Landmark Essays on Tropes and Figures offers a thorough overview of the most influential essays on rhetorical tropes and figures, providing a solid foundation for understanding this area of study. The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with essays on the development of the concepts, their definitions, and their decline; the second part deals with applications: how figures and tropes have been used in various disciplinary domains, from literary criticism, to politics, science, advertising, and music.

This volumes spans writing from the early 20th century to contemporary work, providing readers with a historically grounded base for study. It brings together book chapters and journal articles that would otherwise be difficult to locate, providing a ready-made collection of readings on the topic of tropes and figures.