Definition:
A term in classical rhetoric for any one of the figures of speech: a deviation from conventional word order.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Greek, "form, shape"Examples and Observations:
- "Schemes include such devices as alliteration and assonance (that purposefully arrange sounds, as in The Leith police dismisseth us) and antithesis, chiasmus, climax, and anticlimax (that arrange words for effect, as in the cross-over phrasing One for all and all for one)."
(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992) - "There is a theory dating back to classical times that rhetorical figures or schemes originated as forms of expression 'used naturally by people in states of extreme emotion' (Brinton 1988:163), that they are, in fact, imitative of emotional states. . . . Thus, rhetorical figures of omission, unusual word order or repetition are held to be imitative of actual disturbances of language in emotional contexts, which, in turn, reflect feelings and emotional states such as anger, grief, indignation or consternation. . . .
"Now while it is undoubtedly true that such schemes as aposiopesis (breaking off an utterance before it is completed), hyperbaton or repetition are frequently related to emotional states, it must also be realised that the whole reservoir of rhetorical schemes represents a system which provides a multitude of possibilities of expressing meanings, among which emotions form only one variety."
(Wolfgang G. Müller, "Iconicity and Rhetoric," The Motivated Sign, ed. by Olga Fischer and Max Nänny. John Benjamins, 2001) - Tropes and Schemes in The Garden of Eloquence
"[Henry] Peacham [in The Garden of Eloquence, 1577] divides his treatment of figurative language into tropes and schemes, the difference being that 'in the Trope there is a chaunge of signifycation, but not in the Scheme' (sig. E1v). Tropes are further divided into tropes of words and sentences, and schemes are also divided into grammatical and rhetorical schemes. Grammatical schemes deviate from customs of speaking and writing and are subdivided into orthographical and syntactical schemes. Rhetorical schemes add distinction and 'doe take away the wearinesse of our common and dayly speach, and doe fashion a pleasant, sharpe, evident and gallant kinde of speaking, giving unto matters great strength, perspecuitie and grace' (sig. H4v). Rhetorical schemes apply to words, sentences and amplification."
(Grant M. Boswell, "Henry Peacham." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication From Ancient Times to the Information Age, ed. by Theresa Enos. Routledge, 2010)
Pronunciation: SKEEM
Also Known As: figure
