Differences Between

English Poetics and Sanskrit Poetics

This article was originally meant to be included as an appendix in my book Versified History of
Sanskrit Poetics: The Soul is Rasa (Vrindavan: 2016).

Charles A. Filion
2020

Table of Contents

Respective Origins 3

The Twenty Main Figures of Speech 5

in English, with Sanskrit equivalents

One Hundred More Prominent Figures 12

of Speech in English, with Sanskrit
equivalents

Differences Between 32
English Poetics and Sanskrit Poetics
 Differences Between
English Poetics and Sanskrit Poetics

Respective Origins

In English poetics, figures of speech originate from the ancient Greeks’ classical rhetoric,
whereas in Sanskrit poetics the figures originate from dramaturgy. Classical rhetoric, one of the
seven liberal arts, is the art of persuasion. In Rhetoric, Aristotle mentioned three modes of
persuasion: It is achieved by ethos, the speaker’s personal character; by logos, logical reasoning;
and by pathos, the stirring of emotions in the hearers. Pathos corresponds to rasa. In a political
speech, literary devices are important. In Rhetoric, Aristotle (384–322 BCE) said: “It is metaphor
above all else that gives clearness, charm, and distinction to the style.”1 Aristotle also wrote
Poetics.

The seven liberal arts are the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium:
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Philosophy unites all seven. The tradition of first
learning those three subjects was established in ancient Greece whereas the quadrivium was
added in the Middle Ages. Poetics was studied as an offshoot of rhetoric: In Aristotle’s time,
rhetoric and poetics were two aspects of performance on stage. 2 Aristotle wrote Politics and
many other works.3 He taught Plato and was also the tutor of Alexander the Great, who made an
incursion in India in 326 BCE. In Sanskrit culture, political science and economics are based on
Kauṭilya’s Artha-śāstra (c. 300 BCE). To succeed, politicians and poets must be crooked in their
manner of expression.

In India, the status of Nāṭya-śāstra is akin to that of Aristotle’s Poetics in the West. There are
obvious differences but also noteworthy similarities:

Bharata expounds the detailed physical movements and gestures of the actors, a topic ignored by
Aristotle. […] Moreover, both Aristotle and Bharata contend that the aim in drama is to convey
certain emotions to the audience. However, Aristotle confines his discussion of the arousal of
emotion by tragedy to a few remarks (for example, his contention that tragedy should arouse pity
and fear for the purpose of catharsis and his claim that even hearing the basic plot outline should
arouse these emotions). Bharata, on the other hand, develops a detailed taxonomy of emotion and
emotional expression4

Aristotle’s Poetics consisted of two parts: Only the first part—that which focuses on tragedy—
survives. The lost second part addressed comedy. Bharata Muni’s discourse on rasa is more
elaborate than pity, fear, and humor. In addition, Bharata expounded meters, types of heroines,
varieties of emotions, and music. In both works, a play more or less culminates in a moral.

1
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms, Vanguard University of Southern California. (under
metaphor)
2
Haskins, Ekaterina V. (2004). Logos and Power in Isocrates and Aristotle. p. 31. ISBN 1570035261.
3
For the list of Aristotle’s twenty-nine works, consult: http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Aristotle.html
4
Higgins, Kathleen Marie (professor at the faculty of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin) (2007) An
Alchemy of Emotion: Rasa and Aesthetic Breakthroughs. Texas: Diaphanous Granite, p. 44.
Aristotle’s Poetics also treats of lyric poetry and epic poetry. However, Aristotle’s main
objective was catharsis:

A Catharsis is an emotional discharge through which one can achieve a state of moral or spiritual
renewal or achieve a state of liberation from anxiety and stress. Catharsis is a Greek word and it
means cleansing. […] Originally, the term was used as a metaphor in Poetics by Aristotle to
explain the impact of tragedy on the audiences. He believed that catharsis was the ultimate end of
a tragic artistic work and it marked its quality. He further said in Poetics:

“Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude; . . . through pity [eleos] and fear [phobos] effecting the proper purgation
[catharsis] of these emotions” (c. 350 BCE, Book 6.2).5

Comedy is perhaps the best form of catharsis. In Sanskrit poetics, sometimes catharsis is a
sublime form of sādhāraṇya (empathy). For example: “Here’s to my love! [Drinks] O true
apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Falls]” (Romeo and Juliet):

In “Romeo and Juliet”, Romeo commits suicide by drinking the poison that he erroneously thinks
Juliet had tasted too. The audience usually finds themselves crying at this particular moment for
several reasons. Primarily because losing a loved one is a feeling that all of us share. Watching or
reading such a scene triggers the memories of someone we have lost (either by death or by mere
separation) and because we are able to relate to it, we suddenly release the emotions that we have
been repressing.

Function of Catharsis: Dramatic uses

In dramatic art the term catharsis explains the impact of tragedy, comedy or any other form of art
on the audience and in some cases even on the performers themselves. Aristotle did not elaborate
on the meaning of “catharsis” and the way he used it in defining tragedy in the Poetics (1449b21-
28).6

Further, Aristotle and other Greek rhetoricians thought of rhetoric as having five canons or
established principles. These principles outline the systems of classical rhetoric:

Invention: To discover the available means of persuasion.

Arrangement: To select and assemble the argument effectively.
Style: To present the argument cogently and eloquently.
Memory: To speak extemporaneously.
Delivery: To effectively use voice, gestures, text, and images.7

After the Middle Ages, the list of seven liberal arts evolved:

In the Renaissance, the Italian humanists, who in many respects continued the grammatical and
rhetorical traditions of the Middle Ages, rechristened the old Trivium with a new and more
ambitious name: Studia humanitatis, and also increased its scope. They excluded logic and added
to the traditional Latin grammar and rhetoric not only history, Greek, and moral philosophy
(ethics), but made poetry, once a sequel of grammar and rhetoric, the most important member of
the whole group.8

5
http://literarydevices.net/catharsis
6
http://literarydevices.net/catharsis
7
http://rhetorica.net/textbook/canons_of_rhetoric.htm
8
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Renaissance Thought II: Papers on Humanism and the Arts (New York: Harper Torchbooks,
1965), p. 178. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_education)
Nowadays the term rhetoric also denotes the science of all literary uses of language in prose or
verse, including the figures of speech. Scholars of classical Western rhetoric divided figures of
speech in two main categories: schemes and tropes. Schemes—from the Greek schema, form or
shape—are figures of speech characterized by an artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement
of words, whereas a trope—from the Greek tropos, turn—is an artful deviation from the ordinary
or principal signification of a word.9 For the most part, a trope is any literary or rhetorical device
that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense (Webster’s Dictionary).
Examples of tropes that do not consist of figurative usage are: simile, rhetorical question, and
onomatopoeia.10

During the Renaissance, English scholars meticulously enumerated and classified figures of
speech. Henry Peacham, for example, in his The Garden of Eloquence (1577), enumerated 184
different figures of speech. The count continued to increase. Professor Robert DiYanni writes:
“Rhetoricians have catalogued more than 250 different figures of speech, expressions or ways of
using words in a nonliteral sense.”11 A figure of speech is also called rhetorical figure, figure of
style, or simply figure:

The Greeks called them “schemes”, a better word than “figures”, because they serve as persuasive
tricks and rules of thumb. While Shakespeare had to memorize more than 200 of them in
grammar school, the basic ones aren’t hard to learn. Figures of speech change ordinary language
through repetition, substitution, sound, and wordplay. They mess around with words—skipping
them, swapping them, and making them sound different.12

According to Kenneth Burke (1897–1993), in rhetoric the four master tropes are metaphor,
metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.13 In addition, simile, hyperbole and personification are often
used.

Technical differences between English poetics and Sanskrit Poetics are given after the two tables
below: “The twenty main figures of speech in English” and “Other prominent figures of speech
in English”. These tables show the similarities between English and Sanskrit methodologies by
way of expounding the best literary devices in English literature:

The Twenty Main Figures of Speech

in English, with Sanskrit Equivalents
English rhetorical devices,
Equivalent in
literary devices, Examples
Sanskrit
and related concepts
Alliteration anuprāsa (1) “Better butter always makes the batter
(the repetition of the same better.”
sounds or of the same kinds (2) “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled

9
http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/Schemes and Tropes.htm
10
https://www.phc.edu/rhetoricfiles/gloss.pdf
11
DiYanni, Robert, Literature - Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill,
ISBN 0-07-557112-9, p.451.
12
Jay Heinrichs (2007) Thank You for Arguing. Three Rivers Press
(http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/figuresterms.htm)
13
Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. p. 503.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche)
of sounds at the beginning
of words or in stressed
syllables) (the subvarieties
are listed below; alliteration
is also a technical term for a
type of consonance where
there is a recurrence of
initial consonant sounds)
Antithesis
(the juxtaposition of
contrasting ideas in
balanced phrases)
Chiasmus
(a type of antimetabole
without the exact mirror
effect) (or a paronomastic
antimetabole) (or simply a
reversal of structure)
Double Entendre
(a subvariety of Pun) (a
double meaning; or a
double meaning where the
first meaning is
straightforward while the
second is either ironic,
funny, risque, sexual, or
simply inappropriate) (also:
triple entendre etc.)
Epithet
(any word or phrase applied
to a person or thing to
describe an actual or
attributed quality) (often
metaphorical) (usually an
adjective, a nickname or
some other designation) (a
“transferred epithet” is an
adjective modifying a noun
which it cannot logically
modify, yet which works
Peppers.”
(3) “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character.”
(Martin Luther King Jr.)
(4) It forms the basis of tongue twisters:
“The seething sea ceaseth and thus the
seething sea sufficeth us.”
the viṣama (1) “To err is human; to forgive divine.”
ornament (An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope)
(disparity), or, if (2) “Speech is silver, but silence is gold.”
some similarity (3) “Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet
is also implied, fruit.”
the vyatireka (4) “Marriage has many pains, but celibacy
ornament has no pleasures.” (Samuel Johnson)
(contrast)
(1) “Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good
men eat and drink that they may live.” (Socrates)
(2) “He went to the country, to the town she went.”
(3) “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your
pearls before swine, lest they (the pigs) trample them under
their feet, and (the dogs) turn and tear you to pieces.” (Jesus)
(Bible: Matthew 7:6.)
(4) “It is not how old you are but how you are old.”
(5) “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the
life in your years.” (Abraham Lincoln)
(6) “He who questions training only trains himself at asking
questions.” The Sphinx, Mystery Men (1999)
vastu-dhvani, (1) “If I said you had a beautiful body,
śleṣa would you hold it against me” (The
Bellamy Brothers) (based on a quote of
Groucho Marx)
(2) “We need to go deeper.”
svabhāvokti, (1) “Richard the Lion-Hearted” is an epithet
parikara, of Richard I.
parikarāṅkura (2) “I’ve come, as you surmise, with
comrades on a ship, sailing across the wine-
dark sea to men whose style of speech is
very different.” (The Odyssey by Homer)
(3) “peaceful dawn,” “life-giving water.”
(4) “tired landscape,” “anxious apple,”
“cheerful money,” “sleepless night.”
(5) “In an age of pressurized happiness, we
sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys.”
(6) Antonomasia is a rhetorical term for the
 because the metaphorical
meaning remains clear: it
involves shifting a modifier
from the animate to the
inanimate: see examples 4
and 5)14
Euphemism
(polite, indirect expressions
which replace words and
phrases considered harsh or
which suggest something
unpleasant) (when the
replacement consists in
more words than the term in
question, euphemism is a
kind of circumlocution)
Euphony
(the use of words and
phrases that are
distinguished as having a
wide range of noteworthy
melody or loveliness in the
sounds they create)
(the opposite of cacophony)
Hyperbole
(exaggeration used for
emphasis. Hyperbole can be
used to heighten effect, to
catalyze recognition, or to
create a humorous
perception) (a subcategory
is adynaton) (some
hyperboles have become
clichés and are no longer in
literary usage, such as “It
lasted an eternity” and
“Only time will tell”
(literarydevices.net/
cliche))
Irony (viruddha-lakṣaṇā in
Sanskrit poetics)
(A mode of expression,
through words (verbal
14
Harris, Robert (2007) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under epithet)
15
http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/antonomasterm.htm
substitution of a title, epithet, or descriptive
phrase for a proper name (or of a personal
name for a common name) to designate a
member of a group or class.15
(6a) “The Windy City” is Chicago.
(6b) “When I eventually met Mr. Right I
had no idea that his first name was Always.”
(Rita Rudner)
(6c) “The guy who runs the place is a little
temperamental, especially about the
ordering procedure. He's secretly referred to
as the Soup Nazi.” (Jerry Seinfeld)
the absence of (1) To soften an expression: “Passed away”
the fault called is a euphemism for “to die”; “differently
aślīla abled” instead of handicapped or disabled;
(2) To avoid unlucky or taboo words:
“baker’s dozen” instead of “thirteen.”
(3) To be polite: “You are becoming a little
thin on top (bald)”’ “He is economical with
the truth” means he is a liar.
mādhurya-guṇa “The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters
came.” (The Lotos-Eaters by
AlfredTennyson)
lakṣaṇā-vṛtti, (1) “Your bag weighs a ton!”
atyukti, (2) “I have a million issues to look after!”
pratīyamānā (3) “He cried all night, and dawn found him
utprekṣā still there, though his tears had dried and
only hard, dry sobs shook his wooden
frame. But these were so loud that they
could be heard by the faraway hills…” (The
Adventures of Pinocchio by C. Colloid) (the
crying of Pinocchio all night until his tears
became dry is an example of hyperbole)
(4) “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the
sun.” (Shakespeare) (they are
incomparable)
(1) “The bread is soft as a stone.”
(2) “Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera.”
(3) A man is chuckling at the misfortune of another even when
the same misfortune is befalling him.
 irony) or events (irony of
situation), conveying a
reality different from and
usually opposite to
appearance or expectation)
(three kinds: (1) Verbal
irony, where what you mean
to say is different from the
words you use; (2)
Situational irony, which
consists in comparing what
is expected to happen with
what actually does happen;
and (3) Dramatic irony,
where the characters are
oblivious of the situation
but the audience is not.)16
Litotes
(an understatement in which
an affirmative is expressed
by negating its opposite)
(sometimes for emphasis,
sometimes used as a
euphemism, etc.)
Metaphor
(A comparison which
imaginatively identifies one
thing with another
dissimilar thing, and
transfers or ascribes to the
first thing (the tenor or idea;
the subject of the
comparison) some of the
qualities of the second (the
vehicle or image; the object
of the comparison.) (The
concept extends to verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs;
some scholars keep calling
it ‘metaphor’, but others say
it is simply ‘metaphorical
usage’ because there is no
similarity involved.)
Metonymy
(a type of metaphorical
usage: a thing or concept is
16
(literarydevices.net/irony) and (Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms)
17
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under irony)
18
http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/accismusterm.htm
(4) King Oedipus, who has unknowingly killed his father, says
that he will banish his father’s killer when he finds him (here
also the audience has knowledge that gives additional meaning
to a character’s words).17
(5) accismus (coyness) is a form of irony in which a person
feigns a lack of interest in something that he or she actually
desires:
(5a) In Aesop’s fable, the fox pretends he doesn’t care for the
grapes.
(5b) Sometimes acismus is mixed with litotes: “I do not desire
to be a writer/actor/comic/playwright/household
name/superstar-personality, any more than I desire your good
opinion. I do not desperately want more friends, and I am not
badly in need of dates.”18
(1) “It’s not bad” means it’s good (or average).
(2) “He is not as young as he used to be” means he is getting
old.
(3) “A million dollars is not a little amount.”
(4) “It is no ordinary city” means it is a special city.
(5) “I am not unaware that this is happening.”
(6) “It is not uncommon.”
(7) “I am not saying she’s not pretty.”
(1) “She is a rose.” (‘she’ is the tenor, and ‘rose’ is the vehicle)
(2) “Love is the wild card of existence.” (Rita Mae Brown, In
Her Day)
(3) “Life is a game played on us while we are playing other
games.” (Evan Esar)
(4) “Her voice is music to his ears.”
(5) “He is an old fox very cunning.”
(6) “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run
to it and are safe.” (Bible, Proverbs 18.10)
(7) “I am the door.” (Bible, John 10.9)
(8) Sometimes only one word is used so that the metaphor is
implied (this is called a submerged metaphor): “The lion
rushed” (when lion refers to a man) (Aristotle, Rhetoric) .
(9) Another common method of constructing a metaphor is to
use the possessive: “A writer’s river of words will dry up
unless it is continuously replenished by streams of new
learning.”
(10) “His head was spinning with ideas.”
(11) “I had butterflies in my stomach.”
(12) “It wasn’t long before their relationship turned sour.”
lakṣaṇā-vṛtti (1) The name of a country, used in place of
its government or citizens
(2) “Hollywood” is used as a metonym for
 called not by its own name
but rather by the name of
something associated in
meaning with that thing or
concept)19 (the term
metonymy is derived from
the Greek word metonymia,
which means a change of
name) (metalepsis and
synecdoche make use of
metonymy)
Onomatopoeia
(A word which imitates the natural sounds of a dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled
thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the
thing described, making the description more
expressive and interesting.)
Oxymoron
(incongruous or
contradictory terms appear
side by side) (an oxymoron
should preferably be new)
Paradox
(incongruous or
contradictory terms in one
or more sentences).
In Sanskrit poetics,
paradox corresponds to
virodha (virodhābhāsa).
Personification
(the metaphorical
the U.S. film industry.
(3) “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
(Richelieu by Edward Bulwer Lytton) (This
sentence has two examples of metonymy:
The pen stands for “the written word,” and
the sword stands for “military aggression.”)
(4) “Lend me your ears!” (Mark Antony in
Julius Caesar by Shakespeare) (“ears” has
the sense of “giving attention”)
(5) “Put Beethoven on the turntable and
turn up the volume.” (Composer substituted
for record.)
“Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-
over the tracks.”( The Little Engine That
Could by Watty Piper [the pen name of
Arnold Munk])
virodha (1) “open secret,” “seriously funny,”
(virodhābhāsa) ignorantly learned,” “wise fool,” “cruel
kindness,” “pious hate,” “inertly strong,”
“eloquent silence,” “cheerful pesdsimist,”
“sad joy,” “burning ice.”
(2) “The cost-saving program became an
expensive economy.”
(3) “The shackles of love straiten’d him,
His honour rooted in dishonoured stood,
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true”
(Lancelot and Elaine by Tennison)
(1) “Impossible is not a word in my vocabulary.”
(2) “I know that I don’t know.”
(3) “You have no reason to be puffed up. That’s probably why
you’re puffed up.”
(4) “I am nobody.”
(5) “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than
others.” (Animal Farm by George Orwell) (This makes sense
when it is understood that the government in the novel claims
that everyone is equal but it has never treated everyone equally)
(6) “The death I gave him. So, again, good night. I must be
cruel, only to be kind.” (Hamlet by Shakespeare)
(7) “When one pursues happiness itself, one is miserable;
however, when one pursues something else, one achieves
happiness.” (paradox of hedonism)
(8) “One can feel lonely in a crowded room.”
(9) The paradoxical pain and pleasure of lovesickness is often
described using oxymoron
upacāra, (1) “The flowers are dancing beside the
virodha, lake.”

19
“Generally, metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism i.e. it gives more profound meanings to otherwise
common ideas and objects.” (http://literarydevices.net/metonymy). “Thus, a metaphor creates new links between
otherwise distinct conceptual domains, whereas a metonymy relies on the existing links within them.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor)
 representation of an animal
or inanimate object as
having human attributes;
ideas and abstractions can
also be personified)
(anthropomorphism for the
purpose of imagery)20
Pun
(also called paronomasia)
(A play on words, either on
different senses of the same
word or on the similar sense
or sound of different
words.)21 (a pun can be a
“double meaning,” which is
also the first variety of
Double Entendre)
Equivoque is a type of
śleṣa (paronomasia is a
ślesa only if both meanings
are literally applicable)
Simile
(A figure of speech in
which two unlike things are
explicitly compared.)
(The point of similarity
must be specified if it is
aprastuta- (2) “The sky weeps.”
praśaṁsā, (3) “The ship began to creak and protest as
atiśayokti, it struggled against the rising sea.”
(4) “Men say they love Virtue, but they
leave her standing in the rain.” (Juvenal)
(1) Homophonic pun: “Atheism is a non-prophet institution”
(George Carlin); “Now is the winter of our discontent made
glorious summer by this son of York” (son/sun) (Richard III by
Shakespeare)
(2) Homographic pun: “Did you hear about the optometrist who
fell into a lens grinder and made a spectacle of himself?”
(3) Homonymic pun (both homophonic and homographic):
“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” (Groucho
Marx) (this is also a type of repetition called antistatis); “Did
you hear about the little moron who strained himself while
running into the screen door?”; “The best way to communicate
with fish is to drop them a line.”
(4) Compound puns (many puns): “Piano (a soft tone) is not my
forte.”
(5) Recursive pun: “Immanuel doesn’t pun, he Kant” (Oscar
Wilde)
(6) Visual puns: the cover of the album Moving Pictures by
Rush (this one is a triple entendre);
(7) Transpositional pun (a complicated pun format with two
aspects: transposition , and a daffynition-like clever redefinition
of a well-known word unrelated to the original phrase); Pun: “A
waist is a terrible thing to mind.” Original reference: “A mind is
a terrible thing to waste” (the motto of the United Negro
College Fund).
(8) Play on words that sound similar: “A good farmer is nothing
more nor less than a handyman with a sense of humus.” (The
Practical Farmer by E.B. White),22 “Metaphors be with you,”
(9) Equivoque23 is a special type of pun (“double meaning”):
the use of a single word or phrase which has two disparate
meanings, in a context which makes both meanings equally
relevant: “Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney sweepers,
come to dust.” (Cymbeline by Shakespeare)
(1) “She is as busy as a bee, “He is happy as a clam.”
(2) “This arrangement has a flower-like symmetry to it.”
(3) “The grass bends with every wind; so does He.”
(4) “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what
you’re going to get.”
(5) “They remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a

20
(literarydevices.net/anthropomorphism). However, some say anthropomorphism and personification are
synonymous.
21
(http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/punterm.htm). “To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms.” (Walter Redfern
(1986) Puns: More Senses Than One. John Wiley & Sons).
22
grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/paranoterm
23
(grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/punterm). Richard Nordquist gives his reference: M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt
Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 8th ed. Wadsworth, 2005.
 unclear.)
(Some similes have become
clichés and are no longer of
literary use, such as “He is
as brave as a lion” and
“Grandma is as old as the
hills” (literarydevices.net/
cliche). )
Synecdoche
(two major kinds: 1—a part
is used for the whole; 2—
the whole for a part) (other
varieties are; 3—the
specific for the general; 4—
the general for the specific;
5—the container for the
contained; 6—the material
is used for the thing itself)26
(or in short, any portion,
section, or main quality for
the whole thing itself (or
vice versa).)27 (The Greek
word synekdokhe means
“receiving from another” or
“to take a share of”)
sunflower always turns and stays focused on the sun.”
(6) “Just as the sky is clear, so is my mind.”
(7) “Money is like muck (manure), not good except it be
spread.” (Francis Bacon)
(8) The use of some other comparative word is possible: “His
temper reminds me of a volcano; his heart, of a rock; his
personality, of sandpaper.”
(9) Other ways to create similes include the use of comparison:
(a) “But this truth is more obvious than the sun—here it is; look
at it; its brightness blinds you.”24 (b) “For the lips of an
adulteress drip honey, / And smoother than oil is her speech; /
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, / Sharp as a two-
edged sword.” (Proverbs 5:3-4)25
(10) A simile can sometimes be implied, or as it is often called,
submerged. In such cases no comparative word is needed:
“When I think of her, I think of a rose.”
(11) In literature, a simile must have strikingness, and ideally it
should have an implied sense, for instance: “I’ve seen things
you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the
shoulder of Orion. I’ve watched C-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in
time, like tears in rain.” (Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade
Runner, 1982) (Here the implied sense is that some people
mourned those who lost their lives on the attack ships.)
(1a) “The house was built by forty hands” instead of saying
“The house was built by twenty people .
(1b) “An old man of eighty winters.”
(1c) “the ABCs” instead of “alphabet”, (1d) “The farm has five
hundred head of cattle.”
(1e) “glasses” refers to spectacles (because some time ago the
lens of spectacles were made of glass).
(1f) The term “bread” (or bread and butter) in: “Writing is my
bread and butter” refers to food (but if it is taken to refer to a
livelihood, then it is a metonymy)
(2) At the Olympics, you hear that a particular country won a
gold medal in an event. That actually means a team from that
country, not the country as a whole.
(3a) “He is an Einstein.” (here a particular name is used to
represent a class of people: geniuses)
(3b) Asking someone to put their “John Hancock” on a
document refers to anyone putting their signature there;
(3c) “Styrofoam” for any product made of expanded

24
The sentence “The truth’s brightness blinds you” implies the simile: “The truth blinds you like looking at the sun
might make someone blind.”
25
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under simile)
26
Kenneth Burke defined synecdoche as: “… part of the whole, whole for the part, container for the contained, sign
for the thing signified, material for the thing made…cause for the effect, effect for the cause, genus for the species,
species for the genus…” (Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. pp. 507–508).
An example of an effect said in place of its cause is: “This is longevity” when referring to ghee. An example of a
cause said in place of its effect is: While pointing to a professional bodybuilder, one might say “This is steroids” in
reference to muscle mass.
27
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under synecdoche)
 Synecdoche is included in polystyrene;
the lakṣaṇā-vṛtti of Sanskrit (3d) “One lesson people need to learn is that life consists of
poetics. more than cars and television sets.” (Two specific items
substituted for the concept of material wealth.)
(4) “Milk is good for you” usually refers to cow’s milk.
(5) In the Oil industry, a barrel means a barrel of petroleum.
(6a) The word “cement” for concrete, cement being just the
binder in concrete; (6b) “He drew his steel from his scabbard
and welcomed all comers.”
Understatement (1) “You rejected that girl. Consequently
(the opposite of hyperbole) (a writer or speaker she is on the verge of dying. That was a
deliberately makes a situation seem less slight mistake on your part.”
important or serious than it is) (subvarieties: (2) “He is not too thin” while describing an
litotes, meiosis) (sometimes used in obese person. (This one is also a
combination with another figure to express euphemism.)
irony or sarcasm)

One Hundred More Prominent Figures of Speech

in English, with Sanskrit Equivalents
English literary devices
and so on
Accumulation
(defined as a list of words
which embody similar
abstract or physical qualities
or meanings with the
intention to emphasize the
common qualities that words
hold)28 (a speaker or writer
gathers scattered points and
lists them together)29 (a
figure of amplification)
Adynaton
(exageration with a purpose)
(an extreme form of
Equivalent in
Examples
Sanskrit
vistara in “…having no other motive than the public
Vāmana’s good of my country, by advancing our
methodology of trade, providing for infants, relieving the
artha-guṇa ojas poor, and giving some pleasure to the
rich….” (A Modest Proposal by Jonathan
Swift) (the enumeration has no crescendo)
Auxesis is a type of accumulation with a
crescendo:
(1) “It’s a well hit ball, it’s a long drive, it
might be, it could be, it IS . . . a home run.”
(American baseball broadcaster Harry
Carey)
(2) “…during which time I have been
pushing on my work through difficulties, of
which it is useless to complain, and have
brought it at last to the verge of publication,
without one act of assistance, one word of
encouragement, or one smile of favour.”
(Samuel Johnson, letter to the Earl of
Chesterfield, February 1755)
atyukti “I’ll love you till the ocean is folded and
hung up to dry, and the seven stars go
squawking like geese about the sky…” (As I

28
literarydevices.net/accumulation
29
grammar.about.com/od/terms/g/accumulation
 hyperbole) Walked Out One Evening by W.H. Auden)
Allegory (usually in a narrative:)
(a prolonged application of Extended George Orwell, Animal Farm;
Metaphor) (a metaphor sustained throughout Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
the text; a description of one thing under the
image of another) (personification where the In Sanskrit poetics, allegory corresponds to
objects, persons, and actions in a text are aprastuta-praśaṁsā.
equated with meanings that lie outside the text)
(also called apologue, though apologue is a
moral fable)
Allusion (1) “Guess who the new Einstein of our school is?”
(a causal and brief reference (2) “Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.”
to a famous historical or (3) “Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
literary figure or event, etc.) (Richard Cushing)
(4a) Often the allusion is implied: “You have to be crafty to
succeed in business, so long as no one sees your nose get
longer.”
(4b) When a New York Giants tackle was diagnosed as having
cancer, Inside Football commented, “The rest, since there was
no more to build on there, turned to their affairs.” That is an
allusion to a 1916 Frost poem about a boy’s accidental death:
“No more to build on there. And they, since they were not the
one dead, turned to their affairs.” (The poem’s title is “Out,
Out…” itself an allusion by Frost to Shakespeare; after Lady
Macbeth dies, Macbeth speaks of life’s shortness, “Out, out,
brief candle!”)”30
(4c) “Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid
torch which I have got hold of for the moment; and I want to
make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to
future generations.”
(George Bernard Shaw)
Anadiplosis (1) “You must make every effort to support your faith with
(a subcategory of chiasmus) goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with
(the repetition of the last self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance
word or phrase of one line or with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and
clause begins the next) mutual affection with love” (The Bible, II Peter 1:5 – 7)
(2) “This treatment plant has a record of uncommon reliability,
a reliability envied by every other water treatment facility on
the coast.”
Anagram Vladamir Nabakov in his novel “Lolita” presents a character
“Vivian Darkbloom” which is an anagram of his name.
“Angel” is an anagram of “glean”.
Analogy (1) “What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other
name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not
In Sanskrit poetics, this Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes
corresponds to either without that title (Montague).” (Romeo and Juliet Act II,
dṛṣṭānta; upamā in a Scene II)
sentence; or prativastūpamā. (2) “He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the
crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should

30
William Safire, “On Language: Poetic Allusion Watch.” The New York Times, July 24, 1988
(http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/allusionterm.htm).

Anaphora
(repetition at the beginning
of successive clauses)
(contrasted with epiphora)
Anecdote
Antanaclasis
(a type of pun) (a homonym
is repeated with a difference
in meaning)
Anthropomorphism
(see personification)
Anticlimax
(an abrupt shift from a noble
tone to a less exalted one, for
a ludicrous or comic effect)
(sometimes called bathos)
Antimetabole
(The same words are
repeated in the next clause
yet in an inverted or
transposed order.)
(Antimetabole is a specific
type of chiasmus.)
Antiphrasis
(sometimes a type of irony)
Antistasis
(a type of pun consisting in the repetition of
words or phrases in the opposite sense.)
(antistasis is a type of antanaclasis; however,
some scholars use the terms interchangeably)
Aphorism
(a kind of maxim)
extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed
the calamities of shipwrecks.” (Samuel Johnson)
lāṭa anuprāsa (1) “Five years have passed; Five summers,
with the length of Five long winters! and
again I hear these waters…” (Tintern Abbey
by William Wordsworth)
(2) “They are masters who instruct us
without rod or ferule, without angry words,
without clothes or money.” (Richard de
Bury)
prabandha
punar-uktavad- (1) “I do live by the church; for I do live at
ābhāsa my house” (Twelfth Night by William
Shakespeare).
(2) “When you get it, you get it.”
(advertising slogan for a car company)
(3) “He that composes himself is wiser than
he that composes a book.” (Benjamin
Franklin)
(4) “When you’re finished changing, you’re
finished.”
upacāra Pinocchio
“O Queen Anna, you sometimes take
counsel, and sometimes tea.” (The Rape of
the Lock by Alexander Pope)
(1) “I mean what I say and I say what I mean” (Lewis Carroll)
(2) “I go where I please, and I please where I go.” (attributed
to Duke Nukem)
(3) “We do what we like and we like what we do.” (Andrew
W.K.)
(4) “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
viparīta- Someone says to an idiot: “You’re really
lakṣaṇā clever.”
(1) “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you
will be fired with enthusiasm.” (Vince
Lombardi)
(2) “Your argument is sound, nothing but
sound.” (Benjamin Franklin)
used in (1) “A proverb is no proverb to you till life
arthāntara- has illustrated it.” (John Keats)
nyāsa (2) “The man who removes a mountain
begins by carrying away small stones.”
(William Faulkner)
(3) “Words are, of course, the most
powerful drug used by mankind” (Rudyard
 Kipling)
Aphorismus (Often a rhetorical question at the end of a statement or of a
(to emphasize the meanings clause:)
of a sentence or phrase by “For you have but mistook me all this while. I live with bread
challenging or raising like you, feel want, taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
questions about it) how can you say to me I am a king?” (Richard II by William
Shakespeare)
Aporia (Often a rhetorical question at the beginning of a text:)
(A speaker purports or “To be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in
expresses to be in doubt or in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
perplexity.) or to take arms against a sea of troubles. And, by opposing,
end them?” (Hamlet by William Shakespeare).
Aposiopesis ākṣepa “She looked perplexed for a moment, and
(A speaker breaks off then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough
abruptly and leaves the for the furniture to hear: “Well, I lay if I get
statement incomplete due to hold of you I’ll…” She did not finish, for
being overcome by passion, by this time she was bending down and
excitement or fear. The punching under the bed with the broom”
reader is supposed to (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark
successfully figure out the Twain)
missing thoughts that the
writer has left unfinished.)
Apostrophe (1) “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
(a digression in the form of How I wonder what you are.
an address to someone not Up above the world so high,
present, or to an object, Like a diamond in the sky.” (The Star by Jane Taylor)
quality, or idea) (2) “O Moon, you pain me.”
Archaism Any use of old-fashioned words: ‘hath’ is an older version of
‘has’, ‘thou’ is the old version of ‘you’, and so on.
Apposition , juxtaposition (1) “She, a rose, is beautiful.”
(two or more ideas, places, characters and their (2) “Her mother is honest and so is she.”
actions are placed side by side in a narrative or
a poem for the purpose of developing
comparisons and contrasts)
Archetype (This is an aspect of a narrative, not of the
(a typical character, action or wording.)
situation that seems to a hero (protagonist), a villain (antagonist), a
represent such universal mentor, a good Samaritan, good versus evil,
patterns of human nature) etc.
Assonance anuprāsa (aside (1) “Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It
(alliteration of a vowel) from Bharata is among the oldest of living things. So old
(generally means Muni and it is that no man knows how and why the
“resemblance of sounds,” but Daṇḍī, Sanskrit first poems came.” (Early Moon by Carl
in prosody it is a technical rhetoricians do Sandburg)
term for a rhyme in which not value this (2) “A host of golden daffodils;
the same vowel sounds are kind of Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
used with different alliteration) Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”
consonants in the stressed (Daffodils by William Wordsworth)
syllables of the rhyming
words)
Asyndeton (In the following, the word ‘and’ is left out:)
 (omitting one or more (1) “This is the villain among you who deceived you, who
conjunctions as a stylistic cheated you, who meant to betray you completely…”
effect) (it is the absence of (Rhetoric by Aristotle)
syndeton and is contrasted (2) veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) (Julius Caesar)
with polysyndeton)
Burlesque
(an artistic composition, esp. literary or
dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter,
vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary
material with mock dignity)
Cacophony ojas guṇa “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the
frumious Bandersnatch!” (Lewis Carroll)
Caricature “Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a
(a picture, description, etc., general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his
ludicrously exaggerating the system. Mrs. Chadband is a stern, severe-looking, silent
peculiarities or defects of woman. Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not
persons or things) unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright. He is very
much embarrassed about the arms, as if they were
inconvenient to him.” (Charles Dickens).
Catachresis (1) “The music of her face.”
(“misuse”) (in Latin it is (2) “I will speak daggers to her, but use none.” (Hamlet 3.2)
called abusio, “abuse”) (3) “The moon was full. The moon was so bloated it was about
(metaphorical usage which is to tip over.” (Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker, 1980)
inappropriate or which (4) “to take arms against a sea of troubles.” (Hamlet by
borders on impropriety) (or Shakespeare)
the use of a word in a (5) “Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon’s purse; that is, one
context that differs from its may reach deep enough, and find little” (Timon of Athens by
proper application) (in William Shakespeare). (Here a word is used to indicate
literature it is used for something completely different from the literal meaning of the
stylistic effect) word.)
(6) “A chair’s arm.” (Here a word is used to indicate
In Sanskrit poetics, something whose actual name is not used.)31
catachresis corresponds to (7) “The voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses. Nobody,
utprekṣā, viruddha-lakṣaṇā, not even the rain, has such small hands.” (E.E. Cummings)
virodha. (8) “The little old lady turtled along at ten miles per hour.”
(9) Sometimes, catachresis is a mixed metaphor (illogical
strained metaphors): “I knew enough to realize that the
alligators were in the swamp and that it was time to circle the
wagons.” (attributed to Rush Limbaugh)
(9b) “A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds
green” (On Revenge by Francis Bacon).
(9c) “If we can hit that bull’s-eye then the rest of the dominoes
will fall like a house of cards” ( Futurama character Zapp
Brannigan).
Characterization
(making the character known to the audience,
esp. by copia) (in a play or in a novel)
Circumlocution (varieties of circumlocution are:
31
http://literarydevices.net/catachresis
 (verbosity) (subvarieties: periphrasis and euphemism, equivocation, and innuendo)32
ambage) (a roundabout or ambiguous way of (sometimes it is the opposite of
expressing things, ideas or views) (It is conciseness)
regarded as bad style unless it serves a purpose;
circumlocution is often employed to express “He first sets foot on the ground when the
delicately, and hence vaguely, what should not stars are no longer visible.” (This means he
b plainly said; the meaning referred to is either wake up at dawn.)
the same, associated, or implied; in prosody, it
is also used to create a regular meter.)
Cliffhanger
(a type of narrative or a plot device in which the
end is curiously abrupt so that the main
characters are left in a difficult situation
without offering any resolution of conflicts.)
Climax sāra “Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good;
(That particular point in a A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly;
narrative at which the A flower that dies when first it gins to bud;
conflict or tension hits the A brittle glass that’s broken presently: A
highest point.) doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,
Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour.”
(William Shakespeare)
Commemoratio “He’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be!
(repetition of an idea several He’s expired and gone to meet his maker! He’s a stiff! Bereft
times in different words) of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed him to the perch
he’d be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are
now history! He’s off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, he’s
shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined
the bleedin’ choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!”
(John Cleese)
Comparison upamā, (1) “All the world’s a stage and men and
(a consideration or estimate rūpaka, women merely players.” (As You Like it by
of the similarities or dṛṣṭānta, William Shakespeare) (This is two
dissimilarities between two vyatireka, metaphors.)
things or people) (Its pratīpa, (2) “That truth is more obvious than the
subdivisions are: simile,33 etc. sun.”
metaphor, analogy, allegory (3) Dissimilarity: “My mistress’ eyes are
(the comparison is implicit), nothing like the sun.” (Shakespeare)
conceit, hyperbole,
antithesis, etc.)
Conceit (1) “His rabbit ears were not quick enough to grasp the
(fanciful or farfetched subtleties of that melody.”
comparison) (A figure of (2) “He was like a fish in water.” (This one has become a
speech in which two vastly cliché.)
different objects are likened
together with the help of Petrarchan Conceit is a type of conceit used by Italian

32
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumlocution). Periphrasis does not involve an implied sense: “Periphrasis is one of the
types of circumlocution. There are two types of circumlocution, namely periphrasis and ambage. Periphrasis is a
roundabout explanation of something but ambage is an indirect and ambiguous way of expressing things or ideas.”
(literarydevices.net/periphrasis). In Sanskrit poetics, periphrasis is paryāyokta, and ambage is aprastuta-praśaṁsā.
33
However, there is no simile in the comparison “My car is like your car,” because the two objects are not
“essentially unlike” each other. (Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms) (under simile)
 similes or metaphors. Renaissance poet Petrarch and popular in Renaissance English
Conceit develops a sonnets. Eyes like stars or the sun, hair like golden wires, lips
comparison which is like cherries, etc.; for instance, Edmund Spenser’s
exceedingly unlikely but is, Epithalamion characterizes the beloved’s eyes as being “like
nonetheless, intellectually sapphires shining bright,” with her cheeks “like apples which
imaginative34; it is a the sun hath rudded” and her lips “like cherries charming men
hyperbolic comparison to bite.”
whose ingenuity is more
striking than its justness.) The metaphysical conceit, associated with the Metaphysical
(Conceit is an old word for poets of the 17th century, is a more intricate and intellectual
concept.) device. It usually sets up an analogy between one entity’s
spiritual qualities and an object in the physical world and
In Sanskrit, a conceit is an sometimes controls the whole structure of the poem.35
utprekṣā.
Consonance anuprāsa “T was later when the summer went
(repetitive sounds produced Than when the cricket came,
by consonants within a And yet we knew that gentle clock
sentence or phrase) Meant nought but going home.
‘T was sooner when the cricket went
Than when the winter came,
Yet that pathetic pendulum
Keeps esoteric time.” (Emily Dickinson)
Diacope (1) “We will do it, I tell you; we will do it.”
(repetition of a word or (2)“a favor for a favor.”
phrase after an intervening (3) “To be or not to be, that is the question.”
word or phrase) (the (4) “It is the tragedy of the world that no one knows what he
meaning of the repeated doesn’t know; and the less a man knows, the more sure he is
words is the same) that he knows everything.” (Joyce Cary, Art & Reality, 1958)
(sometimes diacope is a form (5) “The more you know, the more you know you know
of epanalepsis) practically nothing.”
(6) “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the
bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.” (Thornton
Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 1927)
Dysphemism In The Portrait of an Artist as a Young
(the opposite of euphemism) Man, the author James Joyce says the world
(the use of negative expressions instead of is a stinking dunghill.
36
positive ones)
Elision (The words “can’t”, “isn’t” and “I’m” are
(associated terms: syncope, apheresis) (the contractions, yet they are also considered
removal of an unstressed syllable, consonants, elisions)
or letters from a word or phrase and making a “Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country
replacement with an apostrophe) (often done to all the time.” (Of Mice and Men by John
fit the meter) Steinbeck)
Ellipsis (Much like the above, the ellipsis of
(the omission of some parts grammar and the ellipsis of literature are
of a sentence or event to mutually different. Most films have ellipses

34
http://literarydevices.net/conceit
35
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/130855/conceit
36
The difference between dysphemism and meiosis is this: “Meiosis is a statement that depicts something important
in terms that lessen or belittle it.” (Jasinksi, James (2001) Sourcebook on Rhetoric. Sage)
(http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/meiosisterm.htm).
make the readers imagine to omit the sections of a story or event that
what the missing part is like) are not of any significance within the
narrative.)
Enumeration “I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her
cheeks, her lips [etc.].”
Epanalepsis (1) “Next time there won’t be a next time.” (Phil Leotardo in
(repetition of the same words The Sopranos)
at the end and start of a (2) “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to
sentence) (the lāṭa anuprāsa mankind.” (John F. Kennedy) (This one is also an example of
of Sanskrit poetics) antimetabole.)
(3) “Nothing can be made out of nothing.”
(King Lear by Shakespeare) (Lucretius)
(4) “Music I heard with you was more than music” (Bread and
Music by Conrad Aiken, 1914)
Epigraph “Behind every great fortune there is a
(a poem, quotation or sentence usually placed at crime.” This is a quotation from Balzac
the beginning of a literary work, but which given in The Godfather, a famous novel by
belongs to another author) Mario Puzo.
Epiphany (First applied to literature by James Joyce;
(an experience of sudden and striking insight; a it originates from the Christian concept of
flash of realization) that name.)
Epiphora Lāṭa anuprāsa (1) “A day may come when the courage of
(also called epistrophe) men fails, when we forsake our friends and
(repetition of one or more break the bonds of fellowship, but it is not
words at the end of this day. An hour of wolves and shattered
successive clauses) shields, when the age of men comes
(contrasted with anaphora) crashing down, but it is not this day. This
day we fight…” (The Return of the King by
J. R. R. Tolkien)
(2) “All the night he did nothing but weep
Philoclea, sigh Philoclea, and cry out
Philoclea.” (Philip Sidney)
Epizeuxis (1) “Alone, alone, all, all alone,
(Epixeuxis) (immediate Alone on a wide, wide sea.” (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
repetition of a word for by Samuel Coleridge)
emphasis) (2) “He approached Mother Yaśodā, but she said: “No no no
no!” and proceeded to move away from Kṛṣṇa so that He
would practice His crawling.” (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 5.26, by
Kavikarṇapūra)
(3) “The best way to describe this portion of South America is
lush, lush, lush.”
Equivocation “Dinner was already made for me last
(the use of ambiguous language with the night” is an equivocational statement of:
purpose of avoiding telling the truth or “She made dinner for me last night.”
committing oneself)
Exemplum dṛṣṭānta, “The exemplum is probably the most-used
(an anecdote that illustrates arthāntara- rhetorical device, as it illustrates or clarifies
or supports a moral point) nyāsa, a point. “I believe Wilt Chamberlain is the
(or a any statament used as nidarśanā greatest player in NBA history. For
 an example to make a instance, he scored 100 points in a single
point)37 game and played nearly every minute of
every game.””38
Extended Metaphor (1) “Hope is the thing with feathers
(a single metaphor that That perches in the soul,
causes an offshoot of several And sings the tune–without the words,
sentences) And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
In Sanskrit poetics, this And sore must be the storm
corresponds to either rūpaka, That could abash the little bird
samastu-vastu-viṣaya That kept so many warm.
rūpaka, or eka-deśa-vivarti I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
rūpaka. And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
(Emily Dickinson) (Here hope is a little bird.)
(2) “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women
merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his
time plays many parts.” (As You Like It by Shakespeare)
(3) “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East,
and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious
moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief.” (Romeo and
Juliet by Shakespeare)
Fable (The main characters as animals that are presented with
(a concise and brief story for anthropomorphic characteristics such as the ability to speak
the sake of illustrating a and to reason.)
moral lesson) Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights), Hitopadeśa,
Pañcatantra, The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine
Flash-forward (the readers or spectators are momentarily
(also known as prolepsis) (the plot goes ahead taken forward in time, or else a character
of time i.e. a scene that interrupts and takes the sees his future)
narrative forward in time from the current time (compare with foreshadowing and red
in a story) herring)
Flashback
(interruptions that writers create to insert past
events in order to provide background or
context to the current events of a narrative)
Foil In his novel “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis
(a character that shows Stevenson explores the theme of doppelganger in which
qualities that are in contrast “Hyde” is not only an evil double of the honorable Dr. Jekyll
with the qualities of another but also qualifies as his foil. “Jekyll” creates “Hyde” by a
character with the objective series of scientific experiments in order to prove his statement:
to highlight the traits of that “Man is not truly one, but truly two.”
other character. The term foil He means that the human soul is a mixture of evil and good. In

37
“Aristotle . . . divided exempla into “real” and “fictional” ones—the former being drawn from history or
mythology, the latter being the invention of the orator himself. In the category of fictional exempla, Aristotle
distinguisged parables, or brief comparisons, from fables, which constitute a series of actions, in other words, a
story.” (Suleiman, Susan (1988) Authoritarian Fiction. Columbia University Press)
(http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/Exemplum.htm).
38
McGuigan, Brendan (2007) Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Prestwick House.
(http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/Exemplum.htm)
 can also be used for any other words, every man’s foil exists in himself. Hyde is the
comparison that is drawn to manifestation of the evil that existed in otherwise honorable
portray a difference between Dr. Jekyll. As a respectable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll can
two things.) never fulfill his evil desires. Therefore, he separates his “evil-
self” and gave him a separate identity and thus invents his own
foil.
Foreshadowing
(a writer gives an advance hint of what is to
come later in the story)
Homograph I have such a fit (tantrum)
(a type of pun) (words that When these words don’t fit (match)!
are used in such a manner as Like when all through the spring (season)
to give two or more different All the deer jump and spring (bounce),
meanings where the words And the lions feel they might (perhaps)
have the same spelling, but Want to show their strength and might (power),
different meanings and When the monkeys swing (sway)
sometimes different From a vine like a swing(hanging seat),
pronunciation as well) And the roar of the bear (animal)
Is too loud for me to bear (endure),
(Homophones, however, are And I can’t try to pet (stroke)
words that sound the same One, since it’s not a pet (domesticated animal)!
and are spelled differently I’m not trying to be mean (cruel),
such as “That was read” and But what do these words mean (imply)?
“That was red”.)
Homograph is the yamaka of Sanskrit poetics.
Hyperbaton
(any of several rhetorical devices, such as
Inversion and Parenthesis, involving departure
from normal word order)
Hypophora uttara, “What made me take this trip to Africa?
(asking a question and prahelikā There is no quick explanation.” (Henderson
answering it) the Rain King by Saul Bellow)
Idiom (1) “a diamond in the rough”
(an expression not (2) “to kick the bucket.”
interpreted literally) (3) “She’s pulling my leg.”
(some idioms are maxims) (4) “Keep an eye out for that.”
(many idioms have become (5) “This is giving me the blues.”
clichés) (6) “I spilled the beans.”
(7) “It’s not rocket science.”
(8) “Break a leg!”
(9) “The early bird catches the worm.”39
(10) “It cost an arm and a leg.”
Imagery (1) “The room was bright and lively.” (the
(a description that appeals to the senses; the words “bright” and “lively” are visual
purpose is to generate a vibrant and graphic images)
presentation) (imagery needs the aid of figures (2) “The river was roaring in the
of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, mountains.” The word “roaring” appeals to
onomatopoeia etc. in order to appeal to the our sense of hearing.
bodily senses) (Kinesthesia is a type of imagery (3) “The girl ran her hands on a soft satin
which is the representation of the actions and fabric” (the idea of “soft” in this example
39
“The early bird may get the worm, but it’s the second mouse who gets the cheese.” (Steven Wright)
 movements of an object or a character) appeals to our tactile sense; this is also
kinesthesia because of the movement)
(4) chapter 20 of the tenth canto of
Bhāgavatam
Innuendo (1) “Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry, stray lower,
(insinuation) (a sly comment where the pleasant fountains lie.”(Venus and Adonis by
that means something other Shakespeare)
than what it says) (an (2) “They used to call me Snow White…but I drifted.” (Mae
intimation about a thing or West)
person, esp. of a disparaging (3) Typically, in politics an innuendo is a disparaging remark
or derogatory nature) (A that works obliquely by allusion. The intention is often to
wordy innuendo is a form of insult or accuse someone in such a way that one’s words, taken
circumlocution.) Innuendo is literally, are innocent:
the vastu-dhvani of Sanskrit “My friend might not be very productive, but at least she is not
poetics. lazy like someone we know who gets out of bed late.”
Inversion Four kinds:
(also known as anastrophe) (1) Placing an adjective after the noun it qualifies: “the soldier
(The normal order of words strong”, “an old fox very cunning” (also called delayed
is reversed to achieve a epithet).
particular effect of emphasis (2) Placing a verb before its subject: “Shouts the policeman.”
or meter.) (a form of (3) Emphasizin a verb by putting it at the end of the sentence:
hyperbaton) “We will not, from this house, under any circumstances, be
evicted.”
(4) Placing a noun before its preposition: “worlds between”.
Isocolon (1) veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) (Julius Caesar)
(a sentence composed by two (2) “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
or more parts perfectly the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the
equivalent in structure, epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
length and rhythm) season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair….” (A Tale of Two
Cities by Charles Dickens)
Kenning (1) “A whale’s playground” means the
(also called compressed metaphor) (a type of ocean.
metaphorical compound word or phrase, often a (2) “A wave-traveler” is a boat
neologism, to form a metonym) (3) “A bone-bag” is a skinny body.
Malaphor (1) “That’s the way the cookie bounces.” (This is a blend of
(An informal term for a “that’s the way the cookie crumbles” and “that’s the way the
mixture of two aphorisms, ball bounces”, both meaning you can’t control everything that
idioms, or clichés)40 (also happens to you.)
known as idiom blend) (2) “We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.” (a blend of
“Don't burn your bridges” and “We’ll cross that bridge when
we come to it”)
Malapropism (1) “Sure, if I reprehend anything in this world it is the use of
(the usage of an incorrect my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!”
word in place of a similar (Rivals by Sheridan) (here the author comically replaces
sounding word that results in apprehend by reprehend, vernacular by oracular,
a nonsensical and humorous arrangement by derangement, and epithets by epitaph)
expression) (used in (2) “A pun is its own reword.” (Silva Rhetoricae)
homophonic pun)

40
The term malaphor—a blend of malapropism and metaphor—was coined by Lawrence Harrison in the
Washington Post article “Searching for Malaphors” (August 6, 1976). (grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/Malaphor)
 Meiosis
(a witty understatement that
belittles or dismisses
something or somebody,
particularly by using terms
that give the impression that
something is less important
than it is or it should be)41
(from the Greek meioun, “to
diminish”)
Metalepsis
(an advanced form of
figurative speech in which
one thing is referred to
another thing that is only
slightly related to it. There
are two ways to make this
association. One is through
showing causal relationship
to seemingly unrelated
things. The other is through
indirect intermediate
replacement of terms)42 (a
far-fatched, compact
metaphorical expression)43
(the word metalepsis is made
from the Greek word
metalambano, “to
participate”)44
(1) When Mercutio is wounded mortally, he says: “ay, ay, a
scratch, a scratch…” (Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare).
(2) Sometimes meiosis is a form of litotes to give an ironic
effect: “I fear I am not in my perfect mind.” (King Lear by
Shakespeare)
(3) “rhymester” for poet
(4) “shrink” for psychiatrist
(5) “slasher” for surgeon.
(1) “I’ve got to catch the worm tomorrow” (said in reference
to “The early bird catches the worm”);
(2) “Bollywood” (the motion-picture industry of India, based
in Bombay) (this metalepsis is a double metonymy);
(3) “Therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.”
(Bible: Genesis 19:8) (At first, by synecdoche, “roof” is said in
place of house; then, by metonymy, the house connotes the
protection it afforded.)
(4) “He is such a lead foot.” (This catachresis means: “He
drives fast”, but only through an implied causal chain: Lead is
heavy, a heavy foot would press the accelerator, and this
would cause the car to speed.)
(5) Meliboeus speaks of revisiting his old homestead “after
some breads of corn” (Macbeth by Shakespeare). Here “breads
of corn” stand for ears of corn; “ears of corn” for the corn
crop; the corn crop for summer; and summer for the year.

In Sanskrit poetics, this

might correspond to the fault
called kliṣṭa (hard to
understand).
Non-sequitur Vladimir: Consult his family…….
(a kind of absurdity where Estragon: (anxious). And we? …….
the sentences do not follow a Estragon: And why would he shout?

41
http://literarydevices.net/meiosis
42
http://literarydevices.net/metalepsis
43
Metalepsis is the most difficult figure to figure out (this is an antanaclasis). Douglas Robinson has called
metalepsis “a confusing trope” (The Translator’s Turn, 1991). In his book De copia (1512), Erasmus writes: “[In
metalepsis,] we move by stages toward what we mean to say” (quoted by Brian Cummings in “Metalepsis: The
Boundaries of Metaphor” Renaissance Figures of Speech, ed. by Sylvia Adamson, Gavin Alexander, and Katrin
Ettenhuber. Cambridge University Press, 2007). “It is the nature of metalepsis to form a kind of intermediate step
between the term transferred and the thing to which it is transferred, having no meaning in itself, but merely
providing a transition.” (Quintilian). “Though variously defined and applied, metalepsis was a term that was used to
describe a process of transition, doubling, or ellipsis in figuration, of replacing a figure with another figure and of
missing out the figure in between in order to create a figure that stretches the sense or which fetches things from far
off. Yet like the thing it was trying to describe, it was not an easy figure to explain.” (Brian Cummings, op. cit.)
(grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/Metalepsis-term).
44
(http://www.myetymology.com/greek/metalepsis.html). “The etymology of metalepsis is disputed, but its sense
can readily be grasped from the word’s Latin equivalent—transumptio: “assuming one thing for another.””
(http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/metalepsis-revised-version-uploaded-12-may-2014).
proper sequence and the
words do not give the
meaning they are expected to
have)
Palindrome
(mirrored effect)
(The words read the same
forward and backward (letter once restrained tightly,
by letter); or the same lines
are repeated and inverted.)
Palindrome is the pratiloma INSPIRATION
anuloma of Sanskrit poetics
(in citra-kāvya)
Paralipsis
(also called paralepsis,
apophasis, cataphasis,
antiphrasis, etc. )
(a kind of ironic statement
wherein the speaker or writer
brings up a subject by either
denying it, or denying that it
should be brought up)
Parallelism
(the yathā-saṅkhya of
Sanskrit poetics)
Paraprosdokian
(“contrary to expectation”)
(a wordplay type of literary
device; the final part of a
phrase or sentence is
unexpected, and this
generates either surprise or
humor; sometimes producing Wright)
an anticlimax)
Parataxis
(“to place side by side”) (a type of asyndeton:
the clauses are neither subordinated nor linked
Vladimir: At his horse. Silence.
Estragon: (violently). I’m hungry!
Vladimir: Do you want a carrot…..
Vladimir: I might have some turnips…..
Vladimir: Oh pardon! I could have sworn it was a carrot……
Estragon: (Chewing). I asked you a question.
Vladimir: Ah.
Estragon: Did you reply?
Vladimir: How’s the carrot?
Estragon: It’s a carrot
(Waiting for Godot by Samual Beckett)
(1) “Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron.
(credited to poet W.H. Auden)”
(2) “Open floodgates,
suddenly form rippled waters,
expressive thoughts flowing freely,
by frightful heart attending faithfully
faithfully attending heart frightful by
freely flowing expressive thoughts,
waters rippled form suddenly,
tightly restrained once,
floodgates open.”
(A poem, Inspiration by Memory Trace)
ākṣepa (1) A politician might say, “I don’t even
want to talk about the allegations that my
opponent is a drunk.”
(2) “I’m not saying I’m responsible for
this country’s longest run of uninterrupted
peace in 35 years!” (Iron Man 2 by Justin
Theroux)
(1) “Like father, like son.”
(2) “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of
blessing; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing
of miseries.” (Churchill)
(3) “What you see is what you get.” (English proverb)
(1) “A modest man, who has much to be modest about.”
(supposedly Winston Churchill, about Clement Attlee)
(2) “You can always count on the Americans to do the right
thing—after they have tried everything else.” (Winston
Churchill)
(3) “On his feet he wore…blisters.” (Aristotle)
(4) “On the other hand, you have different fingers.” (Steven
veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)
(Life of Caesar by Plutarch)
with a conjunction) (the opposite of hypotaxis)
Parenthesis the fault called “As the earthy portion has its origin from
(a word, phrase, or whole garbhita, as a the earth, the watery from a different
sentence inserted as an aside quality element, my breath from one source and my
in the middle of another hot and fiery parts from another of their
sentence) (a form of own elsewhere (for nothing comes from
hyperbaton) (compare with nothing, or can return to nothing), so too
diacope) (Parenthesis can be there must be an origin for the mind.”
circumscribed either by (Marcus Aurelius)
dashes--they are more
dramatic and forceful--or by
parentheses)
Parody (1) “Will you veddy much bring me water
(a kind of comedy that imitates and mocks please?” (This imitation of an Indian accent
either individuals, society, etc.) (satiric is parody).
imitation with the idea of ridiculing the author, (2) Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes is a
his ideas, or work, etc.) parody of romances in his days.
(3) It occurs in many television shows.
Parrhesia Kent: Royal Lear
(to speak candidly, or to ask Whom I ever honoured as king,
forgiveness for so speaking) Lov’d as my father, as my master follow’d….
(One speaks openly and This hideous rashness….” (King Lear by William
truthfully about one’s Shakespeare) (Kent shows a respectful protest to King Lear on
opinions and ideas without behalf of Cordelia, which is an example of parrhesia. Though
the use of rhetoric, he wins sudden banishment and the enmity of the king, he
manipulation, or persuades the audience through his uprightness and honesty.)
generalization.)
Pastiche (Pastiche may be comic in its content but it does not mock the
(a literary piece that imitates original work. In pastiche, the writers imitate the style and
another famous literary work content of a literary piece to highlight their work as the
of another writer) (Unlike original piece is accepted by the vast majority of readers and
parody, its purpose is not to are landmarks of their age. So, imitation in such works
mock but to honor the celebrates the works of the great writers of the past.)
literary piece it imitates.)
Pathetic fallacy pratīyamānā (1) “Angry at the farmer, the cloud
(a kind of personification utprekṣā withholds water.”
that attributes human (2) “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats
emotions to inanimate on high o’er vales and hills.” (I Wandered
objects of nature) Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth)
(The poet describes clouds as “lonely” to
describe his state.)
Pathos rasa, “Made in China” logo on various products
(the quality or power in an karuṇa-rasa sold in China tries to enhance their sales by
actual life experience or in evoking patriotism among the customers.
literature, music, speech, or (2) “Darkies work on de Mississippi;
other forms of expression, of Darkies work while de white folks play.”
evoking an emotion) (Ol’ Man River, a lyric by Paul Robeson)
Periphrasis (1) “Most lovely” is a periphrastic form of
(speaking of many words, when few may “loveliest.”
suffice; or designating a person or thing by (2) “To give a presentation” is a
means of an epithet in place of the proper periphrastic form of “to present.”
 name)45 (a kind of circumlocution) (3) “I am going to” instead of “I will”.
Persona
(in Latin it means “theatrical mask”) (the
narrator of or a character in a literary work,
sometimes identified with the author; often the
author distances himself from what is said or
told by adopting a persona)
Pleonasm punar-ukta (1) “black darkness”
(a kind of tautology; the use (2) “burning fire”
of more words or parts of (3) “All this I saw with my own eyes.”
words than is necessary for
clear expression)
Poetic justice
(an ideal form of justice in which the good
characters are rewarded and the bad characters
are punished by an ironic twist of fate)
Polyptoton (1) “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
(a stylistic device that is a rhetorical repetition (Lord Acton)
of the same root word: that root word is (2) “Who shall watch the watchmen
repeated in a different way) themselves?” (Juvenal)
Polysyndeton “He ran and jumped and laughed for joy.”
(the opposite of asyndeton) (the usage of (Polysyndeton brings rhythm to the text
several conjunctions in close succession, with the repetition of conjunctions in quick
especially where some could otherwise be succession. It is also employed as a tool to
omitted) (usually the purpose is to create a lay emphasis to the ideas the conjunctions
sense of being overwhelmed) connect.)
Portmanteau (1) web + log = blog
(two or more words are (2) James Joyce extensively uses portmanteau words in his
joined together to coin a new novel “Finnegans Wake”. For instance: “Stop his laysense. Ink
word) him!” (Laysense comes from two words layman and sense.);
“Sinduced” is from sin and seduced.
(3) Charles Dickens is famous for giving his characters
portmanteau names: Mr. Boythorn, Mr. Murdstone.
(4) the figure of speech called malaphor is a combination of
malapropism and metaphor.
(5) The name “Instagram” is a portmanteau of “instant
camera” and “telegram”.
Prosthesis “I all alone beweep my outcast state…”
(the addition of an extra sound or syllable to the (Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare)
beginning of a word to matche the meter and
create a great poetic effect.)
Red Herring (A red herring is a kind of fallacy that is an irrelevant topic
(a misleading clue that introduced in an argument to divert the attention of listeners or
distracts readers by giving readers from the original issue. In literature, this fallacy is
them wrong hints about often used in detective or suspense novels to mislead readers
future events) or characters or to induce them to make false conclusions.)

45
rhetfig.appspot.com
 Reductio ad Absurdum
(to reduce something to absurdity. It is a figure
of speech that is defined as a manner of arguing
something in which one argues for his position
by showing the absurdity of the position of his
opponent.)46
Rhetorical question (1) “…For if we lose the ability to perceive our faults, what is
(the speaker asks a question, the good of living on?” (Marcus Aurelius).
but does not answer it since (2) “If it’s not funny, why I am laughing?”
it does not require an (3) Sometimes a rhetorical question takes the form of another
answer) (subvarieties: literary device (in this case exemplum): “In the Okanagan
aphorismus (see above), Valley there are many fruits, but no mango. What is the use of
erotesis, epiplexis, ministers if there is no king?”
hypophora) (Pysma is a (4) Erotecis is a rhetorical question implying strong
rhetorical term for the asking affirmation or denial47:
of multiple questions in (4a) “Another thing that disturbs me about the American
succession.) church is that you have a white church and a Negro church.
How can segregation exist in the true Body of Christ?” (Martin
(Sometimes pysma is a Luther King, Jr., “Paul’s Letter to American Christians,”1956)
dialogue where each (4b) “You may think that you are not superstitious. But would
question is answered. you walk under a burning building?” (Robert Benchley, “Good
(http://grammar.about.com/o Luck, and Try and Get It”).
d/pq/g/Pysma.htm)) (5) Epiplexis is a rhetorical question used to suggest rebuke or
reproach
(6) Hypophora is when a speaker raises a question and then
immediately answers it: “Do you know the difference between
education and experience? Education is when you read the fine
print; experience is what you get when you don’t.” (Pete
Seeger in Loose Talk, ed. by Linda Botts, 1980)
(7) Sometimes ecphonesis, “an exclamation expressing
emotion (often ecphonesis is the form of a joke),” is a
rhetorical question: “How many a man has dated a new era in
his life from the reading of a book!” (Henry David Thoreau,
Walden, 1854)
Sarcasm viruddha- (1) “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a
(sharply ironical taunt; lakṣaṇā, nice letter saying I approved of it.” (Mark
sneering, or cutting remark; sometimes Twain)
or a form of verbal irony vyāja-stuti (2) “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.”
where one expresses (Groucho Marx)
personal disapproval in the (3) “The trouble with her is that she lacks
guise of praise) (the main the power of conversation but not the power
differences between sarcasm of speech.” (George Bernard Shaw)
and irony is that sarcasm can (4) When the Persian army was at variance
include irony and is usually a among themselves, Philip of Macedon (their
form of either verbal utter enemy) said, He would send his army
aggression, usually through to make them friends.

46
http://literarydevices.net/reductio-ad-absurdum
47
Erotecis has some element of climax: “Erotesis, or Interrogation, is a figure by which we express the emotion of
our mind, and infuse an ardour and energy into our discourse by proposing questions. . . . As these questions have
the force of a climax, they ought to be pronounced with increasing force to the end.” (John Walker (1814) A
Rhetorical Grammar) (http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/erotesis.htm)
 mockery, or belittlement
(such as self-belittlement))
Satire
(the use of irony, sarcasm,
ridicule, or the like, in
exposing, denouncing, or
deriding vice, folly, etc.48) (it
is a manner of writing that
mixes a critical attitude with
wit and humor in an effort to
improve mankind and human
institutions. Ridicule, irony,
exaggeration, and several
other techniques are almost
always present49) (satire is
sometimes serious, acting as
a protest or to expose, or it
can be comical when used to
poke fun at something or
someone)50 (Satire covers
many different methods
including irony, sarcasm,
burlesque, parody,
exaggeration, juxtaposition
and double entendres.51)52
Sesquipedalian
(“measuring a foot and a
half”) (a stylistic device
defined as the overuse of
multisyllabic words or
excessive use of
extraordinarily long words)
(often, it is used to add
humorous effect; it slows
down the pace of a verse)54
Sibilance
(a type of alliteration where
sibilants are used more than
twice in quick succession)
(1) “The best way to keep children home is to make the home
atmosphere pleasant—and let the air out of the tires.” (Dorothy
Parker).
(2) “There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a
Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.” (P.G. Wodehouse)
(3) a political cartoon.
(4) Someone wrote this about Mark Twain’s The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
was written shortly after the Civil War, in which slavery was
one of the key issues. While Mark Twain’s father had slaves
throughout his childhood, Twain did not believe that slavery
was right in anyway. Through the character of Jim, and the
major moral dilemma that followed Huck throughout the
novel, Twain mocks slavery and makes a strong statement
about the way people treated slaves. Miss Watson is revered as
a good Christian woman, who had strong values, but she is a
slave owner in the story. She owns a slave called Jim, who
runs away upon hearing that Miss Watson might sell him to
New Orleans.”53
“Oh, Porthos! what excellent words you have command of.
Where in the word did you acquire such a voluminous
vocabulary?” “At Belle-Isle. Aramis and I had to use such
words in our strategic studies and castramentative
experiments.”
D’Artagnan recoiled, as though the sesquipedalian syllables
had knocked the breath out of his body: “Ah! very good. Let
us return to the looking-glass, my friend.”” (The Man in The
Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas)
(1) “Sing a Song of Sixpence.”
(2) “The zoo kept several selfish seals.”

48
Webster’s Dictionary (Random House).
49
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under satire)
50
examples.yourdictionary.com/satire-examples
51
examples.yourdictionary.com/satire-examples
52
Horatian Satire is a gentler, more good humored and sympathetic kind of satire, somewhat tolerant of human
folly even while laughing at it. Horatian satire tends to ridicule human folly in general or by type rather than attack
specific persons. Juvenalian Satire is harsher, more pointed, perhaps intolerant satire typified by the writings of
Juvenal. Juvenalian satire often attacks particular people, sometimes thinly disguised as fictional characters. While
laughter and ridicule are still weapons as with Horatian satire, the Juvenalian satirist also uses withering invective
and a slashing attack. Jonathan Swift is a Juvenalian satirist. Lampoon is a crude, coarse, often bitter satire
ridiculing the personal appearance or character of a person. (Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms
(under satire)).
53
(classic-literature.yoexpert.com/read-and-study-books) and (examples.yourdictionary.com/satire-examples)
54
literarydevices.net/sesquipedalian
Snark
(a combination of two words; “snide” and
“remark”) (a kind of sarcasm said with a certain
cruelty to another person because they find it
funny and believe it is clever) (Lampoon is a
more virulent type of satire than snark.)
Solecism (1) “He works his work, I mine….” (Ulysses by Tennyson)
(a grammatical mistake or (this one is also an instance of zeugma)
intentional use of incorrect (2) “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
grammar to create a stylistic But I have promises to keep,
effect) And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” (Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening by Robert Frost) (Starting with a conjunction
is used in English literature to create poetic effects and
emphasize the importance of a line or a text. Grammatically,
however, it is considered a mistake.)
Soliloquy
(an utterance or discourse by a person who is
talking to himself or herself or is disregardful of
or oblivious to any hearers present (used as a
device to disclose a character’s innermost
thoughts); the act of talking while or as if
alone.)
Stream of consciousness
(a method of narration that describes in words
the flow of thoughts in the minds of the
characters) (sometimes called ‘interior
monologue’)
Syllepsis dīpaka (1) “Pride oppresseth humility; hatred love;
(the use of a word or cruelty compassion.” (Peacham)
expression to perform two (2) “I finally told Ross, late in the summer,
syntactic functions) that I was losing weight, my grip, and
(compare with zeugma) possibly my mind.” (James Thurber, The
Years with Ross, 1959)
(3) “As Virgil guided Dante through
Inferno, the Sibyl Aeneas Avernus.” (Roger
D. Scott) (Through zeugma, “guided” and
“through” are inferred for Sibyl and
Aeneas: “As Virgil guided Dante through
Inferno, the Sibyl [guided] Aeneas
[through] Avernus.”)
Symbolism (1) The dove is a symbol of peace.
(the use of symbols to (2) A red rose or red color stands for love or romance.
signify ideas and qualities by (3) “All the world’s a stage,
giving them symbolic And all the men and women merely players;
meanings that are different they have their exits and their entrances;
from their literal sense. And one man in his time plays many parts,” (As you Like It by
(There are two general types Shakespeare). (The above lines are symbolic of the fact that
of symbols: universal men and women, in course of their life perform different roles.
symbols that embody “A stage” here symbolizes the world and “players” is a symbol
universally recognizable for human beings.)
 meanings wherever used, (4) “Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
such as light to symbolize Who countest the steps of the sun;
knowledge, a skull to Seeking after that sweet golden clime
symbolize death, etc., and Where the traveler’s journey is done;” (Ah Sunflower, a poem
invested symbols that are by William Blake). (Blake uses a sunflower as a symbol for
given symbolic meaning by human beings and “the sun” symbolizes life. Therefore, these
the way an author uses them lines symbolically refer to their life cycle and their yearning
in a literary work, as the for a never-ending life.)56
white whale becomes a
symbol of evil in Moby
Dick.)55
Symploce yathā-saṅkhya “To think clearly and rationally should be a
(A rhetorical trope major goal for man; but to think clearly and
combining anaphora and rationally is always the greatest difficulty
epistrophe, so that one word faced by man.”
or phrase is repeated at the
beginning and another word
or phrase is repeated at the
end of successive phrases,
clauses, or sentences.)
Syncope This said, his wat’ry eyes he did dismount,
(a literary device which Whose sights till then were levell’d on my face,
consists of the contraction or Each cheek a river running from a fount,
the shortening of a word by With brinish current downward flowe’d a pace … (A Lover’s
omitting sounds, syllables or Complaint by Shakespeare) (Shakespeare made use of
letters from the middle of the Syncope in these words wat’ry for watery, levell’d for
word.) levelled and flowe’d for flowered. The contractions have been
used to keep the metrical rhythm same in each line.)57
Synesthesia Back to the region where the sun is silent.” (The Devine
(a technique adopted by Comedy by Dante) (Here, Dante binds the sense of sight (sun)
writers to present ideas, with the sense of hearing(silent).)58
characters or places in such a
manner that they appeal to
more than one senses like
hearing, seeing, smell etc. at
a given time.)
Syntax “What light from yonder window breaks?”
(The general word order of an English sentence (Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare) instead
is “Subject+Verb+Object”. In poetry, however, of using a common expression “What light
the word order may be shifted to achieve breaks from yonder window?”59
certain artistic effects such as producing rhythm
or melody in the lines, achieving emphasis,
heightening connection between two words etc.
The unique syntax used in poetry makes it
different from prose.)
Tautology (1) “Your acting is completely devoid of emotion.”

55
Harris, Robert (1997) A Glossary of Literary Terms. (under symbol)
56
http://literarydevices.net/symbolism
57
http://literarydevices.net/syncope
58
http://literarydevices.net/synesthesia
59
http://literarydevices.net/syntax
 (a repetitive use of phrases (2) “They gathered in a round circle.”
or words which have similar (3) Tautology is used intentionally that involves derision
meanings; the word inherent in it:
tautology is derived from the “Polonious: What do you read, my lord?
Greek word “tauto” (the Hamlet: Words, words, words.” (Hamlet, II: ii, Shakespeare)
same) and “logos” (a word (Here Hamlet has used words in order to show that he is lost in
or an idea)60 words that Polonius is famous in using.)61
Tmesis “That man–how dearly ever parted.”
(an insertion of a word between a word, a (Troilus & Cressida by William
compound word or a phrase (phrasal verbs Shakespeare) (Shakespeare uses tmesis in
usually). In Australian English, it is called his literary pieces. Here, the insertion of the
tumba rumba) word “dearly” to “however” emphasizes
the fond feeling that the speaker has
towards the dead person.)62
Zeugma (1) “On his fishing trip, he caught three
(the use of a word to modify or govern two or trout and a cold.”
more words when it is appropriate to only one (2) “You are free to execute your laws, and
of them or is appropriate to each but in a your citizens, as you see fit.” (Star Trek:
different way) (Webster’s) (a kind of syllepsis) The Next Generation)
(3) “She lowered her standards by raising
her glass, her courage, her eyes and his
hopes.” (Have Some Madeira, M’Dear by
Flanders and Swann)
Zoomorphism (1) “In the shadow of Your wings I used to rejoice.” (Bible)
(the opposite of (Here, God is represented as a bird. The bird’s/God’s wings
anthropomorphism) are compared to the comfort and shelter that God gives to His
(assigning a person, object, people.)63 (Comparing the Lord to a bird is an implied
event or a deity with metaphor.)
characteristics which are (2) “The two sisters got down, big, bovine,” (Barn Burning by
animalistic) (used in William Faulkner).
metaphors and similes) (3) “Her mind is a bee at his lotus feet.”

The categories of schemes are:

(1) Structures of balance,
(2) Change in word order,
(3) Omission, and
(4) Repetition.

The categories of tropes are:

(A) Reference to one thing as another,
(B) Wordplay and puns,
(C) Substitutions,
(D) Overstatement/Understatement, and
(E) Semantic inversions.64

60
http://literarydevices.net/tautology
61
http://literarydevices.net/tautology
62
http://literarydevices.net/tmesis
63
http://literarydevices.net/zoomorphism
64
http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/Schemes and Tropes.htm
Moreover, the three concepts of ethos, logos and pathos also apply in poetics. In classical
rhetoric, “The personality of the orator outweighs the issues.”65 Similarly, in poetry quite often
the readers think that the text must be relishable since the author is renowned. In poetry, logos
corresponds either to figurative usage or to the Dhvani theory at large. And pathos is the power
of a literary device to evoke emotion in the readers.

The art of living involves four kinds of knowledge: savoir (knowledge), savoir-etre (knowing
how to exist as an individual being), savoir-faire (know-how), and savoir-vivre (social skills).
The last two are in English dictionaries. Poetry is an implement for savoir-etre and savoir-vivre.
Some say savoir-vivre is included in savoir-etre.

Further, Aristotle is famous for saying: “Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to

improbable possibilities.” With respect to the requirements of art, a probable impossibility is to
be preferred to a thing improbable and yet possible. In short, Probable Impossibility refers to a
situation that is impossible to happen in the real world, but is probable in the universe of
imaginary events. For example: Fish raise families, are able to talk, and set out on a journey, etc.
Improbable Possibility refers to a situation that is a possibility in the real world, but is extremely
unlikely. For instance, James Bond winning every poker game. By extension, in Sanskrit poetics
the kavi-prauḍhokti variety of implied meaning (the poet’s bold assertion) is more astonishing
than the svataḥ-sambhavī variety (implied sense naturally possible in day-to-day life).

Differences Between
English Poetics and Sanskrit Poetics
The main differences between the respective methodologies of English literature and Sanskrit
literature are as follows:

(I) In Sanskrit, the categories of heros and heroines have been systemized to a high degree: This
limits the scope of the characters and adds predictability.

(II) Sanskrit poetics involves a high degree of paronomasia because many words have many
meanings and because by nature the Sanskrit language involves phonetic combinations.

(III) In English, a double meaning is a double meaning, but in Sanskrit a double meaning is
either literal (śleṣa) or implied (dhvani).

(IV) In Sanskrit, there is a methodology for analyzing an implied meaning, especially because in
Sanskrit poetics a first-rate implied sense is the soul of poetry.

(V) In Sanskrit, many ornaments are based on an implied similarity or on some other form of
implied sense.

(VI) In Sanskrit, many ornaments are based on a contrast or on an apparent contradiction:

vyatireka, vibhāvanā, viśeṣokti, viṣama, virodhābhāsa, asaṅgati, vyāghāta, atad-guṇa.

65
John Leopold, professor of classical rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley (1980)
(cited by Richard Nordquist in: http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/ethosterm.htm)
(VII) Similarly, many ornaments are characterized by a series: kāraṇa-mālā, mālā-dīpaka,
ekāvalī, sāra.

(VIII) In Sanskrit the same word cannot be an object of repeated figurative usage, unlike a
metaleptical word such as Bollywood.

(IX) In classical Sanskrit literature, coining a new term by truncating words is not allowed.
However, any word can be given many meanings based on various derivations, and words can be
invented by adding some suffix after a verbal root.

(X) Sanskrit poetics features citra-kāvya (picture poetry).

(XI) In Sanskrit, most poetical theorists do not value alliteration of a vowel.

(XII) In Sanskrit poetics, the simile of English poetics can be classed in one of many ornaments:
upamā, upamā-dhvani, utprekṣā, nidarśanā, apahnuti, prativastūpamā, mālopamā,
raśanopamā, ananvaya, anyonyopamā.

(XIII) In a metaphor of Sanskrit poetics, the standard of comparison must not be far-fetched.
Therefore, what is called metaphor in English is classed either as rūpaka (metaphor),
atiśayokti (introsusception), virodha (contradiction), utprekṣā (fanciful assumption), or simply
lakṣaṇā-vṛtti (Indication). In Sanskrit not all metaphorical usage falls under the heading of
metaphor. There are thirteen types of metaphors.66 A submerged metaphor is a rūpaka-dhvani
(implied metaphor).

(XIV) Sanskrit poetics contains many allusions to mythology, and many philosophical concepts
are inferred as a foundation.

(XV) In English culture, and by extension in English literature, the concepts of right and wrong
are based on the law of the majority, whereas in Sanskrit culture, for the most part they are
founded on the Vedic concept of ethics (dharma).

(XVI) In English, euphony involves the use of long vowels, of harmonious consonants such as l,
m, n, r, and soft “f” and “v” sounds, and of soft consonants or semi-vowels: w, s, y, and th or
wh.67 In Sanskrit, mādhurya-guṇa also comes alive by the use of nasal sounds (ṁ, ṅ, ṣ).

(XVII) Sometimes ojas guṇa (vigor) corresponds to cacophony. In general, however, the
phonetic expression of vigor in Sanskrit literature and that in English literature differ. Richard
Nordquist cites this: “Demetrius’s On Style (c. 3rd or 2nd Century BC)—Forcefulness:
“[F]orcefulness demands brevity and terseness: short phrases instead of clauses, for “length
destroys vehemence” (241). Even when we use periods, and a succession of periods can be
forceful, they must be short, not more than two clauses, and with clear, well marked endings.
Rhetorical devices such as antithesis, paromoiosis,68 balanced clauses and so on must be avoided
as incompatible with strong emotion, but discordant combinations of sound, hiatus, a jerky and
forced, unnatural order of words, lack of connectives, all these can contribute to forcefulness
which requires a histrionic delivery.””69

66
http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/13metaphors.htm
67
literarydevices.net/euphony (retrieved 5-27-2014)
68
[Typically, paromoiosis is a rhetorical term for two or more lines that rhyme.]
69
G. M. Grube (1968) The Greek and Roman Critics. University of Toronto Press
(http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/Paromoiosis.htm).
(XVIII) In Sanskrit there is an unwritten rule that a literary composition should end in sweetness
(madhureṇa samāpayet), whereas in English anything goes. Mādhurya also means “melting” and
includes śānta-rasa:

viṣvadrīcā bhuvanam akhilaṁ bhāsate yasya dhāmnā

sarveṣām apy aham ayam iti pratyayālambanaṁ yaḥ |
taṁ pṛcchanti sva-hṛdaya-gatāvedino viṣṇum anyān
anyāyo ’yaṁ śiva śiva nṛṇāṁ kena vā varṇanīyaḥ ||

Those who do not know that Vishnu is in their hearts ask others about Him, by whose all-
pervading effulgence the universe revolves and who is the object of their perception “I am
He.” Alas, who could possibly explain this indecorum of people? (Rasa-gaṅgādhara,
example of vicitra, Kavya-mala ed. p. 453)