A shadow of a smile, etc

A flight of fancy

E.g. floods of tears

A. Metaphor

From the times of ancient Greek and Roman Rhetoric the term has been known to denote the transference of name from one word to another: words or phrase denoting one object are transferred to others in order to indicate a resemblance between them.

e.g. He smelled the ever-beautiful smell of coffee imprisoned in the can. (J. Steinbeck)

e.g. The laugh in her eyes died and was replaced by something else.

Metaphors can be classified according to the degree of unexpectedness. Those which are absolutely unexpected, i.e. are quite unpredictable, are called genuine. The genuine metaphor is the expression of a writer’s individual vision. Those which are commonly used and even fixed in dictionaries are trite or dead metaphors.

Metaphors can be classified according to their structure into simple and developed. When a group of metaphors is clustered around the same image (to make it more vivid and complete) we speak of a developed (sustained, prolonged) metaphor.

e.g. The slash of sun on the wall above him slowly knifes down, cuts across his chest, becomes a coin on the floor and vanishes. (J. Updike)

The function of the metaphor is manifold: it evokes images and suggests analogies, it makes the author’s thought more concrete, definite and clear and at the same time it reveals the author’s/character’s emotional attitude towards what he describes.

b. Metonymy is the use of one word for another, that it suggests. Metonymy is based on some kind of association between the object named and the object implied.

e.g. Then a pause, as the bonnet and dress neared the top of the square.

Besides their logical meanings the words “bonnet” and “dress” have acquired a contextual logical meaning – that of people, women.

In metonymy relations between the object named and the object implied are numerous and various.

The most frequent types of relations are:

• between an instrument and an action it performs

e.g. As the sword is the worst argument that can be used, so should it be the last. (Byron)

• between an article of clothing and the person wearing it.

There are trite metonymies, they are based on very common, close relations between objects:

• the relations between the creator and his creation:

e.g. Your father would go crazy about Goya. (Galsworthy)

• between the material and the thing made of it.

e.g. to be dressed in silk, nylon

• the relations between the singular and plural. This type of metonymy is called synecdoche.

e.g. … and the god’s brow threatens like imminent thunderstorm.

Metonymy is used to achieve concreteness of description. The author mentions only one seemingly insignificant (or striking) feature and thus he draws the reader’s attention to it and makes him see the character he describes as he himself sees him.

c. Irony is a SD in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposed to its dictionary meaning. The context is arranged so that the word positively charged is understood as a negative qualification. So the essence of irony consists in the foregrounding of the evaluative meaning. Irony is generally used to convey a negative meaning, a feeling of irritation, displeasure, pity or regret for purpose of ridicule.

e.g. … Soames and Irene were seated at dinner. The happy pair were seated, not opposite each other but rectangularly, at a handsome rosewood table. (Galsworthy)

The effect of irony largely depends on the unexpectedness and seeming lack of logic of a word used by the author in an incompetible context.

d. Bitter, socially and politically aimed irony is referred to as sarcasm it is always cutting.

e. Personification is the presentation of a phenomenon or an idea as a human being. It is attributing human properties to lifeless objects, mostly to abstract notions, such as thoughts, actions, intentions, emotions, seasons of the year, etc. Personification is used to help to visualize the description, to impart dynamic force to it or to reproduce the particular mood of the viewer.

e.g. The Face of London was non strangely altered … the Voice of Mourning was heard in every street. (D. Defoe)

A (2) EMs and SDs based on the interaction of primary and derivative logical meanings. Zeugma, pun, violation of phraseological units.

a. Zeugma b. Pun c. Violation of phraseological units

a. Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical relations to two adjacent words in the context, one metaphorical and the other literal in sense. Zeugma is a strong and effective device to maintain the purity of the primary meaning when the two meanings clash. By making the two meanings conspicuous in this particular way, each of them stands out clearly. The effect of zeugma is humorous.

e.g. “I hate poached eggs”, said Lord Caterham … “Take them away, will you, Tredwell?” Tredwell and the poached eggs withdrew as silently as they came. (A. Christie)

b. Pun is simultaneous realization within the same short context of two meanings of a polysemantic word; the word upon which the effect is based is repeated. It is a play on words used for the humorous or ludicrous effect.

e.g. Pessimist. Marriage is a three-ring circus … Engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering. (Laughs and Smiles)

c. Violation of a phraseological unit, or decomposition of set phrases. It consists in intentional violation of the use of set phrases. Its inner mechanism lies in the literal interpretation of one of the elements of a phraseolodical unit. The phrase acquires a fresh vigour and effect, it sounds more concrete and more vivid, the author revives the meaning of the word and offers a very fresh, original and expressive description; very often a humorous effect is achieved.

e.g. “It’s beastly weather we are having today.” “Why?” “Don’t you see – it’s raining cats and dogs. ” (Laughs and Smiles)

B. EMs and SDs based on the interaction between the logical and the nominal meanings of the word. Antonomasia.

Antonomasia is a SD in which a proper name is used instead of a common noun or vice versa. There are two groups of antonomasia: to the first group we shall refer those cases in which a proper noun is used for a common noun. Proper names in this type of antonomasia express some quality, which was the leading passion with the character whose name is used: so that “Othello” stands for “a jealous person”, “ Don Juan ” for “an amorous” one. This type of antonomasia is trite for the author repeats the well-known, often mentioned facts.

In the second type of antonomasia we observe the interaction between the logical and the contextual nominal meanings. That means that any common noun can be used as a name. It is always original. In such cases the person’s name serves his first characteristics. They can be called telling names. Here are some Sheridan’s personages:

Mr Backbite – Мистер Клеветаун; Mr Credulous – Мистер Доверч; Mr Snake – Мистер Гад, etc.

Sometimes antonomasia is used to create a humorous effect.

C. SDs based on the interaction between the logical and emotive meanings. Epithet, hyperbole, understatement, oxymoron.

• Epithet is a SD which expresses a characteristic of an object, both existing and imaginary. Its basic features are emotiveness and subjectivity: the characteristic attached to the object to qualify it is always chosen by the speaker himself.

Epithet has remained over the centuries the most widely used SD.

Through long and repeated use epithets become fixed. Many fixed epithets are closely connected with folklore and can be traced back to folk ballads:

e.g. “ true love, “ merry Christmas”, etc.

Those which were first found in Homer’s poetry and have been repeated since, are known as Homeric epithets.

e.g. “ swift-footed Achilles”, “ rosy-fingered dawn”, etc.

The structure and the semantics of epithets are extremely variable.

Semantically there are two main groups, the biggest of them being affective (or emotive proper). These epithets serve to convey the emotional evaluation of the object by the speaker. Most of the qualifying words found in the dictionary can be and are used as affective epithets.

e.g. “nasty”, “magnificent”, “atrocious”, etc.

The second group – figurative

e.g. “the frowning cloud”, “the smiling sun”

and transferred. Epithets transfer the quality of one object to its closest neighbour.

e.g. Most of the day she spent before the solitary fire. (A)

It was the girl who was solitary before the fire and the quality characterizing her state was transferred to the fire.

Epithets stress the existing qualities of the objects or phenomenon. Epithets help the writer to express the emotional attitude towards what he describes.

In the overwhelming majority of examples epithet is expressed by adjectives or qualitative adverbs.

Inverted epithets are based on the contradiction between the logical and the syntactical: logically defining becomes syntactically defined and vice versa as in “this devil of a woman” – “of a woman” is syntactically an attribute, i.e. the defining, and “devil” – the defined logically – “a woman” is defined by “the devil.”

Epithet reveals the author’s attitude towards the things described, his individual perception and evaluation. Epithet makes such a strong impact on the reader that he begins to see and evaluate things as the writer wants him to. Nouns come next. They are used either as exclamatory sentences (You, ostrich!) or as postpositive attributes (“Richard of the Lion Heart”).

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