Writing Help 129 | - Freelance Writer
Apr 04, 2013 | #1
Using Advanced Rhetorical Devices to Surprise and Delight
As those of you who have been reading this series might already suspect, catachresis is another term we have inherited from the Greeks, and it refers to the improper use of a word or phrase. Of course, this general definition is insufficient, because as we have seen, there are many rhetorical devices which rely on semantic and syntactic errors to produce their desired effects. More precisely defined, catachresis involves the clash of concepts, sometimes from different categorical levels, in the creation of a single image. This sounds nice (to me, at least!), but perhaps an example followed by another will better help to illustrate the various species of this strange beast known as catachresis.
One of the most common types of catachresis is known as the mixed metaphor, and we can see a good one in the following sentence: "Her heart was like a sunken ship, burned to ashes in the furnace of unrequited love." Now, despite the catachresis here, it is still obvious what basic message is being communicated: a woman is heartbroken because she loves someone who does not return her love. However, looking at the imagery itself rather than at the sub-surface content, we can see highly incompatible comparisons in close proximity. We start with a sunken ship, which on its own is fitting for it captures that low, sinking feeling which despair brings on, as well as the host of negative associations present between a broken ship and a broken heart. However, in the next part of the sentence, we can see that the sunken ship is described as being burned to ashes in a furnace. Can a sunken ship even be burned? Is the underwater scene set in the beginning of the sentence at all compatible with the fiery destruction of the second? The answer is obviously no, but this kind of construction is surprisingly common because both aspects of the description provide good metaphors for way the woman is feeling. The problem is that they are forced together even though they do not fit at all, and thus we are left with catachresis.
Of course, this device is not always used by accident (otherwise it would appear in the series on errors rather than this one on rhetorical devices); the above example, for instance, might be used to create a humorous effect, perhaps in a cutting parody of modern romance novels which tend to use inflated language and sentiment. The following example shows a definite instance of intentional catachresis in the creation of a desired effect: "The delicious chocolate, so long anticipated, melted slowly on my tongue, and for a moment it was Christmas in my mouth." Here, it will be obvious to most readers what is intended by the evocation of Christmas in this context. We (in the West, for the most part) associate Christmas with very positive things, and it is a celebratory festival of the highest order. However, the sentence places Christmas inside the narrator's mouth as he eats, and this simply makes no sense when considered literally. A holiday cannot be bound to such a small location, and its time is set up according to the calendar, not a given sensory experience. Also, who in the mouth is celebrating Christmas, and how are the presents, tree, and lights able to fit? Despite this radical disjunction between the image and the act, the meaning is clear, and we are able to apply a rich (though unexpected) set of associations to the act of eating, which, while literally impossible, make perfect sense on a figurative level.
Catachresis
As those of you who have been reading this series might already suspect, catachresis is another term we have inherited from the Greeks, and it refers to the improper use of a word or phrase. Of course, this general definition is insufficient, because as we have seen, there are many rhetorical devices which rely on semantic and syntactic errors to produce their desired effects. More precisely defined, catachresis involves the clash of concepts, sometimes from different categorical levels, in the creation of a single image. This sounds nice (to me, at least!), but perhaps an example followed by another will better help to illustrate the various species of this strange beast known as catachresis.
One of the most common types of catachresis is known as the mixed metaphor, and we can see a good one in the following sentence: "Her heart was like a sunken ship, burned to ashes in the furnace of unrequited love." Now, despite the catachresis here, it is still obvious what basic message is being communicated: a woman is heartbroken because she loves someone who does not return her love. However, looking at the imagery itself rather than at the sub-surface content, we can see highly incompatible comparisons in close proximity. We start with a sunken ship, which on its own is fitting for it captures that low, sinking feeling which despair brings on, as well as the host of negative associations present between a broken ship and a broken heart. However, in the next part of the sentence, we can see that the sunken ship is described as being burned to ashes in a furnace. Can a sunken ship even be burned? Is the underwater scene set in the beginning of the sentence at all compatible with the fiery destruction of the second? The answer is obviously no, but this kind of construction is surprisingly common because both aspects of the description provide good metaphors for way the woman is feeling. The problem is that they are forced together even though they do not fit at all, and thus we are left with catachresis.Of course, this device is not always used by accident (otherwise it would appear in the series on errors rather than this one on rhetorical devices); the above example, for instance, might be used to create a humorous effect, perhaps in a cutting parody of modern romance novels which tend to use inflated language and sentiment. The following example shows a definite instance of intentional catachresis in the creation of a desired effect: "The delicious chocolate, so long anticipated, melted slowly on my tongue, and for a moment it was Christmas in my mouth." Here, it will be obvious to most readers what is intended by the evocation of Christmas in this context. We (in the West, for the most part) associate Christmas with very positive things, and it is a celebratory festival of the highest order. However, the sentence places Christmas inside the narrator's mouth as he eats, and this simply makes no sense when considered literally. A holiday cannot be bound to such a small location, and its time is set up according to the calendar, not a given sensory experience. Also, who in the mouth is celebrating Christmas, and how are the presents, tree, and lights able to fit? Despite this radical disjunction between the image and the act, the meaning is clear, and we are able to apply a rich (though unexpected) set of associations to the act of eating, which, while literally impossible, make perfect sense on a figurative level.