STYLISTIC DEVICES/FIGURES OF SPEECH

BY: Makenzie Scott

HOW TO ANALYZE FIGURES OF SPEECH

o Identify the stylistic device. o Explain how it works in your particular context.o Explain its function or its function on the reader.

o Example:o “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under

it.”o Comparison: act innocent and nice, not showing your

true evil intentions.o Function: Creates a vivid mental image in the reader’s

mind.

FUNCTIONS OF STYLISTIC DEVICES

o Catch the reader’s attention/ arouse the reader’s interest.o Create a vivid mental image.

o Ex: Personification, Metaphor, Symbol, Comparison/ Simile

o Make the reader smile and is meant to be funny.o Ex: Irony, Exaggeration

o Make the reader think.o Ellipsis, Paradox

o Emphasize or put an emphasis on a certain aspect/facto Ex: Repetition, Alliteration

MORE FUNCTIONS OF STYLISTIC DEVICES

o Focus the reader’s attention on a certain fact.o Ex: Repetition, Anaphora

o Express criticism.o Ex: Irony, Hyperbole

o Express the author’s opinion.o Ex: Irony, Exaggeration

o Entertain the reader.

MOST COMMON STYLISTIC DEVICES

o IMAGES: Comparison, Metaphor, Personification, Symbolo SOUND: Alliteration, Repetition of a sound, Onomatopoeia o STRUCTURE: Anaphora, Parallelism, Enumeration,

Antithesis, Ellipsiso OTHERS: rhetorical questions, Paradox, Exaggeration,

Understatement, Irony, Euphemism

IMAGESo Comparison/ Simile

o Ex: Chris was an excellent runner and as fast as a race horse.

o Uses the words, “like” or “as.”o Metaphor

o Ex: Chris, the speeding bullet, raced along the street.o A comparison without “like” or “as.”

o Personificationo Ex: The sun shone brightly as if she were shining for

me alone.o Giving inanimate objects human qualities.

o Symbolo Ex: White dove = peaceo Something concrete stands for an abstract idea

SOUNDo Alliteration

o Ex: She sells seashells by the seashore.o Repetition of identical consonants at the beginning of

two or more words.o Repetition of a Sound

o Ex: With steely insistence, he repeatedly asked the police….

o Consonance: repetition of a consonant soundo Assonance: repetition of a vowel sound

o Onomatopoeiao Ex: The steaks sizzled, Croaking frogs.o Imitation of a sound in the spelling/ pronunciation of a

word

STRUCTUREo Anaphora

o Ex: A man without ambition is dead. A man without love is dead. A man without….

o Repetition of a sequence of words at the beginning of neighboring clauses.

o Parallelism/ Repetitiono Ex: The brats who broke her window, mocked her

daughter, beat up her son, and invaded her garden……

o Certain sentence structure is repeated.

STRUCTURE CONTINUEDo Enumeration

o Ex: I came up with three reasons. First, this is my first reason. Second, this is my second reason. Third, this is my third reason.

o Can be a list of items, also can be separated by structural words: first, second, third.

o Antithesiso Ex: Many are called, few are choseno Putting contrasting ideas next to each other, usually with

the same sentence structure.o Ellipsis

o Ex: “More often than not, it is clothes that wear us, and not we, them.”

o Deliberately leaving out parts of the structure.

OTHERSo Rhetorical Question

o Ex: Was there really nothing they could do about it?o A question to which the answer is obvious both to the

writer and the reader.o Paradox

o Ex: The closer we are together, the further we are apart.

o A statement which seems nonsensical but makes sense on a deeper level.

o Exaggeration/ Hyperboleo Ex: “I have told you a thousand times.”o A strong overstatement

OTHERS CONTINUED

o Understatemento Ex: We may have slightly different opinions about the

debate.o A statement is deliberately weakened.

o Ironyo Ex: You look so good today.o Saying one thing and meaning the exact opposite. The

harsher form is sarcasm.o Euphemism

o Ex: I’m between jobs.o Replacing an unpleasant word with a more agreeable

term.