Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices

Essential Terms:

metaphor is a trope which consists in the use of words (word combinations) in transferred meanings by way of similarity or analogy. Metaphor is the application of a name or a descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally applicable. This is an implied comparison. It is based on analogy or association: Art is a jealous mistress (Emerson).

antonomasia (a variant of METAPHOR) a trope which consists in the use of a proper name to denote a different person who possesses some qualities of the primary owner of the name: Every Caesar has his Brutus (O'Henry).

metonymy is a SD based on association, the name of one thing is used in place of the name of another, closely related to it. There is an objectively existing relation between the object named and the object implied: from the cradle to the grave

SYNECDOCHE(a variant of METONYMY) - a trope which consists in putting part for the whole, the concrete for the general, or vice versa: 1) Two heads are better than one; 2) The hat went away.

irony - a trope which consists in: a) the use of evaluative (meliorative) words in the opposite meanings (cf. ENANTIOSEMY): You’re in complimentary mood today, aren’t you? First you called my explanation rubbish and now you call me a liar; b) “worsening” of the meliorative connotation of a word: I’m very glad you think so, Lady Sneerwell; c) the acquisition of a pejorative connotation by a non-evaluative word: Jack: If you want to know, Cecily happens to be my aunt.- Algernon: Your aunt; Ironic use of words is accompanied by specific suprasyntactic prosody.

zeugma (a variant of SYLLEPSIS )- a figure of speech using a verb or adjective with two nouns, to one of which it is strictly applicable while the word appropriate to the other is not used: 1) to kill the boys and /destroy/ the luggage; 2) with weeping eyes and /grieving/ hearts.

pun  (or PLAY UPON WORDS) - a figure which consists in a humorous use of words identical in sound but different in meaning, or the use of different meanings of the same word: "What's the matter with the boy?" - exlaimed Wardle. "Nothen's the matter with me", - replied Joe, nervously. "Have you been seeing any spirits?" - inquired the old gentle­man. "Or taking any?" - added Ben Allen.

interjections and exclamatory words are words we use when we express our feelings strongly and which may be said to exist in language as conventional symbols of human emotions. “Heaven”, “ goodgracious!”, “dear me!”, ”God!”, “Come on!”, ”Look here!”, “dear”, “ by the Lord!”, “God knows!”, “Bless me!”, “Humbug!” and many others of this kind are not interjections as such; a better name for them would be exclamatory words generally used as interjections, i.e., their func­tion is that of the interjection.

epithet is an attributive characterization of a person, thing or phenomenon. Having a logical meaning, it acquires in the context emotive meaning, rendering the subjective attitude of the writer towards the concepts he evaluates. Semantically we distinguish:

Fixed (logical/usual) epithets are fixed word-combination which have become traditional: sweet smile

Affective (emotive/occasional) epithet serve to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker: gorgeous, nasty, magnificent

Figurative (transferred/metaphoric) epithets are formed of metaphors, metonymies and similes expressed by adjectives: the smiling sun

Structurally we distinguish:

Simple epithet are built like simple adjectives: true love       

Compound epithet are built like compound adjectives: heart-burning sigh      

Phrase/sentence epithets - a phrase which has lost its independence and come to refer to a noun describing human behaviour or look (used with the words: 'attitude', 'look', 'expression'). The words in the phrase or sentence epithet are hyphenated or written in inverted commas: a move-if-you-dare expression (“a move-if-you-dare” expression); She looked at me with that please-don’t-touch-me look of hers. ( She looked at me with that “ please don’t touch me” look of hers.

Reversed (inverted) epithet - two nouns connected in an "of"-phrase where one part is metaphorical: this devil of a woman

Chain of epithets - a number of epithets which give a many-sided description of an object. Each next epithet is stronger than the previous one, the last is the strongest (from the speaker's point of view): her large blue crying crasy eyes

oxymoron is a figure of speech by means of which contradictory words (notions) are combined: 1) To live a life half-dead, a living death (Milton); 2) Thou art to me a delicious torment  (Emerson).

I. Speak on the following:

1. Lexical EMs & SDs based on the interaction of the nominative and contextually imposed meaning:

a) metaphor

b) antonomasia

c) metonymy

d) irony

2. Lexical EMs & SDs based on the interaction of the nominative and the derivative logical meaning:

a) zeugma

b) pun

3. Lexical EMs & SDs based on the interaction of the logical and the emotive meaning:

a) interjections and exclamatory words

b) epithets

c)oxymoron

II. In your books of either home reading or individual reading find the above mentioned expressive means and stylistic devices and comment upon their structure and stylistic function.

III. Do the following exercises:

Exercise I. Analyse the given cases of metaphor from all sides mentioned
above - semantics, originality, expressiveness, syntactic function, vividness and
elaboration of the created image. Pay attention to the manner in which two objects (actions) are identified: with both named or only hint — the metaphorized one – presented explicit:

1. And the skirts! What a sight were those skirts! They were nothing but vast decorated pyramids; on the summit of each was stuck the upper half of a princess. (A. B.)

2. She was handsome in a rather leonine way. Where this girl was a lioness, the other was a panther-lithe and quick. (Ch)

3. He felt the first watery eggs of sweat moistening the palms of his hands. (W. S.)

4. He smelled the ever-beautiful smell of coffee imprisoned in the can. (J. St.)

5. They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate. (W. G.)

6. Geneva, mother of the Red Cross, hostess of humanitarian congresses for the civilizing of warfare! (J. R.)

7. Autumn comes

And trees are shedding their leaves,

And Mother Nature blushes

Before disrobing. (N. W.)

Exercise II. Indicate metonymies, state the type of relations between the object named and the object implied, which they represent, also pay attention to the degree of their originality, and to their syntactical function:

1. He went about her room, after his introduction, looking at her pictures, her bronzes and clays, asking after the creator of this, the painter of that, where a third thing came from. (Dr.)  

2. She wanted to have a lot of children, and she was glad that things were that way, that the Church approved. Then the little girl died. Nancy broke with Rome the day her baby died. It was a secret break, but no Catholic breaks with Rome casually. (J. O'H.)

3. "Evelyn Clasgow, get up out of that chair this minute." The girl looked up from her book.     

"What's the matter?

"Your satin. The skirt'll be a mass of wrinkles in the back." (E. F.)

4. She saw around her, clustered about the white tables, multitudes of violently red lips, powdered cheeks, cold, hard eyes, self-possessed arrogant faces, and insolent bosoms. (A. B.)

5. "Some remarkable pictures in this room, gentlemen. A Holbein, two Van Dycks and if I am not mistaken, a Velasquez. I am interested in pictures." (Ch.)

6. I crossed a high toll bridge and negotiated a no man's land and came to the place where the Stars and Stripes stood shoulder to shoulder with the Union Jack. (J. St.)

7. He made his way through the perfume and conversation. (I. Sh.)