Rhetorical Figures Flashcards
Allegory
A prolonged metaphor.
Alliteration
Repetition of the same consonant in two or more usually initial stressed syllables.
Anacoluthon
Lack of grammatical sequence; a change of grammatical construction within the same sentence.
Anadiplosis
Repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next.
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines.
Epistrophe
Repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
Anastrophe
Transposition of normal word order.
Antithesis
Opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.
Aphorism
A short pithy instructive saying.
Aporia
Expression of doubt (often feigned) by which a speaker appears uncertain as to what he should think, say or do.
Aposiopesis
A form of ellipse by which a speaker comes to an abrupt halt, seemingly overcome by passion or modesty.
Apostrophe
A sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present.
Assonance
Recurrence of vocalic sounds (not based on the written letter but on the sound perceived by the ear).
Asyndeton
A lack of conjunctions, where one would be likely to appear, between coordinate phrases, clauses or words. Often employed in connection with anaphora and underscoring the words in a series.
Cacophony
Harsh joining of sounds.
Catachresis
A harsh metaphor involving the use of a word beyond its strict sphere.
Chiasmus
Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels but in inverted order (a-b-b-a).
Enjambment
Delay of the final word or phrase of a sentence or clause to the beginning of the following verse, to emphasise an idea or create suspense.
Epanalepsis
When a line begins and ends with the same word.
Epizeuxis
A phrase or word repeated in immediate succession (like stuttering).
Euphemism
Substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.
Irony
Expression of something which is contrary to the intente meaning; the words say one thing but mean another.
Isocolon
Series of phrases or clauses of the same length.
Litotes
Understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed.
Metaphor
A figure of analogy consisting in the substitution of a term for another with which it shares only part of its original meaning.
Metonymy
The substitution of a term to another with which it is in a relationship of contiguity.
Onomatopoeia
Use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense.
Oxymoron
Apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.
Paradox
An assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, bu that may yet have some truth in it.
Paronomasia
Use of similar sounding words; often etymological word play.
Pathetic fallacy/personification
Refers to a process by which, in a literary text, nature or an inanimate object is given animate or human characteristics.
Pleonasm
Use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought.
Polysyndeton
The repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses.
Praeteritio (Paraleipsis)
Pretended omission for rhetorical effect.
Simile
A comparison introduced by as or like.
Stichomythia
A technique in drama or poetry in which alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters. It is particularly well suited to sections of dramatic dialogue where two characters are in violent dispute.
Synecdoche
Understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. (A form of metonymy)
Tautology
Repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase or sentence.
Zeugma
Two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.
