Rhetorical Devices- Tropes and Schemes
List of tropes
1. Allusion 2. Analogy 3. Apostrophe 4. Hyperbole 5. Irony 6. Metaphor 7. Oxymoron 8. Paradox 9. Personification 10. Pun 11. Rhetorical Question 12. Sarcasm 13. Simile 14. Synecdoche 15. Metonymy 16. Understatement 17. Zeugma
List of Schemes
1. Anaphora 2. Antithesis 3. Anastrophe 4. Asyndeton 5. Chiasmus/Antimetabole 6. Juxtaposition 7. Onomatopoeia 8. Parallel Structure/ Parallelism 9. Polysyndeton 10. Repetition 11. Rhetorical Fragment
Allusion
A brief reference to a famous person or event- often from literature, history, Greek mythology, or the Bible
Analogy
A comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar.
Similie
A comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words "like" or "as". It is definitely a stated comparison, where the poet says one thing is like another
Metaphor
A comparison without using like or as
Asyndeton
A deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses
Repetition
A device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person
Personification
A kind of metaphor which gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics
Pun
A play on words which are identical or similar in sound but which have sharply diverse meanings
Juxtaposition
A poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit
Rhetorical question
A question that expects no answer; it is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement
Rhetorical Fragment
A sentence fragment used deliberately for a persuasive purpose or to create a desired effect
Synecdoche
A type of metaphor where a part of something is used to signify the whole.
Type of device that can help to simplify complex ideas
Allusion
Hyperbole
An obvious and deliberate exaggeration (to emphasize something or for humorous purposes)
Well, son, I'll tell you: life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It had ticks in it, and splinters, and birds torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor-bare
Analogy
"We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament."
Anaphora
I will fight for you. I will fight to save social security. I will fight to raise minimum wage
Anaphora
And you plan to help me how
Anastrophe
"this is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
Antithesis
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Antithesis/ juxtaposition
"It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we discover."
Antithesis/ parallel
Rhetorical Device
Any stylistic device or resource of language that an author or speaker uses to help persuade or make a desired impact on his or her audience
Dear Sleep, I'm sorry i hated you when i was little but now i cant get enough of you
Apostrophe
Oh Netflix!! So many choices
Apostrophe
Oh love, you have forsaken me
Apostrophe
I came, I saw, I conquered
Asyndeton
Anastophe
Changing the syntactical correct order or subject, verb and object for effect of emphasis
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate
Chiasmus
People can't change the truth but the truth can change people
Chiasmus
Types of language
Figurative language and sound devices
Ages have passed since i saw you last
Hyperbole
He's so hungry, he could eat a horse
Hyperbole
I've told you a thousand times to keep your hands to yourself
Hyperbole
Antithesis
Involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings generally for the purpose of contrast.
It is simple to lose weight. I have done it many times.
Irony
Language
Is a type of rhetorical device
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;" - Shakespeare
Juxtaposition
Schemes
Literary devices that deal with order, syntax, letters and sounds, rather than the meaning of words
Baby you are a lifetime
Metaphor
Tools used to draw analogy
Metaphors and similes
Pay tribute to the crown
Metonymy
The heat played well today
Metonymy
I purchased my dreamy shoes online with the click of a mouse
Onomatopoeia
You seem to have clearly misunderstood my intentions
Oxymoron
The more you know, the more you know you don't know
Paradox
What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young
Paradox
Oxymoron
Paradox which combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness
The wind whistled through the field
Personification
The meal was huge - my mother fixed okra and green beans and ham and apple pie and green pickled tomatoes and ambrosia salad and all manner of fine country food - but no matter how I tried, I could not consume it to her satisfaction.
Polysyndeton
I'd tell you a chemistry joke, but I know I wouldn't get a reaction.
Pun
Without geometry, life is pointless
Pun
Parallelism
Refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence; it involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased
As I fell down the stairs head first, I heard her say "Look at that coordination."
Sarcasm
I didn't attend the funeral, but i sent a nice letter saying i approved of it
Sarcasm
I love that dress. The design really highlights your double chin
Sarcasm
Her hair looks like an overturned bowl of spaghetti
Simile
It's like you're my mirror
Simile
A metaphor is usually a comparison between...?
Something that is real or concrete and something that is abstract
Paradox
Statement which contradicts itself
4000 eyeballs watched the fumble
Synecdoche
Carlos wished we would buy him a fancy new set of wheels
Synecdoche
T or F: Puns may have serious as well as humorous uses
T
Polysyndeton
The deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis to highlight quantity or mass of detail or to create a flowing, continuous sentence pattern
Understatement
The opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony which deliberately represents something as much less than it really is
Anaphora
The repetition of words at the beginning of a line
Irony
The use of words to convey a meaning that his opposite of what is actually said
Sarcasm
Type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something while he is actually insulting the thing. Its purpose is to injure or hurt
The AP language exam just might be a little challenging
Understatement
Onomatopoeia
Use of words in which the sounds seem to resemble the sounds they describe.
I just love dieting
Verbal irony
Verbal irony
Verbal; saying the opposite of what you mean
He stiffened his drink and his spine
Zeugma
He stole both her car and her heart that fateful night.
Zeugma
She raised her standards and her glass
Zeugma
Chiasmus/Antimetabole
a sentence strategy in which the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a reversal of the first
"Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss."
allusion
Plan ahead: it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
allusion
Life is like a race. The one who keeps running wins the race, and the one who stops to catch a breath loses.
analogy
Well written it is
anastrophe
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
antithesis
Love is an ideal thing; marriage is a real thing
antithesis
Tropes
figures of speech with an unexpected twist in the meaning of words
Love is a battlefield
metaphor
I love Shakespeare
metonymy
Sweet sorrow
oxymoron
He was walking, running and jumping for joy.
parallelism
The leaves danced their way through the lawn
personification
"This term, I am taking biology and English and history and math and music and physics and sociology."
polysyndeton
Something to consider
rhetorical fragment
Have you ever felt inadequate?
rhetorical question
All hands on deck
synecdoche
dramatic irony
the audience knows something that the character does not
Metonymy
the name of one thing is applied to another thing with which it is closely associated
Zeugma
the use of the verb that has two different meanings with objects that complement both meanings
I could probably manage to survive on a salary of two million dollars per year.
understatement
Types of irony
verbal, dramatic, situational
Situational irony
what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected
