Synecdoche

kdnxdr · Jun 30, 2012

Synecdoche: a substitution of a whole word for a part of a whole reference or vice versa: "Five blooms" for "five flowers"; "the scented year" for “the spring season”.

kdnxdr · Jun 30, 2012

"four rows of corn" / "four yellow tassled heads" stood staring straight ahead, all ears, as their father lectured them on their behavior.

Does this work?

Brandt · Jun 30, 2012

I don't know kid. It seems that four 'rows' would amount to much more than four 'heads'? Does the substitution have to equate? I'm not sure.

kborsden · Jun 30, 2012

Brandt said:
I don't know kid. It seems that four 'rows' would amount to much more than four 'heads'? Does the substitution have to equate? I'm not sure.

Not entirely equate, but there needs to be synergy between the figurative and concrete nature of the phrase -- the lieutenant is for example 'the right hand'; "lend me your ears"

e.g.

Sunday has been the week's longest hour

lorna_w · Jun 30, 2012

The example I remember from back when is "the crowned heads of Europe." We can guess they have arses and toes, too, but they are ignored in the synedoche, which is the part representing the whole.

I thought the example you gave in second post was closer to metonymy, which involves substitution.

kborsden · Jun 30, 2012

lorna_w said:
the example you gave in second post was closer to metonymy, which involves substitution.

Metonym: stating a reference as its direct attribute or whatever it is associated with most: "crown" for “king/queen”.

Your example of 'the crowned heads of Europe' is exactly what this thread is about. The whole (monarch) is replaced by just their crowned head.

What Kid has is periphrasis.

Magdalen · Jun 30, 2012

I feel so abjectly bereft lately, I can barely work up the curiosity to add this link:

(that I friggin forgot to set up first and will ETA)

about kenning, which is what it was, sorta

a type of literary trope, specifically circumlocution, in the form of a compound (usually two words, often hyphenated) that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse and later Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon poetry. For example, Old Norse poets might replace sverð, the regular word for “sword”, with a more abstract compound such as “wound-hoe”.

Longest kenning: “fire-brandisher of blizzard of ogress of protection-moon of steed of boat-shed”, which simply means "warrior".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenning

Let's see if I can must-er an example?

When the cheapskate john tried to skate on the going rate of a Grant and flipped her twenty bones, the (mostly GI) Jane refused to be screwed twice so palmed his wallet as tumbled into the cab.

Xelebes · Jul 2, 2012

Hammersplit mountains, the how and mind
lead flocks from the lather;
smithery smoke and bending crooks
bow the curtains that strew the street.

There, I think I did kenning and synecdoche there.

kdnxdr · Jul 2, 2012

Cool. Thanks, Xelebes.

Magdalen · Jul 2, 2012

Xelebes said:
Hammersplit mountains, the how and mind
lead flocks from the lather;
smithery smoke and bending crooks
bow the curtains that strew the street.

There, I think I did kenning and synecdoche there.

Could be, but I haven't a clue what this is saying. Would you mind a quick x = y?

Xelebes · Jul 2, 2012

Magdalen said:
Could be, but I haven't a clue what this is saying. Would you mind a quick x = y?

Hammersplit mountains is a reference to Thunder (Þunor), who's hammer could split mountains. In this case it refers to the lightning in the clouds at high altitudes.

How and Mind are the two ravens of Woden and is used to refer to Woden, otherwise wisdom.

Smithery Smoke refers to Weyland the Smith, otherwise the anvilheads.

Bending Crooks is a small part of lightning, also a reference to Weyland the Smith as he was hamstrung by King Nithad.

Magdalen · Jul 3, 2012

Thanks! I'm not very familiar with Norse mythology. Funnily, I've actually used "curtains" as a reference to rain!

Xelebes · Jul 3, 2012

Magdalen said:
Thanks! I'm not very familiar with Norse mythology. Funnily, I've actually used "curtains" as a reference to rain!

It's English mythology, darnit!

Magdalen · Jul 3, 2012

Xelebes said:
It's English mythology, darnit!

?

In Germanic and Norse mythology, Wayland the Smith (Old English: Wēland; Old Norse: Völundr, Velentr; Old High German: Wiolant; Proto-Germanic: *Wēlandaz, from *Wēla-nandaz, lit. "battle-brave"[1]) is a legendary master blacksmith. In Old Norse sources, Völundr appears in Völundarkviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda, and in Þiðrekssaga, and his legend is also depicted on the Ardre image stone VIII. In Old English sources, he appears in Deor, Waldere and in Beowulf and the legend is depicted on the Franks Casket. He is mentioned in the German poems about Dietrich von Bern as the Father of Witige.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_the_Smith

Xelebes · Jul 3, 2012

Yup. The English poem Deor gives a good detail on a lot of Old English characters. The translations are more accessible than the translations of Beowulf, I think, if only because the poem is broken down into little stories.

Xelebes · Jul 3, 2012

And now for something using less mythology references:

Scores of pitch fold to red,
park in file and scold the roar:
"Water-fowl, water-fowl
where have you flown?"

kdnxdr · Jul 4, 2012

your unsightly gleem
begs the question, it would seem,
a memorial of antagonism;
resurrected, the myth dispelled?
many would rather you back in hell;
possibly, the result of fission,
fuel for the fire, to raise the tension.

*my reference to a current event on the world scene; don't know if this is how you do synecdoche , but it's my litte stab at it.

kdnxdr · Jul 4, 2012

In defense of my "four rows" "all ears".....That's what my father always said to my three brothers and I when we were out in public as a family and mother would take her time shopping. He would command us to stand in place by saying, "I want you to stand there like four little rows of corn, all ears!"

Also, the first marker in any set that is placed in a rowed graph would indeed be the place holder for a particular row, thus representing the whole row with a value of one, I think.

Xelebes · Jul 4, 2012

kdnxdr said:
your unsightly gleem
begs the question, it would seem,
a memorial of antagonism;
resurrected, the myth dispelled?
many would rather you back in hell;
possibly, the result of fission,
fuel for the fire, to raise the tension.

*my reference to a current event on the world scene; don't know if this is how you do synecdoche , but it's my litte stab at it.

Higg's Boson?

kdnxdr · Jul 5, 2012

Higgsy would actually work!

No, Yassar Arafat.

Xelebes · Jul 6, 2012

Off by little more than a Planck's length.

Perscribo · May 16, 2026

This is a tough one to discern from metaphor. This is an older poem of mine. Is that what this is?

Indignant, ignorant worm.
You accordion alone
along rain-washed cement.

Ants organize, dart,
stinging blind parts
from every direction.

Mud pieces cling
to glistening skin,
protecting pink ridges
that writhe in the sun.

You advance in odd turns,
mad with the trace
of an earthen flower bed
one inch from your face.

kborsden · May 16, 2026

Perscribo said:
This is a tough one to discern from metaphor. This is an older poem of mine. Is that what this is?

Indignant, ignorant worm.
You accordion alone
along rain-washed cement.

Ants organize, dart,
stinging blind parts
from every direction.

Mud pieces cling
to glistening skin,
protecting pink ridges
that writhe in the sun.

You advance in odd turns,
mad with the trace
of an earthen flower bed
one inch from your face.

Yes and no. Sorry to be awkward. So think of metaphor as saying one thing is another thing. You are comparing it by nature of what it has in common. Synecdoche is reducing it down to one part of its whole. You condense your subject to a component rather than its composite.

Indignant, ignorant worm

That's personification.

You accordion alone

You take the subject and make it a verb. verbal noun, a form of anthimeria. That is similar to synecdoche in spirit but not practice. It's substituting grammatical units and syntactical parts, not aspect.

stinging blind parts

"Parts" is ambiguous but a smaller aspect of the greater whole, so more concrete and you would have synecdoche.

pink ridges

These are anatomical part references, and you kind of use them to substitute the whole. This is closer to synecdoche, and closer still:

Ants organize, dart,
stinging soft rings
from every direction.

One inch from earth;
a blind mouth turns
from the flower bed.

Does that make sense?

Key distinction is that metaphor takes you to a new reference to discover analogy. Synecdoche keeps you inside your frame of reference, and actually zooms you in on it.

Perscribo · May 16, 2026

I think so. I’ll give it some thought attempt a (single phrase) example later.

Synecdoche

One of the most important people in the world

One of the most important people in the world

give it to me straight

Has a few recurring issues

Confused Alien

Has a few recurring issues

Petulantly Penitent

Delerium ex Ennui

One of the most important people in the world

Petulantly Penitent

Delerium ex Ennui

Petulantly Penitent

Delerium ex Ennui

Petulantly Penitent

Delerium ex Ennui

Delerium ex Ennui

One of the most important people in the world

One of the most important people in the world

Delerium ex Ennui

One of the most important people in the world

Delerium ex Ennui

Pound cake.

Has a few recurring issues

Pound cake.