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Metalepsis

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A rhetorical figure that compresses a chain of metaphors or metonymies into a single expression, leaping across multiple layers of meaning.

Detailed Definition
Metalepsis is a rhetorical device where a word or phrase from one context is used in another through a chain of implied metaphors or substitutions, creating layered meaning; in poetry, it often produces startling, condensed imagery by bridging distant conceptual domains (e.g., “the jaws of death”).
Example
Example in poetry:
Metalepsis in “The Canterbury Tales”: Chaucer interrupts his tale as pilgrim; In “Pale Fire,” Nabokov blurs narrator/editor boundaries; Shakespeare’s Puck addresses audience: “Give me your hands…”; Contemporary metalepsis: “You’re reading this poem— / why?”; Metalepsis breaks narrative levels for self-awareness
Additional Notes
Figure substituting consequence for cause or effect for effect in causal chain. Transumption. Related: metonymy, remote reference. Tip: Creates compression by skipping intermediate steps—"face that launched thousand ships" (Helen).
Other Meanings of “Metalepsis”
Also Known As
Figure substitution transferred epithet metaphorical leap semantic shift
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