Figures of Speech

1. Figures of Speech http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html#4

2. Alliteration

3. Anaphora • The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines. • Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod non ego non modo audiam, sed etiam videam planeque sentiam. Cicero, In Catilinam

4. Anastrophe • Transposition of normal word order; most often found in Latin in the case of prepositions and the words they control. Anastrophe is a form of hyperbaton. • The helmsman steered; the ship moved on; yet never a breeze up blew. Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner • *Isdem in oppidis, Cicero

5. Asyndeton • lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. • “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.” J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural

6. Aposiopesis • An abrupt pause in a sentence for Rhetorical effect, or breaking off before a thought or sentence is finished. • Quos ego--! Sed motos praestat componere fluctus. Vergil-Aenied 1:135

7. Chiasmus • Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a) “Renown'd for conquest, and in council skill'd.” Addison

8. Ellipsis • The omission of words necessary to the grammatical structure of the sentence and easily supplied from the context.

9. Hendiadys • use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea • Perfecti oratoris moderatione et sapientia. Cicero, De oratore • The day is clear and fair.

10. Hyperbole • exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.

11. Hysteron Proteron • ("later-earlier"): inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important. • Hannibal in Africam redire atque Italia decedere coactus est. Cicero, In Catilinam

12. litotes • Understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. • A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable.

13. Metaphor

14. Metonymy

15. Onamatopoeia

16. Oxymoron • apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another. • Festina Lente. -Augustus

17. Personification

18. Pleonasm • use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought. • No one, rich or poor, will be excepted. • Sic ore locuta est.

19. polysyndeton • the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses.

20. Prolepsis (anticipation) • the anticipation, in adjectives or nouns, of the result of the action of a verb; also, the positioning of a relative clause before its antecedent. • Vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi, Vergil, Aeneid 4.653

21. Similie

22. Synecdoche

23. tmesis • The seperation of two parts of a compound word. (for metical convenience.) • Circum dea fundit. • Quae me cumque vocant terrae (instead of quaecumque me….)

24. zeugma • A condensed expression in which one word, usually a verb, is made to stand for two or more ideas. • Victosque deos parvumque nepotem ipse trahit.