| A | B |
|---|
| Parallelism | similarity of structure in a pair or series of relaqted words, phrases, or clauses. (repetition, rhythm, balance); Emphasizes similarities & connections: He tried to make the law clear, precise, and equitable. NOT: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bike. |
| Isocolon | Use of parallel similar not only in structure, as in parallelism, but also length (that is, the same number of words or even syllables.) Stacatto: His purpose wass to impress the ignorant, perplex the dubious, & confound the scrupulous. |
| Antithesis | The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure. Emhasizes dissimilarities & contraries; produces the quality of an aphorism (a terse saying embodying a general truth: Though studious, he was popular; though augumentative, he was modest; though inflexible, he was candid; & though metaphysical, yet orthodox. |
| Anastrophe | Inversion of the natural order. Because deviation surprises expectation, anastrophe can be effective device for gaining attention, though its chief function is to secure emphasis: Yoda, "Feel the force, you must." |
| Paranthesis | Insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence. Allows the author's voice to be heard commenting or editorializing, thereby charging the statement with emotion: "Your thoughts": But wherein any man is bold- I am speaking foolishly - I also am bold...Are they ministers of Christ? I - to speak as a fool - am more. Often parantheses () are used. |
| Apposition | Placing side by side 2 coordinating elements, the 2nd of which serves as an explanation or modification of the 1st. Less intrusive than parenthesis, it allows for the insertion of additional information of emphasis: John Morgan, the president of the Sons of the Republic, could not be reached by phone. |
| Ellipsis | Deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context. An artful & arresting means of securing economy of expression: ...And he to England shall along with you. (Hamlet, III, iii, 4) |
| Asyndeton | Deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses. Produces a hurried rhythm in the sentence: "I came, I saw, I conquered." Julius Caesar |
| Polysyndeton | The opposite of asyndeton: polysyndeton is the deliberate use of many conjunctions. Suggests flow or continuity in some instance, special emphasis in others: "Multiple conjunctions." I said, "Who killed him?" & he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and...etc... |
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial or medial consonants in 2 or more adjacent words. Contributes to euphony (pleasant sound) & is sometimes used for humorous effect: "A sable, silent, solemn forest stood." |
| Assonance | The repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded & followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words. Produces a euphonious or humorous effect: An old, mad, blind, despised, & dying king - Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn - mud from muddy spring - (Shelly) |
| Anaphora | Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses. Always used deliberately, this scheme helps to establish a marked rhythm & often produces strong emotional effect: Repetition of the 1st word "I have a dream..." |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses. Sets up pronuced rhythm & secures a special emphasis: "Repeating the last line: 'Shylock: I'll have my bond! Speak not against my bond! I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond!" |
| Epanalepsis | Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. Gives languge an appearance of emotional spontaneity: "1st_same_last.": "Men are not men." "Boys will be boys." |
| Anadilplosis | Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause: direct TV commercial; Logic: "If you give a pig a pancake, he will want syrup...If he wants syrup..." |
| Climax | Arrangement of words, phrases or clauses in an order of increasing importance: When a drama comes to completion. "Renounce my love, my life, myself -- and you." Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard." |
| Antimetabole | Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical ordeer: Produces the impressive turn of phrase typical of an aphorism: "It's not the size of the man in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the man." |
| Polytoton | Repetition of words derived from the same root. Similar to word play, but the meanings of the words do not lose their literal meanings: "one word, different parts of speech:The Greeks are strong, & skilful to their strength. Fierce to their skill, & their fierceness valiant. |
| Metaphor | An implied comparison between 2 things of unlike nature that yet have something in common; a comparison of 2 things w/o using the words "like" or "as" |
| Simile | An explicit comparison between 2 things of unlike nature that yet have something in common; comparison of 2 things using either "like" or "as" |
| Synechdoche | A figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole: "boots on the ground (soldiers)" All hands on deck. Genus substituted for the species. |
| Metonymy | Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant: Crown for royalty, mitre for bishop, wealth for rich people, brass military officers, bottle for wine, pen for writers. |
| Puns | Generic name of those figures which make a play on words. |
| Antanaclasis | Repetition of a word in 2 different senses: Same word different meaning: But lest I should be condemned of introducing license, when I oppose licensing. |
| Paranomasia | Use of words alike in sound but different in meaning: "Neither hide nor hire of him had been seen since the day that Kwame Nkrumah had been ostrichized, accused of being the biggest cheetah in Ghana, but safaris anyone knew, no fowl play was involved." |
| Periphrasis | Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a phrase of a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name: "google it": "They do not escape Jim Crow; they merely encounter another, not less deadly variety." "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer." |
| Personification (Prosopopoeia) | Investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or abilities. The way in which this trope gives its subject human qualities allows it lend itself to emotional appeals: "He glanced at the dew-covered grass, & it winked back at him." |
| Apostrophe | Addressing an absent person or personified abstraction. Apostrophe imbues its subject with an emotional charge as personification does: "O eloquent, just & might Death! Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; & whom all the world has flattered, thou only hast cast out the world & despised. |
| Hyperbole | The use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. Hyperbole can be serviceable figure of speech if we learn to use it with restraint & for calculated effect. Under the stress of emotion, it will slip out naturally & seem appropriate. Original & unique hyperboles will produce the right note of emphasis: It's really ironical...I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head- the right side- is full of millions of gray hairs." |
| Litotes | Deliberate use of statement, not to deceive someone but to enhance the impressiveness of what is stated: "Not too shabby" under exaggerated; Not "he's Not the friendliest person." |
| Rhetorical Questions (erotema) | Asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an anwser but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely. Rhetorical questions can be an effective persuasive device, subtly influencing the kind of response of one wants to get from an audience, & are often more effective as a persuasive device than as a direct assertion. |
| Irony | Use of word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word. Irony must be used in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word. Irony must be used with great caution: if the speaker misjudges the intelligence of his or her audience, he or she may find that his or her audience takes their word in their ostensible sense rather than in the intended opposite snese:For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, honourable men." |
| Sarcasm | Witty language used to convey insults or scorn: "No opera plot can be sensible, for in sensible situations people do not sing." "Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts." |
| Onomatopoeia | Use of words whose sound echoes the sense: "Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far." |
| Oxymoron | The yoking of terms that are ordinarily contradictory. By thus combining contradictories, writers produce a startling effect. If fresh & apt, oxymorons display the subtle & shrewd ability to see similarities. "O miserable abundance, O beggarly riches! |
| Paradox | An apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth. Paradox is like oxymoron in that both are built on contradictories, but paradox may not be a trope at all, because it involves not so much a "turn" of meaning in juxtaposed words as a "turn" of meaning in the whole statement. "Art is a from of lying to tell the truth." "The less we copy the renowned ancients, the more we shall resemble them." |
