rhetorical devices
TRANSCRIPT
DEFINITION
RHETORICAL DEVICES:
Is an artful arrangement of words to
achieve a particular emphasis and
effect. It consists of two categories:
Rhetorical schemes
Rhetorical tropes
RHETORICAL SCHEMES
The repetition of the
same sounds at the
beginning of two or
more adjacent words or
stressed syllables.
The formalized
consonance of
syllables. It has two
types: Internal rhyme
and External rhyme or
end rhyme
ALLITERATION RHYME
RHETORICAL SCHEMES
The repetition of
identical or similar
vowel sounds, usually
in successive or
proximate words.
EXAMPLE
Try to light the fire
The repetition of two or
more consonants with
a change in the
intervening vowels.
EXAMPLE
pitter-patter, splish-
splash, and click-clack
ASSONANCE CONSONANCE
RHETORICAL SCHEMES
The use of words that
sound like what they
mean.
EXAMPLE
“Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells!
What a world of merriment
Their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!”
(from “The Bells” by Edgar
Allan Poe)
ONOMATOPOEIA
WORD LEVEL
Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause.
EXAMPLE
"The crime was common, common be the pain. “ (Alexander Pope)
A figure of speech in
which each sentence
or clause ends with the
same word.
EXAMPLE
It ends well, if it begins
well.
ANADIPLOSIS EPISTROPHE
WORD LEVEL
Regular repetition of the same word or phrase at
the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.
…We shall fight in France, we
shall fight on the seas and
oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and
growing strength in the air…
ANAPHORA
WORD LEVEL
We can never be satisfied as long as the
Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors
of police brutality. We can never be satisfied
as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue
of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of
the highways and the hotels of our cities. We
cannot be satisfied as long as our children are
stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their
dignity by signs stating ‘For whites only’. We
cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New
York believes he has nothing for which to
vote.
ANAPHORA
WORD LEVEL
Repetition of the same word in different syntactical or grammatical forms. Also can be the repetition of the same word in the same form.
EXAMPLE
« Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly,– It depends upon the character of those who handle it. »
Emma, p160.
A word formed by
combining two or more.
EXAMPLE
brunch = breakfast +
lunch.
PORTMANTEAU POLYPTON
WORD LEVEL
Repetition of word or phrase at the beginning and at the end of successive structure.
(IT IS A BLEND OF ANAPHORA + EPISTROPHE)
EXAMPLE
Much is your reading, but not the word of God.
Much is your building, but not the house of God.
T. S. Eliot
Repeat words of the
same or close
meanings to
emphasize a given
meaning.
EXAMPLE
Hate = loathe = abhor
= detest.
SYMPLOCE SYNONYM
WORD LEVEL
Repeat the same words or ideas in the common
phrase
EXAMPLE
I myself personally disagree with you, sorry!
TAUTOLOGY
SENTENCE LEVEL
A Rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. ( silence for fear, anger)
EXAMPLE
BREATH and WAITING FOR GODOT
By Samuel Becket
A rhetorical device where conjunctions, articles and pronouns are omitted for the sake of speed and economy.
EXAMPLE
The first sort by their own suggestion fell
Self tempted, self-depraved, man falls, deceived
By the other first…
John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
APOSIOPESIS (BECOMING
SILENT)
ASYNDETON
(UNCONNECTED)
SENTENCE LEVEL
A reversal of
grammatical structures
in successive phrases
or clauses.
EXAMPLE
Fair is foul and foul is fair.
The omission of
understood words in a
sentence. Also called
“reduction”
EXAMPLE
“Enough of this; I pray thee, hold they peace.”
–Romeo and Juliet
CHIASMUS (PLACING
CROSSWISE)ELLIPSIS (LEAVING OUT)
SENTENCE LEVEL
A figure of speech in
which words are
transposed from their
usual order.
EXAMPLE
Serpent wise
Horror chill
Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance.
EXAMPLE
I came, I saw, I conquered.
JULIUS CASEAR, SHAKESPEARE.
HYPERBATON
(OVERSTEPPING)PARALLELISM
SENTENCE LEVEL
Co-ordination of clauses without conjunctions especially when they are short.
EXAMPLE
My hot water was red, Manchester United’s colour.
Use of conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause. Opposite of asyndeton.
EXAMPLE
“If there be cords, or knives, poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, I’ll not endure it.
Othello, III, iii
PARATAXIS (BESIDE
ARRANGEMENT)
POLYSYNDETON (MUCH
COMPOUNDED)
SENTENCE LEVEL
Two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.
EXAMPLE
“…lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball. “
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
“You held your breath and the door for me. “
”Head Over Feet”
Alanis Morissette
ZEUGMA
TROPES
A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present.
EXAMPLE
O woe, o woeful, o woeful, o woeful day!
Substitution of a milder
or less direct
expression for one that
is harsh or blunt.
EXAMPLE
Using "passed away" for
"dead.”
APOSTROPHE EUPHEMISM
TROPES
An intentionally exaggerated figure of speech for emphasis or effect.
EXAMPLE
All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand.
(from Macbeth by William
Shakespeare)
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.
EXAMPLE
You seem clever in that bow tie.
HYPERBOLE IRONY
TROPES
A subtle comparison in which the author describes a person or thing using words that are not meant to be taken literally.
EXAMPLE
“Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.”
(Faith Baldwin)
A metaphor where something being compared is referred to by something closely associated with it.
EXAMPLE
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”
Julius Caesar, III, ii
METAPHOR METONYMY
TROPES
A figure of speech that
combines two
apparently
contradictory elements.
EXAMPLE
Deafing silence.
A statement that seems
contradictory, but is
actually true.
EXAMPLE
“The sun itself is the dark
simulacrum and light is
the shadow of God.”
OXYMORON PARADOX
TROPES
A punning play on
words which uses
similar or identical
phonemes for its
effect.
EXAMPLE
Who seeks happiness,
that with six herds or
more.
A roundabout way of speaking or writing. Thus using many or very long words where a few simple words, will do.
« Her olfactory system was suffering from a temporary inconvenience. » Her nose was blocked
Hard times
PARONOMASIA PERIPHRASIS
TROPES
Nonhuman things or abstractions are represented as having human qualities.
EXAMPLE
“A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair”
(from “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer)
A comparison of two things that is essentially different, usually using the words like or as.
EXAMPLE
“Oh my love is like a red, red rose.”
(from “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns)
PERSONIFICATION SIMILE
TROPES
Mixing sensations to appeal to more than one sense.
EXAMPLE
The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue,
To conceive, not his heart to report, what my dream was.
The opposite of hyperbole; the deliberate presentation of something as being much less important, valuable etc. than it really is.
EXAMPLE
“These figures are a bit disappointing” instead of “… are disastrous
SYNAESTHESIA UNDERSTATEMENT