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Questions and Answers
What are the figures of speech listed in the Rhetorica ad Herennium?
Which figures of speech did Philo of Alexandria list?
Where were the figures of speech mentioned by Quintillian?
What is the aim of using figures of speech?
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What did the earliest known text list the figures of speech as?
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Study Notes
Definition and Classification of Figures of Speech
- A figure of speech is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use to produce a rhetorical effect.
- Figures of speech are classified into two categories: schemes and tropes.
- Schemes vary the ordinary sequence of words, while tropes involve words that carry a meaning other than their ordinary significance.
Examples of Figures of Speech
- Polysyndeton is a scheme, where a conjunction is repeated before every element in a list, emphasizing the danger and number of items, e.g., "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my."
- Metaphor is a trope, where one thing is described as something it clearly is not, to illustrate by comparison, e.g., "All the world's a stage."
Four Rhetorical Operations
- Classical rhetoricians classified figures of speech into four categories: addition, omission, transposition, and permutation.
- Addition (adiectio) involves repetition, expansion, or superabundance.
- Omission (detractio) involves subtraction, abridgement, or lack.
- Transposition (transmutatio) involves transferring or switching.
- Permutation (immutatio) involves switching, interchange, substitution, or transmutation.
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Description
Test your knowledge of figures of speech and rhetorical devices with this quiz! Identify different types of schemes and tropes as you learn about the art of language manipulation.
