Style/Literary terms/Rhetorical devices to look for in texts and to implement in your own
writing.
1.
Diction – word choice
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o
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Denotation – dictionary or precise meaning
Connotation – emotional sense of a word; cultural meaning associated with a word; implied meaning
Avoid “passive” helping (auxiliary) verbs: to be, has, etc.
Style –“voice of the writer”
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Acerbic
Ambivalent
apathetic
Authoritative –
commanding,
knowing
callous
condescending
contemplative
critical
derisive
Didactic –
preachy,
insistent
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Despairing
Disdainful
Earnest
Gloomy
Haughty
Judgmental
Mocking
Morose
malicious
Objective –
without
judgment
optimistic
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Ornate –
pretentious,
ostentatious,
flowery
Patronizing
pessimistic
Plain
Ridiculing
Sarcastic
Sardonic
Scholarly
Scientific
Sincere
Solemn
2. Imagery – language that engages the senses and evokes emotions. What is the effect of the imagery? Is this the
author’s intention? How do you feel when you encounter imagery in a passage? In your own writing, do you create
imagery? What words do you choose to do so?
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3.
Visual
Auditory
Tactile -- touch
Olfactory – smell
Gustatory – taste
Kinesthetic – sense of movement
Organic – internal sense of well- being
Tone
-- what is the attitude of the speaker/narrator? Details such as imagery, diction, syntax create tone.
Tone often shifts in passages; these shifts mark critical changes in thinking and/or epiphanies. Do you
notice tone shifts in your reading? Does your own writing shift in tone? Types of tone:
o Candid
o Laconic
o Sanctimonio
o Caustic
o lyrical
us
o colloquial
o Matter-ofo Sardonic
o Cynical
fact
o Sinister
o Detached
o Melancholy
o Speculative
o Didactic
o Nostalgic
o terse
o Effusive
o Objective
o Trite
o Erudite
o Pedantic
o Whimsical
o formal
o Poignant
o informal
o ribald
3a. Mood -- emotional quality of the setting. What’s the mood like in a passage, chapter, poem
(stanza of a poem), particular dialogue, etc.? How is it created? How does it shift? In your own writing,
is there a general mood? Are you consciously aware of it? Types of moods:
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Apprehensive
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o
dreadful
Elegiac
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o
o
Quizzical
Rapturous
Reproachful
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o
o
Satiric
Solemn
Suspenseful
4. Syntax – the order of words in a sentence. The rhythm of prose. Note: take a look at your own writing. How
many sentences begin with “A,” “The,” “He,” “She,” “They,” “It,” or some other noun/pronoun? Knowing about variety
in syntax will help you create fresh, rhythmic, fluent sentences.
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Repetition, placement of ideas, inversion, etc., may be used for emphasis. Syntax impacts the narrative pace of
a passage, making it read quickly or slowly, which therefore impacts theme/idea
Certain types of sentences are better at emphasizing certain ideas or emotions or mood/tone
3 P’s of syntax
o Prominence – importance given to an idea in a sentence. Importance is achieved both by placement
and by repetition. Sometimes an idea is isolated in a short sentence where it is given sole prominence.
If a word is ever set off alone as a fragment, it is being given prominence that best not be ignored. Ask,
why is this word isolated/”
o Position – where the key idea is located. It will come at the beginning (see “loose sentence”) or at the
end of a sentence (see “periodic sentence”); sometimes authors use non-standard syntax such as
inversion (anastrophe) to draw attention to certain words or ideas.
o Pace – speed of the text. The pace or speed of the text helps further explicate the author’s purpose.
For example, a fast-paced narration emphasizes a character’s frenetic and fragile state of mind. In Maya
Angelou’s poem “Woman Work,” the first stanza, which describes all the tasks to be done, is meant to
be read so fast that the reader actually feels tired after reading it. The rest of the poem is composed of
flour-line stanzas that read much more slowly. The images in these stanzas evoke peace, coolness, and
rest, juxtaposed against the frenetic pace of the first stanza.
Aspects of syntax
o Climax – the main idea or most important point in a sentence. The position of the climax might be
varied for stylistic effect.
o Cadence – the rhythm or music of a sentence that s derived from parallel elements, repetition, and
sound elements/techniques (alliteration, consonance, assonance).
o Narrative pace
 Length of words
 Omission of words or punctuation
 Ellipsis
 Sentence length
 Number of IC and DC
 Repetition of sounds
 Assonance (repeated vowel sounds), consonance (repeated consonant sounds),
alliteration
Grammatical sentence purposes
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o
o Declarative (makes a statement). Ends with a period.
o Imperative sentence (makes a command). Ends with a period or an exclamation point.
o Interrogative sentence (asks a question). Ends with a question mark.
o Exclamatory sentence (makes an emphatic or emotion filled statement. Ends with an exclamation point.
Grammatical sentence types
o Simple
o Compound
o Complex
o Compound-complex
SENTENCE TYPES
o Inverted (anastrophe) -- “Glistens the dew upon the morning grass.” (Normal: The dew glistens upon the morning
grass.)
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Periodic -- main idea doesn’t isn’t stated until the end
Loose -- main idea is stated in the beginning of the sentences
Parallel -- any sentence structured with equal attention and focus given to a series of words or clauses.
 Asyndeton -- Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. Absence
of conjunctions speeds up the flow of the sentence. “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;
but the greatest of these is charity.”
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Polysyndeton -- The use of conjunctions between each word, phrase, or clause. Polysyndeton
makes sentences slower and the parallel items more emphatic. It suggests a piling up of details
and/or ideas. The Bible contains many such usages, usages that indicate that something holy
and solemn and important is being talked about.
Antithesis -- opposition or contrast emphasized by parallel structure. “They promised freedom but
provided slavery.” “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
o
Repetition – repeated words
 Anaphora – repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of a series of phrases,
clauses, or sentences. “I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes.”
 Epistrophe -- the repetition o the same word or words at the end of successive phrases or
clauses. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;”
 Asyndeton -- Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. “And now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
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Polysyndeton -- The use of conjunctions between each word, phrase, or clause. Polysyndeton
makes sentences slower and the parallel items more emphatic. It suggests a piling up of details
and/or ideas. The Bible contains many such usages, usages that indicate that something holy
and solemn and important is being talked about.
Chiasmus – a structure by which the order of the terms in the first parallel clauses is reversed in
the second. “Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you.”
Anadiplosis -- the repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next
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clause: I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord
Epanalepsis -- the repetition of the first word of one clause at the end of the clause: “Bold
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was the challenge as he himself was bold.”
5. Point of View
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First person
Second person
Third person-limited
Third person-omniscient
Objective
6. Figurative language --
language not meant to be taken literally. Common types of figurative language
used for rhetorical purposes.
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Allegory – literal and figurative meaning layers
Apostrophe – a rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not
present. “Oh, you cruel streets of Manhattan, how I detest you!”
Metonymy
Synecdoche
Hyperbole (overstatement)
Litotes (understatement) – a form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to
achieve emphasis or intensity. Example: He is not a bad dancer.
Personification
Anthropomorphism -- an interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or
personal characteristics (usually animals or nature (trees, rivers, etc.) involved
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Paradox
Oxymoron
Symbolism
Allusion
Rhetorical question
Simile
Metaphor
o Direct -- comparison is made directly using the word “is”; “Life is a river.”
o Indirect – “The river of life.”
o Extended -- Extends throughout the text or part of the text and is fully developed. Ultimate
form is an allegory
o Mixed—try to avoid; this type of metaphor mixes two types of comparisons. “Sally’s successful
day was a home run and a slam dunk.”
o Analogy -o Metaphysical conceit
Irony
o Dramatic
o Verbal
o Situational
o Cosmic
Miscellaneous things to look for in your reading and in your own writing:
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contrasts / contradictions / juxtapositions / shifts (syntax)
reliability of narrator (point of view)
motifs or cluster ideas
themes
setting / historical period