A literary trope is an artistic effect realized with figurative language – word, phrase, image – such as a rhetorical figure.
Origins
The term
trope derives from the
Koine Greek τρόπος]] (tropos), 'a turn, a change',
related to the root of the verb τρέπειν (trepein), 'to turn, to direct, to alter, to change';
this means that the term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language. Tropes and their classification were an important field in
Rhetoric. The study of tropes has been taken up again in modern criticism, especially in
deconstruction.
Tropological criticism (not to be confused with tropological reading, a type of biblical
exegesis) 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 which
Michel Foucault was an "important exemplar".
In medieval writing
A specialized use is the medieval amplification of texts from the liturgy, such as in the
Kyrie (
Kyrie, / magnae Deus potentia, / liberator hominis, / transgressoris mandati, / eleison). The most important example of such a trope is the
Quem quaeritis?, an amplification before the
Introit of the
Easter Sunday service and the source for
liturgical drama.
Types and examples
have analyzed a variety of "twists and turns" used in poetry and literature and have provided a list of labels for these poetic devices. These include
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Animorphism – The fictional trope of a human transforming into an animal, in a bid to overcome challenges.
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Analogy – A comparison by showing how two seemingly different entities are alike, along with illustrating a larger point due to their commonalities.
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Prosodic stress – The use of an expression or term in a narrower and more precise sense than usual to accentuate a certain sense.
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Hyperbole – The use of exaggeration to create a strong impression.
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Irony – Creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing a bad situation as "good times".
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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.
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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".
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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."
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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.
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Metonymy – A trope through proximity or correspondence. For example, referring to actions of the U.S. president as "actions of the White House".
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Antonomasia – A kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name.
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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.
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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.
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Oxymoron – The use of two opposite situations or things in one sentence to prove a point.
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Pun or paronomasia – A form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words.
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Antanaclasis – The stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time; antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.
For a longer list, see .
Kenneth Burke has called metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony the "four master tropes"[
], 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.
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.
See also
Citations
Sources
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Chris Baldick. 2008. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Corbett, Edward P. J. and Connors, Robert J. 1999. Style and Statement. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Kennedy, X.J. et al. 2006. The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader. New York: Pearson, Longman.
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Mark Forsyth. 2014. The Elements of Eloquence. New York: Berkley Publishing Group / Penguin Publishing.
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Quinn, Edward. 1999. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. New York: Checkmark Books.
