Common Tropes Flashcards
Tropes
Deviations from the ordinary and principal meaning of a word (transference of meaning).
- Metaphor
— implied comparison between two things of unlike nature
a. “The symbol of all our aspirations, one of the student leaders called her: the fruit of our struggle.” (John Simpson, “Tiananmen Square”)
b. “A breeze blew through the room, blue curtains in at one end and out the other…twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of a ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it…. –F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Simile
— explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature, usually using “like” or “as”
a. “The night is bleeding like a cut.” (Bono)
b. “Ah my!” said Eustacia, with a laugh which unclosed her lips so that the sun shone into her mouth as into a tulip and lent it a similar scarlet fire.” (Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native)
- Apostrophe
— addressing someone or some personified abstraction that is not physically present
a. “Oh, Death, be not proud” (John Donne).
b. Isaac Asimov might begin an essay on progress by writing, “Ah, Mr. Einstein, you would be pleased to see how far we have progressed in science.”
- Synesthesia (also spelled Synæsthesia)
— Mixing one type of sensory input with another in an impossible way, such as speaking of how a color sounds, or how a smell looks
a. “The scent of the rose rang like a bell through the garden.”
b. “I caressed the darkness with cool fingers.”
- Synecdoche (sih-NECK-duh-kee)
— figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole
a. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” (Winston Churchill, 1940)
b. “In Europe, we gave the cold shoulder to De Gaulle, and now he gives the warm hand to Mao Tse-tung.” (Richard Nixon, 1960)
c. “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew, 6:11)
- Metonymy (me-TON-y-my)
— substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant.
a. The British crown has been plagued by scandal.
b. There is no word from the Pentagon on the new rumors from Afghanistan.
c. The pen is mightier than the sword.
- Antanaclasis (AN-ta-na-CLA-sis)
— repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance. These are often “puns” as well.
a. “Your argument is sound, nothing but sound.” (Benjamin Franklin)
b. “If we don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately.” (Benjamin Franklin)
c. “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” (Vince Lombardi)
- Personification
— investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities
a. “The night comes crawling in on all fours.” (David Lowery)
b. “Once again, the heart of America is heavy. The spirit of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very meaning of our land.” (Lyndon Baines Johnson)
- Hyperbole
— the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
a. “It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days.” (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude)
b. “We walked along a road in Cumberland and stooped, because the sky hung so low.” (Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel)
- Litotes (LI-tuh-tees OR lie-TOE-tees)
— deliberate use of understatement
a. “Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance for the worse.” (Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub)
b. “It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.” (Catcher in the Rye)
c. “For four generations we’ve been making medicines as if people’s lives depended on them.” (Ad for Eli Lilly Drug Company
- Rhetorical question
— asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but to assert or deny an answer implicitly
a. “Isn’t it interesting that this person to whom you set on your knees in your most private sessions at night and you pray, doesn’t even look like you?” (Malcolm X)
b. “Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, ‘Let’s have four more years of this’? (Ronald Reagan, 1980 RNC Acceptance Address)
- *Irony
— use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word
• verbal irony — when the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s (or speaker’s) meaning
• situational irony — when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen
• dramatic irony — when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work.
a. “This plan means that one generation pays for another. Now that’s just dandy.” (Huey P. Long)
b. “By Spring, if God was good, all the proud privileges of trench lice, mustard gas, spattered brains, punctured lungs, ripped guts, asphyxiation, mud and gangrene might be his.” (Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward Angel)
- Onomatopoeia
— use of words whose sound echoes the sense
a. “Snap, crackle, pop!” (Rice Krispies commercial)
b. “…From the clamor and the clangor of the bells!” (Edgar Allan Poe, “The Bells”)
- Oxymoron
— the joining of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory
a. “The unheard sounds came through, each melodic line existed of itself, stood out clearly from all the rest, said its piece, and waiting patiently for the other voices to speak.” –Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
b. “cruel kindness”; “visible darkness”
