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Unit 3: Major Literary Terms-III

narrative forms. For example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a Notes
conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc. In order to be discussed legitimately
as part of a textual analysis, literary elements must be specifically identified for that particular text.

3.1 Figure of Speech

A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a
special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a
specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,
hyperbole, or personification. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or
clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity
between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure
or a locution.
Not all theories of meaning have a concept of “literal language”. Under theories that do not, figure
of speech is not an entirely coherent concept.
Rhetoric originated as the study of the ways in which a source text can be transformed to suit the
goals of the person reusing the material. For this goal, classical rhetoric detected four fundamental
operations that can be used to transform a sentence or a larger portion of a text: expansion,
abridgement, switching, and transferring.
The four fundamental operations or categories of change, governing the formation of all figures of
speech are:
• addition (adiectio), also called repetition/expansion/superabundance
• omission (detractio), also called subtraction/abridgement/lack
• transposition (transmutatio), also called transferring
• permutation (immutatio), also called switching/interchange/substitution.
These four operations were detected by classical rhetoricians, and still serve to encompass the various
figures of speech. Originally these were called, in Latin, the four operations of quadripartita ratio.
The ancient surviving text mentioning them, although not recognizing them as the four fundamental
principles, is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of unknown authorship, where they are called (addition),
(omission), (transposition) and (permutation). Quintillian then mentioned them in Institutio Oratoria.
Philo of Alexandria also listed them as addition, subtraction, transposition, and transmutation.
Examples
The figure of speech comes in many varieties. The aim is to use the language inventively to accentuate
the effect of what is being said. A few examples follow:
• “Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran” is an example of alliteration, where the con-
sonant r is used repeatedly. Whereas, “Sister Suzy sewing socks for soldiers” is a particular
form of alliteration called sibilance, because it repeats the letter. Both are commonly used in
poetry.
• “She would run up the stairs and then a new set of curtains” is a variety of zeugma called a
syllepsis. Run up refers to ascending and also to manufacturing. The effect is enhanced by the
momentary suggestion, through a pun, that she might be climbing up the curtains. The ellip-
sis or omission of the second use of the verb makes the reader think harder about what is
being said.
• “Military Intelligence is an oxymoron” is the use of direct sarcasm to suggest that the military
would have no intelligence. This might be considered to be a satire and a terse aphorism. “But
he’s a soldier, so he has to be an Einstein” is the use of sarcasm through irony for the same
effect. The use of hyperbole by using the word Einstein calls attention to the ironic intent. An
Einstein is an example of synechdoche, as it uses a particular name to represent a class of
people: geniuses.

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