| A | B |
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| Antithesis | the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure |
| Antithesis Example | Though studious, he was popular; though argumentative, he was modest; though inflexible, he was candid; and though metaphysical, yet orthodox. ~Dr. Samuel Johnson |
| Repetition | repeating the same ideas or sometimes words |
| Repetition Example | Half a league, half a league, half a league onward ~Tennyson |
| Hyperbaton | an intended and dramatic deviation from ordinary word order (syntax) for emphasis or poetic effect |
| Hyperbaton Example | This is the sort of English up with which I will not put ~Winston Churchill |
| Anastrophe | the reversal of an adjective and a noun |
| Anastrophe Example | The retort courteous...the quip modest...the reply churlish. The reproof valiant...the countercheck quarrelsome...the lie circumstantial, and the lie direct. ~As You Like It, Shakespeare |
| Parenthesis | Insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence |
| Parenthesis Example | In Rome you long for the country; in the country--oh inconstant!--you raise the distant city to the stars. ~Horace |
| Asyndeton | the deliberate omission of a conjunction between a series of related clauses |
| Asyndeton Example | I came, I saw, I conquered. ~Julius Caesar |
| Polysyndeton | deliberate use of many conjunctions |
| Polysyndeton Example | My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish. ~John 10:27 |
| Alliteration | repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words |
| Alliteration Example | Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, he bravely, breached his boiling bloody breast. ~A Midsummer Night's Dream; Shakespeare |
| Anaphora | repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses |
| Anaphora Example | It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way... ~Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens |
| Epistrophe | repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses. |
| Epistrophe Example | When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things ~I Corinthians 11:11 |
