Rhetorical Figures Defined: Essential Literary Devices
Understanding Rhetorical Figures
Allegory
A prolonged correspondence of symbols or metaphors.
Alliteration
The repetition of one or more phonemes in different words with a noticeable frequency.
Anadiplosis
Repetition of the last part of a syntactic unit or verse at the beginning of the next.
Anaphora
A series of sentences or sentence fragments that begin in the same way.
Antithesis
Also called contrast, it consists of contrasting two contrary ideas or terms.
Apostrophe
Directly addressing an animate or inanimate entity or concept with passion, often outside the normal sentence structure.
Asyndeton
Suppression of conjunctions that would usually link words or phrases.
Conversion (Epistrophe)
Consists of repeating the same word several times at the end of each sentence, verse, or stanza.
Ellipse
Omission of words usually considered grammatically necessary.
Overlap (Enjambment)
When the syntactic unit of a verse continues into the next.
Epanadiplosis
A phrase or verse that begins and ends with the same word or words.
Epithet
An ornamental adjective, often unspecified or redundant.
Euphemism
A gentle expression used to hide or cover something unpleasant or taboo.
Hyperbaton
An inversion or marked change from normal word order.
Hyperbole
Disproportionate exaggeration.
Rhetorical Question
Formulating a question not to elicit a reply, but to give more strength to the thought.
Irony
Suggesting or saying something that is the opposite of what one thinks or feels.
Word Game (Pun/Double Entendre)
The use of the same signifier with two different meanings, often for humorous or rhetorical effect.
Metaphor
Identifying a real term with an image, where the actual term may or may not be explicitly stated.
Metonymy
Designating something by the name of something else closely associated with it. Different types exist, such as designating the whole with the name of a part, or a part with the name of the whole. The first two cases are often called synecdoche.
Paradox
A statement or proposition that, despite seemingly contradictory or absurd, may actually be true or contain a consistent meaning.
Parallelism
The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter. It is called anaphora when repetition is almost total, with only a slight final variation.
Paronomasias (Paronomasia)
Locating two words or phrases that are similar in sound but different in meaning, often used for a pun.
Periphrasis (Circumlocution)
Also called circumlocution, it consists of a detour that avoids direct expression through strong amplification.
Pleonasm
The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea, often for emphasis or redundancy.
Polysyndeton
The multiplication of unnecessary conjunctions.
Prosopopeya (Personification)
Attributing qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or abstract ideas. The most common form is personification, which attributes human qualities to things or animals. Other types include animalization (attributing animal qualities to inanimate objects) and objectification (attributing qualities of the inanimate world to living beings).
Reduplication
The repetition of a word at the beginning or within a sentence.
Pun
A play on words that uses a word or phrase that has two different meanings, or two words that sound alike but have different meanings.
Silimicadencia (Assonance)
When two or more words near the end have identical vowel sounds but different consonant sounds.
Symbol
An object or attribute designated as real, but at the same time alluding to a different reality.
Simile (Comparison)
A comparison between two unlike things, often using ‘like’ or ‘as’. It differs from metaphor in that the comparison is always explicit.