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English - Shakespeare > A-Z Rhetorical Terms > Flashcards

A-Z Rhetorical Terms Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

adnominatio

A

assigning to a proper name its literal or homophonic meaning; Punning; Using the same word in different senses
‘What a stunning Taser’
‘A king, woe’s slave, shall kingly woe obey’
[polyptoton]

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2
Q

alliteration

A

repetition of the initial consonant/vowel in two or more words; focus on sound NOT letter {i.e. not knotty vs cigarette chase}; used for onomatopoeic effect

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3
Q

ambiguity

A

a word, phrase, or statement containing a double meaning; lead to vagueness/confusion and used to shape basis of unintentional humor
‘Each of us saw her duck’
‘The passerby helped dog bite victim’

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4
Q

amplificatio(n)

A

the use of devices (apostrophe, hyperbole, simile, synonymia) to embellish a sentence and increase its worth/understandability; add to structure to give more meaning; to be overly descriptive

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5
Q

anadiplosis

A

from Greek ‘to double back’ / ‘to reduplicate’; repetition of the last part of one sentence or line in the beginning of the next; across speakers, can signify conversational discourse
‘several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale, and every tale condemns’

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6
Q

anaphora

A

deliberate repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive sentences or lines; used to emphasize descriptive and emotional effects; ‘hammer home’ a point

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7
Q

antanaclasis

A

a kind of pun; repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes
‘Put out the light [candle], then put out the light [her life]’

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8
Q

anthimeria

A

the transfer, ‘conversion’, or shift of one part of speech to another; typically the usage of a noun as a verb
‘Scarf up the tender eye’
‘Hashtag that post’

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9
Q

antimetabole

A

the repetition of words in an inverted or reverse order
‘Fair is foul and foul is fair.’
‘‘tis true ‘tis pity, and pity ‘tis ‘tis true’

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10
Q

antithesis

A

means ‘opposite’; contrast of ideas through juxtaposition / parallelism; used for witty or satirical effect
‘Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit’
‘Speech is silver, but silence is gold’

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11
Q

aphesis

A

word-clipping; initial syllable of the word is omitted; common in poetic language for the sake of the metrical rhythm
‘(a)gainst’
‘Scuse me’
‘‘tis just’
[NOT middle (o’er) / last (oft[en]) syllable]

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12
Q

aposiopesis

A

breaking off abruptly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray overwhelming moments of emotion

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13
Q

apostrophe

A

an emotive address to an absent person, or to an inanimate object or abstraction as if personified;
‘Is this a dagger? … Come, let me clutch thee!’

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14
Q

articulus

A

a list of words; series of descriptions or qualities, often as insults
‘sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horse-back-breaker’

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15
Q

asteismus

A

witty and sophisticated, often ironical, joke; polite or genteel mockery; particularly in a reply with a word or phrase picked up and thrown back on the original speaker
‘I would “never” collude’
‘You better not or you’ll “never” get out of prison’

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16
Q

bathos

A

[SEE gradatio // opposite]
‘anti-climax’ ; presents arguments in a federating order of importance, descending from a heightened level or tone (best / most dramatic argument first)

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17
Q

catachresis

A

figure of speech through the unusual or far-fetched mixture of metaphors; use of words outside their usual contexts; noun as verb
‘elf all my hairs in knots’
[overlap with anthimeria]

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18
Q

circumlocution

A

‘about speech’; a phrase which uses more words than would appear to be strictly necessary; ‘speaking round’ a subject; ambiguous way of expressing things
‘He’s walked the way of nature, and to our purposes he lives no more’ :: he died

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19
Q

climax

A

[SEE gradatio]

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20
Q

collocatio(n)

A

juxtaposition of words with different levels of tone or style; habitual juxtaposition occurring more often than would be expected by chance

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21
Q

conceit

A

metaphorical figure of speech with a reliance on wit or ingenuity of idea for an effect; play on words likening together two vastly different objects (similes or metaphors)
‘This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage-bed and marriage-temple is…’

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22
Q

diacope

A

[SEE epanalepsis]

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23
Q

enallage

A

the intentionally incorrect grammatical use of tense, form, or person; shift in pronoun(s)

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24
Q

enthymeme

A

in logical argumentation, an abridged or incomplete syllogism; in which the writer or speaker omits (implies/does not clearly pronounce) a major or minor premise of their argumentative statement - HOWEVER, the omitted premise remains understandable
e.x. “Where there is smoke, there is fire” {{fire causes smoke}}

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25
Q

epanalepsis

A

A figure of repetitive speech, in which the beginning of a clause or sentence is repeated at the end // can also be repetition of words with any intervening words
“The king is dead, long live the king!”

26
Q

epistrophe

A

A figure of repetitive speech where one or more words at the END of successive phrases/clauses/sentences are repeated {{opposite of anaphora}}
“government of the people, by the people, for the people”
“a fine woman, a fair woman, a sweet woman”

27
Q

epithet(on)

A

descriptive literary device describing a place/thing/person in such a way as to help make its characteristics more prominent than they actually are {{form of AMPLIFICATIO(N)}}
“nodding violet”
“sweetest flower”

28
Q

epizeuxis

A

figure of repetitive speech where a word or phrase is repeated in immediate succession (no intervening words)
“words, words, words”
“howl, howl, howl, howl”

29
Q

euphemism

A

[SEE circumlocution]

30
Q

exordium

A

division of an oration which marks the opening, or introduction; the beginning; designed to catch the attention of listeners
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”
“Ladies and Gentlemen”

31
Q

gradatio

A

‘climax’ ; presents arguments in an ascending order of importance, reserving the best / most dramatic for last (opposite of anti-climax//BATHOS)

32
Q

hendiadys

A

use of two nouns connected by “and” instead of adjective-plus-noun
“heaviness and guilt”
“nice and warm”

33
Q

hypallage

A

words are misplaced from their proper place in an utterance (typically for comic effect) ;
“The eye of man hath not heart, the ear of man hath not seen”

34
Q

hyperbaton

A

the reversal, or inversion, in normal word order of the major elements of a sentence (particularly subject/verb/object)
“Pray can I not”
“Alone he walked on the road”

35
Q

hyperbole

A

overstatement or exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis
“He made my blood boil”
“It weighs a ton”

36
Q

irony

A

misrepresentation of the truth; words used appear to differ from, contradict, or mean the exact opposite of the sense required in context; sarcastic / dry mock OR ‘echoes’ of previous utterances
- could also be unintentional irony {i.e. dramatic irony, in which the audience knows more than the characters}

37
Q

isocolon

A

clauses or sentences of equal length, and therefore parallel in syntax and rhythm
“Was ever woman in this humour woo’d?
Was ever woman in this humour won?”

38
Q

litotes

A

understatement (opposite of HYPERBOLE); typically significant of modesty or politeness
“Oh, it’s nothing”
“I’m fine”

39
Q

metaphor

A

figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but share some common characteristics ((simile without “like” or “as”))
“Her dance is a great poem”
“War is the mother of all battles”

40
Q

metonymy

A

when the name of an entity is replaced by the name of one of its associated attributes or features
“The pen is mightier than the sword” {{written word and military force}}

41
Q

oxymoron

A 
where two opposite ideas are joints to create an effect; commonly an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meaning {condensed PARADOX}
"cruel kindness"
"living death"
"loving hate"
"cold fire"
42
Q

paradox

A

an apparently self-contradictory statement, including a latent truth; typically some philosophical point, or an evaluation being made of a character or situation
“I am nobody”
“I can resist anything but temptation”

43
Q

parenthesis

A

described interspersed qualifications in a sentence or utterance; inserted into a phrase, as an after-thought; meant to give the impression of lack of premeditation (‘natural speech’)

44
Q

parison

A

involves parallelism of clauses or sentences side by side (similar to ISOCOLON); words in one phrase corresponding to words in another
“She’s not well married that lives married long, but she’s best married that dies married young”

45
Q

paronomasia

A

form of pun playing off the confusion between words having similar sounds but different meanings; {in shakespeare, word-play was a mark of wit/cleverness and therefore NOT meant to be passed off as mere comedic relief}
“Death hath not struct so far a deer today, though many dearer, in this bloody fray”

46
Q

periphrasis

A

[SEE circumlocution]

47
Q

perseverantia

A

‘perseverance’ from Latin; a phrase related regularly in a speech or monologue
“But Brutus says, he was ambitious
And Brutus is an honorable man” {{repeated 3 times in Mark Antony’s speech}}

48
Q

personification

A

in which an inanimate object or abstract quality is given human attributes
“Time flies”
“The wind whispered”
“The flowers danced”

49
Q

ploce

A

[SEE epanalepsis]

50
Q

polyptoton

A

[SEE adnominatio]

51
Q

quaesitio

A

several questions uttered one after the other; suggest anxiety or some kind go heightened emotional state (particularly when involving rhetorical questions)

52
Q

rhetorical question

A

a question that does not expect an answer; used just for effect, or to lay emphasis on some point being discussed
“Who knows?”
“Are you stupid?”

53
Q

simile

A

whereby two concepts are imaginatively and descriptively compared (using “like” or “as”)
“Our soldiers are brave as lions”
“Her cheeks are like a rose”

54
Q

sorites

A

[SEE enthymeme]

55
Q

stichomythia

A

form of dialogue suggesting a rapid repartee (witty banter or sharp rebuttal); ‘back and forth’ / alternate lines
“Is the fool sick?”
“Sick at the heart”
“Alack, let it blood”

56
Q

syllepsis

A

a kind of pun where two meanings have to be understood; grammatical figure or omission where a verb has to be understood
“She has deceived her father, and may thee”

57
Q

symploce

A

combination of ANAPHORA and EPISTROPHE; where a set of words at the beginning and also the end of a sentence are repeated;
“I had an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him;
I had a husband, till a Richard kill’d him”

58
Q

synecdoche

A

[SEE metonymy]

59
Q

synonymia

A

the expression of the ‘same’ meaning by different words; pairs or strings of synonyms (means of AMPLIFICATIO(N))
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable”

60
Q

transferred epithet

A 
type of HYPALLAGE; figure of speech in which a modifier/adjective qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing
"wonderful day" 
"sleepless night" 
"cruel bars"
"ignorant sin"

English - Shakespeare (2 decks)

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