Antanaclasis pun and Polyptoton pun
Antanaclasis pun
You will have more difficulty remembering this word rather than in knowing it’s meaning. Very simply, in antanaclasis, you use a single word multiple times with a different meaning each time. For example – If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. As you can see, antanaclasis is a kind of pun.
Examples of antanaclasis
(ant-an-uh-klas-is)
Antanaclasis in Othello by William Shakespeare
Othello:
“Yet I’ll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light.”
The first light refers to the candle or the lamp burning, and the second to the Desdemona’s life.
Antanaclasis in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
In this stanza, the first sleep refers to rest and the second one to death.
Other examples -
The craft of a politician is to appear before the public without craft.
Don’t worry; the judge won’t judge you.
Your argument is sound, nothing but sound.
Learn to play a tune before you try to play me.
That company is terrible company.
Are you working hard or hardly working?
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
It is terrible to have a cold in the cold.
Learn some craft when young, that when old you may live without craft.
I’ll dig out his murderers before I dig his grave.
Polyptoton pun
The use of same sounding words (not the same word like in antanaclasis) to convey different meanings is called polyptoton pun. For example – plain and plane, idle and idol, battle and embattled. Paronomasia is the act or practice of punning.
Polyptoton in King Henry Part I by William Shakespeare
Falstaff:
“Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent
that thou art heir apparent…”
Polypototon in Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
“The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength,
Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant;
But I am weaker than a woman’s tear…”
Polypototon in Richard II by William Shakespeare
Act II Scene I
John of Gaunt:
“Methinks I am a prophet new inspired
And thus expiring do foretell of him” …
“He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder…”
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