Rhetorical Devices

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Poetry

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distinguished from verse by rhythmical or metrical composition. The connotations of words add to the meaning of the poet's language, giving it a richness greater than prose. Poetry tends to be more concrete, with specific images.

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Prose

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nonpoetic expression, that exhibits purposeful grammatical design but does not have rhythmic patterns.

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Epic

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a long and formal narrative poem written in an elevated style that tells the adventures of a hero of almost mythic proportions, who often embodies the traits of a nation or people. Have hero as protagnoist with bravery and wisdom, have setting on a grand scale, action with superhuman. Invoke muse's aid, epic list of historical figures.

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Sonnet

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a lyric poem that is usually 14 lines. Love a common theme.

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Epic similie

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extended and elaborate simile in which the image is itself at such length that it almost obstructs the thing it is being compared to.

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Italian/Petrarchan sonnet

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has octave, with rhyme scheme abbaabba, and sestet, cdecde.

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Shakespearean sonnet

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Has three quatrains and a couplet. Abab cdcd efef gg.

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Spenserian sonnet

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3 quatrains with abab baba cdcd, couplet ee.

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Meter

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the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry. Feet such as iamb and trochee.

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Iambic pentameter

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metrical foot with two syllables, an unaccented one followed by accented one.

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rhyme scheme

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pattern of rhyme in a poem.

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octave

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8 line stanza frequently used in the 1st part of Italian sonnet.

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elegy

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poem composed in elegiac meter (alternating dactylic hexameter and pentameter lines) now used to describe something that laments the loss.

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mock epic

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lengthy poem written in elevated sytle of epic that deals with an utterly trivial subject. Mock the subject by treating it with a dignity it does not deserve. Describe ordinary events using classical terms.

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heroic epic

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refers more broadly to any work in which a trivial subject is ridiculed by discussed in a lofty manner.

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in medias res

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latin for in the middle of things. beginning a narrative in the middle of the action. other events conveyed by flashbacks. Associated with the epic. Book 1 of Paradise Lost opens in hell.

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invocation to muse

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request for help in writing. John Milton invokes Urania, muse of astronomy, in Paradise Lost.

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plays

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a story in verse or prose intended to be performed onstage by actors who deliver the dialogue.

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deus ex machina

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intervention of a nonhuman force to resolve a seemingly unresolable conflict in a literary work.

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carpe diem

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theme in literature that we should enjoy the moment before it is gone.

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pastoral

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any work with a rural setting that generally praises a rustic way of life.

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tragedy

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a drama that typically ends in disaster and focuses on a character who undergoes unexpected personal reversals.

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comedy

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amusing drama with wit as essential element. romantic comedy is used by shakespeare.

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sight rhyme

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words similar in spelling but different in pronounciation

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slant rhyme

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consonance on the final consonants of the words involved

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internal rhyme

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rhyme in the middle of a line

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soliloquy

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a monologue in a play by a character while alone on stage that reveals inner thought or eomotions. Ex. Hamlet.

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aside

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character onstage addresses the audience to reveal some inner thought that is presumed inaudible to the others onstage

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irony

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a contradiction between appearance or expectation, and reality.

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prose

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orindary written expression, nonpoetic, not rhymthic or metrical patterns

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verse

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any metrical composition

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blank verse

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any rhymed verse, usually unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare and Paradise Lost.

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heroic couplets

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pair of rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter

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metaphysical conceits

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extended figure of speech. usesed paradox, images from sources not usually drawn upon by poets, oringinal comparasion between two dissimilar things. Donne's a valediction forbidding mourning.

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lyrics

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a brief and imaginative poem in the first person

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interior monologue

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mode of narrative intended to reveal to the reader subjective thoughts, emotions, and sensations experienced by a character. stream of consciousness.

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blazon

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catalogue of praise to women, petrarchan

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stream of consciousness

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literary technique that details the flow of thoughts and impressions that pass through the mind. choppy and fragmented often.

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grotesque

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artistic representations involving bizarre or unatural combinations of characteristics. paradise lost-- thickets grosteque

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climax

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point of greatest tension or emotional intensity in a plot. follows rising action and precedes falling action.

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denouement

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events following the climax and resolution of the conflict and explanation of the misunderstandings of the plot.

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baroque

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conceits considered baroque. writing characterized by elaborate, ornate, and dramatic style. Paradise Lost.

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anti climax

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rhetorical lapse, descent from higher to lower emotional point. results in disappointment, reversal of expectations.

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chiasmus

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words and structures are reversed and repeated in reverse order.

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asyndeton

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deliberate omission of conjunctions to create terse and concise statements.

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polysyndaton

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many conjuctions

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antimetabole

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reverse order

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syllipsis

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1 verb, two nouns

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parallelism/isocolon

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parallel structures of the same length

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anaphora

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exact repetition of words or phrases at beginning of successive lines or sentences.

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alliteration

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specialized version of consonance where first letter of word is same

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assonance

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repetition of similar vowel sounds, follwed by differnt consonant sounds.

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consanace

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repetition of a final consonant sound folowed by different vowel sounds.

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metaphor

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associates two distinct things, the representation of one thing by another.

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simile

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compare two distinct things using connective words like like or as.

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symbol

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something that stands for someting larger and more complex.

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anadiplosis

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repeat a word or phrase that appears at the end of a sentence or clause at the beginning of the next sentence or clause

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antistrophe

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ode sung by greek chorus?

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anastrophe

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inversion of the natural order of words

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oxymoron

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figure of speech that juxtaposes two opposite words to present a dramatic paradox

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allusion

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indirect reference to a person, event, theme, found in literature.

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apostrophe

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speaker directly addresses a person who is dead or not actually present, as if they were capable of understanding.

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digression

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topics unconnected. Tristram Shandy.

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juxtaposition

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antithetical criticism

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caesura

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pause in a line of petry. dictated by natrual speaking rhythm.

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enjambment

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runs over lines in poetry

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metonymy

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figure of speech where one thing is represented by another that is commonly associated with it. monarch called "the crown"

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paradox

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rhetorical device that grabs readers attention and direc tit to specific point or image that provokes reader to see it in new way. self-contradictory.

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epithalamium

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form of poem written for bride on her way to martial chamber

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personification

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figure of speech that bestows human characteristics onto anything nonhuman

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synecdoche

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figure of speech where a part of something is used to represent the whole. refer to a boat as a sail.

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apposition

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to restate or redefine

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ellipsis

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omission of a word

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hyperbole

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huge exaggeration

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litotes

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deliberate understatement

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paronomasia

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puns

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epanalepsis

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same word at the beginning and the end of a line of verse.

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rhetorical questions

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encourage listener to reflect on what implied answer might be

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zeugma

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figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a single common verb or noun