Rhetorical Devices
Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.
What is figurative language?
"Let us go then, you and I, While the evening is spread out against the sky, Like a patient etherized upon a table..." -T.S Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
What is a simile?
This rhetorical device involves the direct usage of conjunctions. ex: "The frenzied fields, and doghouses and hills and trees and ditches and gardens."
What is polysyndeton.
This rhetorical device is defined as the exact repetition of words at the beginning of phrases.
Ex: "Let both sides explore... let both sides seek... let both sides unite..."
What is anaphora?
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to emotion.
What is Pathos?
This rhetorical device involves two unlike things being compared using like or as. ex: Her hair was as red as fire.
What is a simile.
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
Ex: faith unfaithful kept him falsely true
What is oxymoron?
Builds an author's credibility and trustworthiness.
What is Ethos?
“The big sycamore by the creek was gone. The willow tangle was gone. The little enclave of untrodden bluegrass was gone. The clump of dogwood on the little rise across the creek — now that, too, was gone …”
What is epistrophe?
This rhetorical device involves the deliberate exaggeration of a situation. ex: He ate everything in the house.
What is hyperbole.
The three main types of appeals (The Greek Please)
What is Ehtos, Pathos, Logos
a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring an answer.
What is a rhetorical question?
A comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar.
What is analogy?
Life is just like a garden–it is ever growing and changing, needing care and dedication, and always filled with beautiful surprises.
(NOT SIMILE)
What is analogy?
This rhetorical device involves a direct or indirect reference to history, literature or mythology. Ex:'Chris didn't like to spend money. He was no Scrooge, but he seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities'.
What is an Allusion.
Uses facts, quotations, and statistics.
What is logos?
This rhetorical device involves the direct omission of conjunctions often producing a rapid tempo. ex: "They dove, splashed, floated, splashed, swam, snorted." (James T. Farrell, Young Lonigan)
What is asyndeton.
a pithy observation that contains a general truth
EX:The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
What is aphorism?
The juxtaposition of contrasting words in parallel structure.
Ex: “hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins”.
What is antithesis.
A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity
What is a paradox
attribution of human qualities to inanimate things.
What is personification?
A rhetorical device involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the end of successive lines or sentences.
What is epistrophe?
a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
What is euphemism?
Name the following device:
"This is the beginning of the end."
What is paradox?
This device refers to the way an author chooses to join word into phrases and sentences.
What is syntax?