Figurative Language and Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
anadiplosis
A rhetorical device in which the last word or words of a line, phrase or clause are repeated as the first word or words in an immediately successive line, phrase or clause
Ex: I went to the beach. The beach with lots of sand. Sand that burns my feet.
anaphora
A rhetorical device involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences.
Ex: Tonight is our night. Tonight we defeat our foe. Tonight we eat like kings.
apostrophe
A rhetorical device in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or absent, an imaginary or nonhuman entity, or a place or concept.
Ex: O death, I will be thy plagues.
chiasmus
A rhetorical device in which certain words are reversed or repeated in reverse order.
Ex: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
conceit
A figure of speech involving an elaborate and often surprising comparison between two apparently dissimilar things, often in the form of an extended metaphor.
Ex: John Donne’s poem “The Flea,” which compares marriage and the consummation thereof to a flea.
epistrophe
A rhetorical device involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the end of successive lines or sentences.
Ex: I have a dream. You have a dream. We all have a dream.
ethos
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to character.
euphemism
A figure of speech that uses an inoffensive expression in place of a blunt one that is felt to be disagreeable or embarrassing.
Ex: “Mr. Pierce, may I please use the restroom?” The speaker is most likely not going to the bathroom to “rest.”
figurative language
Language that departs from literal meaning
hyperbole
A figure of speech employing deliberate, emphatic exaggeration.
Ex: She broke her nail and exclaimed this was the worst day of her life.
logos
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to logic.
metaphor
A figure of speech that associates two distinct things without using a connective word (such as like or as) to link them together.
Ex: Jonathan is a tool.
metonymy
A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it.
Ex: “The White House” when referring to the President of the United States
pathos
A rhetorical strategy that attempts to persuade using appeals to emotion.
personification
A figure of speech in which human characteristics are bestowed upon anything nonhuman, from an abstract idea to a physical force to an inanimate object to a living organism.
Ex: The sun smiled down on her.
