Rhetorical Devices

A study guide for Thomas so he doesn't have a panic attack by your girlfriend who loves you :)

Allegory

Sustained metaphor where the people and places represent something else; often use animals to communicate meaning

Analogy

Like a metaphor or simile (in that it is a comparison), but the comparable elements are explained

Metaphor/Simile

Both comparisons

Metaphor - a direct comparison

Simile - an indirect comparison using like, as, or than

The author uses something familiar to help explain something unfamiliar

Understatement/Euphemism

Using a word or phrase to reduce the severity of an idea or statement

Often used to communicate denial, insecurity or pity

Diction

Deliberate word choice - the word has a certain meaning or association.

Positive connotation - positive association

Negative connotation - negative association

Allusion

Authors make reference to known events or people to help the reader understand new information (biblical, classical and topical)

Repetition

Repeating a word or phrase IN CLOSE SUCCESSION

Anaphora

Using the same phrase or word to being successive sentences

Irony - the opposite of what the reader would expect

Three types of irony:

1. Verbal - Sarcasm

2. Dramatic - when the audience knows more than the characters in a work of literature

3. Situational - when the outcome is different than what was intended

Personification

Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object or idea (to make the setting reflect what is happening in the text)

Imagery

Using descriptive language (adjectives and adverbs) to create a VIVID mental picture in the reader’s head

Symbolism

Attaching an abstract idea (intangible) to a concrete (tangible) object, shape, colour etc.

Symbol is specific to THAT text

Oxymoron

Two contradicting words are used together in a sentence or phrase

Alliteration

The repetition of initial letters to draw emphasis to a specific phrase or line

Juxtaposition (Contrasting)

A side by side contrast or comparison to emphasize differences (sometimes this is diction, sometimes theme, sometimes through imagery

Onomatopeia

Words that sound like a noise or that are associated with the sound that it makes

Plays on the reader’s sense of hearing

Hyperbole/Litote

A purposeful over exaggeration for effect

Climatic Word Order

Similar words are listed in order of emphasis to highlight the writer’s idea

Amplification

The repetition of similar terms that relate to a central idea for the purpose of creating emphasis

Pun

A joke that uses words with different meanings or sound alike but have different meanings

Pathetic Fallacy

When the weather reflects the themes, mood, tone of the text

Natural world mirrors what is happening in the human world

Idiom

A commonly used phrase that is often not meant to be taken literally

Anecdote

A short story, often personal, that helps to explain the author’s message through the use of an example

Rhetorical Question

A question that has an implied and obvious meaning. Used to reiterate a key fact or idea