Tuesday, December 4, 2018

single word requests - "Cups of gold and wine"



In the quote in the title, "of" refers both to the material that makes up the cup and to the stuff that the cup holds. I remember reading that there is a literary device that describes this, but I can't remember what it's called. The device, if I remember correctly, refers to the parallel structure of a phrase whereby a thing is described in two aspects or, as in this case, an aspect and a function. Shakespeare commonly used it, though I can't think of a quote.



Syliva Plath uses it in the line:




I am silver and exact





to refer to a mirror--what it's made from and how it does its job.



Could someone tell me what this structure is called.


Answer



It’s an instance of syllepsis, in which 'one word is used with two senses in the same utterance’ (Katie Wales, ‘A Dictionary of Stylistics’)


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