Alliteration
The repetition of the same initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables in any sequence
of neighboring words
Purpose: Alliteration highlights a particular part of a piece through the repetition of initial
consonants. The repetition of certain sounds creates emphasizes not only the words in the
passage themselves but on the pattern, creating a musical effect.
Antithesis
A device used to create contrast by placing two parallel but opposite ideas in a sentence
Purpose: Antithesis literally means opposite, but the rhetorical definition calls for parallel
structures of contrasting words or clauses. These opposing words or clauses are placed in
close proximity within a sentence in order to create a focal point for the reader.
Assonance
resemblance of sound between syllables of nearby words, arising particularly from the
rhyming of two or more stressed vowels, but not consonants
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds two or more times in short succession within a sentence or
phrase
Purpose: Consonance is, again, a device used by writers in order to create focus on a
particular part of a piece. In many cases, consonance appears in poetry as a device used to
create slant rhymes.
Hyperbole
An intentionally exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally but creating a
desired humorous effect
Purpose: A hyperbole involves exaggeration in order to create emphasis. Unlike other
figurative language devices, hyperbole creates emphasis through the humorous effect that is
created by the author’s overstatement.
Irony
The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite of
what the writer intends to achieve a humorous effect or to add emphasis.
Purpose: A writer utilizes irony to show that the words they use do not necessarily represent
their intended meaning. Further, irony can be manifest as a situation that does not pan out
the way that the audience, speaker, or characters believe it will.
Personification
The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristic to a nonhuman or the
representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Purpose: A writer might employ personification in order to apply human characteristics to
something nonhuman, thus furthering the writer’s use of imagery and figurative language
Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis is the repetition of the word from the end of one sentence to the beginning of the
next.
Anaphora
On the other hand, anaphora is the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of
subsequent sentences. Another, similar rhetorical device is epistrophe: the repetition of
words at the end of sentences. And, if you combine the two, you’ve got a symploce.
Chiasmus
the repetition and/or reversal of words or grammatical structure across two phrases.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a rhetorical device wherein a part of one thing represents its whole. This differs
slightly from metonymy, in which a single thing represents a larger institution.
