Stylistic devices
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Allusion [ә'lu:ჳn] – a reference to specific places, persons, literary characters or historical events known to the reader that, by some association, have come to stand for a certain thing or an idea.
“The Painted Veil” – an allusion to Keats (Lift not the painted veil of life)
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Anadiplosis [ֽænədi΄plousis] – the beginning of a syntactical unit repeats the concluding words of the previous syntactical unit.
“We were talking about how bad we were.
Bad, from the medical point of view” (Jerome K. Jerome)
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Antithesis [æn'tiθisis] – the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases or grammatical structures. Antithesis is often based on the use of antonyms and is aimed at emphasizing contrasting features.
They speak like saints and act like devils
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Antonomasia [ֽæntәnә'meiziә] – the use of a proper name to express a general idea or a substitution of an epithet, or descriptive phrase, or official title for a proper name.
The Byron of our days. Mr. Zero.
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Aposiopesis [ֽæpousaiou'pi:sis] (break in the narration) – (incomplete representation) the sudden intentional breaking off in speech, without completing a thought, as if a speaker was unable or unwilling to speak his mind. What is not finished is implied.
“if you hadn't left your own people, your goddamned old Westberry, Saragota, Palm Beach
people to take me on – ”(E. Hemingway)
You just come home, I’ll …
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Chiasmus [kai'æzmәs] (“cross arrangement”) – inversion in the second phrase of order followed in first.
“Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down” (S.T. Coleridge)
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Detached construction – a syntactical design in which the so-called secondary parts of speech being torn away from the parts of speech they refer to, assume a greater semantic significance.
“I noticed him because he appeared incongruously in love with his wife. Who ignored him, a flashy and false blonde” (G. Greene)
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Emphatic inversion – a certain word-order which is brought into life by certain normalized conditions. It doesn’t change the grammatical meaning of the sentence.
Only then did I realize how wrong I had been.
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Enumeration [iֽnju:m(ə)΄rei∫(ə)n] – repetition of the same part of speech in succession (not the same words). Separate things or properties are named one by one to display some kind of semantic homogeneity.
Famine, despair, cold, thirst and heat had done their work on them.
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Epiphora [i΄pifərə] (final repetition)
“I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as that. I am above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that.” (Ch. Dickens)
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Epithet ['epiθet] (“addition”) – an attributive characterization of a person, thing or phenomenon. An epithet creates an image and reveals the emotionally coloured individual attitude of the author towards the object spoken of. There are the so-called conversational (standing) epithets, kind of literary cliché: true love; virgin land.
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Framing ['freimiŋ] (“ring repetition”) — a kind of repetition in which the opening word is repeated at the end of a sense-group pr a sentence.
“No wonder his father wanted to know what Bosinney meant, no wonder” (G. Galsworthy)
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Gradation [grә'dei∫(ә)n] (“step”) – the arrangement of ideas in such a way that each succeeding one rises above its predecessor in impact (impressiveness or force).
“little by little, bit by bit, and day by day, and year by year…” (Ch. Dickens)
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Hyperbole [hai'pә:bәli] (“transference”) – a figure of speech consisting in exaggerating or extravagant statement used to express strong feeling or to produce a strong impression and not intended to be understood literally.
I am scared to death
I haven’t seen you for ages
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Interjection [ֽintә΄dჳek∫(ә)n] – conventional symbols of human emotions the function of which is to arouse emotions in the reader.
Oh! Bless me! Heavens! Pooh! Come on!
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Litotes ['laitouti:z] (“plain, simple”) – a type of ironical understatement made for emphasis; an affirmation expressed by denying its contrary.
Her face was not unhandsome
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Metaphor ['metәfә] (“transference”) – an implied comparison between two seemingly different things.
The news you bring me is a dagger to my heart
18. Metonymy [mi'tonimi] – a figure of speech consisting in the use of one word for another denoting a thing of
which it is part or with which it is associated (the effect for the cause; the instrument for the action; the
container for the contained).
The maid was cleaning silver (i.e. spoons, knives and forks)
The kettle is boiling. His pen knows no compromises.
19 . Onomatopoeia [ֽonoumætou'pi:ә] (“sound imitation”) – the use of words in which the sound is suggestive of the object or action designated: crack, jazz, whistle, etc.
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Oxymoron [ֽoksi'mo:rәn] (“sharp + foolish”) – a figure of speech consisting in the use of an epithet or attributive phrase (a modifier) in contradiction to the noun it defines.
The crowded loneliness of the barracks.
Speaking silence (G. Byron)
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Parallelism ['pærәleliz(ә)m] – the similarity of the syntactical structure of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. Parallel constructions are often accompanied by the repetition of one or more words. This device usually implies comparison.
“She was a good servant, she walked softly, she was a determined woman, she walked precisely.”
(G. Greene)
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Personification [pә'sonifi'kei∫(ә)n] – a kind of metaphor; endows a thing, a phenomenon or an abstract notion with features peculiar to a human being.
“Confusion spoke”; “Vice is a monster”
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Polysyndeton [ֽpoli'sindit(ә)n] – repetition of conjunction(s) in close succession as one of the homogeneous parts, or clauses, or sentences, opposed to asyndeton.
“Тhey were all three from Milan and one of them was to be a lawyer, and one was to be a painter,
and one had intended to be a soldier …” (E. Hemingway).
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Question-in-the-narration – it is asked and answered by the same person, usually the author.
“Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did” (Ch. Dickens)
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Rhetorical question – the interrogative construction which semantically remains a statement. It doesn’t demand any information but serves to express the speaker’s emotions and to call the listeners’ attention.
What have I done to deserve it?
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Simile ['simili] – a figure of speech in which two objects are compared, one of them being likened to the other; a kind of comparison introduced with the help of special grammatical means (conjunctions: than, as if, like) or suggested by such verbs as resemble, remind and seem.
I wandered lonely as a cloud…
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Simple repetition [ֽrepi΄ti∫әn].
Alone, alone, all, alone.
alone in a wide, wide sea. (Coleridge)
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Synonymical repetition – the repetition of the same notion by using synonymous words and phrases which add some shades of meaning.
Lord and master, clean and neat, far and away, pure and simple.
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Zeugma ['zju:gmә] (“yoke”) – use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two apparent words in the context, one metaphorical and the other literal in sense.
“Either you or your head must be off.” (L. Carroll)
He lost everything there was to lose: his friend, his purse, his head and finally his reputation.