Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Tropes
in which MEANING is altered from the usual or expected; alterations in the usual meanings of words or phrases
Schemes
in which WORD ORDER is altered from the usual or expected; gestures of language; arragnements of ideas, words, phrases that are stylistically effective
Pun (trope)
play on meaning of words; 1) repetition of a single word in two different senses; 2) play on words that sound alike but are different in meaning; 3) use of a single word with two different meanings withing the context of the sentence
Metaphor (trope)
implied comparison between two unlike things
Simile (trope)
explicit comparison between two unlike things signaled by the use of like or as
Personification (trope)
attributing human qualities to an inanimate object
Apostrophe (trope)
turn away from audience to address someone or something new (anyone not present); type of personification
Irony (trope)
contrast between reality and expectations
Sarcasm (trope)
particularly biting irony which involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule; Greek meaning “to tear flesh”
Hyperbole (trope)
exaggeration; deliberate exaggeration for emphasis
Understatement (trope)
opposite of exaggeration; technique for developing irony and/or humor where the writer describes something as less than what it is
Euphemism (trope)
type of understatement where you substiture less pungent words for harsh ones, sometimes with excellent ironic effect
Synecdoche (trope)
related to classification and division – a part is substituted for the whole, or the species for the genus; Ex. “hands” for helpers
Metonymy (trope)
designation of one things with something closely associated with it; could be personification; Ex. “White House” for president; “crown” for king
Oxymoron (trope)
contradiction; two contradictory terms or ideas used together; “sweet sorrow”
Paradox (trope)
statement that appears to be contradictory but, in fact, has some truth; “work hard at being lazy”
Onomatopoeia (trope)
use of words whose sound reinforces their meaning; “drip”; “snarl”
Rhetorical Question – 1) Asking the Reader (trope)
effect: way of taking counsel with reader
Rhetorical Question – 2) Asking the Writer (trope)
effect: suggesting writer’s thinking process; talking through an idea with reader
Rhetorical Question – 3) Criticizing (trope)
effect: making criticism in form of question
Rhetorical Question – 4) Asking and Answering (trope)
effect: way of organizing paper or making writer’s method of development clear to reader
Parallelism (scheme, balance)
expresses similar or related ideas in similar grammatical structures
Antithesis (scheme, balance)
type of parallelism; juxtaposition of contrasting ideas; “separates as well as unites, disintegrate as well as bind”
Chiasmus (scheme, balance)
grammatical structure of the first clause or phrase is reversed in the second, somethimes repeating the same words; syntactic mirro AB:BA; reversing syntactical order emphasizes reversal in meaning
Anastrophe (scheme, word order)
word order reversed or rearragned; usual word order reversed; “she looked at the sky, dark and menacing”
Apposition (scheme, addition)
placing next to a noun another noun or phrase that explains it; appositives
Parenthesis (scheme, addition)
insertion of words, phrases, or sentence that is not syntactically related to the rest of the sentence; dashes or parentheses
Asyndeton (scheme, omission)
effect: fast-paced and rapid prose; conjuctions omitted; “I came, I saw, I conquered”
Ellipsis (scheme, omission)
omission of a word or whort phrase easily understood in contect; literal use of a series of three spaced periods to produce same effect
Epanalepsis (scheme, repetition)
repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning
Anaphora (scheme, repetition)
regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses
Epistrophe (scheme, repetition)
regular repetition of same word or phrse at ends of successive phrases or clauses; opposite of anaphora)
Polysyndeton (scheme, repetition)
oppostie of asyndeton; use of many conjuctions; effect; to slow pace or create childlike sense of excitement
Alliteration (scheme, sound)
repetition of same initial consonant sound in nearby words; soft or harsh sounds
Consonance (scheme, sound)
repetition of consonants in words stressed in same place; kind of inverted alliteration; final consonants repeat
Assonance (scheme, sound)
repetition of vowel sounds withing nearby words
Euphony (scheme, sound)
soft sounds; sound device produces pleasant, mellifluous sound
Cacophony (scheme, sound)
sound device produces harsh, discordant sound
Allegory
work that functions on symbolic level
Allusion
reference contained in a work to an event in history or to another piece of literature
Anecdote
short, personal story or brief episode told by a writer or character to llustrate a point
Attitue/Tone
relationship an author has toward their subject/audience
Connotation
interpretive level of word based on its associated images rather than literal meaning
Denotation
literal or dictionary definition of a word
Epigraph
use of quotation or excerpt at beginning of work or chapter that hints at its theme
Motif
repetition or variations of an image or idea in a work or chapter that hints at its theme
Satire
work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule
Symbol
something in a literary work that stands for something else, usually something greater than the thing itself
Litotes (trope)
a type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary
