Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Question A question to which no answer is expected

Anaphora Repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses Example: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans….” (Winston Churchill)

Antithesis Opposition, or contrast of words or ideas in a balanced or parallel construction Example: “Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.”

Hyperbole Exaggeration for emphasis

Asyndeton Lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words Example: “He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac.” (Jack Kerouac)

Allusion Reference to something well-known

Repetition

Metaphor Implied comparison

Chiasmus A verbal pattern in which the second part is balanced against the first with the parts reversed Example: “You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.”

Epistrophe Repetition at the end of successive clauses or phrases (opposite of anaphora)