rhetorical devices

Parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Isocolon

a scheme of parallel structure that occurs when the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure but also in length.

Antithesis

the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

Anastrophe

Inversion of the natural or usual word order.

Paranthesis

insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence.

Apposition

placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first

Ellipsis

deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context

Asyndeton

deliberate omissions of conjuctions between a series of words, phrases, or clauses.

Polysyndeton

deliberate use of many conjunctions (does not involve omission, but is grouped with its opposite, asyndeton).

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonants in two or more adjacent words.

Assonance

the repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.

Anaphora

repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive phrases

Epistrophe

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses

Epanalepsis

repetition of the same word or words at both beginning and ending of a phrase, clause, or sentence

Anadiplosis

repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

Climax

arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance

Antimetabole

repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order

Chiasmus

reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses

Polyptoton

repetition of words derived from the same root

Metaphor

implied comparison between two things of unlike nature

Simile

explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature, usually using "like" or "as"

Synecdoche

figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole

Metonymy

substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant

Antanaclasis

repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance

Personification

investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities

Apostrophe

a term used when a speaker directly addresses someone or something that isn't present. The speaker could be addressing an abstract concept like love, a person (dead or alive), a place, or even a thing, like the sun or the sea.

Hyperbole

the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect

Litotes

deliberate use of understatement

rhetorical question

asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely

Irony

use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word

Onomatopoeia

the use of words whose sounds echo the sense

Oxymoron

the joining of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory

Paradox

an apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth

Paronomasia

use of words alike in sound but different in meaning (pun)

Syllepsis

use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs

Anthimeria

the substitution of one part of speech for another

Periphrasis

the substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name

Allusion

A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing which it refers.