Rhetorical Devices

Question 1

allegory

Answer 1

a story in which people, things, and events have another symbolic meaning

Question 2

ambiguity

Answer 2

multiple meanings a literary work may communicate, especially two meanings that are incompatible

Question 3

apostrophe

Answer 3

direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present; example: “Oh Death, where is thy sting?”

Question 4

connotation

Answer 4

the implications of a word or phrase, as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation)

Question 5

convention

Answer 5

a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression; for example, a lover observing the literary love conventions cannot eat or sleep and grows pale and lean

Question 6

denotation

Answer 6

the dictionary meaning of a word (as opposed to connotation)

Question 7

didactic

Answer 7

explicitly instructive

Question 8

digression

Answer 8

the use of material unrelated to the subject of a work

Question 9

epigram

Answer 9

a pithy saying, often using contrast; the epigram is also a verse form, usually brief and pointed; example: “So all my best is dressing old words new, / Spending again what is already spent: / For as the sun is daily new and old, / So is my love still telling what is told.”

Other examples include “Little strokes / Fell great oaks,” “Candy is dandy / But liquor is quicker,” and “I meant the opposite of what I say. / You’ve got it now? No, it’s the other way.”

Question 10

euphemism

Answer 10

a figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness

Question 11

grotesque

Answer 11

characterized by distortion or incongruities

Question 12

hyperbole

Answer 12

deliberate exaggeration, overstatement; as a rule, hyperbole is self-conscious, without the intention of being accepted literally

Question 13

jargon

Answer 13

the special language of a profession or group

Question 14

literal

Answer 14

not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete

Question 15

lyrical

Answer 15

songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imigination

Question 16

oxymoron

Answer 16

a combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms; Romeo’s line “feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health” has four examples of this device

Question 17

parable

Answer 17

a story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question; parables are allegorical stories

Question 18

paradox

Answer 18

a statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is ture

Question 19

personification

Answer 19

a figurative use of language which endows the nonhuman (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics

Question 20

reliability

Answer 20

a quality of some fictional narrators whose word the reader can trust; there are both reliable and unreliable narrators, that is, tellers of a story who should or should not be trusted

Question 21

rhetorical question

Answer 21

a question asked for effect, not in expectation of reply

Question 22

soliloquy

Answer 22

a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud; a monologue also has a single speaker, but the monologuist speaks to others who do not interrupt

Question 23

stereotype

Answer 23

a conventional pattern, expression, character, or idea

Question 24

syllogism

Answer 24

a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn for them; a syllogism begins with a major premise (“All tragedies end unhappily”) followed by a minor premise (Hamlet is a tragedy) and a conclusion (therefore Hamlet ends unhappily)

Question 25

thesis

Answer 25

the theme, meaning, or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support