Literature – Literature – Literature – Literature – Literature – Literature – Literature – Literature

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people,
places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. M. H.
Abrams defines allusion as "a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or
event, or to another literary work or passage". It is left to the reader or hearer to make the
connection (Fowler); where the connection is detailed in depth by the author, it is
preferable to call it "a reference"

 In the stock market he met his Waterloo. Waterloo is where Napoleon met his final
defeat. Thus, the place connotes defeat.
 “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.” This refers to the story
of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. It is from The Adventures
of Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi.
 “I thought the software would be useful, but it was a Trojan horse.” This refers to the
horse that the Greeks built that contained all the soldiers. It was given as a gift to the
enemy during the Trojan War and, once inside the enemy's walls, the soldiers broke
out. By using trickery, the Greeks won the war.
 “Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.” This means that her weakness was her love of
chocolate. Achilles is a character in Greek mythology who was invincible. His mother
dipped him in magical water when he was a baby, and she held him by the heel. The
magic protected him all over, except for his heel.
 “He was a Good Samaritan yesterday when he helped the lady start her car.”
 “This place is like a Garden of Eden.”
 “You are a Solomon when it comes to making decisions.”

Anaphora (Greek: ἀναφορά, "carrying back") is a rhetorical device that consists of

repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending
them emphasis. In contrast, an epistrophe or epiphora is repeating words at the clauses'
ends.

 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way... --
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
 What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? --William Blake, "The Tyger"
 Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! --William Shakespeare, King John, II

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 In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,

In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,
In time small wedges cleave the hardest oak,
In time the flint is pierced with softest shower. --Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy,
I, vi. 3

Anticlimax refers to a figure of speech in which statements gradually descend in order of

importance. Unlike climax, anticlimax is the arrangement of a series of words, phrases, or
clauses in order of decreasing importance. Anti-climax is an abrupt declension (either
deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which
he appeared to be aiming at.

 "The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war, Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar."
 She is a mother, a writer and a humorist.
 He lost his family, his car and his cell phone.

Antithesis is a figure of speech which refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or

contrasting ideas. It involves the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious
contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences, within a balanced or parallel grammatical
structure. Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite”) is a counter-proposition and denotes a
direct contrast to the original proposition. In setting the opposite, an individual brings out a
contrast in the meaning by an obvious contrast in the expression.

 Man proposes, God disposes.

 "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." (Goethe)
 "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin
Luther King, Jr.)
 Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
 Many are called, but few are chosen.
 Rude words bring about sadness, but kind words inspire joy.
 Listen, young men, to an old man to whom old men were glad to listen when he was
young. (Augustus)
 When there is need of silence, you speak, and when there is need of speech, you are
dumb; when you are present, you wish to be absent, and when absent, you desire to
be present; in peace you are for war, and in war you long for peace; in council you
descant on bravery, and in the battle you tremble.
 "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your
jobs, not ours." --President Barack Obama, Election Night Victory Speech, November
7, 2012
 "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here." --Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, 1863

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Chiasmus is a figure of speech in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts

are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form. Chiasmus (from a Greek
word meaning "to shape like the letter Χ") is the figure of speech in which two or more
clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger
point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism.

 "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." --Jesus (Bible:
Matthew 19:30.)
 But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves. --Shakespeare, Othello 3.3
 He knowingly led and we followed blindly
 Swift as an arrow flying, fleeing like a hare afraid
 'Bad men live that they may eat and drink,
whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.' -Socrates (fifth century B.C.)
 I mean what I say and I say what I mean. -Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland"
 Oh, you haven't, haven't you? --Charles Dickens Oliver Twist.
 Who sheds the blood of a man; by a man shall his blood be shed... --Genesis 9:6
 Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. --John F.
Kennedy
 You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a
man. --Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
Slave, Written by Himself
 By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. --Benjamin Franklin
 When the going gets tough, the tough get going! --Anon.

Climax refers to a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in
order of increasing importance. Climax (from the Greek klimax, meaning "staircase" and
"ladder") is a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of
increasing importance. It is sometimes used with anadiplosis, which uses the repetition of a
word or phrase in successive clauses.

 "There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of
these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)
 "I think we've reached a point of great decision, not just for our nation, not only for
all humanity, but for life upon the earth." (George Wald, A Generation in Search of a
Future, March 4, 1969)
 "...that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". (The United States
Declaration of Independence, 1776)
 Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good;
A shining gloss that vadeth suddenly;
A flower that dies when first it gins to bud;

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A brittle glass that's broken presently:

A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,
Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour. (William Shakespeare, The Passionate
Pilgrim, XIII)

Euphemism is a generally innocuous word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or

suggestive one. Some euphemisms intend to amuse, while others intend to give positive
appearances to negative events or even mislead entirely. Euphemisms are used for
dissimulation, to refer to taboo topics (such as disability, sex, or death) in a polite way, and
to mask profanity. The opposite of euphemism roughly equates to dysphemism.

 Passed away instead of died

 Correctional facility instead of jail
 Departed instead of died
 Differently-abled instead of handicapped or disabled
 Fell off the back of a truck instead of stolen
 Ethnic cleansing instead of genocide
 Turn a trick instead of engage in prostitution
 Negative patient outcome instead of dead
 Relocation center instead of prison camp
 Collateral damage instead of accidental deaths
 Letting someone go instead of firing someone
 Put to sleep instead of euthanize
 Pregnancy termination instead of abortion
 On the streets instead of homeless
 Adult entertainment instead of pornography
 Adult beverages instead of beer or liquor
 Au natural instead of naked
 Big-boned instead of heavy or overweight
 Portly instead of heavy or overweight
 Chronologically-challenged instead of late
 Comfort woman instead of prostitute
 Use the rest room instead of go to the bathroom
 Break wind instead of pass gas
 Economical with the truth instead of liar
 Powder your nose instead of use the rest room
 The birds and the bees instead of sex
 Between jobs instead of unemployed
 Go all the way instead of have sex
 Domestic engineer instead of maid
 Sanitation engineer instead of garbage man
 Vertically-challenged instead of short
 Sleep together instead of have sex

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 Batting for the other side instead of homosexual

 Bit the big one instead of died
 Bit the farm instead of died
 Cement shoes instead of dead
 Bit the dust instead of died
 Croaked instead of dead
 Kick the bucket instead of die
 Blow chunks instead of vomited
 Hide the sausage instead of sex
 Making whoopee instead of sex
 Well-hung instead of having a large penis

Litotes is a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect,

principally via double negatives. For example, rather than saying that something is
attractive, one might merely say it is "not unattractive."

 Eccl. 7:17 "Don't be too wicked," meaning "don't be wicked at all"

 Isaiah 55:11 "My word...it shall not return unto Me void," meaning "My word...will
have meaning and be important"
 Jeremiah 30:19 "I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them
honored, and they shall not be small," meaning "they shall be very many and they
shall be very great"
 Jeremiah 23:32 "They do not profit this people at all," meaning "they lead these
people astray"
 "Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever." (Frederick Douglass)
 “If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small proof of your art, for I dare say
it is more than she herself can do.” (Alexander Pope)
 “This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance.”
 He who examines his own self will not long remain ignorant of his failings.

"Not bad." "Good."

"[...] no ordinary city." Acts 21:39 (NIV) "[...] a very impressive city."
"That [sword] was not useless / to the warrior now." "The warrior has a use for the
(Beowulf lines 1575–1576) sword now."
"He was acquainted with the
"He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens."
works of Dickens."
"She is not as young as she was." "She's old."
"He's no oil painting." "He's ugly."
"Not unlike..." "Like..."
"You are not wrong." "You are correct."

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Meiosis is a euphemistic figure of speech that intentionally understates something or

implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is. Meiosis is the opposite of
auxesis, and also sometimes used as a synonym for litotes. The term is derived from a Greek
word which means “to make smaller”, "to diminish".

 I'm a little bit of crazy

I'm a little bit of a fool
I'm a little bit of lonely
I'm a little bit of all
Oh, I need a cure
Just a little bit of you
And I will fall (A Little Bit by MYMP)
 "Rhymester" for poet
 "Grease monkey" for mechanic
 "Shrink" for psychiatrist
 "Slasher" for surgeon
 "Right-wing nutjobs" for Republicans; "left-wing pansies" for Democrats
 "Pecker checker" for urologist
 "Ambulance chaser" for personal injury lawyer
 "Short-order chef" for morgue worker
 "Treehugger" for "environmentalist"

Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called
by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or
concept. Metonyms can be either real or fictional concepts representing other concepts real
or fictional, but they must serve as an effective and widely understood second name for
what they represent.

 Lend me your ear. (ear for attention)

 The Press continues to fight for their rights. (Press for the media workers)
 The Malacañang supports the bill. (Malacañang for the Philippine President)
 "The pen is mightier than the sword." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu; Or the
Conspiracy
 Crown for the power of a king
 The White House for the American administration
 Dish for an entire plate of food
 The Pentagon for the Department of Defense and the offices of the U.S. Armed
Forces
 Pen for the written word
 Sword for military force
 Hollywood for US Cinema
 Hand for help

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Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it
describes. Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as "oink" or
"meow" or "roar" or "chirp". Onomatopoeias are not the same across all languages; they
conform to some extent to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound
of a clock may be tick tock in English. The word 'onomatopoeia' comes from the
combination of two Greek words, one meaning 'name' and the other meaning 'I make,' so
onomatopoeia literally means 'the name (or sound) I make.' That is to say that the word
means nothing more than the sound it makes.

Onomatopoeia
Todd Rundgren

"Onomatopoeia every time I see ya

My senses tell me hubba
And I just can't disagree.
I get a feeling in my heart that I can't describe. . .
It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine
Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape
Clink, clank, clunk, clatter
Crash, bang, beep, buzz
Ring, rip, roar, retch
Twang, toot, tinkle, thud
Pop, plop, plunk, pow
Snort, snuck, sniff, smack
Screech, splash, squish, squeak
Jingle, rattle, squeal, boing
Honk, hoot, hack, belch."

Trolley Song
Judy Garland

With my high starched collar and my high From the moment I saw him I fell.
top shoes Chug, chug, chug went the motor,
And my hair piled high upon my head, Bump, bump bump went the brake,
I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley, Thump, thump, thump went my heart
And lost my heart instead. strings,
With his light brown derby and his bright When he smiled, I could feel the car
green tie, shake.
He was quite the handsomest of men. He tipped his hat and took a seat.
I started to yen, so I counted to ten, He said he hoped he hadn't stepped upon
Then I counted to ten again. my feet.
Clang, clang, clang went the trolley, He asked my name; I held my breath;
Ding, ding, ding went the bell. I couldn't speak because he scared me
Zing, zing, zing went my heart strings, half to death.

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Buzz, buzz, buzz went the buzzer, For the moment I saw him I fell
Plop, plop, plop went the wheels, "Chug, chug, chug" went the motor
Stop, stop, stop went my heart strings. "Bump, bump, bump" went the brake
As he started to go, then I started to know
"Thump, thump, thump" went my
How it feels when the universe reels.
The day was bright, the air was sweet. heartstrings
The smell of honeysuckle charmed you off When he smiled, I could feel the car shake
your feet. He tipped his hat, and took a seat
You tried to sing, but couldn't squeak. He said he hoped he hadn't stepped upon
In fact you loved him so you couldn't even my feet
speak. He asked my name I held my breath
Buzz, buzz, buzz went the buzzer,
I couldn't speak because he scared me
Plop, plop, plop went the wheels.
Stop, stop, stop went my heart strings. half to death
As he started to leave I took hold of his "Buzz, buzz, buzz" went the buzzer
sleeve "Plop, plop, plop" went the wheels
With my hand, and as if it were planned, "Stop, stop, stop" went my heartstrings
He stayed on with me, As he started to leave I took hold of his
And it was grand just to stand sleeve with my hand
With his hand holding mine
And as if it were planned
To the end of the line.
"Clang, clang, clang" went the trolley He stayed on with me and it was grand
"Ding, ding, ding" went the bell Just to stand with his hand holding mine
"Zing, zing, zing" went my heartstrings All the way to the end of the line.

Oxymoron (plural oxymora or oxymorons) (from Greek words oxus (sharp) and moros
(dull), "sharp dull") is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymora
appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and
literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.

 The silence whistles --Nathan Alterman, Summer Night

 Dark light
 Living dead
 Guest host
 Dark light
 Bitter sweet
 Dry drunk
 Forward retreat
 Irregular pattern
 Noisy silence
 Quiet riot
 Serious joke
 Sweet sorrow

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 Deafening silence
 Living dead
 Open secret
 Virtual reality
 Sounds of silence
 Controlled chaos
 Open secret
 Organized mess
 Alone in a crowd
 Accidentally on purpose
 Same difference
 Pretty ugly
 Invisible ink
 Solid water (Ice)
 Hot ice (Hot for stolen and ice for diamond)
 "And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true." –Tennyson, Idylls of the King
 "O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!" –Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Pun is the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different
meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but
different in meaning; a play on words. The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word
play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of
similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.

 At a hearing aid center: 'Let us give you some sound advice.'

 I wanted to be a stenographer, but they told me they are not short-handed at the
moment.
 Without geometry, life is pointless.
 Dieting is a matter of life and breadth.
 I considered going into the ministry but I didn't have an altar ego.
 Speaking ill of the dead is a grave mistake.
 At a pizza shop: Seven days without pizza makes one weak.
 A neutron walks into a bar. "I'd like a beer" he says. The bartender promptly serves
up a beer. "How much will that be?" asks the neutron. "For you?" replies the
bartender, "no charge".
 Did you hear about the optometrist who fell into a lens grinder and made a spectacle
of himself?
 There were two ships. One had red paint, one had blue paint. They collided. At last
report, the survivors were marooned.
 This duck walks into a bar and orders a beer. "Four bucks," says the bartender. "Put
it on my bill."

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 I was on an elevator the other day, and the operator kept calling me "son". I said,
"Why do you call me 'son'? You're not my father." He said, "I brought you up, didn't
I?"
 Diet slogan: Are you going the wrong weigh?
 What did the coach say to his losing team of snakes? You can't venom all.
 I used to be a banker, but lost interest in the work.
 I used to be a baker, but I didn't make enough dough.
 I used to be a doctor, but then I lost patient.
 I used to be a marathon runner, but couldn't stand the agony of de feet.
 I used to be a sanitation engineer, but the city dumped me.
 She had a photographic memory but never developed it.
 Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't
much, but the reception was brilliant!
 "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York"
(Son/sun) –Shakespeare, Richard III

Rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order
to make a point and without the expectation of a reply. The question is used as a rhetorical
device, posed for the sake of encouraging its listener to consider a message or viewpoint.
Though these are technically questions, they do not always require a question mark.

 "Can't you do anything right?" is asked not to gain information about the ability of
the person being spoken to, but rather to insinuate that the person always fails.
 “Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?” (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3,
Scene 2, 257), functions as an assertion that Caesar possessed rare qualities that
may not be seen again for a long time, if ever.
 "Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
If you prick us, do we not bleed, if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?” (Shylock in William Shakespeare's Merchant of
Venice)
 "The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can be abolished. How
long shall we ignore this under-developed nation in our midst? How long shall we
look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?" (Michael
Harrington, The Other America: Poverty in the United States, 1962)

Synecdoche (from Greek synekdoche, meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a

figure of speech in which a term is used a part is used to refer to the whole (pars pro toto)
or the whole to the part (totum pro parte).

 Use of the term "The Internet" to refer to the World Wide Web, which is only a part
of the Internet.

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 Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard"

representing an older man or "the long hair" representing a hippie.
 Calling workers "hands" (Many hands make light work; All hands on deck!)
 Describing a small portable radio as a "transistor" (though that may simply be an
abbreviation for "transistor radio"), or a CRT-based television receiver as "the tube"
 Historical: The Holy Roman Empire was commonly referred to as Germany, due to
the domination of it by German leaders and that most of it was centered upon
territory considered to be Germany. The Kingdom of Sardinia in the 19th century
was commonly referred to as Savoy because its ruling house was from Savoy.
Austria-Hungary was commonly referred to as Austria. The Soviet Union was
commonly referred to by its largest and most well-known member, Russia. The
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later named Serbia and Montenegro was commonly
referred to by the name of its largest constituent republic, Serbia.
 Use of the names England (only one of the four constituent nations) or Great Britain
(the geographical name of the main island) to mean the entire United Kingdom.
 Use of Holland, a region of the Netherlands, to refer to the entire country.
 Using CPU to refer to the enclosure that houses all the core components of a home
desktop computer.
 "The good book," or "The Book" for the Bible ("Bible" itself comes from the Greek for
"book")
 "Truck" for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.)
 "He's good people." [Here, the word "people" is used to denote a specific instance of
people, i.e., a person. So the sentence would be interpreted as "He's a good person.")
 "John Hancock" for the signature of any person
 A genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola, "Band-Aid" for
any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for any product made of expanded
polystyrene.
 "Bug" for any kind of insect or arachnid, even if it is not a true bug
 "Glasses" for spectacles
 "Steel" for a sword
 "Strings" for string instruments (The strings come in together on the next beat.")
 "Brass" for brass instruments (The brass section needs to tune their instruments.)
 "Ivories" for a piano (The maestro sure knows how to tickle the ivories.)
 "Tin" for a container made with tin plating
 "Willow" for a cricket bat
 "Pigskin" for an American or Canadian football
 "Wood" for a type of club used in the sport of golf
 "Irons" for shackles placed around a prisoner's wrists or ankles to restrict his
movement
 "Plastic" for a credit card (asking a merchant) (Do you take plastic?)
 "Lead" for bullets (They pumped him full of lead.)
 "Silver" for tableware, cutlery or other dishes that were once made of silver metal
 "Rubber" for a condom
 "Threads" for clothing (Yo, check out my new threads!)

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 "Lead" for the graphite core of a pencil

 "Barrel" for a barrel of oil
 "Keg" for a keg of beer

Understatement is a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than

what would be expected. This is not to be confused with euphemism, where a polite phrase
is used in place of a harsher or more offensive expression.

 During the Kuala-Lumpur-to-Perth leg of British Airways Flight 9 on 24 June, 1982,

volcanic ash caused all four engines of the Boeing 747 aircraft to fail. Although
pressed for time as the aircraft rapidly lost altitude, Captain Eric Moody still
managed to make an announcement to the passengers. Comment: "Ladies and
Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines
have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are
not in too much distress."

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