Rhetorical Terms for Reading and Writing Flashcards
An extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represents abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface of the story; the underlying meaning may be moral. religious, political, social, or satiric.
Allegory
A reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, event, or other literary work with which the reader is presumably familiar.
Allusion
A short, simple, narrative of an incident; often used for humorous effect or to make a point.
Anecdote
A rhetorical device that features the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses. Anaphora works as a literary device to allow writers to convey, emphasize and reinforce meaning.
Anaphora
A stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjuctions between the phrases, and in the sentence, yet maintain grammatical accuracy
Asyndeton
It rather connects the clause with a conjunction. “I came and I saw and I conquered.”
Polysyndeton
The addition of multiple conjunctions. such as in this example: “He eats and sleeps and drinks.”
Syndeton
Indicates the same word returns at the end of each sentence. A stylistic device that can be defined as the repetition of phrases or words at the ends of the clauses or sentences.
Epistrophe
A combination of two words, “Snide” and “Remark,” which means a sarcastic comment.
Snark
The presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause or paragraphs. “To be or not to be…”
Antithesis
A rhetorical device that starts an argument with a reference to something general, and from this it draws a conclusion about something more specific.
Syllogism
A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing (Y’all, ain’t)
Colloquialism
