Rhetorical devices Flashcards
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds. A device related to rhyme. “I am Fortune’s fool.”
Anadiplosis
Beginning a sentence or clause by repeating the last word or words of the previous sentence or clause. “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Anaphora
Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.
Antimetabole (chiasmus)
Repetition of the same words or phrases in reverse order: “One for all and all for one!”
Epiphora
Repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.
Ethos
Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.
Hyperbole
Figure of speech based on exaggeration and exaggerated images: I’ll give you tons of reasons”
Imperative
The use of the imperative form (bydeform) can give the speaker power, strength and ethos: “Make no mistake!”
Logos
Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.
Metaphor
Image consisting of two parts that are not directly connected. Example: “A dog of the house of Montague” (ie. a man of that house - dog is used as a metaphor for man to indicate some sort of resemblance between dogs and men.)
Oximoron
A form of contrast where the opposing words are placed next to each other. It makes a very strong image. Example: “perfect imperfections”.
Pathos
The appeal to strong emotions and feelings.
Personification
An image where things/ideas etc. are given human feelings or attributes. Example: “Love, so gentle in his view, should be so tyrannous”.
Simile
A comparison that uses “like” or “as”: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea…”
Symploce
A combination of anaphora and epiphora: “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
