Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Perspective
A character’s view of the situation or events in the story
Aphorism
A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief
Contradiction
A direct opposite between things compared; inconsistency
Apostrophe
Speech or poem addressed to someone who is usually dead or thing that is personified
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements
Allusion
Call something to mind without mentioning it, indirect or passing reference
Syllogism
A form of deduction. An extremely subtle , sophisticated, or deceptive argument.
Satire
A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness
Devices
A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader
Foil
A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast
Epitaph
A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person
Parody
A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject
Sarcasm
A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which praise is actually meant as harsh and critical
Expletive
A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words
Irony
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant
Eulogy
A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing
Paradox
A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true
Epiphany
A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience
Onomatopoeia
A word capturing the sound of what it describes
Diction
An authors choice of words to convey tone or effect
Utopia
An imaginary place of ideal perfection. Opposite of dystopia
Hyperbole
An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language
Antagonist
Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character
Analogy
Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects.
Examples are metaphors and similes
Inductive
A way to describe something that leads to something else. Collect information and draw conclusion
Nostalgia
Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time
Thesis
Focus statement of an essay
Ethos
In dramatic literature the moral element that determines a characters actions rather than thought or emotion
Propaganda
Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution
Didactic
Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson
Formal Language
Language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal
Anecdote
A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature
Allegory
Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves. Characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities
Colloquial
Ordinary language
Aesthetic
A set of principles underlying and guiding work of a particular artist
Juxtaposition
Placing two items side by side for contrasting effect
Elegy
Poem or prose mourning the death of a particular person
Antihero
Protagonist of literary work who does not embody traditional qualities of a hero
Catharsis
Purification or cleansing of the spirit through emotions of pity and terror as a witness to tragedy
Epigraph
Short quote at beginning of literary work to suggest a theme
Motif
Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or an event
Parallelism
Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance
Anaphora
The replacement of a word so you aren’t repeating the same word over and over
Imagery
Sensory details
Euphemism
Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt
Genre
Term used to describe literary forms
Voice
The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story
Tone
The attitude towards the literary subject
Theme
The central or dominant idea or concern of a work
Protagonist
The main character
Denotation
The dictionary definition of a word
Mood
The food resulting from the tone of the piece as well attitude and point of view
Realism
The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail
Prose
The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure
Asyndeton
The absence of a conjunction (but or and) in a sentence or phrase
Deductive
The reasoning of a conclusion drawn from a set of premises and only the premises no facts
Premise- previous statements
Assonance
The repetition of identical vowel sounds
Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds
Consonance
The repetition of consonants but with different vowels for different words
Splish-splash
Persona
The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story
Syntax
The way words are put together to form phrases
Ambiguity
Use of language which can have multiple meanings
Connotation
What is implied by a word. Not the actual dictionary meaning of the word
