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Breaking off suddenly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray being
overcome with emotion. |
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| Examples
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In
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Antony interrupts his own speech at
Caesar's funeral:
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me,
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
—Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.2.104-107
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| Related
Figures |
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Sources: |
Ad Herennium 4.30.41
("praecisio"); Quintilian 9.2.54-55; Aquil. 5 ("aposiopesis," "reticentia");
Susenbrotus (1540) 25 ("aposiopesis," "reticentia," "praecisio," "obticentia,"
"interruptio") ; Peacham (1577) E4r, N1v; Putt. (1589) 178 ("aposiopesis,"
"figure of silence"); Day 1599 81 |
