Rhetorical Devices (List #1)
Tricolon (TRY-co-lon) – a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses (Greek: "three" + "unit")
· "I require three things in a man: he must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid.” – Dorothy Parker
· "You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at
catastrophe." – The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz
· "Tell me and I forget; teach me and I remember; involve me and I learn." – Benjamin Franklin
Hypophora (hy-PAW-for-a) – strategy in which a speaker raises a question and then immediately
answers it
· “What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What
makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? Courage! What makes the muskrat
guard his musk? Courage!” – The Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz
· "Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine
print; experience is what you get when you don't." – Pete Seeger in Loose Talk
Anaphora (ah-NAF-oh-rah) – repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring
clauses, thereby lending them emphasis
· "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." — Rick Blaine in Casablanca
· "We saw the bruised children of these fathers clump onto our school bus, we saw the abandoned children
huddle in the pews at church, we saw the stunned and battered mothers begging for help at our doors."
— Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence"
Antistrophe (an-TIS-tro-fee) (or epistrophe) – repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of
successive clauses
· “…and that a government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.” –
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
· "Don't you ever talk about my friends! You don't know any of my friends. You don't look at any of my
friends. And you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends." –John Bender in The
Breakfast Club