Shakespeare Rhetorical Terms

Anaphora

Symmetrical repetition of a word at the beginning of a sequence of clauses or sentences, often at the beginning of lines

Anadiplosis

Beginning a phrase with the final words of the previous phrase

Antanaclasis

Shifting of a repeated word from one meaning to another (using a word repeatedly, but with different meanings)

Antimetabole

Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order (sometimes called Chiasmus but that is really about ideas or structures, not exact words)

Cheville

A word or phrase whose only purpose is to make a sentence or poetic line metrically balanced

Chiasmus

Words, grammatical constructions, or concepts repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form

Epistrophe

Symmetrical repetition of a word at the end of a sequence of clauses or sentences, often at the end of lines (opposite of Anaphora)

Isocolon

Symmetrical repetition of sounds and words in phrases of equal length

Malapropism

Mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with unintentionally amusing effect

Mesodiplosis

Symmetrical repetition of words or phrases in the middle of clauses

Parison

Symmetrical repetition of words in grammatically parallel phrases

Polyptoton

Repetition of different forms of the same root word (“strong” and “strength”)

Rhyme

Repetition of sounds

Stichomythia

Rapid back-and-forth dialogue, usually with each character taking a single line