Literary Devices and Rhetorical Strategies for Analyzing Texts

Symbolism

A literary device where an object, action, or event conveys a deeper meaning such as a larger concept, idea, or emotion.

Anecdote

A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person

Rhetorical Question

A question that is asked in order to make a point or a dramatic effect.

Analogy

A way of comparing 2 different things that are similar for clarification or explanation.

Hypophora

A literary device where a speaker asks a question and then answers it immediately.

Allusion

It's when the author refers to a well-known person, story, place, and event without mentioning it explicitly.

Personification

When an author gives human qualities, actions, or feelings to something non-human, like an object, animal, or idea.

Antithesis

It highlights the major difference between opposing ideas and makes it more memorable to the audience.

Antistrophe

A rhetorical device that involves the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

Anaphora

A rhetorical device that involves the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing.

Understatement

A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.

Aphorism

A concise statement that expresses a general truth or principle.

Hyperbole

An exaggerated statement or claim that is not meant to be taken literally.

Juxtaposition

The act of placing two or more concepts, characters, ideas, or places side by side for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.

Irony

A rhetorical device, literary technique, or event in which what appears on the surface to be the case differs radically from what is actually the case.

Anadiplosis

A rhetorical device in which a word or phrase at the end of one clause is repeated at the beginning of the next.

Aristotelian Appeals

Persuasive strategies that appeal to ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic).

Paradox

A statement that contradicts itself but may nonetheless be true.

Parallelism

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter.

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Tone

The general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.

Ethos

credibility or worthiness

Pathos

emotional appeal

Logos

logic or reasoning

Puncuation

The use of marks like periods, commas, and question marks to organize writing and make its meaning clear.