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Hyperbole
Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and creates strong impressions. As a figure of speech, it is usually not meant to be taken literally. Etymology 'Hyperbole' is derived from the ''huperbolḗ'' by way of Latin. The word is composed from ''hupér'' 'above, beyond' and ''bállō'' 'throw'. Unlike most English words beginning with ''hyper-'', it is stressed on the second syllable. The first known use is in the 15th century. Usage Hyperbole is often used for emphasis or effect. In casual speech, it functions as an intensifier: saying "the bag weighed a ton" simply means that the bag was extremely heavy. The rhetorical device may be used for serious or ironic or comic effects. Understanding hyperbole and its use in context can help understand the speaker's point. Hyperbole ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exaggeration
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it is, intentionally or unintentionally. It can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech, used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression. Amplifying achievements, obstacles and problems to seek attention is an everyday occurrence Inflating the difficulty of achieving a goal after attaining it, can be used to bolster self-esteem. In the arts, exaggerations are used to create emphasis or effect. As a literary device, exaggerations are often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual speech. Many times the usages of hyperbole describes something as better or worse than it really is. An example of hyperbole is: "The bag weighed a ton." Hyperbole makes the point that the bag was very heavy, though it probably does not weigh a ton. Exaggerating is also a type of deception,Guerrero, L., Anderson, P., Afifi, W. (2007). Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Figure Of Speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of speech constitute the latter. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into ''scheme (linguistics), schemes'', which vary the ordinary sequence of words, and ''trope (literature), tropes'', where words carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify. An example of a scheme is a polysyndeton: the repetition of a conjunction before every element in a list, whereas the conjunction typically would appear only before the last element, as in "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"—emphasizing the danger and number of animals more than the Prose, prosaic wording with only the second "and". An example of a trope is the metaphor, describing one thing as someth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adynaton
Adynaton (; plural adynata) is a figure of speech in the form of hyperbole taken to such extreme lengths as to insinuate a complete impossibility: I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek. The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek ἀδύνατον (''adunaton''), neuter of ἀδύνατος (''adunatos''), "unable, impossible" (''a-'', "without" + ''dynasthai'', "to be possible or powerful"). Classical and medieval usage Adynaton was a widespread literary and rhetorical device during the Classical antiquity, Classical Period. In the Eclogue of Plutarch, there is a long list of proverbs and the first section is titled ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΔΥΝΑΤΩΝ, consisting of proverbs that are built on adynaton. The adynaton form was often used for vows and covenants, such as in the 16th Epodes of Horace, Epode of Horace, 25-34. Its plural form (''adynata'') was translated in Latin as ''impossibilia''. A frequent usage was to refer to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auxesis (rhetoric)
Auxesis (, ''aúxēsis'') is the Greek word for "growth" or "increase". In rhetoric, it refers to varying forms of increase: * hyperbole (overstatement): intentionally overstating a point, its importance, or its significance''OED'' 1st edition * climax (ascending series): a series of clauses of increasing force * amplification (rhetorical increase): extension or exaggerated, needless repetition of arguments to emphasize the point See also * Anticlimax, the opposite of auxesis in its climactic sen ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heroic Drama
Heroic drama is a type of Play (theatre), play popular during the English Restoration, Restoration era in England, distinguished by both its verse structure and its subject matter. The subgenre of heroic drama evolved through several works of the middle to later 1660s; John Dryden's ''The Indian Emperour'' (1665 in literature, 1665) and Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Roger Boyle's ''The Black Prince (play), The Black Prince'' (1667 in literature, 1667) were key developments. Dryden in 1670 The term "heroic drama" was invented by Dryden for his play, ''The Conquest of Granada'' (1670 in literature, 1670). For the ''Preface'' to the printed version of the play, Dryden argued that the drama was a species of ''epic poetry'' for the stage, that, as the epic was to other poetry, so the heroic drama was to other plays. Consequently, Dryden derived a series of rules for this type of play. First, the play should be composed in heroic verse (closed couplets in iambic pentameter). Seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tautology (language)
In literary criticism and rhetoric, a tautology is a statement that repeats an idea using near-synonymous morphemes, words or phrases, effectively "saying the same thing twice". Tautology and pleonasm are not consistently differentiated in literature. Like pleonasm, tautology is often considered a fault of style when unintentional. Intentional repetition may emphasize a thought or help the listener or reader understand a point. Sometimes logical tautologies like "Boys will be boys" are conflated with language tautologies, but a language tautology is not inherently true, while a logical tautology always is. Etymology The word was coined in Koine Greek from ('the same') plus ('word' or 'idea'), and transmitted through 3rd-century Latin and French . It first appeared in English in the 16th century. The use of the term logical tautology was introduced in English by Wittgenstein in 1919, perhaps following Auguste Comte's usage in 1835. Examples * "Convicted felon", a common E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Understatement
Understatement is an expression of lesser strength than what the speaker or writer actually means or than what is normally expected. It is the opposite of embellishment or exaggeration, and is used for emphasis, irony, hedging, or humor. A particular form of understatement using negative syntax is called litotes. This is not to be confused with euphemism, where a polite phrase is used in place of a harsher or more offensive expression. Understatement may also be called underexaggeration to denote lesser enthusiasm. Understatement also merges the comic with the ironic, as in Mark Twain’s comment, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Use by the English Understatement is often used rhetorically to emphasize a point. It is a staple of humour in English-speaking cultures. For example, in ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', an Army officer has just lost his leg. When asked how he feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and responds, "Stings a bit." The well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiosis (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, 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 is often compared to litotes.OED 1st edition The term is derived from the Greek ("to make smaller", "to diminish"). The satirical technique diminution often involves meiosis. Examples Historical *"(Our) peculiar institution", for slavery and its economic ramifications in the American South. * "The Recent Unpleasantness", used in the 19th century, again in the American South, as an idiom to refer to the American Civil War and its aftermath. *" The Emergency", a term used in the Republic of Ireland for the conflict that the rest of the world called the Second World War. *"The Troubles", a name for decades of violence in Northern Ireland. Other *"The Pond", for the Atlantic Ocean ("across the pond"). Similarly, "The Ditch" for the Tasman Sea, between Australia and New Zeala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Litotes
In rhetoric, litotes (, ), also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figures of speech, figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect. A form of understatement, litotes can be in the form of Meiosis (figure of speech), meiosis, and is always deliberate with the intention of Stress (linguistics), emphasis. However, the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, litotes may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be intonated differently so as to mean either "mediocre" or "excellent". Along the same lines, litotes can be used (as a form of Auxesis (figure of speech), auxesis), to euphemism, euphemistically provide emphasis by diminishing the harshness of an observation; "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be used as a means of indicating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further works have been published since his death. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but withdrew in January 1943 and enlisted in the United States Army, U.S. Army. As part of his training, he studied mechanical engineering at the Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee. He was then deployed to Europe to fight in World War II and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was prisoner of war, interned in Dresden, where he survived the Bombing of Dresden in World War II, Allied bombing of the city in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. After the war, he married Jane Marie Cox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans," and Walt Whitman called Emerson his "master". Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, "Nature (Emerson), Nature". His speech "The American Scholar," given in 1837, was called America's "intellectual Declaration of Independence" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Richardson, p. 263. Emerson wrote most of Essays (Emerson), his important essays as lectures and then revised them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
