Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Rhetorical Terms

anaphora: the REPETITION of a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

asyndeton: the omission of conjunction between related clauses-for example, "I came, I saw, I conquered."

antithesis: The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas, oten in parallell structure-for example, "Place your virtues on a pedestal; put your vices under a rock."

polysyndeton: The interruption of lists by using and.

personification: The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects.

allusion: A reference in a written or spoken text to another text or to some particular body of knowledge.

hyperbole: An EXAGGERATION for effect.

simile: A type of comparison that uses the word like or as.

metaphor: An implied comparison that does not use the word like or as-for example, "His voice was a cascade of emotion"; the most important of all the TROPES.