Figures of Speech
A understatement that uses a negative to affirm, like "not bad."
litotes
The general term for the pleasant, harmonious sound patterns in language.
euphony
The type of cohesion created by words like "and," "but," or "however."
conjunction cohesion
A rhyme that occurs within a single line of verse.
internal rhyme
A short, witty, and often paradoxical statement.
epigram
The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.
epiphora or epistrophe
The basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, such as an iamb or trochee.
foot
This type of cohesion is created by repeating words or using synonyms.
lexical cohesion
A rhyme between a single stressed syllable, like "cat" and "hat."
masculine rhyme
A stylistic unit that encapsulates a cultural concept or value.
linguocultureme
A series of words or ideas arranged in order of increasing importance.
climax (gradation)
A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one (e.g., "PŌ-et").
trochee
The linguistic phenomenon that connects sentences and ideas to form a coherent text.
cohesion
A rhyme scheme where the first and fourth lines rhyme, and the second and third lines rhyme (ABBA).
enclosing (ring) rhyme
The study of how style is influenced by cultural norms versus immediate context.
cultural vs contextual stylistics
The repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next.
anadiplosis
The overall pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates a beat in poetry.
rhythm
A word or phrase that refers back to another element in the text (e.g., using "he" for "the king").
reference cohesion
A rhyme between words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently, like "love" and "prove."
eye-rhyme
An overused phrase that has lost its original impact, like "as cold as ice."
cliche
A rhetorical device that uses a descriptive phrase in place of a simple name (e.g., "the king of beasts" for "lion").
periphrasis
A metrical foot of three syllables with the stress on the first (e.g., "BEAŪ-tiful").
dactyl
This term describes the representation of a character's thoughts without direct quotation.
represented speech
A two-line stanza, often with a rhyme scheme of AA.
couplet
Stylistically distinct and memorable phrases from literature or famous speeches.
quotations