Synthesis III

       We have spent a lot of time this year with literary terms. Here's some of the tricky ones with examples from Hamlet:

1. paraprosdokian: unexpected ending of a phrase
• "But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son-" (I,ii,64)
2. paronomasia: use of similar sounding words, often etymological wordplay
• "That we find the cause of this effect,/ Or rather say, the cause of this defect,/ For this effect defective comes by cause" (II,ii,101-103)
3. anadiplosis: repetition of a word or phrase that ends one clause, at the beginning of the next
• "That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis ture 'tis pity;/ and pity 'tis 'tis true" (II,ii,97-98)
4. chiasmus: crossing parallelism
•  "Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern./ Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz" (II,ii,33-34)
5. synecdoche: the use of a part to represent the whole
• "Let not the royal bed of Denmark be/ a couch form luxury and damned incest" (I,v,82-83)
6. epizeuxis: repition of words in immediate succession, for vehemence or emphasis
• "Words, words, words." (II,ii,189)
7. litotes: form of understatement in which the thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite
8. non-sequitur: inference that does not follow from the premise