Rhetorical Devices

Repetition of beginning consonant sounds: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines: Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!

Opposition or juxtaposition of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction: "Not that I love Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more."

Questioning oneself (or rhetorically asking the audience), often pretending to be in doubt: "The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or of men?"

A sudden pause or interruption in the middle of a sentence (often for dramatic effect): "I will have ravages on you both that all the world shall-- I will do such things---what they are yet, I know not."

A sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person, either absent or present, real or imagined: "Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?"

The absence of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words: "Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk to this little measure?"

Repetition of a key word over successive phrases or clauses: "We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future."

A substitution of a more pleasant expression for one that is rude or offensive: "He passed away" rather than "He died."

Exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect: "I died laughing."

Verbal expression in which words mean something contrary to what is actually said: Looking at an empty wallet and saying, "Lunch is on me!"

When the opposite from what is expected happens: An ambulance runs over someone.

When the audience knows something the characters don't. We know Brutus is planning to kill Caesar but he doesn't.

A reference to an object or person by naming only a part of the object or person. "She stood in the driveway watching as the beards moved her furniture."

Pretending to omit something by drawing attention to it: "A politician saying, 'I will not even mention the fact that my opponent was a poor student."