Use of a longer expression in place of a shorter one.

a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things

Circumlocution (or roundabout speaking) employed for poetic effect. See kenning.

10.164.7 down Circumlocution

Circumlocution – using many words to express something which could be put more briefly. With the help of this device, the writer may avoid commonplace terms and achieve an elevated style. Example: In “The Rape of the Lock,” Pope elaborates the statement “Hampton court is on the Thames near Hampton”: Close by those meads, forever crowned with flowers, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which for the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name.