Definition of Rhetorical Figure

1. Set of instruments that are applied according to the function and aesthetics of the word in a literary work, recognized as such. Examples: Anaphora, emphasis, irony, metaphor, onomatopoeia.

2. Arrangement of certain figures according to the type of work. Examples: a) in poetry, hyperbaton, metaphor, etc. stand out. b) in fantastic tales personification stands out by allowing animals to communicate verbally. c) in comics or graphic novels, onomatopoeia, similes, among others, are used.

3. The author’s ability to invent and apply rhetorical figures in his text.

Etymology: Figure, from Latin figure. + Rhetoric, in Latin rhetorĭcawith respect to the Greek ῥητορική, rētorikḗ.

Grammatical category: noun fem.
in syllables: fi-gu-ra + re-to-ri-ca.

Figure of speech

The scientific production can be differentiated from the artistic-literary one according to the language they use: the first account fundamentally with a denotative language and the second with a connotative language. Rhetorical figures are forms used in artistic literature, they are within the connotative language and provide greater beauty to what is written, reinforcing the aesthetic character and artistic function of language.

Literary production in a language reinforces its position among the speakers and provides it with a broad system of historical, social, and cultural references. When talking about written literature, everything written –and spoken– is usually covered using the signs that make up an alphabet. However, when referring to artistic literature, it is understood that it has an aesthetic character. In this case, it is also possible to differentiate between orality and writing: let us consider that oral improvisation and the traditional mythological stories of popular culture have a spoken base and have been transmitted for a long time by word of mouth.

Denotative language and connotative language

The denotative language, which can be located within the educated level of the language (as classified by López del Castillo), aims to transmit messages unequivocally, without room for varied interpretations, to the receiver. His intention is to transmit information and knowledge without appealing to affective, subjective or emotional areas of the reader. Even so, no linguistic construction is exempt from provoking subjective reactions in the person who receives the message, since these depend on the conditions and needs of the receiver. But the objective of this form of communication is to establish a clear, direct and transparent channel, with immediate references. Example: The sky is blue.

However, artistic literature uses connotative language as a medium. The connotative property consists of adding other meanings to the primary one during the construction of the discourse. The references in this case are not immediate and the aim is to arouse various associations and emotions in the reader.

Example: her eyes are like heaven. In this case, the perception and prior knowledge of the color of the sky is appealed to: the sky is blue, ergo: your eyes are blue.

There are two bases for the diversification of meanings used by connotative language, according to Aramís Quintero (Formal elements of literary appreciation):

1. The initial poverty of languages ​​in relation to expressive needs.
2. The correspondence between certain aspects of reality already designated, and other new ones that require a name.

In any case, connotative language is not exclusive to writing or cultured language: there is figurative (connotative) language outside of artistic literature, in common language. An example is the expression “get gray hair”, which means difficult times or bad times. Example: homework made me gray.

Rhetorical figures are ordered artistic forms, related to thoughts. Literature uses these resources to express the message that the author requires with greater beauty and expressiveness. Lausberg recognizes two types of figures: figures of speech and figures of thought.

figures of speech

These directly affect the formulation of the message from the linguistic point of view, that is, they make use of words or chains of signs for the elaboration of the message, generating purely linguistic references. The best known are (the examples are purely literary, since it is in this manifestation where its use is constant and notorious):

– pleonasm: unnecessary repetition of words for the meaning of a sentence.
Example: I saw it with my own eyes.

– synonymy: the same meaning is repeated, but with different terms.
Example: Glory, success, popularity, the mirage of being known, esteemed and admired… is presented in a different way in the eyes of writers.
(Pio Baroja)

– epithet: adjective that underlines a proper and habitual quality of the noun to which it refers.
Example: Sad moans, withered finery are my memories.

– anaphora: repetition of one or more words at the beginning of several verses or phrases.
Example: who was moon
who was breeze
who was sun
(GA Becquer)

– pun: repetition of words or phrases, reversing the order of the words. This generally generates a different sense than the first.
Example: I am a man of wild beasts
a beast of men.
(Calderon de la Barca)

– reduplication: Consecutive repetition of a word, two or more times, in the same period of significance.
Example: Moo the chained trees
drums, drums, drums
I hit you sky
earth hit you
(Octavio Paz)

– concatenation: chain of sentences where the last word of one sentence coincides with the first of the next.
Example: And his blood is already singing:
singing across marshes and meadows
(Federico Garcia Lorca)

– polysyndeton: unnecessary repetition of conjunctions.
Example: Can’t
live without life,
without man be a man
and I run and I see and I hear
and singing,
(Pablo Neruda)

– Ellipse: deletion of words from a part of the sentence.
Example: For a look, a world;
for a smile, a sky;
for a kiss… I don’t know
What would I give you for a kiss?
(GA Becquer)

– asyndeton: omission of conjunctions.
Example: I was among the noises
injured,
badly wounded,
still,
silent.
(Oliver Girondo)

– alliteration: predominance of the same sound in the stressed syllables of the same group of words.
Example: The noise with which it rolls
the hoarse storm
(J. Espronceda)

– onomatopoeia: written representation of a sound.
Example: The run run of my heart sounds to me.
(Bast&Rosario)

– derivation: use of words that derive from the same root.
Example: Light up, light of light.
(M. Asturias)

– hyperbaton: the logical grammatical order of a sentence is altered.
Example: Of the living room in the dark corner
of your dream perhaps forgotten
silent and dusty
saw the harp…
(GA Becquer)

thinking figures

The figures of thought, for their part, affect the thought found by the speaker for the elaboration of his matter. It refers to emotions and appeals to the subjectivity of the receiver. The most used are:

– comparison (simile): relation of resemblance between two concepts, explained one by the other.
Example: and love like the thorn
He passed us by fragrance!
(Gabriela Mistral)

– paradox: apparent contradiction between two ideas. It seeks to enhance thinking.
Example: I live without living in my
and such a high life I hope
I die because I don’t die.
(Santa Teresa)

– hyperbole: exaggeration of a quality, increased or decreased.
Example: Once upon a man stuck a nose
once upon a superlative nose.
(F. de Quevedo)

– allusion: consists of an evocation or reference budgets in the knowledge of the reader.
Example: The curves of her body were heroic, Rabelaisian.
(S.King)

– metaphor: mention of an element that replaces another, implies a tacit comparison.
Example: Children name me butterfly
and they organize hunts to catch me
(Rosario Castellanos)

– irony: apparently serious and positive statement, which suggests the understanding of the opposite.
Example: Pure chili is your blue sky
Happy photocopy of Eden.
(Nicanor Parra)

– attenuation: use of the negative form to affirm something.
Example: I am not, then, well looked at,
so misshapen or ugly,
that even now[sic] I look
in this water that runs clear and pure,
and true, I did not change my figure
with that one who is laughing at me.
(Garcilaso de la Vega)

– antithesis (contrast): Contraposition of words, ideas or phrases with opposite meaning.
Example: You who drink the wine in the silver cup
you do not know the way to the source that springs from the stone.
(J. Hierro)

– personification (prosopopoeia): endow an inanimate object with human attributes.
Example: The city has dressed the same as a bride.
(Rosario Castellanos)

Following