Rhetorical Devices

Elena Shao, #1-7

Term

Definitions

Examples
Faith is like a stony uphill climb: a single stumble might
send you sprawling but belief and steadfastness will see
you to the very top.

allegory

a symbolism device where the

meaning of a greater, often
abstract, concept is conveyed
with the aid of a more corporeal
object or idea being used as an
example [2]
a figure of speech in which
abstract ideas and principles are
described in terms of characters,
figures and events [3]

Faerie Queen, Edmund Spenser (moral and religious

allegory)

Animal Farm, George Orwell (allegory of Russian society

after the revolution)

A Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyan (spiritual allegory)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

anaphora

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We

repetition of a word or phrase at shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
the beginning of successive
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing
[4]
phrases, clauses, or lines
strength in the air
Winston Churchill
the deliberate repetition of the
first part of the sentence in order Five years have passed;
to achieve an artistic effect [3]
Five summers, with the length of
Five long winters! and again I hear these waters
William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England
Shakespeare, Richard II

My mother was not afraid of Mrs. Calloway

Eudora Welty, One Writers Beginnings

anecdote

a short verbal accounting of a

funny, amusing, interesting
event or incident [2]
a brief story used to illustrate a
point or claim [4]

Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turn on the

way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully
proportioned room I had never seen before, containing a
really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots.
When I went back to investigate more closely, I
discovered that the room had vanished.
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
an officer of the body-guard, who had given her
offence on some former occasion, expressed his intention
of resigning his commission; but the queen forbade him.
Remain, said she, forget the past as I forgive it.
The Book of Three Hundred Anecdotes, Forgiveness
You know, when I was a kid, my dog was my best friend.
My childhood was better because of him.
You stood up for America, now America must stand up
for you.
Obama

antimetabole

repetition of words in reverse

order [4]

Eat to live, not live to eat.

Socrates

a literary term or device that

involves repeating a phrase in
reverse order [3]

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask

what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Speech
We didnt land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed
on us.
Malcolm X

when the writer employs two

sentences of contrasting
meanings in close proximity to
one another [2]
antithesis

literal meaning opposite, is a

rhetorical device in which two
opposite ideas are put together in
a sentence to achieve a
contrasting effect [3]

Setting foot on the moon may be a small step for a man

but a giant step for mankind.
Neil Armstrong
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heavn.
John Milton
To err is human; to forgive divine.
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
You are easy on the eyes, but hard on the heart.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely.
Lord Acton

aphorism

a statement of truth or opinion

expressed in a concise and witty
manner [3]
a concise, pity statement of an
opinion or a general truth [1]

Life is short, the art [of medicine] is long, opportunity

fleeting, experimentation dangerous, reasoning difficult.
Hippocrates
Having nothing, nothing can he lose.
Shakespeare, Henry VI
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Nights Dream
Yea, noise? Then Ill be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy
sheath; there rust, and let me die.
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

apostrophe

a writer or a speaker, using an

apostrophe, detaches himself
from the reality and addresses an
imaginary character in his
speech [3]

Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock
me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let
me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave
me in darkness.
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

a speaker breaks off from

addressing one party and instead
addresses a third party [2]

Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time

the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my
soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
Shakespeare, Macbeth

Works Cited
[1] Hartzell, Richard. Cracking the AP English Language and Composition Exam, 2016 Edition. N.p.: Random
House Information Group, 2015. Print.
[2] "Literary Devices | Literary Terms." Literary Devices | Literary Terms. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
<http://literary-devices.com/>.
[3] "Rhetoric - Examples and Definition of Rhetoric." Literary Devices. N.p., 10 July 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.
<http://literarydevices.net/rhetoric/>.
[4] Shea, Renee Hausmann., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin. Aufses. The Language of Composition:
Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. Boston, MA: Bedford / St. Martins, 2008. Print.