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Trope blending

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 device that fuses two or more tropes—e.g., metaphor and hyperbole, or simile and irony—within a single phrase, creating dense, layered figurative meaning.

Detailed Definition
Trope blending combines two or more figurative devices—such as metaphor and metonymy, or simile and personification—within a single expression to generate layered, complex meaning; it exploits the interplay between tropes to deepen ambiguity or emotional resonance.
Example
Example in poetry:
Trope blending: In "Ode on a Grecian Urn," Keats blends ekphrasis and apostrophe; Sylvia Plath’s "Lady Lazarus" merges Holocaust metaphor with circus imagery; Contemporary: Ocean Vuong blends queer lyric with war elegy; Claudia Rankine blends lyric, essay, and script tropes in "Citizen"
Additional Notes
Trope blending: Combining multiple figurative devices (e.g., metaphor + personification) in a single image; enriches poetic texture and deepens interpretive layers.
Also Known As
Mixed metaphor Blended figure Hybrid imagery Fused trope
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