Abstract: The paper focuses on Hayden White's theory of tropology, and tackles the issue of trans-boundary between literature and history. White's discourse upon the poetry of history relies on the revelation of the mechanism of tropology. This paper demonstrates the four key concepts, namely, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony, comprising in the connotation of tropology. This quadruple structure points to a certain internal continuity in human consciousness, and constitutes the main mechanism of historical discourse in meaning-production. Classical historians establish the basic forms of writing by way of tropology, and then influence the three layers of writing, namely, weaving of a plot, formal argumentation and ideology. The three layers of historical writing not only demonstrate the explicit content of tropology but also serve as the generative effect of historical discourse realized by tropology. Thus, theory of tropology argues strongly for historical poetics and presets a greater ground for the writing discourse.

Key words: tropology, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, irony, the effect of historical writing