Ellipsis
Ellipsis (el-lip'-sis) is the omission of one or more words, which are assumed by the listener or reader. Omitting a word implied by the previous clause. “If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.” Merchant of Venice, 1.2.1
Notes on Ellipsis
Quotes including the Figure of Speech Ellipsis
How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st
Read the SonnetHow oft, when thou, my music, music play’stAnastrophe, Antanaclasis, Epizeuxis & Metaphor
Upon that blessèd wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,Anastrophe & Synecdoche
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
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Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
Read the SonnetMine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight.
EpanadosMine eye my heart thy picture’s sight would bar,
EllipsisMy heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that Conceitthou in him dost lie,
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes;
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Now is the winter of our discontent
Read the QuoteNowHyperbaton is the winter of our discontentMetaphor
Made glorious summerMetaphor by this son of York,Paronomasia
And all the clouds that louredMetaphor upon our houseMetonymy
In the deep bosom of the ocean MetaphorburiedHyperbaton & Ellipsis.
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We are accounted poor citizens
Read the QuoteWe are accounted poor citizens, the patricians
goodEllipsis. What authority surfeits on would relieve us.
the gods know I speak this in hunger
for bread, not in thirst for revenge
If they would yield us but the superfluity
while it were wholesome, we might guess they
reliev’d us humanely; but they think we are too
dear.
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Tush, tush, ’twill not appear
Read the QuoteHoratio
Tush, tush, ’twill not appear.Alliteration & Epizeuxis
Barnardo
Sit down awhile,
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,Synecdoche & Assonance
What we have two nights seen.Anastrophe
Before my God,
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Was this gentlewoman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?
Read the QuoteLafew
—Was this gentlewoman
the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?
Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead,
excessive grief the enemy to the living
Countess
His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to
my overlooking.Ellipsis I have those hopes of her good
that her education promises.
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Andronicus, stain not thy tomb with blood.
Read the QuoteTamora
Andronicus, stain notHyperbaton thy tomb with blood.
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?Rhetorical Question
Draw near them then in being merciful.
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.Metaphor
Thrice-noble TitusAlliteration, spare my first-born son.
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This butcher’s cur is venomed-mouthed
Read the QuoteBuckingham
This butcher’s cur is venomed-mouthed, and I
Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore best
Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar’s book
Outworths a noble’s blood.Metaphors
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.
Norfolk
What,
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What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues
Read the QuoteWhat’s the matter, you dissentious rogues,
That rubbing the poor itch of your opinion
Make yourselves scabsMetaphor?…
He that will give good words to thee will flatter
Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs,
That like nor peace nor war? The one affrights you,
The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you,
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Little Helen, farewell
Read the QuoteParolles
Little Helen, farewell. If I can remember
thee, I will think of thee at court.
Helen
Monsieur Parolles, you were born under a
charitable star.
Parolles
Under Mars, I.Hyperbaton & Ellipsis
Helen
I especially think under Mars.
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
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