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Synecdoche in poetry emphasizes specific aspects of a thing or person by using a part to represent the whole or vice versa. It can dehumanize a person and comes in many forms, including when a general category is used to refer to a specific object. Synecdoche is used to emphasize the function of the specific part being mentioned and can belittle the value of the thing represented. It is often confused with metonymy, which replaces an object with something closely related. Poets use both figures of speech to add meaning and imagery.
The function of synecdoche in poetry is to emphasize specific aspects of the thing or person that the synecdoche represents and to downplay the importance of the thing itself. A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something represents the whole thing or vice versa. While synecdoche can be used for animals and inanimate objects, it often dehumanizes a person, emphasizing a certain feature or function.
Synecdoche in poetry comes in many forms. The most basic type is when a part refers to a whole. A synecdoche is also formed when a general category is used to refer to a specific category or object, such as saying “The Book” to refer to the Bible, and when a material refers to something made of that material, such as “plastic.” for a credit card. Furthermore, each of these types has an opposing synecdoche: a whole refers to a part, a specific class refers to a general one, and a container refers to its contents.
One purpose of synecdoche in poetry is to emphasize the function of the specific part being mentioned. In Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, “My Last Duchess,” the speaker discusses a portrait of his late wife, saying, “Fra Pandolf’s hands / Worked hard one day, and there she is.” This synecdoche reinforces the view of Fra Pandolf as a worker whose importance lies in what he did with his hands, not in him as a person.
Similarly, Browning used synecdoche in his long poem “The Ring and the Book.” Beginning on line 286, he writes “impertinent tongue and lazy ear / For this, consort ‘under the arch, porch”. People are gathering under the arches, but the emphasis is on the talking and listening they do. Poets also use synecdoche to belittle the value of the thing represented.
The synecdoche in poetry is often confused with its close relative, metonymy. In a synecdoche, the thing mentioned typically includes or is included in the thing represented. Metonymy is when an object, such as a crown, is replaced with something closely related, such as a king. Many poets use both figures of speech to add meaning and imagery.
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