Whole / Parts
A method of amplifying or of clarifying by describing a whole and its constituent parts, or the parts that make up a whole.
Note: This topic is very closely related to the topic of Definition, but differs in that it is not attempting to classify something by placing it as a species within a genus.
Examples
Whatsoever is a living creature, the same is a thing, that either hath reason, or els [sic] that lacketh reason…. Either it is day, or els it is night. —Thomas Wilson
Related Figures
* Figures of Division
* Figures of Amplification
* synecdoche
* taxis
* merismus
* diaeresis
* dialysis
* eutrepismus
* prosapodosis
* hypozeuxis
* distributio
See Also
Arrangement: Partitio
Subject / Adjuncts
A topic of invention in which one takes into account both what is essential (the “subject”) and what is accidental or simply characteristic of something (its “adjuncts”).
Examples
In the following example, one argues for the presence of the spring (the “subject”) on the basis that its characteristic signs (or “adjuncts”) are apparent: greening grass, singing birds, clearing skies.
I know that spring is at hand because, as the poet says,
“The grasse now gins to bee refresht
The swallow peepes out of her nest,
And clowdy Welkin cleareth”
Related Figures
* taxis
* metonymy
* peristasis
* epitheton
* periphrasis
* antonomasia
* enargia
* Figures of Amplification
See Also
* Branches of Oratory: Epideictic
* Progymnasmata: Encomium
In speeches of praise or blame directions were given to identify the characteristics (or “adjuncts”) of the person (or “subject) in question.
