Renaissance figures of speech / edited by Sylvia Anderson, Gavin Alexander and Katrin Ettenhuber.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Anderson, Sylvia.

Alexander, Gavin (English professor)

Ettenhuber, Katrin

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Figures of speech in literature.

Figures of speech in literature--History.

European literature--Renaissance, 1450-1600--History and criticism.

European literature.

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 306 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

The Renaissance saw a renewed and energetic engagement with classical rhetoric; recent years have seen a similar revival of interest in Renaissance rhetoric. As Renaissance critics recognised, figurative language is the key area of intersection between rhetoric and literature. This book is the first modern account of Renaissance rhetoric to focus solely on the figures of speech. It reflects a belief that the figures exemplify the larger concerns of rhetoric, and connect, directly or by analogy, to broader cultural and philosophical concerns within early modern society. Thirteen authoritative contributors have selected a rhetorical figure with a special currency in Renaissance writing, and have used it as a key to one of the period's characteristic modes of perception, forms of argument, states of feeling, or styles of reading.

Contents:

Introduction: the figures in Renaissance theory and practice 1

Chapter 1 Synonymia: or, in other words / Sylvia Adamson 17

Chapter 2 Compar or parison: measure for measure / Russ McDonald 39

Chapter 3 Periodos: squaring the circle / Janel Mueller 61

Chapter 4 Puns: serious wordplay / Sophie Read 81

Chapter 5 Prosopopoeia: the speaking figure / Gavin Alexander 97

Chapter 6 Ekphrasis: painting in words / Claire Preston 115

Chapter 7 Hysteron proteron: or the preposterous / Patricia Parker 133

Chapter 8 Paradiastole: redescribing the vices as virtues / Quentin Skinner 149

Chapter 9 Syncrisis: the figure of contestation / Ian Donaldson 167

Chapter 10 Testimony: the artless proof / R. W. Serjeantson 181

Chapter 11 Hyperbole: exceeding similitude / Katrin Ettenhuber 197

Chapter 12 Metalepsis: the boundaries of metaphor / Brian Cummings 217

Chapter 13 The vices of style / William Poole 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-294) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780521866408

0521866405

OCLC:

154706394