Synecdoche is a very useful literary device that allows a writer to use a word or phrase similar to another to represent a person, object, idea, or concept. Synecdoche can help a writer maintain meter, rhythm, and rhyme. It is also used to create familiarity between characters, create vivid imagery, or emphasize an idea or object.
What is Synecdoche?
Synecdoche is a literary device in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole, or vice versa. For example, saying “wheels” to refer to a car, or “hired hands” to refer to workers. It is a type of figurative language that is used to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind. Synecdoche can also be used to make a point or to emphasize a certain idea.
How to pronounce Synecdoche?
When do writers use Synecdoche?
Writers use synecdoche to refer to the whole of something by calling it something similar to represent it. Synecdoche can be used to create vivid imagery and concision .. For example, a writer might use the phrase “wheels of justice” to refer to the entire legal system, or “the White House” to refer to the President and their administration. Synecdoche can also evoke emotion, create a sense of familiarity, and aid a writer in maintaining rhythm and rhyme in poetry.
How and When Writers Use Synecdoche
When writing your narrative, whether that be a novel, a play, a poem, or speech, consider what and how you want to convey it to your reader or audience. Once you have that narrowed, you can begin working on incorporating synecdoche into your work.
Use Synecdoche:
- Between characters. In this aspect, synecdoche can be used to show familiarity between characters.
- As symbolism.
- To create vivid prose.
- And as a world-building tool. This means think about how you want your synecdoche to fit into your fictional world or universe and then use it to make your fictional place come alive for the reader.
The Two Types of Synecdoche
Synecdoche has two types whose primary distinction lies in the scope of the word substitution. These types are:
- Microcosm – When the small part of the whole, i.e., ears, hands, lips, etc., is used to refer to the whole. Example: People often use terms such as “gray beard” to refer to the elderly.
- Macrocosm – The opposite of microcosm, macrocosm is when a larger word object is used to refer to a small part within the whole. Example: L.A. beat New York last night” where L.A. is used to refer to the team that won rather than the city of Los Angeles.
Synecdoche in Literature 📚
As with most literary tools, when it comes time for show-and-tell, rarely is it possible to omit Shakespeare since he was a true master of words. As such, our first example is from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar when Mark Antony pleads,
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”
In this famous quote, the “ears” refer to the people in his audience.
Another great example can be found in the work of Alexandre Dumas. In The Three Musketeers, Dumas uses the word steel to refer to the whole sword.
“He shall think differently,” the musketeer threatened, “When he feels the point of my steel.”
And from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “the ear of Denmark” is used to refer to all of the people of Denmark.
“Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
now wears his crown.”
Synecdoche in Song 🎧
Synecdoche even shows up in song. Listen to Gabriel Kahane sing “Where are the Arms.”
Now that you’ve had a listen, do you catch the lyrics,
“Where are the arms
that armed your love?
And come on, heart”
In this song, Kahane uses “the arms” to refer to the love of the whole person.
For even more examples, check out this compilation of clips from various songs.
And in Poetry . . . ✍🏽
Turning to poetry, it must be said that poetry is such a wonderful thing at times. Because writers often need to include large amounts of information or emotion in short lines and phrases, literary tools such as synecdoche come in handy. Let’s look at some of the most memorable uses of synecdoche in poetry today.
“The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner,” Samuel Coleridge –
“The western wave was all a-flame
The day was well nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad, bright Sun”
In this passage, Coleridge uses the phrase “western wave” to refer to the western horizon rather than just a single wave.
In “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died,” Emily Dickenson uses “the eyes” to refer to all of the people in the room.
“The Eyes around – had wrung them dry-
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room -“
And then of course, there’s “The Lovesong of Alfred J. Prufrock,“ by T.S. Eliot in which he writes,
“There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate”
What is noteworthy in this passage is not only Eliot’s use of synecdoche, but that he uses it twice in such a brief verse. Note the bolded lines and how Eliot uses faces and hands to represent many people.
Often Mistaken For . . .👥
Despite being a completely separate and different literary device, synecdoche is often mistaken for metonymy. Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely related. For a better understanding of the difference between synecdoche and metonymy, check out this video.