When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral. Example 2Ĭonsider these excerpts from Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”: Although he knows their parts, he does not truly know them. This use of synecdoche serves to highlight the narrator’s inability to form whole human relationships and his resulting insecurities and loneliness. In this poem, Eliot frequently uses microcosmic synecdoche, speaking of relationships with human beings as relationships with their parts, from faces and hands to voices, eyes, and arms. I know the voices dying with a dying fall That lift and drop a question on your plate To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet Īnd time for all the works and days of hands
Synecdoche is a common element in literature from the poet who speaks of his lover in terms of her eyes and lips to the writer who provides an entire town with the mood and personality of an individual. They also draw attention to the power of associative and referential thinking, as readers automatically understand that a part can stand for the whole and vice versa. Synecdoches allow speakers to emphasize certain parts of a whole, highlighting their importance by substituting them for the whole. Rather than listing the various aspects of an idea, it captures the essence. Rather than listing the members of the White House, a country, or sports team, it allows us brevity. Synecdoche is important in its wide variety of uses. This is an example of macrocosmic synecdoche, as a whole speaks for a part.Īlthough microcosms and macrocosms are reversed-parts for wholes versus wholes for parts-both are considered uses of synecdoche, as one related element is being substituted for another element. Rather, an individual or set of individuals puts together the announcement. In this example, the Department of Education as a whole cannot literally make such an announcement. The Department of Education announced new plans for the education reform. This is an example of microcosmic synecdoche, as a part signifies a whole.
Rather, he is being taken care of by an entire hospital system, including nurses, assistants, doctors, and many others. The boy is not literally being taken care of by two hands.
Example 1Ī boy has been admitted to the hospital. Macrocosm, on the other hand, is the phrase for synecdoche in which a larger whole signifies a smaller collection of parts. Microcosm is the phrase for synecdoche in which a smaller part signifies a larger whole. There are two key types of synecdoche: microcosm and macrocosm. The word synecdoche is derived from the Greek phrases synekdochē and ekdechesthai, meaning “to sense” and “to understand.” When using synecdoche, you refer to your car as your “wheels” and a handful of quarters, dimes, and pennies as the “change” needed to pay the meter. Rather, the speaker is using synecdoche: allowing a part (hands) to represent the whole (a crew member in the ship).Ī synecdoche (pronounced si- nek-d uh-kee) is a figure of speech which allows a part to stand for a whole or for a whole to stand for a part. When the captain of a ship calls, “All hands on deck!” certainly no hands can be seen running across the ship.
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