The use of paronomasia
Learn about using words differently

Literature employs a number of devices to enhance the meaning of the written word and convey the writer’s meaning more emphatically or lend it the requisite flavour the author wishes it to possess. A pun or paronomasia “is the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humour or a dual meaning.” By classification, puns must be intentional. The author puts such ambiguity to use deliberately. It can be in the form of play on words which have the same sound but different meanings or it could stem from misuse of homophones or homonyms.

The origin of the word dates way back to 1550, possibly a short form of ‘pundigron’, which may be a humourous variation of the Italian puntiglio which means “equivocation, trivial objection,” a short form of Latin punctum “point”. Punning has been used by writers such as Alexander Pope, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, William Shakespeare, John Donne and Lewis Carroll. Shakespeare is estimated to have used over 3,000 puns in his plays. Puns essentially are a humourous substitution of words that are alike in sound but different in meaning, as in this passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll: “And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject. “Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle, “nine the next, and so on.” “What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice. “That’s the reason they’re called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.”

All of us get to read Lewis Carroll and William Shakespeare in school to a certain extent. Shakespeare is almost infamous for using puns rather liberally (hope you get the pun!).

Puns can be classified in various ways. A homophonic pun exploits word pairs that sound alike (homophones), but are not synonymous, for instance, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there is a cobbler. When asked what he did, he replied, “I am a mender of men’s soles (souls).” A homographic pun exploits different words (or word meanings) which are spelled the same way, but possess different meanings such as fair (pleasing in appearance) and fair (market). These are also referred to as “antanaclasis”. Antanaclasis is a word used in two or more of its possible meanings, as in the final two lines of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: “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.” Here the poet is playing on the word ‘sleep’ which could take on the meaning of ‘a temporary rest’ or the more profound ‘the repose of death.’ The compound pun and the recursive pun are also used by writers.

John Donne, an English Jacobean poet, is an important representative of the metaphysical school of poets. Donne’s poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor. He is famous for punning on his own name in his poem ‘A Hymn to God the Father’—“When thou hast done, thou hast not done.”
Jokes quite commonly depend on puns to get a laugh out of people. In the Harry Potter series, alleys named “Diagon Alley” and “Knockturn Alley” are puns for diagonally and nocturnally. Puns like these can be found all around in literature. While reading English literature, in whatever form, attention should be paid to the deeper meaning that lies in the author’s words.