Poetic Devices 11: Metonymy

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! 

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 

The evil that men do lives after them. 

The good is oft interred with their bones.

So goes the famous soliloquy speech of Marc Anthony in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Notice that Shakespeare uses the phrase 'lend me your ears' to indicate demanding attention. The word 'ears' is used as a substitute for the act of listening. In poetic and literature terms, this is known as metonymy - using a single word to indicate a larger idea or context. Metonymy is quite simply a concept or idea that is referred to by a word that is closely related to it. It's a stand-in or substitute word for a much larger idea. 

Metonyms occur more frequently in every day speech and conversation than we realise. And thus, they also appear in poetry and literature a lot. The actor Marlon Brando once said 'Most of the successful people in Hollywood are failures as human beings.' He was of course using Hollywood to refer to the entire movie making industry, including actors, directors, writers and so on. 

Musicians Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney once sang a wonderful refrain in a song they performed:

Ebony and ivory 

Live together in perfect harmony 

Side by side on my piano keyboard 

Oh lord, why don’t we?

Ebony is a metonym that refers to black culture and people from Afro-Carribbean origin, while ivory refers to white culture and Caucasian heritage people. The piano-keyboard is a metaphor that reflects life in general and in this case is a political statement. What they are really asking is why can't black and white people live peacefully and respectfully together? Why does there have to be such hatred? It's a colourful, poetic way of referring to racial tension in a community without overtly stating the problem. The fact that the two musicians were from two different ethic cultures spoke volumes, but the lyrics were even more powerful. 

Examples in poetry are many. Just remember that a single word can have as much power as an entire phrase in poetry. You might for example describe someone who is bleeding to death, as 'the life slowly drained out of him. The metonym used is 'life.' You might refer to the entire presidential administration of the United States of America as the 'White House' or 'Washington', or the Royal Family and household of the United Kingdom as the 'Crown'. Using a change of word to denote something larger, can change the perception of the reader or the tone of the poem, and make it even more memorable. 

Steve Wheeler

Previous posts in this series

1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Repetition and refrains
4. Alliteration
5. Assonance
6. End Rhymes
7. Internal Rhymes
8. Rhythm and Tempo
9. Enjambment

10. Allegory

Image from Blue Diamond Gallery used via Creative Commons Licensing

The Line By Line Song Game

 The Line By Line Song Game

It was my brother David’s birthday this past weekend, and us three brothers got together to camp out and spend some quality guy time together hanging out and doing guy stuff.

My oldest brother Doug is a real nut. After a few drinks we got to singing songs referring to anything and everything we were talking about… from fishing to stars to getting older… we sang about it.. satirically of course!

Seems Doug loves poking fun at me being a poet (of course)! My new book is called “Constellation Road”…. so in true big brother fashion he had to tease me… I’m the baby of the three brothers… each five years apart. 

So he hit me up with something like “I felt the pressure grow on constipation road” and I answered his challenge with something like “it jumped on me like an unwanted toad”… and so on… My middle brother David laughed and added his line… we carried an like this, playing cards and joking under the stars.

I thought a little about this… about how our words affect others… how the interaction brings on new meaning. Like poetry collaborations… or songwriters working together. There was a magic in the lyrical combinations of writers like Lennon/McCartney. They bounced ideas off of each other and came up with songs that were no doubt stronger than they would ever have been with only an individual effort.

In my last blog, I referred to reconciling differences. I used an analogy of teaching different aged children with various circumstances and the effect that had on my perspective. Perspective is everything in writing. This variation in culture, class, ability, and gender really brought about a serious change about how I looked at things.

I noticed differences in the way that my brother and I thought of a topic, and exchanged ideas in the line by line song game. We were making each other laugh. It was just extemporaneous fun. An old poet musician friend of mine from college, Bill Harroun, used to play that game together years ago staggering arm in arm in between pubs. It got out of hand at times, but was always fun for us and anyone around us that may have joined in!

“Extemporaneous Prose” I’ve heard it referred to in the classroom… stream of consciousness creativity. Straight from the heart. Or wherever! It comes from these experiences we have with others, from reconciling differences in others for a new world view.

This series is to explore how we as writers come up with our expression and content. The idea of communicating with others is an essential component to growing… or else our work becomes stagnant. I couldn’t imagine a sequel to Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”, or “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. The story itself says it all so well… why bother going on? The author moves on to the next experience, the next topic, the next hurdle to be jumped.

I ask you to consider where your view comes from reader… do you believe you interpret the world around you from others? Or is it an insular experience, drawn from your own observations? Would you be willing to bounce ideas off of others and collaborate? Do you do so without even knowing… reflected in your solo work subconsciously? 

As writers, when we sit down,… where do the ideas come from? Experience? Imagination? Reflecting lessons from what has happened to those around us? Maybe all three? Possibly more?

I want to thank you for joining me! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT on this blog! Answer some of the above questions and let’s create a most welcome dialogue!  Also… join me later this week for the conclusion to this series on “Reconciling Differences”

Until then dear poet… stretch your perspective. Sharen your expression… and always write on! 🚀

Matt Elmore

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