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Metanoia
 

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Metanoia





CORRECTIO

Metanoia is used in recalling a statement in two ways—-to weaken the prior declaration or to strengthen it.


Weakening

The use of metanoia to weaken a statement is effective because the original statement still stands, along with the qualifying statement.VirtualSalt.com (2006). A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices For instance, when one says, "I shall murder you. You will be punished," the force of the original statement ("I shall murder you") remains, while a more realistic alternative has been put forward ("you will be punished").


Strengthening

When it is used to strengthen a statement, metanoia works to ease the reader from a moderate statement to a more radical one, as in this quote from Marcus Aurelius 's '' Meditations ''


I still fall short of it through my own fault, and through not observing
the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say, their direct instructions (Book One);The Internet Classics Archive (2006). The Meditations


Here Aurelius utilizes metanoia to move from a mild idea ("not observing the admonitions of the gods") to a more intense one ("not observing... their direct instructions"). He uses the clause "I may almost say" to introduce the metanoia.


REPENTANCE

Metanoia, in addition to its Literary uses, means a moral change of heart, or Repentance . As such, it is sometimes used in literature to personify repentance. This can be seen in this passage from William Browne 's '' Britannia's Pastorals :


Faire Metanoia is attending

To croune thee with those joys that know no ending. (Pastorals, v. I).Biblomania (2006). Metanoia



REFERENCES


:Cuddon, J.A., ed. ''The Penguin Dictonary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory.'' 3rd ed. Penguin Books: New York, 1991.