AP Lit Rhetoric Quiz

Rhetoric

is the ancient art of argumentation. When we write or speak to convince others of what we believe, we are "rhetors." When we analyze the way rhetoric works, we are "rhetoricians."

Parallelism

when the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length. (i.e. noun, verb, adjective)

For instance, "King Alfred tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable." The previous sentence has parallel structure in use of adjectives. However, the following sentence does not use parallelism: "King Alfred tried to make clear laws that had precision and were equitable." 

Obama said, “Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy.”

Metaphor

implied comparison between two unlike things achieved through the figurative use of words

"Now is the winter of our discontent”

Antithesis

(plural antitheses) -- contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence. It can be a contrast of opposites:

"Evil men fear authority; good men cherish it." Or it can be a contrast of degree: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for all mankind."

Chiasmus

 (from Greek, "cross" or "x"): A literary scheme involving a specific inversion of word order. It involves taking parallelism and deliberately turning it inside out, creating a "crisscross" pattern.

For example: "By day the frolic, and the dance by night." If we draw the words as a chart, the words form an "x" (hence the word's Greek etymology): The sequence is typically a b b a

Alliois

presenting alternatives: "You can eat well or you can sleep well." While such a structure often results in the logical fallacy of the false dichotomy or the either/or fallacy, it can create a cleverly balanced and artistic sentence.

Ellipsis

omitting a word implied by the previous clause: "The European soldiers killed six of the remaining villagers, the American soldiers, eight."

Asyndetone

using no conjunctions to create an effect of speed or simplicity: Veni. Vidi. Vici. "I came. I saw. I conquered." (As opposed to "I came, and then I saw, and then I conquered.")

Polysnydeton

using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect:

"This term, I am taking biology and English and history and math and music and physics and sociology." All those ands make the student sound like she is completely overwhelmed!

Climax

(also called "Crescendo") -- arrangement in order of increasing importance: "Let a man acknowledge his obligations to himself, his family, his country, and his God."

Anapodoton

 deliberately creating a sentence fragment by the omission of a clause:

"If only you came with me!" If only students knew what anapodoton was! Good writers never use sentence fragments? Ah, but they can. And they do. When appropriate. Other examples: When in Rome; Six of one; If the shoe fits.

Hyperbaton

(Yoda speak) a generic term for changing the normal or expected order of words.

"One ad does not a survey make." The term comes from the Greek for "overstepping" because one or more words "overstep" their normal position and appear elsewhere. “To thine own self, be true.” (Hamlet) “Stole with soft step its shining archway through” (Holmes)

Alliteration

repetition of a sound in multiple words: buckets of big blue berries. If we want to be super-technical, alliteration comes in two forms. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds: many more merry men. If the first letters are the consonants that alliterate, the technique is often called head rhyme.

Assonance

is the repetition of vowel sounds: refresh your zest for living. Often assonance can lead to outright rhymes.

Anaphora

 repetition of beginning clauses.

For instance, Churchill declared, "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be."

Epanalipsis

repeating a word from the beginning of a clause at the end of the clause:

"Year chases year." Or "Man's inhumanity to man." As Voltaire reminds us, "Common sense is not so common." As Shakespeare chillingly phrases it, "Blood will have blood."

Anadiplosis

the repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next

"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,

And every tongue brings in a several tale,

And every tale condemns me for a villain."¹ (Richard III, V, iii)

Diacope

(also called Epizeuxis or Repetition) -- uninterrupted repetition, or repetition with only one or two words between each repeated phrase. Poe might cry out, "Oh, horror, horror, horror!"