Rhetorical AnalysisLiterary Terms

(To Be Continued: Placeunder “Sacred” in your

binder.)

Diction

A style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by the speaker or writer

Example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness….” (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

Personification a figure of

speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes

Examples: The flowers

danced in the gentle breeze.

Time and tide wait for none.

The fire swallowed the entire forest.

Metaphor

A comparison between two things

Usually calling one by the other name

“Our lives are better left to chanceI could have missed the painBut I’d have had to miss the dance.”

Garth Brooks “Cause,

baby, you‘re a firework.”

Katy Perry

Alliteration a stylistic

device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.

Examples: But a better

butter makes a batter better

Dunkin’ Donuts PayPal Best Buy Chuckee

Cheese’s Krispy Kreme

Synecdoche A part of

something represents the whole, or the whole may represent a part

Latin from Greek: Together+take up

Examples: The phrase “gray

beard” refers to an old man.

The word “sails” refers to a whole ship.

The word “suits” refers to businessmen.

The word “boots” usually refers to soldiers.

Metonymy a figure of speech

that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. 

Latin “metonurnia” literally “Change of name”

Examples: The pen is mightier

than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)

The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)

Antimetabole a literary term or

device that involves repeating a phrase in reverse order. 

Chiasmus and antimetabole are usually expected to be overlapped in usage.

Commutative property = a+b=b+a

Examples: “You like it; it

likes you.” “Fair is foul and

foul is fair”  “Ask not what

your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Juxtaposition a literary

technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

Example: “It was the best of

times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, 

Anadiplosis It refers to the 

repetition of a word or words in successive clauses in such a way that the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause.

Greek: anadplosis:“a doubling or folding up”

“……… you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with 

godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.” ( The Bible, II Peter 1:5 – 7)

POLYSYNDETON

The use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some could be otherwise omitted

Greek “POLY” = many

“SYNDETON= “bound together with”

“The bailiff went up and the sherriff and the judge, and the police chief, and the lawyers all came together to listen for a few minutes…” (Hurston 186)

Asyndeton  the omission of

conjunctions, as in “He has provided the poor with jobs, with opportunity, with self-respect.”.

A – prefix meaning “without” (the listing is without conjunctions)

“Dancing, fighting, singing, crying, laughing, winning and losing love every hour” (Hurston 131).

Asyndeton puts a listing close together for various effects as opposed to spreading out with conjunctions as with polysyndeton.

Parallelism

Repetition of the same grammatical structure in a series such as all nouns, all adjectives, all prepositional phrases, all clauses. It might also be the same structure in a series of sentences.

Example: *I came. I saw. I conquered.

Revisit the examples you wrote for juxtaposition, polysyndeton, & asyndeton.

Oxymoron two words with

contrary or apparently contradictory meanings occurring next to each other, but, which, nonetheless, evoke some measure of truth

translates from the Greek words oxy meaning sharp, and moron, which means dull

Sweet sorrow Silent scream Plastic glasses Pretty awful

Paradox

 A figure of speech in which contradictory ideas are placed in juxtaposition yet contain an element of truth

The term Paradox is from the Greek word “paradoxon” that means contrary to expectations, existing belief or perceived opinion

Examples of Paradox

“I proudly, and humbly accept your nomination."

-- Hubert Humphrey, 1964 Democratic National Convention Address “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”

~Shakespeare’s Macbeth (What other term also applies?)

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

"To raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us."-- Hillary Clinton, 1996 Democratic National Convention Address