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Ecphonesis

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Ecphonesis (Greek: ἐκφώνησις) is an emotional, exclamatory phrase (exclamation) used in poetry, drama, or song. It is a rhetorical device that originated in ancient literature. Latin examples are "O tempora! O mores!" ("Oh, the times! Oh, the morals!"). A modern example is "Young man!" from the song YMCA by the Village People

Edgar Allan Poe used many rhetoric literary devices^[1] and ecphonesis was one he used in his writings. For example he used this device in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, "Almighty God!--no, no! They heard!--they suspected!--they knew!--they were making a mockery of my horror!--this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now--again!--hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! "'Villains!' I shrieked, 'dissemble no more! I admit the deed!--tear up the planks! here, here!--It is the beating of his hideous heart!'". Here the use of exclamations throughout this example and the whole story lets the reader see the feelings and emotions of the main character. Even when Poe does not use ecphonesis the mood he puts the reader while using exclamatory words is already in place.^[2] Poe uses these words to show the reader how a person reacts without coming out straight forward. Poe isn’t the only person using ecphonesis and here are some other examples used in modern American literature:

"No! No-no-no-no-no-no! Well, yes."- Homer Simpson of The Simpsons ^[3]

"Oh joy! Rapture! I got a brain!"-Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, 1939 ^[4]

In Eastern Orthodox Liturgy

In the Eastern Orthodox Church many prayers are recited silently by the priest who "speaks to God face-to-face" according to St. Symeon of Thessaloniki. However, the closing words of such prayers are usually chanted aloud, especially at the closing of an ectenia (litany), and those closing words are called an ecphonesis.

Examples:

• In the anaphora (eucharistic prayer), the prayer following the sanctus is said aloud by the priest but its ending, the Words of Institution, are intoned in a loud voice.
• During most ectenias the priest silently recites a prayer up to its last line and then, when the ectenia has concluded, he chants aloud that last line.

References

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