RHETORICAL DEVICESRIM BEDOUI

DEFINITION

RHETORICAL DEVICES:

Is an artful arrangement of words to

achieve a particular emphasis and

effect. It consists of two categories:

Rhetorical schemes

Rhetorical tropes

RHETORICAL SCHEMES

The repetition of the

same sounds at the

beginning of two or

more adjacent words or

stressed syllables.

The formalized

consonance of

syllables. It has two

types: Internal rhyme

and External rhyme or

end rhyme

ALLITERATION RHYME

RHETORICAL SCHEMES

The repetition of

identical or similar

vowel sounds, usually

in successive or

proximate words.

EXAMPLE

Try to light the fire

The repetition of two or

more consonants with

a change in the

intervening vowels.

EXAMPLE

pitter-patter, splish-

splash, and click-clack

ASSONANCE CONSONANCE

RHETORICAL SCHEMES

The use of words that

sound like what they

mean.

EXAMPLE

“Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells!

What a world of merriment

Their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

In the icy air of night!”

(from “The Bells” by Edgar

Allan Poe)

ONOMATOPOEIA

WORD LEVEL

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause.

EXAMPLE

"The crime was common, common be the pain. “ (Alexander Pope)

A figure of speech in

which each sentence

or clause ends with the

same word.

EXAMPLE

It ends well, if it begins

well.

ANADIPLOSIS EPISTROPHE

WORD LEVEL

Regular repetition of the same word or phrase at

the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

…We shall fight in France, we

shall fight on the seas and

oceans, we shall fight with

growing confidence and

growing strength in the air…

ANAPHORA

WORD LEVEL

We can never be satisfied as long as the

Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors

of police brutality. We can never be satisfied

as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue

of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of

the highways and the hotels of our cities. We

cannot be satisfied as long as our children are

stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their

dignity by signs stating ‘For whites only’. We

cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in

Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New

York believes he has nothing for which to

vote.

ANAPHORA

WORD LEVEL

Repetition of the same word in different syntactical or grammatical forms. Also can be the repetition of the same word in the same form.

EXAMPLE

« Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly,– It depends upon the character of those who handle it. »

Emma, p160.

A word formed by

combining two or more.

EXAMPLE

brunch = breakfast +

lunch.

PORTMANTEAU POLYPTON

WORD LEVEL

Repetition of word or phrase at the beginning and at the end of successive structure.

(IT IS A BLEND OF ANAPHORA + EPISTROPHE)

EXAMPLE

Much is your reading, but not the word of God.

Much is your building, but not the house of God.

T. S. Eliot

Repeat words of the

same or close

meanings to

emphasize a given

meaning.

EXAMPLE

Hate = loathe = abhor

= detest.

SYMPLOCE SYNONYM

WORD LEVEL

Repeat the same words or ideas in the common

phrase

EXAMPLE

I myself personally disagree with you, sorry!

TAUTOLOGY

SENTENCE LEVEL

A Rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. ( silence for fear, anger)

EXAMPLE

BREATH and WAITING FOR GODOT

By Samuel Becket

A rhetorical device where conjunctions, articles and pronouns are omitted for the sake of speed and economy.

EXAMPLE

The first sort by their own suggestion fell

Self tempted, self-depraved, man falls, deceived

By the other first…

John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

APOSIOPESIS (BECOMING

SILENT)

ASYNDETON

(UNCONNECTED)

SENTENCE LEVEL

A reversal of

grammatical structures

in successive phrases

or clauses.

EXAMPLE

Fair is foul and foul is fair.

The omission of

understood words in a

sentence. Also called

“reduction”

EXAMPLE

“Enough of this; I pray thee, hold they peace.”

–Romeo and Juliet

CHIASMUS (PLACING

CROSSWISE)ELLIPSIS (LEAVING OUT)

SENTENCE LEVEL

A figure of speech in

which words are

transposed from their

usual order.

EXAMPLE

Serpent wise

Horror chill

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.

EXAMPLE

I came, I saw, I conquered.

JULIUS CASEAR, SHAKESPEARE.

HYPERBATON

(OVERSTEPPING)PARALLELISM

SENTENCE LEVEL

Co-ordination of clauses without conjunctions especially when they are short.

EXAMPLE

My hot water was red, Manchester United’s colour.

Use of conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause. Opposite of asyndeton.

EXAMPLE

“If there be cords, or knives, poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, I’ll not endure it.

Othello, III, iii

PARATAXIS (BESIDE

ARRANGEMENT)

POLYSYNDETON (MUCH

COMPOUNDED)

SENTENCE LEVEL

Two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them.

EXAMPLE

“…lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball. “

Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock

“You held your breath and the door for me. “

”Head Over Feet”

Alanis Morissette

ZEUGMA

RHETORICAL TROPES

It is a deviation in meanings of the

words.

TROPES

A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present.

EXAMPLE

O woe, o woeful, o woeful, o woeful day!

Substitution of a milder

or less direct

expression for one that

is harsh or blunt.

EXAMPLE

Using "passed away" for

"dead.”

APOSTROPHE EUPHEMISM

TROPES

An intentionally exaggerated figure of speech for emphasis or effect.

EXAMPLE

All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten this little hand.

(from Macbeth by William

Shakespeare)

A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.

EXAMPLE

You seem clever in that bow tie.

HYPERBOLE IRONY

TROPES

A subtle comparison in which the author describes a person or thing using words that are not meant to be taken literally.

EXAMPLE

“Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.”

(Faith Baldwin)

A metaphor where something being compared is referred to by something closely associated with it.

EXAMPLE

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

Julius Caesar, III, ii

METAPHOR METONYMY

TROPES

A figure of speech that

combines two

apparently

contradictory elements.

EXAMPLE

Deafing silence.

A statement that seems

contradictory, but is

actually true.

EXAMPLE

“The sun itself is the dark

simulacrum and light is

the shadow of God.”

OXYMORON PARADOX

TROPES

A punning play on

words which uses

similar or identical

phonemes for its

effect.

EXAMPLE

Who seeks happiness,

that with six herds or

more.

A roundabout way of speaking or writing. Thus using many or very long words where a few simple words, will do.

« Her olfactory system was suffering from a temporary inconvenience. » Her nose was blocked

Hard times

PARONOMASIA PERIPHRASIS

TROPES

Nonhuman things or abstractions are represented as having human qualities.

EXAMPLE

“A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair”

(from “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer)

A comparison of two things that is essentially different, usually using the words like or as.

EXAMPLE

“Oh my love is like a red, red rose.”

(from “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns)

PERSONIFICATION SIMILE

TROPES

Mixing sensations to appeal to more than one sense.

EXAMPLE

The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue,

To conceive, not his heart to report, what my dream was.

The opposite of hyperbole; the deliberate presentation of something as being much less important, valuable etc. than it really is.

EXAMPLE

“These figures are a bit disappointing” instead of “… are disastrous

SYNAESTHESIA UNDERSTATEMENT