Trope (literature)

Use of figurative language for artistic effect

This article is about the literary trope. For other uses, see Trope (disambiguation).

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Works

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* Topics (c. 350 BC)
* De Inventione (84 BC)
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* De Oratore (55 BC)
* A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions (c. 50 BC)
* De Optimo Genere Oratorum (46 BC)
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* De doctrina Christiana (426)
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* Language as Symbolic Action (1966)
* A General Rhetoric (1970)

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* Wooden iron

* v
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A literary trope is an artistic effect realized with figurative language – word, phrase, image – such as a rhetorical figure.[1] In editorial practice, a trope is "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase".[2] Semantic change has expanded the definition of the literary term trope to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring or overused literary techniques and rhetorical devices (characters and situations),[3][4][5] motifs, and clichés in a work of creative literature.[6][7]

## Origins

[edit]

The term trope derives from the Greek τρόπος (tropos), 'a turn, a change',[8] related to the root of the verb τρέπειν (trepein), 'to turn, to direct, to alter, to change';[6] this means that the term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language. Tropes and their classification were an important field in classical rhetoric. The study of tropes has been taken up again in modern criticism, especially in deconstruction.[9] Tropological criticism (not to be confused with tropological reading, a type of biblical exegesis) is the historical study of tropes, which aims to "define the dominant tropes of an epoch" and to "find those tropes in literary and non-literary texts", an interdisciplinary investigation of which Michel Foucault was an "important exemplar".[9]

## In medieval writing

[edit]

A specialized use is the medieval amplification of texts from the liturgy, such as in the Kyrie Eleison (Kyrie, / magnae Deus potentia, / liberator hominis, / transgressoris mandati, / eleison). The most important example of such a trope is the Quem quaeritis?, an amplification before the Introit of the Easter Sunday service and the source for liturgical drama.[4][10] This particular practice came to an end with the Tridentine Mass, the unification of the liturgy in 1570 promulgated by Pope Pius V.[9]

## Types and examples

[edit]

Rhetoricians have analyzed a variety of "twists and turns" used in poetry and literature and have provided a list of labels for these poetic devices. These include

* Animorphism – The fictional trope of a human transforming into an animal, in a bid to overcome challenges.
* Analogy – A comparison by showing how two seemingly different entities are alike, along with illustrating a larger point due to their commonalities.[11][12][13]
* Emphasis – The use of an expression or term in a narrower and more precise sense than usual to accentuate a certain sense.[14][15][16]
* Hyperbole – The use of exaggeration to create a strong impression.
* Irony – Creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing a bad situation as "good times".
* Litotes – A figure of speech and form of verbal irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect.
* Metaphor – An explanation of an object or idea through juxtaposition of disparate things with a similar characteristic, such as describing a courageous person as having a "heart of a lion".
* Allegory – A sustained metaphor continued through whole sentences or even through a whole discourse. For example, "The ship of state has sailed through rougher storms than the tempest of these lobbyists."
* Catachresis – A metaphor that is or can be a stretch for an audience to catch on to. Catachreses can be subjective; some people may find a metaphor to be too much while others may find it perfectly reasonable.[2]
* Metonymy – A trope through proximity or correspondence. For example, referring to actions of the U.S. president as "actions of the White House".
* Antonomasia – A kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name.
* Simile – A form of speech that draws an explicit comparison (in contrast to metaphors) of one thing and another using the words "as" or "like" to bring vividness to its description.
* Synecdoche – A literary device, related to metonymy and metaphor, which creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept. For example, referring to the whole with the name of a part, such as "hired hands" for workers; a part with the name of the whole, such as "the law" for police officers; the general with the specific, such as "bread" for food; the specific with the general, such as "cat" for a lion; or an object with its substance, such as "bricks and mortar" for a building.
* Oxymoron – The use of two opposite situations or things in one sentence to prove a point.[2]
* Pun or paronomasia – A form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words.
* Antanaclasis – The stylistic trope of repeating a single word, but with a different meaning each time; antanaclasis is a common type of pun, and like other kinds of pun, it is often found in slogans.

For a longer list, see Figure of speech: Tropes.

Kenneth Burke has called metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony the "four master tropes"[17], due to their frequency in everyday discourse.

These tropes can be used to represent common recurring themes throughout creative works and, in a modern setting, relationships and character interactions. They can also be used to denote recurring figures of speech and situations.[18]

Whilst most of the various forms of phrasing described above are in common usage, most of the terms themselves are not, in particular antanaclasis, litotes, metonymy, synecdoche and catachresis.[citation needed]

## See also

[edit]

Look up trope in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Linguistics portal

* Fantasy tropes
* Invariance principle
* Literary topos
* Meme
* Motif-Index of Folk-Literature
* Scheme (linguistics)
* Stereotype
* Tropological reading
* TV Tropes

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Miller (1990). Tropes, Parables, and Performatives. Duke University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780822311119.
2. ^ a b c Lundberg, Christian O.; Keith, William M. (10 November 2017). The essential guide to rhetoric. Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 9781319094195. OCLC 1016051800.
3. ^ "Definition of trope". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
4. ^ a b Cuddon, J. A.; Preston, C. E. (1998). "Trope". The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 948. ISBN 9780140513639.
5. ^ "What is a Trope?". 22 January 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
6. ^ a b "trope". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
7. ^ "trope (revised entry)". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2014.
8. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert. "τάβλα , τροπέω , τρόπος". An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024.
9. ^ a b c Childers, Joseph; Hentzi, Gary (1995). "Trope". The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism. New York: Columbia UP. p. 309. ISBN 9780231072434.
10. ^ Cuddon, J. A.; Preston, C. E. (1998). "Quem quaeritis trope". The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (4th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 721. ISBN 9780140513639.
11. ^ "When & How to write Tropes". LiteraryTerms.net. 6 October 2015.
12. ^ "Analogy: Definition and Examples". LiteraryTerms.net. 19 July 2015.
13. ^ Ball, Cheryl E. (2012). "Assessing Scholarly Multimedia: A Rhetorical Genre Studies Approach". Technical Communication Quarterly. 21 (1): 61–77\. doi:10.1080/10572252.2012.626390. S2CID 143663366.
14. ^ "What is emphasis? - Answer". 20 June 2021.
15. ^ Vegge, Ivar (2008). 2 Corinthians, a Letter about Reconciliation: A Psychagogical, Epistolographical, and Rhetorical Analysis. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161493027.
16. ^ "Definition of emphasis - What it is, Meaning and Concept - I want to know everything - 2022".
17. ^ Burke, Kenneth (1969). A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
18. ^ D'Angelo, Frank J. (September 1992). "The four master tropes: Analogues of development". Rhetoric Review. 11 (1): 91–107\. doi:10.1080/07350199209388989. ISSN 0735-0198.

### Sources

[edit]

* Baldrick, Chris. 2008. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199208272
* Corbett, Edward P. J. and Connors, Robert J. 1999. Style and Statement. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195115430
* Kennedy, X.J. et al. 2006. The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader. New York: Pearson, Longman. ISBN 032133194X
* Forsyth, Mark. 2014. The Elements of Eloquence. New York: Berkley Publishing Group / Penguin Publishing. ISBN 9780425276181
* Quinn, Edward. 1999. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. New York: Checkmark Books. ISBN 0816043949
* "Silva Rhetorica". Rhetoric.BYU.edu.
* "What is a Trope?". Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms. 22 January 2023.

* v
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* e

Narrative

Character|

* Antagonist
* Archenemy
* Character arc
* Character flaw
* Characterization
* Confidant
* Deuteragonist
* False protagonist
* Focal character
* Foil
* Gothic double
* Hamartia
* Hero
* Anti
* Byronic
* Tragic
* Narrator
* Protagonist
* Stock character
* Straight man
* Supporting character
* Title character
* Tritagonist
* Villain

Plot|

* Ab ovo
* Action
* Backstory
* Origin story
* Chekhov's gun
* Cliché
* Cliffhanger
* Conflict
* Deus ex machina
* Dialogue
* Dramatic structure
* Eucatastrophe
* Foreshadowing
* Flashback
* Flashforward
* Frame story
* In medias res
* Kishōtenketsu
* MacGuffin
* Pace
* Plot device
* Plot twist
* Poetic justice
* Red herring
* Reveal
* Self-insertion
* Shaggy dog story
* Stereotype
* Story arc
* Story within a story
* Subplot
* Suspense
* Trope

Setting|

* Alternate history
* Backstory
* Crossover
* Dreamworld
* Dystopia
* Fictional location
* city
* country
* universe
* parallel
* Utopia
* Worldbuilding

Theme|

* Irony
* Leitmotif
* Metaphor
* Moral
* Moral development
* Motif
* Deal with the Devil
* Conflict between good and evil
* Self-fulfilling prophecy
* Time travel

Style|

* Allegory
* Bathos
* Comic relief
* Diction
* Figure of speech
* Imagery
* Mode
* Mood
* Narration
* Narrative techniques
* Hook
* Show, don't tell
* Stylistic device
* Suspension of disbelief
* Symbolism
* Tone

Structure|

* Act
* Act structure
* Three-act structure
* Freytag's Pyramid
* Exposition/Protasis
* Rising action/Epitasis
* Climax/Peripeteia
* Falling action/Catastasis
* Denouement/Catastrophe
* Linear narrative
* Nonlinear narrative
* films
* television series
* Premise
* Types of fiction with multiple endings

Form|

* Drama
* Fabliau
* Flash fiction
* Folklore
* Fable
* Fairy tale
* Legend
* Myth
* Tall tale
* Gamebook
* Narrative art
* Narrative poetry
* Epic poetry
* Novel
* Novella
* Parable
* Short story
* Vignette

Genre
(List)|

* Fiction
* Action fiction
* Adventure
* Comic
* Crime
* Docu
* Epistolary
* Ergodic
* Erotic
* Historical
* Western
* Mystery
* Nautical
* Paranoid
* Philosophical
* Picaresque
* Political
* Pop culture
* Psychological
* Religious
* Rogue
* Romance
* Chivalric
* Prose
* Saga
* Satire
* Speculative fiction
* Fantasy
* Gothic
* Southern
* Horror
* Magic realism
* Science
* Hard
* Utopian and dystopian
* Underwater
* Superhero
* Theological
* Thriller
* Urban
* Nonfiction
* Autobiography
* Biography
* Novel
* Creative

Narration|

* Diegesis
* First-person
* Second-person
* Third-person
* Third-person omniscient narrative
* Subjectivity
* Unreliable narrator
* Multiple narrators
* Stream of consciousness
* Stream of unconsciousness

Tense|

* Past
* Present
* Future

Related|

* Dominant narrative
* Fiction writing
* Continuity
* Canon
* Reboot
* Retcon
* Parallel novel
* Prequel / Sequel
* Genre
* List
* Literary science
* Literary theory
* Narrative identity
* Narrative paradigm
* Narrative therapy
* Narratology
* Metafiction
* Political narrative
* Rhetoric
* Glossary
* Screenwriting
* Series of works
* Storytelling
* Tellability
* Verisimilitude

* v
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* e

Figures of speech

Schemes|

* Alliteration
* Anadiplosis
* Anaphora
* Antimetabole
* Antithesis
* Aposiopesis
* Assonance
* Asyndeton
* Chiasmus
* Climax
* Anti
* Consonance
* Epanadiplosis
* Epiphrase
* Epistrophe
* Epizeuxis
* Hendiadys
* Homeoteleuton
* Hypallage
* Hyperbaton
* Hysteron proteron
* Isocolon
* Parallelism
* Polyptoton
* Polysyndeton
* Spoonerism
* Symploce
* Tmesis
* Zeugma

Tropes|

* Allegory
* Allusion
* Antiphrasis
* Antonomasia
* Aphorism
* Apostrophe
* Catachresis
* Ecphonesis
* Ekphrasis
* Epanorthosis
* Hyperbole
* Adynaton
* Dysphemism
* Euphemism
* Meiosis
* Innuendo
* Irony
* Apophasis
* Sarcasm
* Litotes
* Metaphor
* Metonymy
* Oxymoron
* Onomatopoeia
* Personification
* Pleonasm
* Procatalepsis
* Pun
* Antanaclasis
* Rhetorical question
* Simile
* Synecdoche
* Tautology

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Appropriation in the arts

By field|

| Music|

* Bootleg recording
* Chopped and screwed
* Contrafact
* list
* Contrafactum
* Cover version
* DJ mix
* Interpolation
* Medley
* Music mashup
* Music plagiarism
* Musical quotation
* Nightcore
* Parody music
* Pasticcio
* Plunderphonics
* Potpourri
* Quodlibet
* Remix
* Riddim
* Sampling
* Sound collage
* Standard
* Tribute act
* Trope
* Variation
* Vaporwave

|

Literature / theatre|

* Assemblage
* Cut-up technique
* Flarf poetry
* Found poetry
* Jukebox musical
* Trope
* Verbatim theatre

Visual arts

* Collage
* Combine painting
* Photographic mosaic
* Readymades of Marcel Duchamp
* Swipe

By source material|

* Mona Lisa
* Michelangelo's David
* Michelangelo's Pietà
* Statue of Liberty

Cinema / television / video|

* Abridged series
* Anime music video
* Collage film
* Found footage
* Literal music video
* Parody film
* Re-cut trailer
* Remake
* Shot-for-shot
* Supercut
* TV format
* Vidding
* Video mashup
* YouTube Poop

Other arts|

* In-joke
* Internet meme
* Joke theft
* Parody advertisement
* Revivalism (architecture)
* Video game modding

General
concepts|

| Intertextual figures|

* Allusion
* Calque
* Parody
* Pastiche
* Plagiarism
* Quotation
* Translation

|

Adaptation|

* Film
* Literary
* Theatre

Other concepts|

* After (art)
* Assemblage (art)
* Bricolage
* Citation
* Détournement
* Found object
* Homage
* Imitation in art
* Mashup
* Reprise
* Satire
* Source criticism in the arts

Related artistic
concepts

* Aesthetic interpretation
* Anti-art
* Archetypal literary criticism
* Artistic inspiration
* "The Death of the Author"
* Divine inspiration
* Afflatus
* Genius (literature)
* Muses
* Fan labor
* Fan fiction
* Genre
* Genre studies
* Originality
* Simulacrum
* Western canon

Standard blocks
and forms

* Archetype
* Formula fiction
* Genre fiction
* Jazz standard
* Plot device
* Stock character
* Story structure

Epoch-marking
works

* L.H.O.O.Q. (1919)
* "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" (1939)
* Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (2010)

Theorization|

* Dada
* De Copia Rerum
* Diegesis
* Dionysian imitatio
* Mimesis
* Nachahmung
* Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree
* The Pictures Generation
* Pop art
* Postmodernism
* Russian formalism

Related non-
artistic concepts

* Academic dishonesty
* Appropriation in sociology
* Articulation in sociology
* Cultural appropriation
* History of printing
* Information society
* Intellectual property
* Copyright infringement
* Derivative work
* Fair use
* Meme
* Open source
* Participatory culture
* Pirate politics
* Recontextualisation
* Remix culture

* v
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Stock characters

* List
* Archetype

By ethics and morality

| Heroes|

| Classic hero|

* Action hero
* Christ figure
* Chosen One
* Everyman
* Folk hero
* Knight-errant
* Legacy hero
* Mythological king
* Paladin
* Superhero
* Youngest son

|

Antihero|

* Byronic hero
* Man alone
* Tragic hero

Other|

* Cyberhero
* Super soldier
* Space marine

Rogues|

| Lovable rogue|

* Gentleman detective
* Jack
* Trickster

|

Tricky slave|

* Zanni (servants, clowns: Harlequin, Brighella, Scapino, Pulcinella and Pierrot)

Outlaw|

* Bad boy
* Gentleman thief
* Pirate
* Air pirate
* Space pirate

Other|

* Good cop/bad cop
* Rake

Villains|

| Antivillains|

* False hero

|

The mole|

* Double agent
* Evil twin
* Terrorist

Social Darwinist|

* Dark lord
* Mad scientist
* Supervillain

Monsters|

* Bug-eyed monster
* Evil clown
* Killer robot
* Killer toy
* Monster girl
* Skeleton
* Slime
* Swamp monster
* Vampires
* Zombie
* Nazi zombies
* Zombie animal

Other|

* Alazon
* Archenemy
* Folk devil
* Igor
* Masked villain
* Miser
* Vecchio (wealthy old men, Pantalone and Il Dottore)
* Il Capitano (self styled captain, braggart)

By sex and gender

| Feminine|

| Love interest|

* Bishōjo
* Blonde stereotype
* Farmer's daughter
* Girl next door
* Hooker with a heart of gold
* Ingénue
* Loosu ponnu
* Magical girlfriend
* Catgirl
* Monster girl
* Manic Pixie Dream Girl
* Vixen

|

Hag|

* Cat lady
* Crone
* Fairy godmother
* La Ruffiana
* Loathly lady

Hawksian woman|

* Dragon Lady
* Femme fatale
* Tsundere

Woman warrior|

* Jungle girl
* Magical girl
* Virago
* Strong female character

Queen bee|

* Princesse lointaine
* Southern belle
* Valley girl
* Yamato nadeshiko

LGBT|

* Class S
* Laotong

Lady-in-waiting|

* Columbina
* Mammy stereotype

Geek girl|

* Gamer girl

Damsel in distress|

* Final girl
* Princess and dragon

Masculine|

| Harlequin|

* Pierrot
* Scaramouche

|

Father figure|

* Wise old man
* Elderly martial arts master

Young|

* American mappillai
* Himbo
* Ivan the Fool
* Jack
* Jock
* Little Johnny
* Nice guy
* Nice Jewish boy
* Superfluous man

Prince Charming|

* Bishōnen
* Knight-errant

Primitive|

* Feral child
* Noble savage
* Caveman
* Mountain man

LGBT|

* Seme and uke
* Otokonoko

Bad boy|

* Pachuco
* Black knight

Others

* Adolescent clique
* Barbarian
* Clown
* Dragonslayer
* Donor
* Fool
* Identity formation
* Imaginary friend
* Innamorati ("The Lovers")
* Little green men
* Magical Negro
* Mole people
* Pop icon
* Redshirt
* Shoulder angel
* Sidekick
* Straight man
* Tokenism
* Town drunk
* Tragic mulatto
* Truck-kun
* Village idiot
* White savior

* v
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Literary composition

General topics|

* Characterization
* Description
* Exposition
* Fiction writing
* Literature
* Writer
* Writer's block

Techniques / devices|

* Linguistic contrast
* Literary contrast
* Cliché
* Idiom
* Trope

Methods|

* Writing process
* Prewriting
* Assemblage
* Cut-up technique
* Diegesis
* Mimesis
* Pastiche
* Plagiarism

Features|

* Writing style
* Writer's voice
* Grammatical mood
* Register
* Rhetorical modes
* Stylistics
* Tone

Forms|

* Creative nonfiction
* Essay
* Joke
* Novel
* Poetry
* Screenplay
* Short story

Beyond the arts|

* Articulation (sociological)
* Composition studies
* Technical writing

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