Stylistic and rhetorical devices

Redundancy (C)

§ Writing (talking) more than the required minimum, repetitive.

§ E.g.: Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia

§ Usage: The following paragraph is full of redundancies.

His speech is full of redundant words.

Pleonasm (C)

§ Use of more words than necessary.

§ E.g.: 4 quarters, two twins

§ Usage: Pleonasms should be avoided.

Litotes (C – plural same form)

§ An ironically moderate speech, rhetorical under-statement

§ E.g.: That’s not half bad.

He’s no amateur.

§ Usage: He is a master of litotes.

Hyperbole (U)

§ Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

§ E.g.: I’ve waited an eternity.

He had a hangover that made his head feel like the spot on the fortress that’s just been hit by a thirty-foot battering ram.

§ Usage: Shakespeare loves to employ hyperbole.

Enjambment (U or C)

§ The continuation of the sentence into the next line.

§ Effect: It makes the speech sound more natural

§ E.g.: But see! The angry victor hath recalled

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

Back to the gates of Heaven.

Chiasmus (C pl. -mi)

§ Contrasted terms are arranged crosswise, the word order in the first phrase is reversed

in the second.

§ E.g.: Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Weigh oath with oath and you will nothing weigh

Anacoluthon (C pl. -a)

§ A broken sentence construction, lacking a grammatical sequence

§ In so far the anacoluthon is unintentionally used by the speaker à unwillingly

§ Usage: The anacolutha in the following lines are supposed to emphasize Richard’s

mental confusion.

Ellipsis (C pl. -es)

§ An incomplete sentence construction.

§ The ellipsis is used deliberately by its speaker (e.g. for emphasis) à willingly

Anaphora (U)

§ The repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of two or more successive lines,

sentences etc.

§ E.g.: And she forgot the stars, the moon, the sun

And she forgot the blue above the trees (…)

Epiphora (U)

§ The repetition of a word or a phrase at the end of two or more successive lines,

sentences etc.

§ E.g.: We are born to sorrow, pass our time in sorrow, end our days in sorrow.

Asyndeton (C pl. -a)

§ Words or phrases presented in series, separated by commas only, without conjunctions

§ E.g.: Veni, vidi, vici.

He has provided the poor with jobs, food, money.

Polysyndeton (C pl. -a)

§ Words or phrases presented in series separated by “end”, “as well as”, etc.

§ E.g.: und es wallet und siedet und brauset und zischt.

Exclamation (C)

§ E.g. : What a strange idea !

Address (C)

§ But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the thrill of victory …

Request (C)

§ Polite or formal appeal

§ E.g.: Why don’t we all go to…?

Urgent appeal (C)

§ It’s stronger form of request

§ E.g.: For heaven’s sake, come and help me now!

Climax (C pl. -es)

§ A figure consisting of a series of of related ideas so arranged that each is stronger than

the proceeding one

§ E.g.: Berlin-, Deutschland-, Weltnachrichten

Personification (U)

§ A figure of speech in which a lifeless object is spoken of as if alive

§ E.g.: My blood speaks in your veins.

And when she weeps, weeps every little flower.

§ Usage: In “Romeo and Juliet” the personification of the stars is unforgettable .

In this poem of Keats’ autumn is personified.

Gemination (U)

§ The immediate repetition of a word or phrase for rhetorical effect

§ E.g.: And when she weeps, weeps every little flower.

§ Usage: Shakespeare often employs gemination as a means of realizing his iambic

Allusion (C)

§ An allusion is a reference to another author or historical figure or event.

§ E.g.: Oberon’s: “A fair vestal throned by the west” doubtlessly alluded to Queen

Elizabeth I, who watched the play herself

Pun (C)

§ With puns Shakespeare shows his exceptional wit

§ Puns work through ambiguities, often caused by homophones (i.e. words that sound

the same)

§ E.g.: There is mettle in death. (mettle = courage; at the same the word suggests the

homophone metal, a synecdoche for sword, a weapon causing death)

§ Very often Shakespeare makes use of sexual puns (also called innuendoes)

§ Here textual notes are often not very helpful…

§ E.g.: My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones. (the character is referring to the

stones in a wall, but to the Elizabethans “stones” were also testicles …)

Parallelism (C)

§ Any parallel structure

§ E.g.: To watch the night in storms, the day in cold.

§ Repetition of the inititial consonant sound

§ Repetition of vowel sounds

§ Similarity of end consonants

Their common aims:

o Increase pleasure in hearing and catch the listener’s attention

Masculine rhyme

§ One-syllable rhyme

Feminine rhyme

§ Two-(or more) syllable rhyme

§ Rhyme is not quite exact ,but listener still feels it

Internal rhyme

§ Rhyme within one line

§ Change in argumentation

§ It always follows after the 8 line of a sonnet

Final complet

§ These are the two final lines of a sonnet

§ They always contain a message

§ It always lays a certain stress on it

§ The length of a line of verse, measured by counting the stresses, is called the metre

§ When there are five stresses the line is called a pentameter