Rhetorical Devices (NO EXAMPLES)

Allegory

A literary device where characters, settings, and events represent abstract ideas or deeper meanings, often conveying moral, political, or social messages

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences

Anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word or phrase of one clause at the beginning of the next

Antithesis

Contrast of opposing ideas in parallel grammatical structure

Apostrophe

Addressing an absent, abstract, or nonhuman entity directly

Appositive

A noun or noun phrase that renames or explains another noun

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses

Bathos

A sudden shift from a serious tone to a trivial or humorous one

Caesura

A pause or break within a line of poetry or sentence

Catalog

A list of items, details, or ideas used for emphasis or accumulation

Chiasmus

A reversal of grammatical structure in successive phrases

Conceit

An extended metaphor comparing two very unlike things

Connotation

The emotional or cultural associations attached to a word

Consonance

Repetition of consonant sounds within nearby words

Denotation

The literal dictionary definition of a word

Ellipsis

Omission of words that are unnecessary for understanding

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence without pause beyond the end of a line of poetry

Epigram

A brief, witty, and memorable statement

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses

Epitaph

A short inscription honoring a deceased person

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect

Isocolon

A series of phrases or clauses of equal length and structure

Juxtaposition

Placement of contrasting elements side by side

Metonymy

Substitution of a related term for the thing it represents

Motif

A recurring element that has symbolic significance in a work

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate natural sounds

Oxymoron

A combination of contradictory terms

Pathos

Appeal to the audience’s emotions

Peripeteia

A sudden reversal of fortune or circumstances

Polyptoton

Repetition of words derived from the same root

Polysyndeton

Use of multiple conjunctions in close succession

Synesthesia

Blending of different sensory experiences

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create sentences

Tmesis

Insertion of words into another word or phrase for emphasis

Zeugma

A single word governs or modifies multiple parts of a sentence