Trampling Through the Garden of Eloquence

More than four centuries ago, an English curate named Henry Peacham characterized the figures of speech as "wisdom speaking eloquently." Through the play of language, he said, "the singular partes of mans mind are most aptly expressed, and the sundrie affections of his heart most effectuallie uttered."

In The Garden of Eloquence (1577, revised 1593), Peacham defined and illustrated 184 figures of speech, roughly twice the number included in our own Glossary. But whereas Peacham's favorite sources were Cicero and the Bible, we've drawn many of our examples of eloquence from less hallowed spots.

Anaphora, for instance, is illustrated by Bogart in Casablanca:

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Chiasmus by a commercial jingle:

I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid's stuck on me.

Gradatio by Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator:

They call for you: the general who became a slave; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story.

Parechesis by rapper Eminem:

And just know that I grow colder the older I grow
This boulder on my shoulder gets heavy and harder to hold
And this load is like the weight of the world

Synecdoche by late-night growler Tom Waits:

And the swizzle stick legs
jackknifed over naugahyde stools and the
witch hazel spread out over the linoleum floors,
the pedal pushers stretched out over midriff bulge,
and the coiffed brunette curls over Maybelline eyes
wearing Prince Machiabelli, Estee Lauder, smells so sweet.

And understatement by the Black Knight, after having both of his arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

It's just a flesh wound.

Before visiting some of the rarer specimens in our garden, you may want to begin your tour with our Top 20 Figures of Speech. No, there wasn't a contest, and as far as I know these 20 figures haven't won any medals at the Chelsea Flower Show. But I trust that you'll find some familiar names--and that you'll still hear "wisdom speaking eloquently."