Zeugma & Stichomythia Jennifer Bush Ally Levy 3 rd -Munoz

ZEUGMA [ZOOG-muh] real DEFINITION: Use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.

EASIER DEFINITION! ZEUGMA: A sentence that includes a single word (usually verb) that applies to two other words (usually nouns). However, the second noun does not necessarily need to relate or make sense with the first noun. MAD LIBS: He _______ his ________ and ________. (verb ending (noun) (noun, not similar to the first noun ) (verb ending (noun) (noun, not similar to the first noun ) with -ed) with -ed)

[zeugma examples] level-easy o “He took my advice and my wallet.” o “You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit.” o “He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.” o “You held your breath and the door for me.”

[more zeugma examples] level-hard o "Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, And now a bubble burst, and now a world." (Alexander Pope, Essay on Man) o "But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus an unweighed fear." (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)

STICHOMYTHIA [STIK uh MITH ee uh] real DEFINITION: An ancient Greek arrangement of dialogue in drama, poetry, and disputation in which single lines of verse or parts of lines are spoken by alternate speakers. (usually more than four lines of speaking, also often refers to the works of Sophocles)

EASIER DEFINITION!! Stichomythia: A verse/poem/story that alternates characters speaking. Like a conversation, but is meant to move quickly (like a heated argument)

[stichomythia examples] o “QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended. QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.”

[more stichomythia examples] o LADY ANNE: I would I knew thy heart. GLOUCESTER: 'Tis figured in my tongue. LADY ANNE: I fear me both are false. GLOUCESTER: Then never man was true. LADY ANNE: Well, well, put up your sword. GLOUCESTER: Say, then, my peace is made. LADY ANNE: That shall you know hereafter. GLOUCESTER: But shall I live in hope? LADY ANNE: All men, I hope, live so. GLOUCESTER: Vouchsafe to wear this ring. LADY ANNE: To take is not to give. GLOUCESTER: Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst. LADY ANNE: Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not, GLOUCESTER: Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. LADY ANNE: Villain, thou know'st not law of God nor man. No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. GLOUCESTER: But I know none, and therefore am no beast. LADY ANNE: O, wonderful, when devils tell the truth! GLOUCESTER: More wonderful, when angels are so angry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, Of these supposèd crimes to give me leave By circumstance but to acquit myself. LADY ANNE: Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man, Of these known evils but to give me leave By circumstance to curse thy cursèd self.

IT’S YOUR TURN!!! On the worksheet provided, read the passage and underline the zeugma (using a single word to apply to two or more nouns) found throughout. On the back of the paper, write your own 4-10 line stichomythia (speaking in alternating lines with alternating characters). BEST STICHOMYTHIA GETS HIGH FIVES FROM BOTH OF US BEST STICHOMYTHIA GETS HIGH FIVES FROM BOTH OF US QUIZ!-Under your example of stichomythia, number your paper 1-7.

Quiz!!!  1. Write your own definition for zeugma. 2. Write your own definition for stichomythia. 3. True or false. Stichomythia has one person saying a long speech then the other person giving a long speech. 4. True or false. Zeugma consists of one verb and two or more nouns. 5. True or false. Stichomythia is similar to a mad lib. 6. True or false. Stichomythia is dialogue. 7. True or false. Zeugma and stichomythia will be found as syntax terms on the AP Test.

Bibliography articles/zeugma-rhetorical-device-used-by- master-writers html zeugma.html