Rhetorical Devices Here are some rhetorical devices found in the Aeneid. Tools A B alliteration* repetition of sound at the beginning of words allegory* a narrative in which abstract ideas figure as circumstances or persons, usually to enforce a moral truth. anaphora* repetition of the same words at the beginning of clauses or phrases. praeteritio* claiming to not mention or "pass over" something that one plans to say. apostrophe* address of an absent person or an abstraction, usually for pathetic effect. aposiopesis* the abrupt and deliberate pause in a sentence. assonance the recurrence of similar sounds asyndeton* omission of conjunctions in a closely related series ecphrasis* an apparent digression describing a place, connected at the end of the description to the main narrative by "hic" or "huc". chiasmus* arrangement of pairs in opposite order: ABBA word order ellipsis* omission of words understood but grammatically necessary enjambment* the running over of a sentence from one verse or couplet into another so that closely related words fall in different lines. epithet descriptive term or nickname pleonasm* use of unnecessary words. hendiadys* expressing an idea by two nouns instead of using a noun and agreeing adjective hyperbole* exaggeration hysteron - proteron* the reversal of the natural order of things irony* stating an apparent fact with the intention of expressing the opposite; a form of light sarcasm litotes* double negative or affirming something by denying the opposite metaphor* a direct comparison metonymy* the substitution of one word for another which it suggests; in Latin metonymy often uses proper names onomatopoeia* word whose sound suggests its meaning oxymoron; paradox* apparently contradictory words combined into a single expression personification* attributing human qualities to inanimate objects polysyndeton* use of unnecessary conjunctions synchesis* interlocked word order: ABAB syncope loss of letters by contraction synecdoche* part for the whole tmesis* separation of parts of a compound word prolepsis* Use of a word before it is appropriate in context. transferred epithet* a name that is appended to some act or quality of a person or thing zeugma* a condensed expression in which one word is made to stand for two or more ideas prosopopoeia* the assumption of another's persona for rhetorical or dramatic effect. simile* an expressed comparison, introduced by a word such as "similis", "qualis", or "velut" tricolon crescens* a three-part increase of emphasis or enlargement of meaning. hyperbaton* strategic separation of linked words for the purpose of emphasis polyptoton* repetition either of the same word in different forms of declension or conjugation or of different words with a close etymological relation