Principal Rhetorical and Literary Devices Flashcards
alliteration
repetition of the same letter at the beginning of words or syllables
anaphora
the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis
anastrophe
inversion of usual word order (e.g., preposition after the word it governs)
aposiopesis
breaking off in the middle of a sentence
apostrophe
addressing a person who is not present
asyndeton
omission of conjunctions
chiasmus
“a-b-b-a” arrangement of words
ellipsis
omission of words
hendiadys
use of two nouns together to express a noun modified by an adjective
hyperbole
exaggeration
hysteron proteron
placing first what the reader might expect to come last
litotes
use of a negative to express a strong positive
metaphor
expression of meaning through an image
metonymy
substitution of one word for another that it suggests
onomatopoeia
use of words that sound like their meaning
oxymoron
use of an apparent contradiction
personification
attribution of human characteristics to something not human
pleonasm
use of superfluous words
polysyndeton
use of many conjunctions
prolepsis
(anticipation)
use of a word sooner than it would logically appear
simile
comparison using a word like “sicut”, “similis”, or “velut”
synecdoche
use of a part to express a whole
tmesis
the separation of a compound word into two parts
tricolon crescens
(ascending tricolon)
combination of three elements, increasing in size
zeugma
use of one word in two different sense simultaneously
