Poetic Devices Flashcards
Anaphora
The repetition of a word at the beginning of successive lines or phrases
Caesura
A break between words within a foot
Chiasmus
The repetition of a grammatical structure in reverse order
Emphasis
The use of a word that has both an obvious and an implicit meaning
Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence or clause into the next line, often for emphasis
Figura etymologica
The use of two etymologically related words in close proximity to each other
Hapax legomenon
A word that occurs only once in the extant records of a language
Hyperbaton
The separation of a noun from its adjective by several words
Metonymy
The substitution of an attribute or property for a related entity
Parataxis
The avoidance of subordinate clauses in favor of coordinate clauses
Pleonasm
The use of more words than is necessary to convey an idea
Proleptic
A reference to something that has not yet occurred
Transferred epithet
This occurs when an adjective that describes one noun is transferred to another
Tricolon
Three parallel words or phrases in immediate succession
Zeugma
A rhetorical device in which a literal and a figurative meaning are linked
