Rhetorical Devices - AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION

As a literary device it is a metaphor in which a character, place or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.

• allegory

• metonymy

• syllogism

• invective

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.

"When I give, I give myself."

• oxymoron

• metonymy

• polysyndeton

• anadiplosis

A reference to an event, literary work or person - I can't do that because I am not Superman.

• zeugma

• parody

• allusion

• tone

The recurrence of initial consonant sounds - rubber baby buggy bumpers

• personification

• alliteration

• synecdoche

• litotes

Repeats a word or expression for emphasis - Love, real love, takes time.

• rhetoric

• chiasmus

• eponym

• amplification

Repeats a word or phrase in successive phrases - "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?" (Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare)

• alliteration

• pathos

• anaphora

• asyndeton

A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g., "You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit.")

• understatement

• catharsis

• simile

• zeugma

Compares two different things that have some similar characteristics -

He is flaky as a snowstorm.

• parallelism

• paradox

• metaphor

• analogy

The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

• oxymoron

• understatement

• consonance

• assonance

Makes a connection between two things "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

(Neil Armstrong)

• antithesis

• climax

• juxtaposition

• hyperbole