet 129
Measure for Measure, 3. 1. 86
Periphrasis (or circumlocutio), t h e u s e of a n u m b e r of w o r d s to describe at
Metaphor (or translatio), w h e n a w o r d is t r a n s f e r r e d from o n e t h i n g to g r e a t e r l e n g t h a n d w i t h fuller e m p h a s i s s o m e t h i n g w h i c h c o u l d b e
a n o t h e r , for i l l u m i n a t i o n a n d for e m o t i o n a l e m p h a s i s : s t a t e d m u c h m o r e briefly:

That time of year thou mayst in me behold . . . when that fell arrest
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Without all bail shall carry me away . . .
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. Sonnet 74

Sonnet 73 Ploche (or conduplicatio, diaphora), t h e repetition of t h e s a m e w o r d or

words:
Metonymy (or transmutatio), t h e s u b s t i t u t i o n of o n e n a m e for a n o t h e r , as
of an a u t h o r for h i s w o r k , t h e s i g n for t h e signified: Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour . . . Sonnet 8

Sonnet 126 Polyptoton (paragmenon, traductio, or adnominatio), r e p e a t i n g a w o r d in a

different form:
Onomatopoeia (or nominatio), w h e r e l a n g u a g e is u s e d to imitate t h e
s o u n d of t h e a n i m a l ('Tu-whit t u - w h o o ' ) or t h i n g d e s c r i b e d : And death once dead, there's no more dying then.
Sonnet 146
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage, blow! .,
You cataracts and hurricanoes, s p o u t . . .
Polysyndeton (or acervatio), the profusion of connecting particles
King Lear, 3. 2. 1 b e t w e e n clauses:

Paralipsis (or occupatio), w h e n o n e p r e t e n d s to p a s s o v e r a m a t t e r a n d so Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,

d r a w s a t t e n t i o n to it: Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I see their antique pen would have express'd
Let but the commons hear this testament [Caesar's will] — Even such a beauty as you master now.
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read — Sonnet 106
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Prosopopoeia (or confirmatio), r e p r e s e n t i n g an i m a g i n a r y or a b s e n t p e r s o n
as s p e a k i n g or acting; a t t r i b u t i n g life, s p e e c h or h u m a n qualities to
d u m b o r i n a n i m a t e objects:

Methinks I hear
Antony call; I see him rouse himself
To praise my noble act. I hear him mock
The luck of Caesar . . . Husband, I come!

Antony and Cleopatra, 5. 2. 283

Syllepsis (or conceptio), w h e r e a w o r d is u s e d o n c e o n l y b u t w h e r e by t h e

context a n d t o n e t w o different m e a n i n g s are s u g g e s t e d :

Therefore I lie with her, and she with me . . .

Sonnet 138
Synecdoche (or subintellectio), w h e r e o n e t h i n g is s u b s t i t u t e d for a n o t h e r ,
p a r t for w h o l e , g e n u s for s p e c i e s , a n d vice-versa:

These are the ushers of Martius: before him he carries noise, and behind him
he leaves tears. . .

Coriolanus, 2. 1.158

Synoeciosis (oxymoron or contrapositum), u n i t i n g (not o p p o s i n g , as in

antithesis) c o n t r a r y a n d i n c o m p a t i b l e - s e e m i n g t e r m s or states:

Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,

With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
Taken to wife.

Hamlet, 1. 2. 10

Zeugma (or adjunctio), w h e r e o n e v e r b serves t w o or m o r e clauses:

Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,

Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

Sonnet 128