Chapter 6-8: Rhetorical Devices---AP Lang

Simile

A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words 'like' and 'as'.

• She moved like a deer

Analogy

Compares two different things by identifying points of similarity; used to explain a complex idea or concept.

• In order to solve a problem, you first have to know what the problem really is, in the same way that you can’t untie a knot until you’ve found the knot

Metaphor

A figure of speech that implicitly compares two unrelated things, typically by stating that one thing is another, without using 'like' or 'as'.

• She was a rock star at our last presentation.

Catachresis

A striking, even extreme, implied metaphor that often makes use of a grammatical misconstruction.

• Blind mouths

• A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green

Metonymy

A type of metaphor in which something closely associated with another thing is named instead of the other thing.

• The suits were at their meeting

Synecdoche

A metaphor of substitution; when a part of the subject is substituted for the whole, or the whole for a part.

• Give me a hand with building this house.

Personification

Using non-literal language (human qualities, actions, or emotions) to give to inanimate objects, animals, or abstract ideas to make them seem more relatable.

Allusion

A short, informal reference to a famous person or event.

• You’re acting like such a Scrooge

Eponym

A specific type of allusion that substitutes the name of a person famous for some attribute in place of the attribute itself.

• Use your John Hancock for this document

Apostrophe

A direct address to someone, whether present or absent, real or imaginary.

•     “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo”

Transferred Epithet

An adjective modifying a noun that it cannot normally modify but that makes figurative sense.

• Gloomy days

• Unhappy marriage

• Sleepless nights