What is the origin of the word trope in literature?
The word trope began as a simple instruction to turn, derived from the Greek root meaning to direct or alter. It eventually became the cornerstone of how humanity understands metaphorical thought.
Common questions about Trope (literature)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When did the practice of liturgical tropes end in the church?
The practice of liturgical tropes ended with the Tridentine Mass unification of the liturgy in 1570 promulgated by Pope Pius V. This event stripped away the dramatic flourishes to restore a standardized form of worship.
What are the four master tropes identified by Kenneth Burke?
Kenneth Burke identified four specific devices as the master tropes that govern the vast majority of human discourse. These four pillars are metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.
How did the definition of literary trope change in the modern era?
The definition of the literary trope underwent a radical semantic shift in the modern era, expanding from a technical term for figurative language to describe the very clichés and overused techniques that writers employ to tell stories. This evolution reflects a growing awareness of how recurring literary devices can become stale when used without originality.
Who used tropological criticism to define the dominant tropes of an epoch?
Michel Foucault emerged as an important exemplar of this approach, using tropological criticism to define the dominant tropes of an epoch and find those tropes in both literary and non-literary texts. This interdisciplinary investigation seeks to uncover the hidden power structures embedded within the language we use.