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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Before we proceed any further, hear me speak
Read the QuoteFirst Citizen
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
All
Speak, speak!
First Citizen
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
I speak this in hunger for
bread, not in thirst for revenge
All
Resolved, resolved!
First Citizen
First,
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In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband
Read the QuoteCountess
In delivering my son from me, I bury a second husband.
Bertram
And I in going, madam, weep o’er my father’s
death anew; but I must attend his Majesty’s
command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore
in subjection.
Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead,
excessive grief the enemy to the living
Lafew
You shall find of the King a husband,
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Noble patricians, patrons of my right, Defend the justice of my cause with arms
Read the Quote Saturninus and his followers at one door, and
Bassianus and his followers at another door, with
other Romans, Drums, and Trumpets.
Saturninus
Noble patricians, patrons of my right,
Defend the justice of my cause with arms.
And countrymen, my loving followers,
Plead my successive title with your swords.
I am his firstborn son that was the last
That wore the imperial diadem of Rome.
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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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You do not meet a man but frowns
Read the QuoteFirst Gentleman
You do not meet a man but frowns. Our bloods
No more obey the heavens than our courtiers’
Still seem as does the King’s.Ellipsis
Second Gentleman
But what’s the matter?
Howsoe’er ’tis strange,
Or that the negligence may well be laughed at,
Yet is it true,
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What, has this thing appeared again tonight?
Read the QuoteHoratio
What, has this thing appeared again tonight?
Barnardo
I have seen nothing.
Marcellus
Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy
And will not let belief take hold of him
Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us.
Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
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Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life
Read the QuoteDuke
Angelo,
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to th’ observer doth thy history
AlliterationFully unfoldHyperbaton. Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so properAnastrophe as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
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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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