Roman Rhetorical Devices

alliteration

Repetition of sounds at the beginning of two or more words in close connection

allusion

a short, informal reference to a famous person or event

anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

apostrophe

a sudden break from the previous method of discourse to address, in the second person, some person or object, absent or present

assonance

the occurence of similar vowel sounds in words close to each other

asyndeton

the omission of conjunction

chiasmus

ABBA arrangment of words

connotation

implicit meanings of a word

consonance

repetition of consonant sounds throughout words that are close to each other (like alliteration but sounds do not appear only at the beginnings of words)

ellipsis

the shortening of a sentence or phrase by the omission of words which can be understood

enjambment

the postponement of a word or phrase to the next line of poetry to create a suspense

hendiadys

a single idea expressed by two nouns where usually a noun and adjective would be used

hyperbole

rhetorical exaggeration

irony

the statement of an apparent fact with the manifest intention of expressing its opposite

Juxtaposition

arrangment of words to intensify meaning

litotes

also called an understatment, negation of an opposite for emphasis

metaphor

an implied comparision

metonymy

the use of one thing to signify another, which it suggests

onomatopoeia

words of combinations of words, the sound which suggests their sense

oxymoron

the juxtaposition of two words of contradictory meaning to emphasize the contradiction

parallelism

recurrence of a grammatical pattern

personification

the attribution of the element of personality to an impersonal thing

polysyndeton

use of too many conjunctions

rhetorical question

question that is not meant to be answered but is to make a point

simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

synchysis

ABAB arrangement of words, also called interlocking words

syncope

shortening of a word by removing or modifying one or more syllables

synecdoche

the use of a part for the whole (form of metonmymy)

transferred epithet

a modifier which has been transferred from the word to which is grammatically belongs to another word connected with it in thought

tricolon (crescens)

combination of three elements, crescens is used when the elements successively increase in size also called Ascending tricolon