AP Lang Rhetorical Devices 3/3

Alliteration

This rhetorical device references the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words

Ex: “face the fire at freedom’s front”

Anaphora

This rhetorical device references repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines

Ex: “I Have a Dream” speech - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds

Ex: “His tender heir might bear his memory”

Anadiplosis

Takes the last word of a sentence or phrase and repeats it near the beginning of the next sentence or phrase

Ex: “In education we find the measure of our own ignorance; in ignorance we find the beginning of wisdom”

Chiasmus

The repetition of ideas in inverted order

Ex: “And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”

Conduplicatio

Takes an important word from anywhere in one sentence or phrase and repeats that word at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase

Ex: “This law destroys the fruits of thirty years of struggle, bringing us back to a less enlightened time. Law should be evolutionary, building up rather than tearing down.”

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, as in assonance

Ex: “At the edge of the bridge, I stood, refusing to budge or even to acknowledge my predicament.”

Epistrophe

Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words

Ex: “For no government is better than the men who compose it, and I want the best, and we need the best, and we deserve the best.”

Parallelism

A repetition of sentences using the same grammatical structure emphasizing all aspects of the sentence equally

Ex: “Feed a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed a man for life.”

Polysyndeton

The use of many conjunctions that has the effect of slowing the pace or emphasizing the numerous words or clauses

Ex: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”