Literary and Rhetorical Devices

How Writers manage to do what they do!

Absolutes

○A word free from limitations or qualifications.

“best” “worst” “all” “none”“every” “unique” “perfect”

“…all men are created equal.”“Declaration of Independence”

Allegory

○A literary work in which characters, objects, and/or actions represent abstract concepts, principles, or ideas.

The Matrix is an allegory for Plato’s allegory of the Cave, District 9 is an allegory for apartheid, and Star Trek: the Undiscovered Country is an allegory for the Cold War.

Alliteration

○The repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words.

Tongue twisters are the classic, exaggerated example of alliteration.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Allusion

○A reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize.“In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever.” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

Anachronism

○Persons, objects, or events which are placed in the wrong period of time.

i.e. The clock striking in Julius Caesar.A knight showing up in 20th Century

New York City.

Analogy

○A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way.

In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift describes the societies of the Lilliputians and the Brobdignags in such a way as to make their characteristics and weaknesses analogous to human society.

Anaphora

○The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” (Dickens) “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans… “ (Churchill)

Anecdote

○a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. ○The primary purpose is not simply to evoke laughter, but to reveal a truth more general than the brief tale itself.

A brief monologue beginning "A man pops in abar..." will be a joke. A brief monologue

beginning "Once J. Edgar Hoover popped in abar..." will be an anecdote

Antithesis

○A statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced.

"When there is need of silence, you speak, and when there is need of speech, you are dumb;”“Give everyman thy ear, but few thy voice. “Many are called, but few are chosen.

Aphorism

○A concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance.

Lost time is never found again. — Benjamin Franklin

That which does not destroy us makes us stronger. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Apostrophe

○An apostrophe is a literary device in which someone directly addresses an inanimate object or someone who is either dead or simply not there. Apostrophes can be used to heighten one's understanding of a character's emotions, whether positive or negative.

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is directly addressing the spots of blood she imagines on her hands, but playgoers recognize the effect of emotional trauma brought on by her participation in King Duncan’s murder

Archetype

○a symbol, theme, setting, or character type that recurs so frequently that it suggests some essential element of ‘universal’ human experience

Characters: femme fatale, the hero, and the magician Patterns of action: the quest, the descent to the underworld, the feud, and death and rebirth (reflecting the natural cycle of the seasons)

Assertion

○Same as the claim (or thesis) of an argument. It is the point you are establishing:

X is better than Y. Scents in the office can affect people's

work. UFO's are really government regulated.

Aside

○a dramatic device (a brief comment—not a long speech) in which a character speaks to the audience

Think of it as muttering under your breath—the audience hears it, but most characters on stage except the one you’re speaking to won’t.

Assonance

Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words:

“Those images that yetFresh images beget,That dolphin-torn, thatgong-tormented sea.“(W.B. Yeats, "Byzantium")

"Old age should burn andrave at close of day;Rage, rage, against thedying of the light.“(Dylan Thomas, "Do not gogentle into that goodnight")

Balanced Sentence

○A balanced sentence employs parallel structure of approximately the same length and importance.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." (A Tale of Two Cities)"But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground."

Lincoln—”Gettysburg Address

Bathos

○Insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity. (overdone pathos)○The elevation of the trite or commonplace to a place of distinction creating humor

a gorilla in a helmet shows up (in a movie), supposed to be frightening but is simply ridiculous.

Cacophony

harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or grating noises

Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid Gyre and gimble in the wabeAll mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

Catalogue

○A list (think of how things are listed in a catalog)

“I hear bravuras of birds, bustle of growing wheat, gossip of flames, clack

of sticks cooking my meals.”

From Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Chiasmus

○A statement consisting of two parallel parts where the second part is structurally reversed from the first.

“Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary.”"[Tommy] held it as he always held it, as though he had held it always."(Bernard Malamud, "The Letter")

Claim

○In academic writing, an argument is usually a main idea, often called a "thesis statement," backed up with evidence that supports the idea.

X is better than Y. Scents in the office can affect people's

work. UFO's are really government regulated

Colloquialism

○Informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing

She was dumped by her fiancé.

Compound Sentence

○A sentence that contains at least two independent clauses

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on."(John F. Kennedy)

"Arguments are to be avoided: they are always vulgar and often convincing."(Oscar Wilde)

Conceit

A surprising comparison; an elaborate and, sometimes, far-fetched image, which extends a metaphor into as many layers of meaning as it will bear.

Shakespeare's Richard II attempts to compare his prison cell with the world.

John Donne compares an icy garden to his frozen feelings after a separation from his lover.

Evening was spread out against the skyLike a person etherized upon a table (T.S. Eliot)

Consonance

the repetition of final consonant sounds after different vowel sounds; the vowels may be the same but their sounds are different.

blood, wood, food tick-tockstrut, fret

Cumulative Sentence

○An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions (phrases or clauses) that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea.

"I write this at a wide desk in a pine shed as I always do these recent years, in this life I pray will last, while the summer sun closes the sky to Orion and to all the other winter stars over my roof."--Annie Dillard, An American Childhood, 1987

Diction

--word choice, language. The selection of words where the connotation is important to its use in a text. e.g. skeletal, scrawny, thin, slim

Desperate to win Robbie lunged for the ball.Desperate and lunged convey far more in their use than perhaps hoping and reached.

Dramatic Irony

○When the audience knows something that the character is unaware of that will affect him/her. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles in which Oedipus searches to find the murderer of the former king of Thebes, only to discover that it is himself, which is known to the audience all along.

Ellipsis

○The omission of a word or phrase that is necessary to be grammatically correct, but can be understood without it because of the context of the sentence.

“Some people prefer cats; others [prefer], dogs.”

“I will [go] to Ireland”

“For I have come downfrom heaven, not to do myown will [only], but [also,or more importantly] thewill of him who sent me“(John 6:38).

Euphemism

○An indirect, less offensive way of saying something considered unpleasant“we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”Pre-owned for used or second-hand; enhanced interrogation for torture; wind for belch or fart; convenience fee for surcharge

Euphony

pleasing sounds; opposite of cacophony

The tide rises, the tide falls,The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brownThe traveller hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Exhortation

○Language intended to encourage, embolden, advise

Foil

○A foil is a character who contrasts with another character, usually the protagonist, and, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality

Laertes if a foil to HamletMercutio is a foil to Romeo

Isemene is a foil to Antigone

Foreshadow

○hints about the plot and what may come in the near future or, in other words, the plot developments to come later in the story.

Early in the tale of "The Three Apples", the contents of a chest, where a body is found, are described in detail, only to serve as a proof of the killer's identity later on.

Fragment of a Sentence

○A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence—it is missing the main clause (subject and verb).

Because his car was in the shop (What did he do?)

After the rain stops (What then?)

When you finally take the test (What will happen?)

Hyperbole

○an intentional exaggeration in order to create an effect.

"I nearly died laughing" "I was hopping mad” "I tried a thousand times."

Imagery

--is the use of words and phrases that appeal to the senses.

This can be done through a variety of other devices, but creates strong sensory images. Her hands are knobby, her skin is coarse, but her heart is true and tender.

Irony

○The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning

Or○The contradiction between what is expected and what actually occurs

Litotes

○An understatement where the affirmative is made by negating (canceling out) its opposite

"The grave's a fine private place,But none, I think, do there embrace.“(Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")

"We are not amused.“ (attributed to Queen Victoria)

Metaphor

○A direct comparison of two different things.

“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely

players; They have their exits and their entrances;”(William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7)

Metonymy

○Substituting the name of one object for another closely associated with it.

“The pen (writing) is mightier than the sword (war/fighting).”

“The suits on Wall Street walked off with most of our savings.”

Monologue

○when the character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience, especially the former.

For example, the Prince in Romeo and Juliet speaks to the citizens after the brawl in Act I and nobody interrupts him! They all just listen.

Motif

○A standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works, particularly to develop a theme.

The flute in Death of a Salesman is a recurrentmotif that conveys rural and idyllic notions.

The green light in The Great Gatsby and therepeated statement, "My father said that thereason for living is getting ready to stay dead."

Onomatopoeia

○Words which suggest or sound like their meaning.

buzz, thump, hiss, sizzle, whop

Oxymoron

○An expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined, often an adjective with a noun:

bittersweet living deadcontrolled chaos open secreticy hot organized messsame difference military intelligence

Parable

○A parable is a very short story that illustrates some virtue.

For example the parable of the seven wise virgins simply states that it is good

to be prepared.

Paradox

○An apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth.

In 1984, “doublethink” refers to theparadox where history is changed, and thenclaimed to have never been changed.

A Tale of Two Cities opens with the famousparadox, “It was the best of times, it was theworst of times.”

Parallelism (parallel structure)

○Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses to create balance and equality among them.

"When you are right, you cannot be too radical;when you are wrong, you cannot be tooconservative."(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."(T.S. Eliot)

Pathetic FallacyA form of personification in which nature is given human emotions, especially to the degree that it becomes illogical or even absurd."The stars will awaken / Though the moon sleep a full hour later"—Percy Bysshe Shelley "The fruitful field / Laughs with abundance" (William Cowper) The sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself because it is afraid of something on your bosom. (The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Pathos

○The quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity

Vivid, concrete language Emotionally loaded language Connotative meanings Emotional examples

Vivid descriptions Narratives of emotional events

Emotional tone Figurative language

Periodic Sentence

○A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax.

"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."(The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13)

Personification

○Giving non-human objects or creatures human qualities of characteristics.

“The wind stood up and gave a shout.” (James Stephens, "The Wind")"The operation is over. On the table, the knife lies spent, on its side, the bloody meal smear-dried upon its flanks. The knife rests.“ (Richard Selzer, "The Knife")

Polysyndeton

○The use of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural. Done for rhetorical effect.

"We lived and laughed and loved and left."(James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, 1939)

"There were frowzy fields, and cow-houses, anddunghills, and dustheaps, and ditches, andgardens, and summer-houses, and carpet-beatinggrounds, at the very door of the Railway."(Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, 1848)

Proverb

○a widely known and simple saying which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity.○If a proverb is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism.

the early bird catches the worm – arrivingearly gives one an advantage

Puns

○A play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words

A vulture boards a plane, carrying two deadpossums. The attendant looks at him andsays, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowedper passenger."

Rhetorical Question

○A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer.

"If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?"(Billy Corgan)

"Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do 'practice'?"

(George Carlin)

Simile

○A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as.

Orion [Twain's brother] is as happy as a martyr when the fire won't burn.(Mark Twain, letter to his mother, Jane Lampton Clemens, 1872)

Soliloquy

○An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play.

For example, “But soft, what light I yonderwindow breaks…” is what Romeo says whenhe first sees Juliet at her window. She doesnot see or hear him although the audiencedoes.

Syllogism

○A three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major and a minor premise.

All Men are mortal (major premise);Socrates is a man (minor premise);therefore, Socrates is mortal(conclusion).

Symbol

○An object used to represent something else.

Some symbols are generic, such as the color redrepresenting love, and flowers representingmortality.

Other symbols, such as The Valley of Ashes inTHE GREAT GATSBY, are specific to individualnovels. (The Valley of Ashes represents theconsequences of greed.)

Synaesthesia

○Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (a cross-sensory metaphor)

“a loud color,” “a sweet sound”“a prickly laugh”“a bitter wind”

Synecdoche

○using one part of an object to represent the whole.

e.g. referring to a car as “wheels”

“Take thy face hence."(William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

"plastic" for credit card,

"pigskin" for football, from the early use of a pig's bladder to cover those balls

Syntax

○The manner in which words are arranged into sentences (aka sentence structure!) "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."

(Linguist Noam Chomsky created thissentence--which is grammatically correct butincomprehensible--to demonstrate that therules governing syntax are distinct from themeanings words convey.)

Understatement

○A statement that says less than is meant; deliberately downplaying something for the purpose of emphasis, humor, or irony.

“The grave’s a fine and private place,But none, I think, do there embrace.”

“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell