Rhetorical Strategies/terms Part 2

Front 1

diction

Back 1

a writer's choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning

Front 2

didactic

Back 2

tone; instructional, designed to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson

Front 3

dramatic monologue

Back 3

a character (the speaker) addresses a distinct but silent audience imagined to be present in the poem in such a way as to reveal a dramatic situation and, often unintentionally, some aspect of his or her temperament or personality

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elegiac

Back 4

tone; of relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past

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ellipsis

Back 5

the omission of one of more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete

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epigraph

Back 6

a quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme

Front 7

epistrophe

Back 7

ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. The opposite of anaphora

Front 8

euphemism

Back 8

the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant

Front 9

euphony

Back 9

soothing pleasant sounds. Opposite of cacophony. Example: O star (the fairest one in sight)

Front 10

extended metaphor

Back 10

differs from a regular metaphor in that several comparisons similar in theme are being made

Front 11

figurative language/figures of speech

Back 11

language used to create a special effect or feeling; most commonly alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor, etc.

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generalization

Back 12

an idea or statement that emphasizes the general characteristics rather than the specific details of a subject

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genre

Back 13

a category or type of literature based on its style, form, and content

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hyperbole

Back 14

exaggeration done deliberately for emphasis

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hypotactic

Back 15

see notes on hypo- and paratactic sentence structure

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Front 16

idiolect

Back 16

a person's idiolect is their own personal language, the words they choose and any other features that characterize their speech and writing (related to style, voice)

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idiomatic

Back 17

of or pertaining to, or conforming to, the mode of expression peculiar to a language; use of figures of speech

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imagery

Back 18

the words or phrases a writer uses to represent objects, feelings, actions, or ideas; appeals to one or more of the five senses

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inflection

Back 19

the change of form that words undergo to mark such distinctions as those of case, gender, number, tense, person, mood, or voice

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invective

Back 20

of, relating to, or characterized by insult or abuse

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verbal irony

Back 21

stating the opposite of what is said or meant

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situational irony

Back 22

what happens is the opposite of what is expected

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dramatic irony

Back 23

the audience is aware of something the characters onstage are unaware of

Front 24

juxtaposition

Back 24

placing two or more things side by side for comparison or contrast

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metaphor

Back 25

an implied comparison between two unlike things

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metonymy

Back 26

a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated

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mood

Back 27

the feeling a piece of literature arouses in the reader

Front 28

motif

Back 28

a usually recurring salient thematic element especially a dominant idea or central theme

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onomatopoeia

Back 29

the use of words whose sound reinforces their meaning

Front 30

oxymoron

Back 30

a combination of contradictory or incongruous words ("cruel to be kind")

Front 31

pacing

Back 31

use when discussing organization; point out where action/syntax begins to speed up, slow down, is interrupted, etc

Front 32

paradox(ical statement)

Back 32

apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought

Front 33

parallel (structure, parallelism)

Back 33

a repetition of sentences using the same grammatical structure emphasizing all aspects of the sentence equally

Front 34

paratactic

Back 34

see notes on Hypo- and paratactic sentence structure

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