Poetic/Rhetorical Devices

• Anaphora -

• repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis

• Anastrophe -

• the reversal of normal word order, as with a preposition following its object or a delayed conjunction, usually for placing emphasis on the earlier word

• Asyndeton -

• omission of conjunctions

• Chiasmus -

• ABBA word order, often to emphasize some contrast or to create a word picture

• Enjambment -

• delay of a final word or phrase of a sentence or clause to the beginning of the next line, emphasizing an idea or image or to create suspense

• Framing -

• enclosure of a line or verse by placing two closely connected words, often a noun and modifying adjective, at the beginning and end

• Hendiadys -

• the use of two nouns connected by a conjunction (or occasionally a preposition), often instead of one modified noun expressing a single idea; the usual effect is to give equal prominence to an image that would usually be subordinated, especially some quality of a person or thing.

• Hysteron proteron -

• description of events in a border reversing their logical sequence; places emphasis on the first action stated

• Juxtaposition -

• two words placed next to each other to emphasize a contrast

• Litotes -

• a form of deliberate understatement, generally with a softening effect and often achieved by describing one quality by denying its opposite

• Pleonasm -

• a purposefully redundant description, where more words are used than needed

• Polysyndeton -

• use of a greater number of conjunctions than usual or necessary, often to emphasize the elements in a series

• Synchysis -

• ABAB word order, often emphasizing a connection between two thoughts or images

• Synecdoche -

• a type of metonymy in which a part is named in place of an entire object, or a material for a thing made of that material, or an individual in place of a class

• Tmesis -

• separation of a compound word into its constituent parts, generally for metrical convention