What is "ecphonesis"

Ecphonesis \Ec`pho*ne"sis\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?. See Ecphonema.] (Rhet.) An animated or passionate exclamation.

The feelings by the ecphonesis are very various.
--Gibbs.

n. (context rhetoric English) exclamation.

n. an exclamatory rhetorical device; "O tempore! O mores" [syn: exclamation]

Ecphonesis is an emotional, exclamatory phrase (exclamation) used in poetry, drama, or song. It is a rhetorical device that originated in ancient literature.

A Latin example is "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 ecphonesis 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!'"

Other examples of ecphonesis include when Homer Simpson said "No! No-no-no-no-no-no! Well, yes." during The Simpsons episode "Homer The Heretic," and when the Scarecrow said "Oh joy! Rapture! I got a brain!" in The Wizard of Oz.