A literarytrope is an artistic effect realized withfigurative language – word, phrase, image – such as arhetorical figure.[1] In editorial practice, atrope is "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase".[2]Semantic change has expanded the definition of the literary termtrope to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring or overusedliterary techniques andrhetorical devices (characters and situations),[3][4][5]motifs, andclichés in a work of creative literature.[6][7]
The termtrope derives from theGreekτρόπος (tropos), 'a turn, a change',[8] related to the root of the verbτρέπειν (trepein), 'to turn, to direct, to alter, to change';[6] this means that the term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language. Tropes and their classification were an important field inclassical rhetoric. The study of tropes has been taken up again in modern criticism, especially indeconstruction.[9] Tropological criticism (not to be confused withtropological reading, a type of biblicalexegesis) is the historical study of tropes, which aims to "define the dominant tropes of an epoch" and to "find those tropes in literary and non-literary texts", an interdisciplinary investigation of whichMichel Foucault was an "important exemplar".[9]
A specialized use is the medievalamplification of texts from the liturgy, such as in theKyrie Eleison (Kyrie, / magnae Deus potentia, / liberator hominis, / transgressoris mandati, / eleison). The most important example of such a trope is theQuem quaeritis?, an amplification before theIntroit of theEaster Sunday service and the source forliturgical drama.[4][10] This particular practice came to an end with theTridentine Mass, the unification of the liturgy in 1570 promulgated byPope Pius V.[9]
Rhetoricians have analyzed a variety of "twists and turns" used inpoetry andliterature and have provided a list of labels for these poetic devices. These include
Animorphism – The fictional trope of a human transforming into an animal, in a bid to overcome challenges.
Analogy – A comparison by showing how two seemingly different entities are alike, along with illustrating a larger point due to their commonalities.[11][12][13]
Emphasis – The use of an expression or term in a narrower and more precise sense than usual to accentuate a certain sense.[14][15][16]
Hyperbole – The use of exaggeration to create a strong impression.
Irony – Creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing a bad situation as "good times".
Litotes – A figure of speech and form of verbal 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.
Metaphor – An explanation of an object or idea through juxtaposition of disparate things with a similar characteristic, such as describing a courageous person as having a "heart of a lion".
Allegory – A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. For example, "The ship of state has sailed through rougher storms than the tempest of these lobbyists."
Catachresis – A metaphor that is or can be a stretch for an audience to catch on to. Catachreses can be subjective; some people may find a metaphor to be too much while others may find it perfectly reasonable.[2]
Metonymy – A trope through proximity or correspondence. For example, referring to actions of the U.S. president as "actions of the White House".
Antonomasia – A kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name.
Simile – A form of speech that draws an explicit comparison (in contrast to metaphors) of one thing and another using the words "as" or "like" to bring vividness to its description.
Synecdoche – A literary device, related to metonymy and metaphor, which creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept. For example, referring to the whole with the name of a part, such as "hired hands" for workers; a part with the name of the whole, such as "the law" for police officers; the general with the specific, such as "bread" for food; the specific with the general, such as "cat" for a lion; or an object with its substance, such as "bricks and mortar" for a building.
Oxymoron – The use of two opposite situations or things in one sentence to prove a point.[2]
Pun or paronomasia – A form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words.
Antanaclasis – The stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time; antanaclasis is a common type ofpun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.
Kenneth Burke has called metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony the "four master tropes"[17], due to their frequency in everyday discourse.
These tropes can be used to represent common recurring themes throughout creative works and, in a modern setting, relationships and character interactions. They can also be used to denote recurring figures of speech and situations.[18]
Whilst most of the various forms of phrasing described above are in common usage, most of the terms themselves are not, in particular antanaclasis, litotes, metonymy, synecdoche and catachresis.[citation needed]
^abcLundberg, Christian O.; Keith, William M. (10 November 2017).The essential guide to rhetoric. Bedford/St. Martin's.ISBN9781319094195.OCLC1016051800.
^abCuddon, J. A.; Preston, C. E. (1998)."Trope".The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 948.ISBN9780140513639.
^Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert."τάβλα , τροπέω , τρόπος".An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library.Archived from the original on 31 March 2024.
^abcChilders, Joseph; Hentzi, Gary (1995)."Trope".The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism. New York: Columbia UP. p. 309.ISBN9780231072434.
^Cuddon, J. A.; Preston, C. E. (1998)."Quem quaeritis trope".The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 721.ISBN9780140513639.
^Ball, Cheryl E. (2012). "Assessing Scholarly Multimedia: A Rhetorical Genre Studies Approach".Technical Communication Quarterly.21 (1):61–77.doi:10.1080/10572252.2012.626390.S2CID143663366.
