Rhetorical Devices List
\nAnecdote A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature
\nPerspective A character’s view of the situation or events in the story
\nAphorism A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. The
\nwritings of Benjamin Franklin contain many aphorisms, such as “Early to bed and early
\nto rise\/Make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
\nContradiction A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency
\nApostrophe A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present;
\nfor example, the invocation to the muses usually found in epic poetry.
\nOxymoron A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in “jumbo
\nshrimp” or “deafening silence.”
\nAllusion \u2014A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary
\nfigure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning
\nto the character or object of which the allusion consists. For example, in John Steinbeck’s
\nOf Mice and Men, the surname of the protagonist, George Milton, is an allusion to John
\nMilton, author of Paradise Lost, since by the end of the novel, George has lost the dream
\nof having a little ranch of his own to share with his friend Lennie.
\nSyllogism A form of deduction. An extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument
\nSatire A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness
\nBildungsroman A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.
\nDevices A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a
\ndesired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader
\nFoil A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast
\nEpistolary A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters
\nEpitaph A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person
\nParody A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.
\nDelayed sentence A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end. For example: Just as he bent to tie
\nhis shoe, a car hit him.
\nSarcasm A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually
\nbitterly or harshly critical. For example, a coach saying to a player who misses the ball,
\n“Nice catch.”
\nExpletive A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. Commonly,
\nexpletives are set off by commas. Examples: in fact, of course, after all, certainly
\nIrony A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected
\nor understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and
\ncan be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean
\nEulogy A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing; an oration in honor of a deceased
\nperson
\nParadox A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.
\nEpiphany A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of
\nsomething usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience
\nOnomatopoeia A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss.
\nDiction An author’s choice of words to convey a tone or effect
\nUtopia An imaginary place of ideal perfection. The opposite of a dystopia. \u2014An imaginary place
\nwhere people live dehumanized, often fearful lives.
\nHyperbole An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language
\nDeus ex machina As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult
\nsituation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly
\nAntagonist Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist
\nAnalogy Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both
\ntypes of analogy
\nInductive Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a
\nclass is applied to the class as a whole. Contrast with deductive.
\nNostalgia Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time
\nChiasmus Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed
\nin the second. \u201cHas the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?\u201d– T.
\nS. Eliot,
\nThesis Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or
\ndiscussion in the essay is based. Antithesis\u2014The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting
\nideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases.
\nLitote Form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis
\nand intensity. For example, “She is not a bad cook.” Or “No man ever followed his genius
\nuntil it misled him.” Thoreau
\nDoppelganger Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego
\nZeugma Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two
\nor more direct objects. The linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly.
\nEthos In dramatic literature, the moral element that determines a character’s actions, rather than
\nthought or emotion.
\nPropaganda Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution
\nDidactic Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson
\nFormal LanguageLanguage that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal
\nAllegory Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves;
\ncharacters are usually personifications of abstract qualities
\nAbstract Not related to the concrete properties of an object; pertaining to ideas, concepts, or
\nqualities, as opposed to physical attributes
\nIn medias res Opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition
\nor flashback.
\nColloquial Ordinary language; the vernacular. For example, depending on where in the United States
\nyou live, a sandwich is called a sub, a grinder, or a hero.
\nIsocolon Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical
\nstructure, but also in length. For example, “An envious heart makes a treacherous ear”
\n(Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston).
\nAesthetic Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form
\nJuxtaposition Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or
\naccomplish some other purpose
\nElegy Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person. Perhaps the most famous elegy
\nis Thomas Grey’s poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
\nAntihero Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero
\n(e.g., honor, bravery, kindness, intelligence); for example, the protagonists created by
\nByron in Don Juan and Childe Harold, and the characters of Rosencrantz and
\nGuildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
\nCatharsis Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness
\nto a tragedy.
\nEpigraph Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a
\ntheme.
\nMotif Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of
\na character or event
\nParallelism Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are
\nexpressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance. It
\nalso adds balance, rhythm, and clarity to the sentence. For example, “I have always
\nsearched for, but never found the perfect painting for that wall.”
\nAnaphora regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or
\nclauses. For example, “We shall fight in the trenches. We shall fight on the oceans. We
\nshall fight in the sky.”
\nAnadiplosis Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause. For example,
\n“The crime was common, common be the pain.” (Alexander Pope)
\nAppeals to: authority, emotion, logic Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker: either claims to be
\nan expert or relies on information provided by experts (appeal to authority), attempts to
\naffect the listener’s personal feelings (appeal to emotion), or attempts to persuade the
\nlistener through use of deductive reasoning (appeal to logic).
\nImagery Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind
\nan idea, or describe an object. Imagery involves any or all of the five senses
\nEuphemism Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt. For
\nexample, using “passed away” for “dead.”
\nGenre Term used to describe literary forms, such as tragedy, comedy, novel, or essay
\nVoice The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker, a
\n“person” telling the story or poem.
\nTone The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme. It reflects the narrator’s
\nattitude.
\nTheme The central or dominant idea or concern of a work; the main idea or meaning
\nProtagonist The chief character in a work of literature
\nDenotation The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning
\nMood The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer\/narrator’s
\nattitude and point of view. The effect is created through descriptions of feelings or
\nobjects that establish a particular feeling such as gloom, fear, or hope
\nRealism The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and
\nwith attention to detail
\nProse The ordinary of form of written language without metrical structure, as distinguished
\nfrom poetry or verse
\nAudience The person(s) reached by a piece of writing.
\nAsyndeton The practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list, it
\ngives a more extemporaneous effect and suggests the list may be incomplete. For
\nexample, “He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing.”
\nDeductive The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from set of premises and contains
\nno more facts than these premises
\nAssonance The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate
\nwords.
\nAlliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds within a formal grouping,
\nsuch as a poetic line or stanza, or in close proximity in prose
\nConsonance The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels, such
\nas pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack.
\nInvective The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing
\nPoint of view The view the reader gets of the action and characters in a story
\nPersona The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may
\nnot share of the values of the actual author.
\nSyntax The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is sentence
\nstructure and how it influences the way a reader perceives a piece of writing.
\nCanon (canonical)\u2014 The works of an author that have been accepted as authentic.
\nForeshadow To hint at or present things to come in a story or play
\nBegging the question To sidestep or evade the real problem.
\nPersonification Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human
\nqualities.
\nAnachronism Use of historically inaccurate details in a text; for example, depicting a 19th-century
\ncharacter using a computer. Some authors employ anachronisms for humorous effect, and
\nsome genres, such as science fiction or fantasy, make extensive use of anachronism
\nAmbiguity \u2014Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible. Ambiguity can be
\nunintentional through insufficient focus on the part of the writer; in good writing,
\nambiguity is frequently intentional in the form of multiple connotative meanings, or
\nsituations in which either the connotative or the denotative meaning can be valid in a
\nreading.
\nConnotation What is implied by a word. For example, the words sweet, gay, and awesome have
\nconnotations that are quite different from their actual definitions.
\nTransition words Words and devices that bring unity and coherence to a piece of writing. Examples:
\nhowever, in addition, and on the other hand.<\/p>\n
——–<\/p>\n
List of Rhetorical Devices<\/p>\n
Anecdote is a short story or tale recounted by a character in a work of fiction.
\nPerspective A character’s perspective on the story’s circumstance or events<\/p>\n
Aphorism A brief statement intended to make a point or to demonstrate a widely held belief. The<\/p>\n
Many aphorisms can be found in Benjamin Franklin’s writings, such as “Early to bed, early to rise<\/p>\n
to make a man prosperous, healthy, and wise”<\/p>\n
Contradiction Inconsistency between the objects being compared; a direct contradiction between the things being compared.<\/p>\n
Apostrophe A figure of speech that addresses a person, thing, or abstract characteristic as if it were present;<\/p>\n
Consider the invocation to the muses, which is common in epic poetry.<\/p>\n
Oxymoron A figure of speech that combines two seemingly opposing concepts, as as “the jumbo<\/p>\n
“shrimp” or “deafening quiet” are two examples.”<\/p>\n
Allusion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rhetorical Devices List Anecdote A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature Perspective A character’s view of the situation\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1738,2474,2500,1563,2499],"tags":[2368,2501,2479,2477,2476,1481,2475,2478,2502],"class_list":["post-8409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-help-me-with-social-psychology-assignment","category-psyc-essays","category-psych-research-paper-sample","category-psychology-case-study-examples","category-write-my-psychology-papers","tag-masters-essays","tag-psy-papers","tag-psyc","tag-psychology-assignment","tag-psychology-dissertations","tag-psychology-essays","tag-psychology-research-papers","tag-sociology-essays","tag-write-my-psychology-research-paper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeworkacetutors.com\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}