honors english final rhetorical devices

Paradox

A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well found or true

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Personification

A figure of speech in which inanimate objects are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of consecutive phrases or lines

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole

"I bought a new set of wheels"

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

Crown = royalty, king, queen

Irony

A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result

Asyndeton

The omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence

Metaphor

The comparison of two seemingly dissimilar things without using the terms like or as

Polysyndeton

Uses conjunctions after every word or term

Analogy

A comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification

Anecdote

A short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that are in close proximity to one another

Hyperbole

An exaggeration used for effect

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds within and at the ends of words

Allusion

Literary: a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature

Biblical: a reference to the bible in a literary work

Historial: a reference to a historical figure or event

Assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in closely positioned words

Pun

A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings

Chiasmus

A sentence strategy in which the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a reversal of the first

Zeugma

The used of a verb that has two different meanings with objects that compliment both meanings

Parallelism

Words or phrases that are similarly constructed and in close proximity to one another

Antithesis

The juxtaposition (combination) of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses