 |
| "The fan blew me across the room." Auxesis is a form of hyperbole which "enlarges" the truth. |
There are two types of hyperbole,
- Auxesis augments, making things greater than they really are.
- Meiosis minimizes, making things less than they really are.
This post considers auxesis.
Auxesis ( ok-see'-sis), from the Greek root meaning "to increase" or "to amplify," is a form of hyperbole that increases, rather than diminishes, its subject.* The increase in intensity is often gradual.
Auxesis ( ok-see'-sis), from the Greek root meaning "to increase" or "to amplify," is a form of hyperbole that increases, rather than diminishes, its subject.* The increase in intensity is often gradual.
Noah Webster, remarks that
we say of a very lofty thing, it reaches to the skies. The spies sent to explore the land of Canaan, reported that the cities were great and walled up to heaven. Saul and Jonathan are said to have been swifter than eagles, and stronger than lions. This is auxesis, or exaggeration.Luís de Camões, calls auxesis, or exaggeration, "the very language of love."
Henry Peacham says that in using auxesis,If music be the food of love, play on.-- Shakespeare
the orator doth make a low dwarf a tall fellow; of a little cottage, a great castle; of pebble stones, pearls; and of thistles, mighty oaks.Auxesis may include the use of other tropes and schemes, such as simile and climax.
*Auxesis is also a biological term for the proliferation of certain cells.
 
|
