Tag Archives: death

Synecdoche

Synecdoche (si-nek’-do-kee): A whole is represented by naming one of its parts (or genus named for species), or vice versa (or species named for genus).

I hate the sound of a Kalashnikov on full auto.

Its clanking well-paced whack whack whack so succinctly enunciates a paean of terror, blood, and death.

  • Post your own synecdoche on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

Catacosmesis

Catacosmesis (kat-a-kos-mees’-is): Ordering words from greatest to least in dignity, or in correct order of time.

The fire ignites and speaks in fierce crackling flames. But now in the darkness its silent ashes are all that remain.

Time is a knife that shaves us away until nothing is left but a sliver in bed.

Fearing the silence, the dawn, day, and night, I moan at the wall, “There is no Phoenix. There is no cure. Bring me water and morphine and vodka and meat and wrap my dead body in a fine golden sheet.”

The wall doesn’t answer. The wall doesn’t care. The wall is a wall. It just stands there.

  • Post your own catacosmesis on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

 

Epizeuxis

Epizeuxis (e-pi-zook’-sis): Repetition of words with no others between, for vehemence or emphasis.

400 shot in the head, the back, the stomach, the heart, the lungs, the throat and neck. Mothers. Fathers. Daughters. Sons. Brothers. Sisters. Everyone.

Kidnapped. Sold. Ransomed. Crucified. Beheaded. Burned. Buried.

Stoned to death. Beaten to death. Bled to death. To death!

Death. Death. Death. Death. Simple. Startling. Stinking. Death.

  • Post your own epizeuxis on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

Catacosmesis

Catacosmesis (kat-a-kos-mees’-is): Ordering words from greatest to least in dignity, or in correct order of time.

From the Tesla Model S, to the Nissan LEAF, to my humble E-Z Go; from grand sedans to golf carts, the electrics are here to stay!

Hello quiet and clean! Goodbye, gasoline!

Or:

We are born, we live, we die. End of story?

  • Post your own catacosmesis on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

Personification

Personification: Reference to abstractions or inanimate objects as though they had human [or animate] qualities or abilities. The English term for prosopopeia (pro-so-po-pe’-i-a) or ethopoeia (e-tho-po’-ia): the description and portrayal of a character (natural propensities, manners and affections, etc.).

Drones deal death from the bottom of the deck.

  • Post your own personification on the “Comments” page!

Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

Epexegesis

Epexegesis (ep-ex-e-ge’-sis): When one interprets what one has just said. A kind of redefinition or self-interpretation (often signaled by constructions such as “that is to say. . .”).

A beehive’s drones’ sole function is to procreate, that is, they are genetically devoted to perpetuating their species.  Their stingers have morphed into penises. They benignly target the Queen, mate, and make more bees.

Question: Why does the US call its remote-controlled killer aircraft “Drones”?  Answer: because they’re drudges that fly and make a droning sound! But, their sole purpose is to serve King Death.

As a metonymy, calling a flying remote-controlled killing machine a drone is like calling a seat used for executing people an electric chair.

  • Post your own epexegesis on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

Consonance

Consonance: The repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words. Consonance is more properly a term associated with modern poetics than with historical rhetorical terminology.

Sad dreaded bard speaks to my heart–his lamentation sifts through the ashes of my war-torn life–son gone, blood on the wall, twilight beckons, darkness calls. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. How can I believe that God is just?

  • Post your own consonance on the “Comments” page!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).