Lecture
Not to be confused with Paraphrase.
In stylistics and poetics, periphrasis (periphrase, periphrase; from Ancient Greek περίφρασις — «descriptive expression», «circumlocution»: περί — «around», «about» andφράσις — «statement») — is a trope that descriptively expresses one concept by means of several others.
Periphrasis is the indirect mention of an object not by naming it but by describing it (for example, «the nocturnal luminary» = «the moon», or «I love you, Peter’s creation!» = «I love you, Saint Petersburg!»).
In periphrases, the names of objects and people are replaced by references to their characteristics, for example, «the one writing these lines» instead of «I» in the author’s speech, «to sink into sleep» instead of «to fall asleep», «the king of beasts» instead of «lion», «one-armed bandit» instead of «slot machine». A distinction is made between logical periphrases («the author of „Dead Souls“») and figurative periphrases («the sun of Russian poetry»).
Periphrasis is often used for the descriptive expression of «low» or «forbidden» notions («the unclean one» instead of «devil», «to make use of a handkerchief» instead of «to blow one’s nose»). In these cases periphrasis also functions as a euphemism.
| Figures of Speech | |
|---|---|
| Figures |
Adynaton • Allusion • Amplification • Anadiplosis • Anacoluthon • Anaphora • Antithesis • Antitheton • Apocope • Apostrophe • Attraction • Asyndeton • Hyperbaton •Homeoteleuton • Gradation (Climax, Anticlimax) • Distinction • Zeugma • Isocolon • Nominative of theme • Inversion • Correction • Mesarchia •Polyptoton • Polysyndeton • Oxymoron • Parallelism • Paronomasia • Parcellation • Periphrasis • Pleonasm • Prolepsis • Retardation •Rhetorical question • Rhetorical exclamation • Rhetorical address • Symploce • Solecism • Tautology • Exact repetition • Aposiopesis • Chiasmus • Exergasia •Ellipsis • Emphasis • Epiphora |
| Tropes |
Allegory • Antiphrasis • Asteism • Antonomasia • Hyperbole • Dysphemism • Irony • Wordplay • Catachresis • Litotes • Meiosis • Metaphor • Metonymy • Personification •Pathos • Periphrasis • Sarcasm • Synecdoche • Simile • Euphemism • Epithet |
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