Rhetorical Devices

allusion

a reference, explicit or implicit, to something [or someone] in previous literature or history. **makes connections across time and place.

anaphora

the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.

**emphasizes the subject (the person doing the thing).

chiasmus

a figure of speech in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form, ex: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” or “one for all and all for one.”

**asks you to change your perspective.

diacope

a word or phrase is repeated after a brief interruption, ex: “Bond.  James Bond” or “Run, Toto—run!” or Cardigan’s “Love me.  Love me.  Say that you love me.”  **adds emphasis to a part of the idea.

double epithet

two words of identical or almost identical meaning joined by  a  conjunction.  “extravagant and erring”, “big and mighty.” *adds depth.

epistrophe

when you end subsequent sentences, clauses or paragraphs with the same word, ex:  “When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.” 

**emphasizes the predicate (what is being done).

epizeuxis

repeating a word immediately in the same context, e.g., “simplify, simplify” or “The horror! The horror!”  **emphasizes a single idea.

litotes

 a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite, ex: “This is no small problem.”  **makes something sound less extreme than it is - but often ironically.

merism

a figure of speech in which something is not named but rather all of its parts are named, i.e. such as saying “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” instead of “people” or how wedding vows do not say “in any circumstances” but rather use the following multiple merisms, “…for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health”  **adds depth.

parallelism

  the repetition of the same grammatical pattern within a sentence; you create a parallel construction, so that if you put one part on top of the other, you could draw parallel lines between matching parts of speech, ex: “what we say and what we do.” **creates structural emphasis on the connection between the ideas of the parallel parts.

polyptoton

repeated use of one word as different parts of speech or in different grammatical forms, ex: “I have been a stranger¹ in a strange² land” (¹noun, ²adjective) or “Please³ Please⁴ Me” (³interjection, ⁴verb).  

preterition

a figure of speech by which in pretending to pass over something, a summary mention of it is made, or attention is called to it. For example: “I don’t intend to dwell on my opponent’s embezzlement of funds.” **is used ironically - you’re trying to call attention to something but pretending you’re not.

rhetorical question

asking a question when the answer is self-evident, and not meant to be literally answered by the audience. **creates audience buy-in (because they know the answer).

tricolon

   a figure of speech comprised of three clearly defined parts, i.e., “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” or the more humorous “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  **add emphasis to an idea by creating a sense of rhythm and completeness (and with the tricolon crescens, intensity).

tricolon crescens

a figure of speech comprised of three clearly defined parts, listed in ascending order of importance or size (“days, weeks, years”).

ethos

the character or believability of the speaker or writer

logos

 the logical content of the words used

pathos

the emotional appeal of the presentation to the audience