1. Rhetorical Analysis Vocabulary list 6 Rhetorical Tools—words to help analyze rhetoric

2. Consonance The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds on accented syllables or important words. EX: ticktock; singsong.

3. Assonance The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together. EX: A line from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: “By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown.”

4. Metonymy A figure of speech in which one thing is represented by something closely related to it. “The relationship is not one of similarity, as with metaphor, but of common association.” Ex. “Two daiquiris / withdrew into a corner of the gorgeous room / and one told the other a lie” Ex. “The students put blood and sweat into their essays.” Ex. “No French bob touched Gatsb’y shoulder” (50).

5. Synecdoche A figure of speech in which a whole thing is represented by a part of that thing. EX: “Washington is engaging in talks with Tehran,” where “Washington” represents the entire United States. “I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across floors of silent seas.” “I have known the arms already, known them all”

6. Anaphora A form of repetition, specifically the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of two or more successive sentences or lines of poetry. EX: “And do you now put on your best attire? And do you now cull out a holiday? And do you now strew flowers in his way That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? Be gone!"

7. Epistrophe Ending a series of lines, phrases, sentences, or clauses with the same word or words. EX: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us.” – Emerson.

8. Apostrophe A figure of speech in which some absent, inanimate, or nonexistent thing or person is addressed as if it/they could understand. EX: “O, brave desk, how bravely you bare my burden!”

9. Antithesis The rhetorical strategy of stating the exact opposite of the main claim. Also known as counterargument.

10. Imperative Sentence A sentence that gives a command or request. In these sentences the subject is not stated because it is implied. EX: “Sit down!”