Welcome to this lecture headed “SYNECDOCHE”. We will be discussing all about synecdoche. Enjoy your lecture.
Synecdoche is a literary device in which a section of something stands for the whole or it may make use of a whole to stand for a part.
Synecdoche may as well utilize larger groups to refer to smaller groups or vice versa.
It may as well call a thing by the name of the substance it is made of or it may refer to a thing in a container or pack by the name of that container or pack.
Synecdoche is a figure of speech that expresses either more, or less, than it accurately denotes.
When a whole is made use of as the part like “hired hands” for workmen or a part of a thing is put for the whole as in the whole represents a part, as in the use of the word “society” to mean high society.
It is associated with metonymy—the replacement of a word by one intimately connected to the original.
Synecdoche is a significant poetic device for producing clear imagery.
An instance is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s line in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “The western wave was all aflame,” in which “wave” substitutes for “sea.”
Difference between Synecdoche and Metonymy
Synecdoche examples are frequently mistaken for metonymy (another literary device).
The two look alike to some degree but they are different from each other.
Synecdoche refers to the entirety of something by the name of any one of its sections.
For instance, calling a car “wheels” is a synecdoche due to the fact that a part of a car “wheels” stands for the whole car.
On the other hand, in metonymy, the word we use to explain another thing is intimately connected to that particular thing, but is not essentially a part of it.
For instance, “crown” that means power or authority is a metonymy used to substitute the word “king” or “queen”.
Examples of Synecdoche in day to day Life
It is highly common to refer to a thing by the name of its parts.
Below are a few of the examples of synecdoche that we can hear from casual conversations:
The word “bread” refers to food or money as in “Writing is my bread and butter” or “sole breadwinner”.
The phrase “gray beard” refers to an old man.
The word “sails” refers to a whole ship.
The word “suits” refers to businessmen.
The word “boots” usually refers to soldiers.
The term “coke” is a common synecdoche for all carbonated drinks.
“Pentagon” is a synecdoche when it means a number of decision makers.
The word “glasses” mean spectacles.
“Coppers” are frequently used to refer to coins.
Synecdoche Examples in Literature
1) Coleridge makes use of synecdoche in his poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
“The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well was nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun”
The “western wave” is a synecdoche as it refers to the sea by the name of one of its parts i.e. wave.
2. Below is the use of synecdoche in the lines extracted from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116:
“O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.”
The phrase “ever-fixed mark” refers to a lighthouse.
3. Look how Shelly uses synecdoche in his poem Ozymandias:
“Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them.”
“The hand” in the above extract refers to the sculptor who carved the “lifeless things” into a grand statue.
4. Observe the use of synecdoche in the following lines extracted from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad:
“At midnight I went on deck, and to my mate’s great surprise put the ship round on the other tack. His terrible whiskers flitted round me in silent criticism.”
The word “whiskers” in the above lines is used to refer to the entire face of the narrator’s mate.
5. Jonathan Swift in The Description of the Morning makes use of synecdoche:
“Prepar’d to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps began to trace.”
In the above extract the phrase “broomy stumps” means the whole broom.
6. Observe the use of synecdoche in The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton:
“His eye met hers as she sat there paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her.”
“Faces” means people (not merely their faces).
Uses of Synecdoche
Literary symbolism is created by the writers who use synecdoche in their literary works.
By making use of synecdoche, the writers give otherwise common ideas and objects deeper meanings and therefore draw readers’ attention.
In addition, the utilisation of synecdoche assists writers to achieve succinctness.
For example, mentioning that the “Soldiers were equipped with steel” is more succinct than saying “The soldiers were equipped with swords, knives, daggers, arrows etc.”
Much every other literary device, synecdoche when used suitably adds a discrete color to words making them emerge colorful.
To put this “life” factor to literary works, writers depict simple common things artistically with the help of this literary device.
“The world treated him badly.”
The whole world did not treat him badly only a part. – The whole is used as the part
“Twenty sails came into the harbor.”
This means twenty ships came into the harbor. – A part is used for the whole
A part referring to the whole – Referring to people according to a single characteristic: “the gray beard” for an older man or “the long hair” for a hippie. This leads to bahuvrihi compounds.
Referring to animals onomatopoetically
* Describing a complete vehicle as “wheels”
* Calling a worker “a pair of hands”
* Prior and during the Cold War, the entire Soviet Union was generally referred to by its largest and most well-known member, Russia.
A whole thing referring to a part of it -* “The city posted a sign,” this means that an employee of the local government (but not the geographic location or all of its residents) posted a sign
The use of “Capitol Hill,” when you mean the US Legislature
A general class name used to denote a specific member of that or an associated class- The use of “truck” for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.)
“He’s good people.”
The use of “plastic” for credit cards
The use of “lead” for bullets
The use of “silver” for flatware or other dishes that were once made of silver metal
The use of “rubber” to mean a condom
Saying “threads” when you mean clothing
A container is used to refer to its contents – “barrel” for a barrel of oil
The utilization of “keg” for a keg of beer
Further Examples and Observations:
“Ed’s buddy was in the market for a new set of wheels and wanted Ed’s opinion about a particular model of Lexus.”(Douglas T. Kenrick, Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life. Basic Books, 2011)
“I left the toll road for our local highway and, turning into our dirt road, I was nearly rammed from behind by a pair of headlightsthat had been pushing, Pennsylvania style, six feet behind me.”
(John Updike, “Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, a Dying Cat, a Traded Car.” Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories. Alfred A. Knopf, 1962)
Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.
Your Lecture Master:
Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua
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