Rhetorical Devices #3 Flashcards
Oversimplification
When the writer denies the complexity of an idea.
example: Solving world hunger by giving everyone food.
Paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true. An idea which embeds a contradiction.
example: You can’t get a job without experiences, and you can’t get experience without getting a job.
Chiasmus
Two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect.
example: Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you.
Symbolism
Anything that represents or stands for something else.
example: Whale in moby dick.
Theme
The central idea or message of a work. The theme may be directly stand in nonfiction works, although not necessarily. Rarely directly stated.
example: theme of pride & prejudice is matrimony, love, friendship.
Understatement
The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous.
example: Deserts are sometimes hot, dry, and sandy.
Understatement-litotes
Understatement by using double negatives.
example: She is not unlike her mother.
Understatement-meiosis
Witty understatement that belittles or dismisses something or somebody, particularly by making use of terms that gives impression that something is less important than it is or it should be.
example: Fire & Ice by Robert Frost
Vernacular
Language or dialect of a particular country, clan, or group.
Plain everyday speech.
example: Dude
Narrative Devices
The tools of a storyteller, such as ordering events so that they build to a climactic moment or withholding information until a crucial or appropriate moment when revealing it creates a desired effect.
example: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Cacophony
Harsh joining of sounds
example: We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will - Winston Churchill
Catachresis
A harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its strict sphere.
example: I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear. -MacArthur
Climax
Arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power. Often the last emphatic word in one phrase or clause is repeated as first emphatic word of the next.
example: Red riding hood finds out grandma is wolf.
Juxtaposition
Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison. Comparison of things or ideas.
example: Average day of typical American vs someone in third world country.
