rhetoric devices

Allegory

Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves; characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities

Allusion

a figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object of which the allusion consists

Anachronism

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text, for example, depicting a 19th-century character using a computer.

Analogy

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both types of analogy

Epistrophe

the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences

Anaphora

regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses

Epistolary

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters

Anecdote

a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature

Euphemism

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Bildungsroman

A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.

Foil

A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in "jumbo shrimp" or "deafening silence."

Chiasmus

Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second. “Has the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?”-- T. S. Eliot,

Diction

An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect

Elegy

Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person. Perhaps the most famous elegy is Thomas Grey's poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

Juxtaposition

Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Motif

Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event

Rhetorical question

a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.

Hyperbole

An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language

Imagery

Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object. Imagery involves any or all of the five senses

Irony

A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and can be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean

Propaganda

Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution

Prose

The ordinary of form of written language without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse

Realism

The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.

Parallelism

Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance. It also adds balance, rhythm, and clarity to the sentence. For example, "I have always searched for, but never found the perfect painting for that wall."

Personification

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Repetition

the action of repeating something that has already been said or written.

Simile

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid

Syntax

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

Understatement

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.