updated 02 January 2005
77 RHETORICAL TERMS WITH EXAMPLES: 2003
beginning A-E
(draft page*)
With examples provided by students enrolled in ENGL 5730 in Spring 2003 and
submitted--in phase one--by the evening of Jan. 30 and--in phase two--by Feb.
4th. For the sake of variety--and, in a few cases, accuracy--some examples
have been matched with terms other than those originally submitted. Terms beginning
A-E are on this page. Terms F-Z
are here.
How to use this page: After studying the example(s)
accompanying each rhetorical term below, try to compose a clear and accurate definition
of the term. Better yet, write down your definition. Then click on the term to
compare your definition with the one in our online glossary.
* If you spot any errors in the transcription of quotations that you sent me,
please notify me as soon as possible via e-mail. This weekend (Feb 8-9), I'll be
making final corrections to the page.
_________________________________________________
TERMS A-E
Accumulation
--“who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up
smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across
the tops of cities contemplating jazz,/ who bared their brains to Heaven
under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs
illuminated,/ who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes
hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of
war,/ who were expelled from the academies for crazy and publishing
obscene odes on the windows of the skull,/ who cowered in unshaven rooms
in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the
Terror through the wall,/ who got busted in their pubic beards returning
through Laredo with a belt of marijuana for New York,/ who ate fire in
paint hotels or drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, death or purgatoried
their torsos night after night” (Allen Ginsberg “Howl”) [DM]
Allegory
--Hawthorne’s “Rappacini’s Daughter” is an allegory for the
garden of Eden story. In it Hawthorne has a scientist attempting to
play God and recreate Eden and the whole world then from that. [DM]
Alliteration
--How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? [JW]
--“Western wind, when will thou blow,” (from Western Wind, Anonymous) [AC]
Ambiguity
--What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
("The Tyger" by William Blake) [BS]
--"I can't tell you how I feel about you getting married, at age 18." [AT]
--Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. [BS]
Anadiplosis
--"God is good all the time, and all the time God is
good!" [JD]
Analogy
--Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are
gonna get. [JW]
Anaphora
--Mine — by the Right of the White Election!
Mine — by the Royal Seal!
Mine — by the Sign in the Scarlet prison —
Bars — cannot conceal!
Mine — here — in Vision — and in Veto!
Mine — by the Grave's Repeal —
Titled — Confirmed —
Delirious Charter!
Mine — long as Ages steal!
(The Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson) [BS]
--There is this breath
I hear it everywhere
Filling each lung
With a single voice
More than the meadows,
More than what is shown,
More than possessions,
This is my home
This voice is my home.
("Chasing Down the Dawn," Jewel Kilcher) [SD]
-- I will fight for you. I will fight to
save Social Security. I will fight to raise the minimum wage. [JS]
-- “Why should white people be running all the stores in our community? Why should white people
be running the banks of our community? Why
should the economy of our community be in the hands
of the white man? Why?” (Malcolm X) [JS]
--"This royal throne of
kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as [a] moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings [. . .]
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out — I die pronouncing it —
Like to a tenement or pelting farm"
(John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II
(2.1.40-51; 57-60) [JS]
--“Woo’t weep, woo’t fight, woo’t fast, woo’t tear thyself?”
(William Shakespeare, Hamlet) [JW]
-- “Life's like this you And you fall and
you crawl and you break and you take what you get And
you
turnin into…” ("Complicated," Avril Lavigne) [AE]
Antihimera
--"But when my wond'ring eyes and envious heart
Great Bartas' sugared lines do but read o'er."
("The Prologue" by Anne Bradstreet) [BS]
--"So, purposing each moment to retire, she linger'd still"
~John Keats's "The Eve of St. Agnes" [LM]
--"But me no buts
Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence.
The thunder would not peace at my bidding."
(source?) [JS]
--“My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself.” (from "My Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore
Roethke) [AC]
Antiphrasis
--"this woman had known the hot whispers of a man who loved her, entirely if
not eternally. And that she had answered, fiercely soft." ("Chasing Down the
Dawn," Jewel Kilcher) [SD]
--“This giant of 3 ft 4 inches” [KS]
Antirrhesis
--Rush Limbaugh is no political commentator; he's a two-bit showman whose political ideas
are about as impressive as his humility. [BS]
Antithesis
--“Much Madness is divinest Sense - / To a discerning
Eye - / Much Sense - the starkest Madness” (Emily Dickinson 435) [DM]
Antonomasia
--My roommate often says to me while I am in the kitchen, “Hey, Chef Boyardee,
whatcha cookin'?" [JA]
--“The
King of Pop” for Michael Jackson, “The Godfather of Soul” for James Brown,
“The Boss” for Bruce Springsteen. [JW]
Apophasis
--"Therefore, let no man talk to me of other
expedients: of taxing our absentees . . . of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity,
idleness, and gaming of learning to love our country . . ("A Modest Proposal,"
Jonathan Swift) [SB]
--"If you were not my father, I would say you were perverse." (Antigone,
Sophocles) [SB]
--"I will not even mention Houdini's many writings, both on magic and other subjects,
nor the tricks he invented, nor his numerous impressive escapes, since I want to
concentrate on . . ." [SB]
Aporia
--“Then the steward said within himself,‘What shall I
do?”- Luke 16 [JP] [GS]
Aposiopesis
--“Whom I . . . But I cannot go on.” [KS]
--“Must I remember? Why, she would hang
on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month
----
Let me not think on’t----Frailty, thy name is woman!----
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, all tears:----why she, even she----
O God!” (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
Act I, scene ii) [AC]
--“She was drunk, she pulled out a gun and…” [AE]
Apostrophe
--O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.
("Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley) [BS]
--“With how sad steps, O Moon, thou
climb’s the skies!”- (Sidney, Astrophel and Stella) [JP]
--"Twinkle Twinkle little star, How I
wonder where you are...." [AT]
--"O, pardon me,thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and
gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruining of the noblest man That ever lived in
tide of times." (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.1. 254-257. [PW]
Apposition
--My brother, the research associate, works at a large polling firm. [BS]
Asiatic
--The accidental and unintentional installation of an additional ventilation
passage betwixt the lower extremities during a mild acrobatic move. (Bending over and
splitting your pants.) [JA]
Assonance
--"In behint yon auld fail dyke
I wot their lies a new slan Knight." ( “The Twa Corbies” )
[KS]
--“Mike
& Ike” candies [AC]
Asyndeton
-- “In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things
to come; in books
warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace.”- Richard de
Bury [JP]
--“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” John F. Kennedy
[GS]
--“Rip, Mix, Burn” Apple commercial [AE]
Attic
--"Some Like it Hot" (Grape Nuts) [AJ]
Auxesis
--"Jeans That Can/Lengthen Legs/Hug Hips/& Turn
Heads" (Rider Jeans) [AL]
Bdelygmia
--"It was not at all insipid, but it want not exactly
expressive; and though it was eminently delicate, Winterbourne mentally accused it
— very forgivingly — of a want of finish."
(Daisy Miller: A Study by Henry James) [BS]
--…I want him brought right here…and I want to tell
him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, low life, snake
licking, dirt eating, inbred, over-stuffed, ignorant, blood sucking, dog kissing,
brainless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass,
bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah.
Where’s the Tylenol?"
(National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) [JA]
?????? Belgian ?????????
-- I do hate a proud man, as I do hate the engend'ring of toads. [BS]
Catachresis
--"The only place in the universe to discover one of
eight secret treasures is McDonalds."
(McDonald's happy meal toys) [AJ]
--"I will speak daggers to her." (William Shakespeare, Hamlet) [SB]
--“the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses”
(e. e. cummings, "somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond") [SB]
“Mom will have kittens when she hears this” (Lanham) [SB]
Chiasmus
--“You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall
see how a slave was made a man.”
(Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave)
[DM]
Cliche
--Make love not war. [JW]
--"The older you get, the wiser you get." [AT]
--If you expect to soar with the eagles during the day, you can't hoot with the owls at
night. [BS]
Commoratio
--…I want him brought right here…and I want to
tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, low life, snake
licking, dirt eating, inbred, over-stuffed, ignorant, blood sucking, dog kissing,
brainless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass,
bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah.
Where’s the Tylenol?"
(National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) [JA]
--"She mourns the death of a loved one,
She is weeping because of her tragic loss,
Painfully reminiscing about the life her dear friend once lived" (made up by
me) [LM]
Complex sentence
--Jake sang his song, and the entire audience clapped uproariously. [PW]
Crot
--Raining-dark-red shoes-Don't get wet-outside-puddles-hair
getting wet-splash splash. [SW]
--This is a joke where a man encounters an elderly couple walking a dog, and the gentleman
addresses the
elderly man:
“Hey mister, what kind of dog is that?”
He replies: “Long stem, thorns, bush, red.”
“A Rose??”
“Yep—Hey Rose, honey, what kind of dog is this?” [JA]
Dehortatio
--would have brought an epic. Be not vexed.
("To The Muse", X.J.K) [SD]
--"Blame not thyself too much, nor blame
Too much the sons of men and barbarous laws;"
(Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Woman's Cause Is Man's") [LM]
--"Never pain to tell thy love
Love that never told can be"
(William Blake's "Never pain to tell thy love") [LM]
--"Don't put all your eggs in one basket!"
[JD]
Diacope
--Love love love. You are always in love. [JW]
--"Oh! She remembered; for in Assumption he had kissed her and kissed and kissed her;
until his
senses would well nigh fail, and to save her he would resort to a desperate flight."
("The Storm," Kate Chopin) [SD]
--"Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?" (William Blake's "The Lamb" [LM]
--"The contagious laughter of hearing another's laughter.
The laughter that once came from the mouth of my grandmother" (poem written by fellow
student Andrew Washington) [LM] --"We give thanks to Thee, O God, we give thanks.
(Psalms 75:1) [PW]
--“Put out the light, and then put out the light.” (Shakespeare's Othello,
V) [GS]
--"We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks" (Psalm 75:1, Bible) [SB]
[PW]
--“Term, holidays, term, holidays, till we leave school, and then work, work, work
till we die.”
(C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy) [SB]
“Boys will be boys” [SB]
Effectio
--"Again the wild-flower wine she drank:
Her fair large eyes 'gan glitter bright,
And from the floor whereon she sank,
The lofty lady stood upright;
She was most beautiful to see,
Like a lady of a far country
And slowly rolled her eyes around;
Then drawing her sweet breath aloud,
Like the one that shuddered, she unbound
The cincture from beneath her breast:
Her silken robe, and inner vest,
Dropt to her feet, and in full view,
Behold her bosom and half her side-
A sight to dream of, not to tell!
O shield her! shield sweet Christabel!"
~Samuel Coleridge's "Christabel" [LM]
--I mean that man, he with the white hair,
the crazed look in his eye, the lame left, and feet too large for any shoes.
[PW]
Ellipsis
--“And he to England shall along with you.”
(Shakespeare's Hamlet, III) [GS]
--“And he to England shall along with you” (Shakespeare's Hamlet) [JS]
“And so to bed” (Pepys) [JS]
Epanalepsis
--"In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the
world." (John 16:33) [SB]
--"What though he love your Hermia, lord, what though?" (Shakespeare, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream) [SB] [JW]
--"Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh." (Shakespeare, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream) [SB]
Epiplexis
--"What were you thinking?" [JD]
--“What would you do without me?” [JS]
“What in the world to you think you’re doing?” [JS]
“Why died I not from the womb? Why did I
not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?” (Job 3:11) [JS]
--“Why are you so stupid?” [JW]
Epithet
--“the honest truth” [JP]
--hot water heater, intentional defiance, repeated again, another helping [JA]
Epizeuxis
--"Words, words, words..." (Shakespeare's Hamlet)
[SB]
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." (Isaiah 6:1) [SB]
“Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night”
(William Blake, The Tiger) [SB]
Erotesis
--“Who’s your daddy?” [AE]
Euphemism
--"emotionally unbalanced" for "crazy" [SD]
--“Euthanasia” for “killing the hopelessly sick” [AE]
Exergasia
--"Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto the cry, give ear unto my prayer... "
(Psalm 17:1) [PW]
TERMS (F-Z) CONTINUED HERE
____________________________________________
English 5730 is taught by Dr. Richard
Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
updated 02 January 2005