Rhetorical Tropes and
Schemes
Parallelism (Parallel Structure)
• Parallel Structure is repetition of the same
pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or
passage to show that two or more ideas have
the same level of importance.
•
Do not mix forms: When using parallel structure, make sure that you
retain the same grammatical structure (clauses, phrases, infinitives,
participles, gerunds, adjectives, etc.)
– Example 1
– Not Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.
– Parallel:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.
Parallel Structure for Rhythmic
(poetic) Effect
• “Beautiful and lovely it was, thus to walk
through the world, thus childlike, thus
awoken, thus open to what is near, thus
without distrust. Differently the sun burn
the head, differently the shade of the
forest cooled him down, differently the
stream and the cistern . . .”
– Parallel Structure based on adverbs and
anaphora.
Hypophora
• Hypophora is a figure of speech in which a
writer raises a question and then immediately
provides an answer to that question.
– The basic difference between hypophora and a
rhetorical question is that in a rhetorical question the
answer is not provided by the writer since it does not
require an answer.
• Example:“What made me take this trip to Africa? There is
no quick explanation. Things got worse and worse and worse
and pretty soon they were too complicated.”
– (Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow)
Asyndeton (uh-sin-di-ton)
• When conjunctions (but, for, so, or, and)
are done away with after every successive
clause or phrase for effect, then it’s called
asyndeton.
– For example:
• I came; I saw; I conquered. (also tricolon and
parallelism)
• We met, we got engaged, we married.
• She is addicted to chocolates, cakes, cookies.
• I could have gone to war, I didn’t.
Antithesis
• Antithesis is contrary (opposite) ideas expressed in a
balanced sentence. It is the juxtaposition of two words,
phrases, clauses, or sentences contrasted or opposed in
meaning in such a way as to give emphasis to their
contrasting ideas and give the effect of balance.
– Heaven is the antithesis of hell, thus if you say (or John Dryden
does) “too black for heaven, and yet too white for hell,” then
you’re using an antithesis.
– Antithesis in The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
– Chapter I
• “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other
way…”
Anaphora
• When the same word is used at the beginning of
each clause, sentence or line; that’s anaphora.
It’s a cousin of anadiplosis.
– “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the
season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was
the winter of despair…”
• The clauses here use both anaphora and antithesis
Anadiplosis (an-uh-di-ploh-sis)
• Repeating the same word(s) at the end of
a sentence or a clause and in the
beginning of the following sentence or
clause is known as anadiplosis.
– For example:
• “The general who became a slave; the slave who
became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an
Emperor.”
• “The mountains look on Marathon---And Marathon
looks on the sea…”
– It’s a good way to give rhythm to your writing