Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
39 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Adynaton |
A declaration of impossibility, usually in terms of an exaggerated comparison. Sometimes, the expression of the impossibility of expression. Example- I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one of his cheek , —Shakespeare 2 Henry IV 1.2.20-22 |
|
|
Alliteration |
Repetition of the same letter or sound within nearby words. Most often, repeated initial consonants. Example- Why not waste a wild weekend at Westmore Water Park? |
|
|
Anadiplosis |
The repetition of the last word (or phrase) from the previous line, clause, or sentence at the beginning of the next. Often combined with climax. Example- The love of wicked men converts to fear, That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both To worthy danger and deserved death. —Shakespeare, Richard II 5.1.66-68 |
|
|
Anaphora |
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines. Example- This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself |
|
|
Antanaclasis |
The repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance
Example: Your argument is sound...all sound. —Benjamin Franklin The meaning of "sound" first appears to be "solid" or "reasonable"; in its repetition, it means something very different, "all air" or "empty" |
|
|
Anthimeria |
Substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used as a verb).
Example: I've been Republicaned all I care to be this election year. Noun used as verb. |
|
|
Antithesis |
Juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas (often, although not always, in parallel structure).
Example: "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." —Abraham Lincoln |
|
|
Aposiopesis |
Breaking off suddenly in the middle of speaking, usually to portray being overcome with emotion. Example: In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Antony interrupts his own speech at Caesar's funeral: O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me, My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me. —Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.2.104-107 |
|
|
Apostrophe |
Turning one's speech from one audience to another. Most often, apostrophe occurs when one addresses oneself to an abstraction, to an inanimate object, or to the absent.
Example: O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. —Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.1.254-257 |
|
|
Apposition |
Addition of an adjacent, coordinate, explanatory or descriptive element.
Example: Albert Einstein, perhaps the greatest of scientists, seemed not to have mastered the physics of hair combing. |
|
|
Assonance |
Repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.
Example: The sergeant asked him to bomb the lawn with hotpots. |
|
|
Asyndeton |
The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect.
Example: Veni, vidi, vici (Caesar: "I came; I saw; I conquered") |
|
|
A |
The absence of conjunctions between single words.
Example: Phillip! Rise! Eat! Leave! Love, hate, jealousy, frenzy, fury drew him from pity —Angel Day |
|
|
Chiasmus |
1. Repetition of ideas in inverted order 2. Repetition of grammatical structures in inverted order (not to be mistaken with antimetabole, in which identical words are repeated and inverted).
Example: It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling |
|
|
Cknsonance |
The repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words. Consonance is more properly a term associated with modern poetics than with historical rhetorical terminology. Example: He struck a streak of bad luck. |
|
|
Epistrophe |
Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. Example: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —Emerson |
|
|
Hyperbole |
rhetorical exaggeration. Hyperbole is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors
Example: I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate. |
|
|
Irony |
Speaking in such a way as to imply the contrary of what one says, often for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest.
Example: When in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing the constable Dogberry says "redemption" instead of "damnation" (itself a malapropism), the fact that he means precisely the opposite of what he so passionately exclaims makes this a comical use of irony: O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this. |
|
|
Litotes |
Deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite.
Example: It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain. —J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye |
|
|
Mesodiplosis |
Repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
Example: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. —2 Corinthians 4:8-9 |
|
|
Metaphor |
A comparison made by referring to one thing as another.
Example: Who captains the ship of state? |
|
|
Metonymy |
Reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes.
Example: We await word from the crown |
|
|
Oxymoron |
Placing two ordinarily opposing terms adjacent to one another. A compressed paradox.
Example: Sound of Silence |
|
|
Paradox |
A statement that is self-contradictory on the surface, yet seems to evoke a truth nonetheless.
Example: Whosoever loses his life, shall find it. |
|
|
Paralipsis |
Stating and drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over. A kind of irony.
Example: It would be unseemly for me to dwell on Senator Kennedy's drinking problem, and too many have already sensationalized his womanizing… |
|
|
Parallelism |
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Example: parallelism of words: She tried to make her pastry fluffy, sweet, and delicate. parallelism of phrases: Singing a song or writing a poem is joyous. parallelism of clauses: Perch are inexpensive; cod are cheap; trout are abundant; but salmon are best. |
|
|
Personification |
Reference to abstractions or inanimate objects as though they had human qualities or abilities.
Example: O beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on. —Iago in Shakespeare's Othello 3.3.165-67 |
|
|
Polyptoton |
Repeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.
Example: With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder. —John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II 2.1.37 |
|
|
Polysyndeton |
Employing many conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or rhythm.
Example: I said, "Who killed him?" and 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 trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water. —Ernest Hemingway, "After the Storm.” |
|
|
Proverbs |
One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings.
Example: A stitch in time saves nine. |
|
|
Rhetorical question |
Any question asked for a purpose other than to obtain the information the question asks.
Example: "Why me, God?!" |
|
|
Internal rhyme |
A rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next.
Example: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, |
|
|
End rhyme |
when a poem has lines ending with words that sound the same.
Example: the poem, Star Light, Star Bright. |
|
|
Off rhyme |
rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical,
Example: 'Not any higher stands the Grave For Heroes than for men-- Not any nearer for the Child Than numb Three Score and Ten--' -Emily Dickinson |
|
|
Sarcasm |
Use of mockery, verbal taunts, or bitter irony.
Example: If you be the son of God, descend from the cross —Matt. 27 |
|
|
Simile |
An explicit comparison, often (but not necessarily) employing "like" or "as."
Example: "My love is like a red, red rose." - Robert Burns |
|
|
Symploce |
The combination of anaphora and epistrophe: beginning a series of lines, clauses, or sentences with the same word or phrase while simultaneously repeating a different word or phrase at the end of each element in this series.
Example: "Against yourself you are calling him, against the laws you are calling him, against the democratic constitution you are calling him" —Aeschines |
|
|
Synonymia |
In general, the use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a given subject or term. A kind of repetition that adds emotional force or intellectual clarity. Synonymia often occurs in parallel fashion. The Latin synonym, interpretatio, suggests the expository and rational nature of this figure, while another Greek synonym, congeries, suggests the emotive possibilities of this figure.
Example: The tribune Murellus taunts the Roman populace in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar for their fickleness, calling the people several different pejorative names: You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! |
|
|
Tricolon |
Three parallel elements of the same length occurring together in a series.
Example: Veni, vidi, vici. —Julius Caesar ("I came; I saw; I conquered." However, the English is not a true tricolon, for its verbs are not all the same length, as is the case in the Latin) |
