SECTION IV.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.
A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words. Several of this kind of figures are commonly called Tropes, i.e., turns; because certain words are turned from their original signification to an other.[481]
Numerous departures from perfect simplicity of diction, occur in almost every kind of composition. They are mostly founded on some similitude or relation of things, which, by the power of imagination, is rendered conducive to ornament or illustration.
The principal figures of Rhetoric are sixteen; namely, Sim'-i-le,
Met'-a-phor, Al'-le-gor-y, Me-ton'-y-my, Syn-ec'-do-che, Hy-per'-bo-le,
Vis'-ion, A-pos'-tro-phe, Per-son'-i-fi-ca'-tion, Er-o-te'-sis,
Ec-pho-ne'-sis, An-tith'-e-sis, Cli'-max, I'-ro-ny, A-poph'-a-sis, and
On-o-ma-to-poe'-ia.