totally complicated concept of the morning
I was reading about sonnets the other night and ran across this word. It stuck in my head and I meant to look it up but forgot. Then I ran across it again last night at work while me and Fat Tony were surfing art websites and waiting for graveyard to show up. Here it is and here's its complicated explanation from Wikipedia:
Synecdoche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Synecdoche is a figure of speech that presents a kind of metaphor in which:
A part of something is used for the whole,
The whole is used for a part,
The species is used for the genus,
The genus is used for the species, or
The stuff of which something is made is used for the thing.
Synecdoche, as well as some forms of metonymy, is one of the most common ways to characterize a fictional character. Frequently, someone will be consistently described by a single body part or feature, such as the eyes, which comes to represent their person.
Also, sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.
Examples:
A part of something is used for the whole
"hands" to refer to workers, "head" for cattle, "threads" for clothing, "wheels" for car, "mouths to feed" for hungry people, "white hair" for the elderly, "The Press" for news media
The whole is used for a part
"the police" for a handful of officers, "body" for the trunk of the body, the "smiling year" for spring, "the Pentagon" for the top-ranking generals in the Pentagon building
The species is used for the genus
"cutthroat" for assassin, "kleenex" for facial tissue, "coke" for soda, "castle" for home, "bread" for food, "Judas" for traitor
The genus is used for the species
"creature" for person, "milk" for cow's milk
The material of which an object is made is used for the complete object
"willow" for cricket bat, "copper" for penny, "boards" for stage, "ivories" for piano keys, "plastic" for credit card, "the hardwood" for a gym floor
Synecdoche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Synecdoche is a figure of speech that presents a kind of metaphor in which:
A part of something is used for the whole,
The whole is used for a part,
The species is used for the genus,
The genus is used for the species, or
The stuff of which something is made is used for the thing.
Synecdoche, as well as some forms of metonymy, is one of the most common ways to characterize a fictional character. Frequently, someone will be consistently described by a single body part or feature, such as the eyes, which comes to represent their person.
Also, sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.
Examples:
A part of something is used for the whole
"hands" to refer to workers, "head" for cattle, "threads" for clothing, "wheels" for car, "mouths to feed" for hungry people, "white hair" for the elderly, "The Press" for news media
The whole is used for a part
"the police" for a handful of officers, "body" for the trunk of the body, the "smiling year" for spring, "the Pentagon" for the top-ranking generals in the Pentagon building
The species is used for the genus
"cutthroat" for assassin, "kleenex" for facial tissue, "coke" for soda, "castle" for home, "bread" for food, "Judas" for traitor
The genus is used for the species
"creature" for person, "milk" for cow's milk
The material of which an object is made is used for the complete object
"willow" for cricket bat, "copper" for penny, "boards" for stage, "ivories" for piano keys, "plastic" for credit card, "the hardwood" for a gym floor
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 10:33 AM
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