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Euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemia (εὐφημία) which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of eû (εὖ), meaning 'good, well', and phḗmē (φήμη), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. [3] Eupheme is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc.
Allegory: an extended metaphor in which the characters, places, and objects in a narrative carry figurative meaning. Often, the meaning of an allegory is religious, moral, or historical in nature. Example: "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser. [1] Periphrasis: the usage of multiple separate words to carry the meaning of prefixes, suffixes or ...
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
Circumlocution is often used by beginner and intermediate second language speakers to convey the meaning of a word they don't know in their target language. Relative clauses are often used for circumlocution in English. [4] For example, [Firefighters] are the people who you call when your house is on fire.
Leonardo Bruni's translation of Aristotle's Poetics. Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, [1] though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly.
The process of pejoration leads to words that were once considered euphemisms to now be considered dysphemisms. In American culture, words like "colored" were once considered euphemisms, [12] but have since been replaced by terms like "Black" and "African American". Sometimes slight modifications of dysphemisms can make them acceptable: while ...
Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme [1] and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free verse and other forms (such as prose) is often ambiguous.
Replacing an expected word with another, half rhyming (or a partly sound-alike) word, with an entirely different meaning from what one would expect (cf malapropism, Spoonerism, aphasia). [5] I'm ravished! for "I'm ravenous!" or for "I'm famished!" "They build a horse" instead of they build a house. The strained use of an already existing word ...